Add 2025 Community Update (#2416)

* Add 2025 Community Update

Mostly focused on conferences,
but happy to add more content if it's useful.

* Update docs/blog/2025-community-update.rst

Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

* Remove hr attempt

* s/Berlin/Europe/

* Apply review notes

* Apply other change

* Plan to publish today

* Reword a bit

* Reword a bit

* Another try

* Clean up

* Add SS

* A couple small PDX changes

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Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

Author: ericholscher

docs/_static/img/sponsors/systems-champion.png

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+:og:image: https://www.writethedocs.org/_static/logo-opengraph.png
+
+.. post:: Aug 7, 2025
+   :tags: stats, newsletter
+   :author: Eric Holscher
+
+Write the Docs Community Update - August 2025
+=============================================
+
+Hey there documentarians!
+
+Eric Holscher here, sharing this year's August community update.
+We always do this to give the newsletter team a break in August.
+
+We've been heavily focused on conferences this year, but our Slack community, Newsletter, Meetups, Salary Survey, and other initiatives continue without major changes. 
+
+Our Portland conference was a great success
+-------------------------------------------
+
+The 2025 Portland conference was our largest yet, with 415 in-person attendees and 170 virtual participants.
+New features like Sunday registration location, food carts, and expanded venue spaces helped make the experience even better.
+All talk videos are available on our `YouTube playlist <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZAeFn6dfHplMbtJtidqFFtL7rt3ASNSR>`_
+and the `full recap blog post <https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2025/news/thanks-recap/>`_ has lots more information.
+We're excited to see everyone again in Portland in 2026,
+and will be announcing the dates soon.
+
+Europe returns in-person
+------------------------
+
+The biggest news for 2025 is the return of our European conference, now in Berlin!  
+After several years of virtual-only events, we're thrilled to be back in person in Europe for the first time since 2019.  
+The Berlin conference will also feature a virtual component, so documentarians can join us from anywhere.  
+Find out more and get your tickets on the `Berlin website <https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/berlin/2025/>`_.  
+Thanks to our local team and everyone who helped make this possible!
+
+Africa continues to grow
+------------------------
+
+We're excited to see our Africa community continue to grow, with Kenya hosting their first conference, and a `summit this year in Nigeria <https://sessionize.com/writethedocs-nigeria-conference-2025-bu/>`_.  
+Read about the 2025 Kenya conference in their `recap blog post <https://wtdkenya.hashnode.dev/wtd-kenya-conference-2025>`_.  
+We're excited to see the larger events growing from local meetups into larger conferences and summits.
+
+Australia goes virtual for 2025
+-------------------------------
+
+Our `Australia conference <https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/australia/2025/>`_ will be virtual this year to maximize accessibility and participation.  
+This decision was made to help more documentarians from across the region join in, regardless of travel constraints or budget.  
+If you're interested in speaking or attending, check out the website for more details and updates as the event approaches.  
+
+Community board and team updates
+--------------------------------
+
+Our Community Board has been busy this year, focusing on improving team coordination, keeping our community spaces positive, and supporting meetups with better tools and resources.  
+We're grateful for the dedication of our team leads who keep the community thriving.
+To catch up on all the updates, check out the `community board  posts <https://www.writethedocs.org/blog/archive/tag/community-board/>`_ archive. 
+
+Looking ahead
+-------------
+
+As always, we're committed to making Write the Docs events welcoming and accessible for everyone.  
+Whether you're joining us in Portland, Berlin, Africa, Australia, or online, we hope to see you soon!
+
+Thank you for being part of our community and making the documentation world a little bit better.
+
+----------------
+From our sponsor
+----------------
+
+This month's newsletter is sponsored by `Systems Champion <https://www.systemology.com/writethedocs/>`_.
+
+.. image:: /_static/img/sponsors/systems-champion.png
+  :align: center
+  :width: 50%
+  :target: https://www.systemology.com/writethedocs/
+  :alt: Systems Champion logo
+
+**Finally, a business book that gets what you already know.**
+
+You're already documenting processes, creating guides, and making complex things simple. But what if those skills could transform entire businesses?
+
+Write the Docs subscribers get preview access to "Systems Champion: Simplify Business Processes, Unlock Team Potential & Achieve True Freedom."
+
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+
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+
+*Interested in sponsoring the newsletter? Take a look at our* `sponsorship prospectus </sponsorship/newsletter/>`__.
+