What We Realized (and Cherished) at WordCamp Asia 2026 in Mumbai

WordCamp Asia 2026 simply wrapped in Mumbai, and it was once some of the greatest WordPress occasions ever. WordPress customers, builders, and creators accrued on the Jio Global Conference Centre for 3 days of creating and studying in combination.

Prior to we get into the highlights, an enormous thanks to the organizers, volunteers, and audio system who made this occur. Attendees got here from proper right here in Mumbai, throughout India, and world wide.

Contributor Day kicked issues off

If you happen to’ve by no means heard of Contributor Day, it’s precisely what it appears like — folks sit down down in combination and give a contribution to the open-source WordPress undertaking. Code, documentation, translations, neighborhood making plans, and extra.

The magic isn’t simply the paintings that will get achieved. It’s the connections. New individuals sat along individuals who’ve labored on WordPress core for over a decade. Concepts were given shared. Friendships began and renewed. That is the place WordPress’s “prolonged circle of relatives” power comes from. To find the overall reliable recap submit right here.

Classes value your time

After contributor day, we held two complete days of talks that coated the whole lot from undertaking scaling to cross-border bills. You’ll be able to watch each consultation on YouTube. Listed below are a couple of we attended and wish to highlight.

Training tasks within the WordPress ecosystem

A devoted panel coated WordPress Training — the rising effort to convey WordPress at once to scholars via campus occasions, scholar golf equipment, and a credit program that companions with universities to combine WordPress into their curriculum. Actual-world, hands-on open supply enjoy for the following technology of internet creators.

The Pace Construct Problem

Moderated through our personal Jamie Marsland, this one packed the room. Ajay Maurya and Craig Gomes went head-to-head — one the usage of AI, one going totally old-school — with half-hour to rebuild an entire web page the usage of most effective the Complete Web page Editor. No web page developers, no customized code. There was once no transparent winner, which made it much more amusing.

Danny Sullivan on the Google sales space

Danny Sullivan is a Google Seek Director and one of the well known voices in search engine marketing. He was once proper there are living on the Google sales space, giving 1:1 recommendation to WordPress people in particular person. Whilst this wasn’t an reliable consultation at the time table, it’s the type of factor that most effective occurs at a WordCamp.

We heard him percentage that the similar long-standing rules of high quality content material for excellent search engine marketing nonetheless follow in nowadays’s AI global. But it surely’s much more essential now to have a powerful viewpoint, a definite voice, or a novel place. With out that, you’re simply developing commodity content material, which is much less more likely to be cited or utilized by LLMs. Content material stays king. 

Mary Hubbard’s magic wand 

Mary Hubbard, Govt Director of WordPress, was once requested what one sudden factor she’d trade about WordPress if she had a magic wand. Her resolution was once to support the WordPress.org plugin listing through treating it as a product and not more like infrastructure. Numerous heads nodded at that one, and we sit up for serving to make that imaginative and prescient a truth. 

AI was once far and wide 

No wonder, however AI got here up incessantly all through the convention. Together with a chat from Nirav Mehta, a Mumbai-based entrepreneur. His Misplaced & Present in AI Wonderland consultation was once a walkthrough of what in truth labored (and what didn’t) when his workforce attempted to use AI throughout building, advertising and marketing, and operations.

Nirav reminded us that like a hammer, AI is just a instrument. Whilst you hang a hammer, the whole lot starts to appear to be a nail. AI won’t all the time be the suitable instrument for the activity. In a time filled with AI pleasure, that roughly honesty was once refreshing.

What WordPress.com delivered to Mumbai

The WordPress.com workforce confirmed up robust with a couple of issues to percentage, and the conversations at our sales space didn’t forestall all week.

Plugins and issues on each paid plan. We made positive everybody knew: you’ll now set up plugins and issues on all WordPress.com paid plans. Builders and companies who construct on WordPress on a daily basis liked listening to in regards to the flexibility this implies for pricing and contours on our web hosting platform.

A brand new WordPress agent on Telegram. We confirmed off a brand spanking new Open-Claw-inspired WordPress agent you’ll chat with at once from Telegram — with WhatsApp and extra platforms coming quickly. The theory of managing each facet of your WordPress web page via a dialog to your telephone sparked a large number of “wait, what if…” moments on the sales space. Extra in this quickly!

Your comments is heard. Past the demos, we spent a large number of time chatting with customers, companies, and builders who gave us direct, fair comments about what’s operating and what isn’t on WordPress.com. We’re already bringing all that studying into our roadmap and long run plans. An enormous thanks to everybody we chatted with. 

The WordPress neighborhood is as robust as ever

It’s transparent after per week in Mumbai that this neighborhood is rising, and the momentum is actual.

The hallway conversations, the contributor sprints, the after-parties, the individuals who traveled midway all over the world to be in the similar room — that power isn’t slowing down.

If you happen to’ve by no means been to a WordCamp, make this your yr. And if a complete convention seems like a large step, get started with a neighborhood meetup. To find one close to you at occasions.wordpress.org.

Now with 4 flagship WordCamps a yr:

• WordCamp Europe — Kraków, Poland, June 4–6, 2026.
• WordCamp US — Phoenix, Arizona, August 16–19, 2026.
• WordCamp Asia 2027 — Penang, Malaysia, April 9–11, 2027.
• WordCamp India (TBD) — A brand spanking new flagship tournament becoming a member of the lineup in 2027.

We will be able to’t wait to peer you there.

And with that, namaste, Mumbai!