WordCamp US 2024: Recap and Highlights
September 27, 2024
Portland’s Oregon Convention Center was the gathering spot for North America’s largest WordPress event, WordCamp US 2024. From September 17 to 20, the venue hosted more than 1,500 participants who flew in from around the world. This four-day event provided WordPress developers, designers, and enthusiasts a platform to explore the latest advancements, exchange ideas, and reinforce their ties to the open-source community.
Contributor Day at WCUS 2024
One of the core activities, Contributor Day, saw significant participation, with over 400 individuals from the WordPress community coming together to engage directly with ongoing projects. Spread across 25 teams, contributors focused on various tasks, including triaging issues, enhancing performance, and contributing to developing the Twenty Twenty-Five theme. These collaborative efforts aimed to fortify the foundation for the upcoming WordPress 6.7 release, demonstrating the community’s commitment to improving and evolving the platform.
Showcase Day: WordPress at Scale
A standout feature of this year’s event was the inaugural Showcase Day, where leading enterprises demonstrated the versatility and power of WordPress in their complex ecosystems. Representatives from notable organizations such as Disney Experiences, The New York Post, CNN, Vox Media, and Amnesty International shared how they leverage WordPress to meet diverse needs across various industries. Particularly impactful was the presentation by Disney’s Alexandra Guffey, who explored using Gutenberg within the extensive Disney Experience network of sites.
In addition to these enterprise solutions, the day also featured prominent voices from the WordPress community sharing their pioneering endeavours. For instance, Nick Diego presented the Block Visibility plugin, illustrating how it enhances the functionality of WordPress blocks. Meanwhile, James LePage showcased Agent AI, an innovative tool designed to streamline interactions and functionalities within WordPress sites.
These sessions demonstrated the platform’s flexibility and powerful capabilities. It was an inspiring day that we, as a community, hope to see expanded in future events, continuing to highlight innovative uses of WordPress in various professional contexts.
Visionaries and Voices
The latter half of the conference was rich with over 20 sessions spanning three tracks, from AI applications in WordPress to maximizing wp-admin. Networking sessions offered attendees a platform to connect with an array of hosts, plugins, agencies, and service providers.
Joseph “JJ” Jacks opened the Thursday Programming Sessions with a keynote on the future trajectory of open-source software. He shared insights on how open-source is poised to outpace closed-core systems. His talk sparked discussions on the evolving landscape of technology and the pivotal role of open source in it.
Keeping with tradition, our team actively live-tweeted throughout the event, allowing those not on-site to partake in the learning and discussions. Follow along as we recap some of the notable highlights from the sessions.
A fireside chat with TIME’s CTO, Burhan Hamid, and WordPress VIP’s CMO, Tim Hossain, opened Friday’s Programming Sessions. They discussed scalability and reusable components in the context of fast-paced media companies, providing practical insights into large-scale WordPress implementations.
Here are some key takeaways from the last day of sessions.
A Community’s Heartbeat
Matt Mullenweg’s dynamic keynote blended insights into WordPress’s open-source philosophy with practical calls to action. He urged support for entities contributing to the platform and emphasized the collective effort in shaping WordPress’s future.
Wrapping Up and Looking Forward
WordCamp US 2024 concluded on an upbeat note, complete with an invitation to next year’s event. In 2025, WordCamp US will return to the vibrant city of Portland from August 26 to 29th. Building on the success of this year’s extended four-day format, the organizing team announced that #WCUS2025 will continue with this schedule.
Stay connected and follow us on X for more updates. We can’t wait to see what next year holds and hope you’ll be part of this continuing journey in the world of WordPress.
