WordUp Warsaw and the power of WordPress community

Poland has regular WordPress meetups in Warsaw, Kraków and Gdynia, and Polish cities have hosted WordCamps since 2010. This guide explains how a WordUp works, who runs it and who pays for it, where Polish WordCamps have taken place, and how to find the next event near you. Every number below comes from an official page or the public WordPress events data, with the date we checked it.

#What is WordUp

WordUp is the name Polish groups use for a local, informal meeting of WordPress users. Groups meet on a regular cycle, usually once a month or once a quarter. These events are the base layer of the WordPress community: beginners and experienced developers learn from each other in the same room.

#What does a typical WordUp look like

1. Presentations Each WordUp has a few talks. Topics vary from meeting to meeting:

• Development: PHP, theme customization, plugin development, API integrations
• Security: hardening WordPress, malware prevention, security audits
• SEO: search optimization, technical SEO, content marketing
• Accessibility: WCAG compliance, inclusive design, assistive technologies
• Business: freelancing, agency growth, client management
• Case studies: real projects and the lessons learned from them

2. Networking break The “pizza and drinks” break is where most conversations happen:

• people looking for work meet people who are hiring
• clients meet developers who know WordPress
• freelancers find partners for projects too large to handle alone
• ideas for joint projects get their first discussion

3. Afterparty (optional) For those who want to keep talking, many WordUps continue informally at a nearby venue. These smaller groups tend to lead to longer, more focused conversations.

#How WordUp Warszawa runs its meetups

WordUp Warszawa documents its format on its own site, wordup.waw.pl. The details below come from that site, whose program pages date from 2019 to 2021, so treat venue and weekday as historical and check the current meetup.com listing for the next event.

• Three tracks. Talks were grouped for beginners (#bloger), developers (#developer) and business (#business). The current meetup.com group still describes three tracks: General, Business and Development.
• Free for attendees and speakers. The site says WordUps are free to attend and free to speak at.
• Registration required. Sign-up on meetup.com is free but needed, because the number of seats depends on the room. The organizers ask people who cannot come to cancel, so someone else gets the seat.
• No sales talks. The organizers say they are not interested in commercial or sales presentations. A talk proposal should teach something.
• Format. Several short talks, then informal conversation with the speakers.
• Scale in 2019. The site’s 2019 review lists five WordUps across three tracks, 17 speakers from several cities and 300 registrations on meetup.com. The group had 859 members at the end of 2019.

On 12 October 2026 the WordUp Warszawa group on meetup.com showed 808 members.

#Who runs WordPress meetups and who pays for meetup.com

WordUp groups are not private clubs. Most of them belong to the WordPress Chapter Meetup Program, which the WordPress community team describes in its meetup organizer handbook.

• Dues are paid centrally. Groups in the program have their meetup.com dues paid by WordPress Community Support, PBC.
• Network size. On 12 October 2026 the WordUp Warszawa, WordUp Kraków and Gdynia WordPress Meetup pages each showed “Part of WordPress - 713 groups”, the WordPress Meetup Pro network on meetup.com.
• Five good faith rules. Every chapter group commits to a code of conduct and five rules written by volunteer organizers. The first two are the most quoted: “WordPress Meetups are for the benefit of the WordPress community as a whole, not specific businesses or individuals” and “Membership in the local meetup group is open to all who wish to join, regardless of ability, skill, financial status or any other criteria.” The others say meetups are run by volunteers with volunteer speakers, that any reliable member of the community can organize an event, and that meetups stay free of discrimination and hate.
• No minimum size. The handbook counts any gathering of two or more people sharing WordPress experience as a meetup. There is no required format.

#How to start a WordPress meetup in your city

The handbook gives three paths:

1. No group exists locally: submit the meetup interest form. If it is approved, you become the first organizer.
2. An active group exists (an event in the last three months): contact its organizers and offer to help.
3. A group has been inactive for at least three months: submit the interest form with the group’s URL and ask to become a co-organizer.

Organizer training is available online, and the community team answers questions in the #community-team channel on Making WordPress Slack.

#Why attend a WordPress meetup like WordUp

#Who speaks at WordUp meetups

WordUp speakers come from the local community. Typical profiles include:

• developers from agencies and product companies
• WordPress contributors
• freelancers and agency owners
• SEO and marketing specialists
• accessibility specialists

The talks cover both background and techniques you can apply the next day.

#Advice on client, technical and business problems

Few people understand the problems of WordPress work like another WordPress professional:

• Client management: scope creep, difficult clients, late payments
• Technical choices: which plugins to trust, how to approach complex customizations
• Business decisions: pricing, service packaging, growing a team
• Workload: running several projects at once without burning out

At a WordUp you meet people who have faced the same problems and can say what worked for them.

#How to find WordPress jobs and subcontractors at meetups

WordUps work well for networking:

• Job seekers: companies that use WordPress send people to meetups, and the break is the place to ask who is hiring
• Freelancers: find subcontractors for projects or partners for larger contracts
• Agencies: meet developers, designers and marketers who already work with WordPress
• Business owners: talk to service providers who understand WordPress

#What happens at a WordCamp conference

Local activity from meetups feeds into WordCamp, the official WordPress conference format organized by local communities around the world. According to WordCamp Central, the first WordCamp took place in San Francisco in 2006, organized by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg. The same page lists 1,517 WordPress events in 422 cities across 72 countries.

