Inclusivity and diversity are key values of the WordPress community and at the heart of WordCamp Europe. However, we fell short in honouring those values when selecting the date for WordCamp Europe 2025 on June 5-7, as the team missed consideration of Eid ul-Adha, a major Muslim holiday. We deeply apologise for the oversight, and we’re thankful to the community members who brought this to our attention!

When determining event dates, the WordCamp Europe Host City selection committee has traditionally asked the local communities that apply to host WordCamp Europe to find venue availability during the first three weeks of June. This is because we consider local and EU school holidays, bank holidays, other tech events nearby and refer to a multi-faith calendar to avoid main religious holidays. Unfortunately, the one we used did not include the 2025 Eid ul-Adha dates. The WordPress Make Community Team has now updated its resources to include this multi-faith calendar instead. 

The organising team has contacted the venue to explore alternative date options. However, due to venue availability and signed contracts, it is impossible to shift dates for WCEU 2025 at this stage after being announced. While we cannot change the dates, the organising team is committed to making WCEU 2025 more inclusive of attendees who are celebrating Eid ul-Adha. To do this, we will consult with the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Working Group and attendees of the Muslim community to find initiatives that support them to feel welcome at our event during those dates.

We aim to ensure that WordCamp Europe remains a welcoming and inclusive event for all. We will work with WordCamp Central and the DEIB Working Group to also review the location and date selection process. Our goal is to determine how we can prevent this in the future and to find proactive steps we can take if a conflict is unavoidable. We are committed to learning from this experience and implementing a better planning process that takes the diversity of our global community into consideration.

Rocío Valdivia
José Ramón Padrón
Mentors of WordCamp Europe 2024