Nathan Wrigley interviews Simon Pollard about the state of WordPress meetups and events after COVID, how community life changed, and what might help rebuild in-person connections.
Simon’s background
Simon Pollard is a long-time WordPress developer based in Bristol, working at Illustrate Digital since early 2020. He helped grow the Bristol WordPress Meetup from an informal pub gathering into an officially backed, well-organised monthly meet with sponsors, catering, and around 30–40 regular attendees. The group expanded by recruiting organisers, using Trello to coordinate, and gaining WordPress’s official support, which provided funds and legitimacy.
Pre-COVID growth
The Meetup evolved from casual chats to regular talks and social events. Simon and the team promoted via Twitter and Facebook, recruited speakers (with Simon presenting many talks himself), and focused on making the atmosphere welcoming. They put effort into greeters, name badges, connecting newcomers to relevant people, and follow-up socialising; this fostered networking, knowledge-sharing, and a friendly culture where developers helped each other freely.
The COVID interruption
When the pandemic hit in 2020 the Meetup, like many others, paused. The organising team lacked appetite, technology, or capacity to pivot to online events. For Simon personally, life also shifted: he became a parent during lockdown, reducing nights out and energy for organising. He found a different social outlet in a local band, which met occasionally. Attempts to hand over Meetup organising were made, but some successors failed and activity faded for a while.
Fragmentation and lost connections
Since the pandemic, social media use and patterns have fractured. Platforms that had been community hubs (Twitter in Simon’s case) changed or declined, and people dispersed to many different services or left social media altogether. This “shattering” made it harder to reconnect the networks that once fed Meetups. Without a single town-square platform, organisers struggle to reach past attendees and potential speakers. Simon describes being unsure where people now commonly communicate and how to maintain the between-meeting contact once provided by a central platform.
Why in-person still matters
Both Nathan and Simon stress the unique value of face-to-face meetups: warmth, the ability to mingle after talks, quick hallway problem-solving, and the chance to build relationships that lead to collaboration and mutual help. In-person events encourage people to try new topics and expand skills; attendees often join partly for the social aspect rather than only the technical content. Simon notes Meetups enabled him to experiment with talks in a forgiving environment where mistakes were accepted and learning was encouraged.
Challenges to rebuilding
Rebuilding attendance faces multiple obstacles:
– Habit change: People became used to remote life during two years of restrictions.
– Life changes: Attendees may have new family or career priorities.
– Platform fragmentation: No easy, universal channel to announce and re-engage attendees.
– Alternative solutions: AI and search reduce the need to seek human answers; developers may rely on AI or documentation rather than community Q&A.
– Younger generations: People who grew up during the pandemic may never have experienced strong local meetup culture and might not see its value.
Ideas and opportunities
Simon and Nathan discuss approaches for reinvigorating meetups and WordCamps:
– Emphasise the welcoming experience: greeters, name badges, and making introductions help newcomers feel included and more likely to return.
– Broaden programming: Mix technical talks with creative or soft-skill topics to appeal to wider interests and to avoid over-niched sessions that limit attendance.
– Combine disciplines: Events that blend arts, music, animation, or local culture with WordPress content could attract people who wouldn’t attend a purely technical meetup.
– Offer social incentives: Live music, socials, and post-event mingling make events a night out rather than merely a lecture, addressing competition from abundant online entertainment.
– Keep hybrid options in mind: While in-person connection is crucial, some form of remote access still helps reach those who cannot travel.
– Rebuild networks intentionally: Reach out personally to former attendees, speakers, and organisers to re-establish contact rather than relying solely on public posts.
WordCamps and scale
Simon wonders whether larger gatherings like WordCamps can return to previous scale. Pre-pandemic WordCamps had multiple tracks and full weekend schedules; smaller meetups fed that ecosystem. If Meetup attendance stays lower, WordCamps might need to be smaller or reimagined. Nathan suggests hybrid and mixed-format events could make still-valuable large gatherings more attractive.
The role of AI and online tools
Simon raises the effect of AI and different online resources on community dynamics: developers increasingly get answers from AI agents or aggregated sources, reducing the visibility and attribution of the people who once answered questions on forums or Stack Overflow. That can weaken pathways to personal connection. However, team interactions and screen-sharing problem-solving remain valued and are not easily replaced by AI.
Personal reflections and return
Returning to meetups after years away feels emotional for Simon: smaller events retained the same friendly atmosphere and familiar people, even if the numbers were reduced. He’s optimistic that the community endures in different forms and can be nudged back to more active local engagement. He’s personally re-energised to give talks again and reconnect with the network.
Where to find Simon
Simon can be found via Illustrate Digital (illustrate.digital) and is active on LinkedIn. He’s open to suggestions about where people are gathering online now and to reconnecting with old contacts.
Conclusion
WordPress meetups and events are in flux after COVID. The core value—personal connection, warm community, and collaborative problem-solving—remains important, but rebuilding attendance requires effort, creativity, and new outreach strategies. Mixing content, adding social and cultural elements, intentionally welcoming newcomers, and re-establishing dispersed networks are practical steps organisers can try as the community adapts to the new normal.