#How big is a WordCamp and what is contributor day

• Scale: WordCamp Central lists anticipated attendance per event. Polish WordCamps planned for 100 to 500 people, while WordCamp Europe plans for around 3,000.
• Duration: usually one to three days
• Speakers: local and international practitioners, WordPress contributors
• Topics: tracks for beginners through advanced users
• Contributor Day: a day spent working on WordPress itself: code, documentation, translations, support
• Sponsors: WordPress companies present their products and fund part of the event

#Where WordCamps took place in Poland

The table lists every WordCamp in Poland that appears in the public WordCamp Central data, checked on 12 October 2026. Attendance is the organizers’ own planning figure, not a headcount.

Two patterns stand out. Until 2019 Poland had at most one WordCamp a year, and the event moved between cities. Since 2023 there have been two or three a year: Gdynia and Wrocław have run an edition every year from 2023 to 2025, Kraków in 2024 and 2025, and in 2026 Kraków hosted WordCamp Europe instead.

#WordCamp Europe 2026 in Kraków

WordCamp Europe 2026 took place from 4 to 6 June 2026 at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre, the same venue as WordCamp Kraków 2015. The WordPress.org preview of the program lists Contributor Day on 4 June and two conference days. One keynote covered how CERN is moving more than 800 websites onto a customized WordPress service; Matt Mullenweg gave the closing keynote. The program also included a panel on WordPress 7.0 with contributors to that release. We wrote a separate recap of what WordCamp Europe 2026 signals for agencies. WordCamp Central lists WordCamp Europe 2027 in Málaga, Spain, starting 27 May 2027.

#How to go from WordUp attendee to WordCamp speaker

The path usually starts small:

1. Attend local WordUp meetups
2. Give a short talk at a WordUp
3. Volunteer at a WordCamp
4. Speak at a WordCamp
5. Contribute to the WordPress project

#How to find and attend your first WordUp

#How to find a WordPress meetup near you

Step 1: Open the WordPress Events and News widget in your WordPress dashboard. It was added in WordPress 4.8 in 2017, and the release announcement says it displays “all upcoming WordCamps and official WordPress Meetups, local to you”. Step 2: Search meetup.com for “WordPress” or “WordUp” plus your city, join the group and turn on notifications. Step 3: Check the WordCamp Central schedule for conferences. Step 4: Follow the group’s social media for announcements that do not make it to meetup.com.

The dashboard widget reads from the public events API at api.wordpress.org/events/1.0/. On 12 October 2026 that API listed these upcoming Polish meetups:

Dates change, so treat the table as a snapshot and check the group page before you go. For the Gdynia group, see our report from WordUp Gdynia #24.

#How to prepare for your first WordPress meetup

Before the event:

• read the speaker list and topics
• prepare questions about your current projects
• bring business cards if you have them
• update your LinkedIn profile

During the event:

• arrive early to meet the organizers and regulars
• introduce yourself; meetups are built for meeting people
• take notes during the talks
• ask questions in the Q&A
• exchange contact details with people you want to follow up with

After the event:

• follow up with new contacts by email or LinkedIn
• join the community Slack or Discord channels
• apply at least one technique you learned
• plan to attend the next meetup

#How the WordPress community contributes to WordPress

The community is also how WordPress gets built:

• Open source development: contributors around the world work on WordPress core
• Translation: volunteers translate WordPress, plugins and themes into their languages
• Documentation: community members write handbooks, tutorials and guides
• Support: the forums and Slack channels give free help to users
• Direction: community feedback shapes the future of WordPress

Companies take part too. Five for the Future is the program through which organizations pledge staff time or sponsor resources “to support the sustained growth of the WordPress project”. Contributor Days at WordCamps are where many people make their first contribution with someone experienced sitting next to them.

Every WordUp attendee is part of this. Whether you ask questions, share what you know or just show up, you take part in the ecosystem that powers over 40% of the web.

#Online WordPress communities, forums and Slack

If you cannot attend in person, the community also works online:

• WordPress.org forums: get help and help others
• Making WordPress Slack: the chat page explains how to join; you log in with a WordPress.org account first
• Learn WordPress online workshops: live sessions where you learn with other WordPress users. RSVPs go through a meetup.com group, participants agree to the code of conduct, and recordings appear on WordPress.tv
• Social media: WordPress groups on X, Facebook and LinkedIn
• GitHub: open source plugins and themes accept contributions

Many relationships that start online grow stronger at in-person events.

#Conclusion

WordPress is more than software. It is a global community built on open source, collaboration and mutual support, and WordUp meetups are the easiest way in. In Poland that means groups in Warsaw, Kraków and Gdynia with dates on the events feed, free registration on meetup.com, and two or three WordCamps a year.

Beginners asking basic questions and experts sharing advanced techniques both belong there. Open the events widget in your dashboard or the meetup.com group for your city, register for the next date, and bring one question from your current project.

#Related resources

• WordCamp Central: official event calendar
• WordPress.org community team blog
• WordPress.tv: recorded presentations
• Meetup.com: find local groups

Want to work with a WordPress developer who takes part in the community? Get in touch.