Connection Makes Credibility, Credibility Makes Opportunity – 連結產生信賴,信賴創造機會
I’m Huanyi Chuang (Eric) from Taiwan. I’ve been participating in the WordPress community for several years. Of course, this experience isn’t long compared with other people’s experiences in the open-source communities. Still, I have learned a lot by joining this fantastic group and am eager to share my experience.
Why I Started
I started joining Taipei meetup because I tried to seek solutions to my client’s website issues. For people who haven’t been to any meetups, a WordPress meetup is somewhere you can meet experienced WordPress users or developers to help you with your questions.
When I encountered an issue with the custom archive pages, a local meetup announcement showed on my WordPress dashboard. And that was my original connection with the local community, not impressive, but true.
Why I Keep Participating
In the end, the WordPress community gives me the chance to connect with people.
At first, I started by asking questions, and I found that I might find some leads in the meetups and wanted to take advantage by knowing more potential clients. So I brought my business cards to every event from then on.
That didn’t work well, as I didn’t acquire any clients from attendees.
There are plenty of reasons why that didn’t work, but the main reason is credibility and sincerity. I wanted to “get” rather than “give.” It sounds cliché, but people do feel.
So I questioned myself, “why do I even bother staying here?”
“Make some friends, you silly,” said the voice in my mind.
I started to focus more on making new friends and listening more to people. I also started to share my own experience of website management as a meetup speaker.
And then, the first WordCamp Taipei was born in 2018.
I joined as an organizer, working on session planning and speakers contact. In the organizing phase, I met new friends from different fields and foreign countries, which gave me a great sense of achievement and strengthened my passion for participating in the community.
“Start Your Meetup”
Akihiro Nishino, a famous Japanese comedy actor, states that “information only goes for those who take actions.” And that’s what I benefit from the meetups.
After the first WordCamp, the local communities seemed more visible, and more volunteers wanted to start their meetups. The organizer of the Taipei meetup asked me, “you told me that you want to start the meetup in Taoyuan. Would you like to start it with a partner?” and referred me to another organizer.
“Of course,” said I.
We started our local community in Taoyuan. The number of people was far less than Taipei’s, but we found our own pace. We create a pattern of “multiple organizers,” which diversified the pressure of a single organizer, as there are always “minimum attendees,” who are ourselves. The organizers in Taoyuan then became a group of close friends, who often have an “after meetup” after a regular one, grabbing drinks or gourmet together.
Being connected tofrom meetups is the most valuable part of the community. Having these friends makes me gather more information. We share information and benefit from others’ information, and thus we gain more trust in each other. With such credibility, we share more deeply and build deeper relations.
Summary: Why You Should Join
To be honest, the main reason you should join the WordPress community is that you can benefit from it no matter what positions you take.
As an attendee, you come and ask for answers. As a speaker, you come to validate your discovery and share your ideas to build your credibility. Finally, as an organizer, you make everyone feel safe to share and ask questions to attract more people to join and follow the community.
If you participate in the community long enough, you may also discover the humanity behind the community: people may have reasons to start joining WordPress communities. However, what keeps them participating continuously remains the same: they found the value to do so. Most people leave because their initial needs disappear; either they have found their solutions or found someone else for their issues, which is still great, as we create an environment to help them out. However, not until you keep participating, will you find more you can achieve than you expect.
Here is my own story about my experience in the WordPress community, and I hope that this may encourage more people to join this organic community.
連結產生信賴,信賴創造機會
大家好,我是 Eric。我已經持續參與了 WordPress 社群幾年的時間。當然,相較於其他人,這樣的經歷並不特別,但我希望仍然可以透過這篇分享,和大家聊聊這些年我所見所學的點點滴滴。
為什麼我開始參與小聚
起初,我因為抱著想要解決客戶網站問題的心情,參與了第一場台北小聚。在這裡跟沒有參加過小聚的人說明一下,WordPress 小聚是個你可以與有經驗的 WordPress 使用者或開發者共享交流、取得協助的場合。
當時的我遇到了一些客製化的難關,在 WordPress 的控制台首頁出現了小聚的通知,那便是我第一次參與小聚的經歷。並不戲劇化,但是我相信這也是開啟許多人參與小聚的契機。
為什麼持續參與
原因很簡單,因為小聚讓我可以與不同的人產生連結。
起初,我只是為了詢問問題,接著我開始想「說不定可以在這裡遇到潛在的客戶」,並且開始琢磨著如何接洽新的生意,因此後來幾次小聚,我都是帶著名片在身上的。
但是這樣做其實並沒有什麼效果,我並沒有因為帶了名片就取得任何新客。
這個結果可能有許多原因,不過我總結來看,認為原因不外乎兩個:信賴度與真誠。在這樣的過程中,我只想要「獲得」而非「給予」,雖然這樣講有點老掉牙,但這種幽微的氣息差異,其他人都能感受得到。
於是我回頭思考,「為什麼我還要來?」
「當然是交朋友啊,傻子。」我心中的聲音跟我說。
我開始更專注在交朋友這件事上,並花更多時間在聽別人說話,畢竟開始工作後,並沒有太多機會認識新朋友。同時,我也開始分享自己管理網站的經驗。
接著,台灣的第一場 WordCamp-WordCamp Taipei 2018 誕生了。
在這之中,我參與了議程組的籌備。在過程中,我與不同國籍的講者、不同領域的志工接觸,得到了莫大的成就感,並且透過這樣的「連結」,加深了自己持續參與社群事務的熱情。
「開始你的小聚」
日本著名的喜劇演員,西野亮廣曾提到「資訊會集中在那些採取行動的人身上」,而這句話正凸顯了我在小聚中獲益的地方。
在 WordCamp 結束後,在地社群的能見度更高了,而更多的志工也希望開始他們自己的小聚。台北小聚的阿竣問了:「你之前說想在桃園辦小聚,要不要試著跟其他人一起舉辦呢?」並引薦了當初的另一位主辦給我。
「好啊!」我說。
我們開始了在桃園的地區小聚。參加的人數上,遠遠不及台北小聚,但我們也找到了我們自己的步調。我們採取了「多主辦」的模式,分散了一個主辦可能會需要面對的壓力——至少,我們就是「參加者」。桃園小聚的主辦們後來慢慢成為關係不錯的一群朋友,我們也常常邀著每次小聚的會眾參加「續攤」的行程,一起吃吃喝喝。
從小聚中建立連結,對我來說一直都是社群最重要的部分,從這些朋友身上我也了解更多不同領域的資訊,而隨著這些資訊的交流,我們也建立了更多的信任與更緊密的連結。
結語:為什麼值得你參加
坦白說,不論你在這個社群中站在什麼樣的位置,你都能從社群得益。
身為參與者,你可以來到小聚,並尋求解答;身為講者,你可以到小聚驗證你的發現,以及透過分享你的想法,建立你的可信度;身為主辦,你可以透過營造一個安全、舒適的交流環境,吸引更多的人參與社群、分享資訊。
如果你參加了夠長的一段時間,你也可以發現在社群後面的人性:參與社團的人原因百百種,但是持續參與的原因只有一種:發現了社群的價值。這些人十分稀少,大多數的人離開,是因為一開始的問題得到解決了,或是找到了可以幫他們解決問題的人,這也都是好事,因為我們創造了幫助他們的機會。然而,只有持續參與,才能再更進一步發現,你能夠取得的成就,將會比預期的更多。
這是我自己參與 WordPress 社群的故事,希望這個故事,也能夠激起你對於參與這個社群有不一樣的想法。