WordCamp US 2026: The Artist and the Set of rules

Two months after my first WordCamp, I landed in Phoenix, AZ, for WordCamp US to enjoy it once more, this time in any other a part of the sector however with a an identical team of other people similarly enthusiastic about open supply. 

In the beginning look, the Arizona barren region turns out easy, barren. However glance nearer, and there’s an class in that simplicity this is artwork in and of itself. 

Like just right generation, the whole lot has a objective, not anything is wasted, and there’s attractiveness in that. At WCUS this 12 months that I noticed artwork and generation converge.

A four-day circle of relatives reunion 

WordCamp US 2026 ran August 16–19 on the Phoenix Conference Middle. Over 1,100 other people registered, with 1000’s extra looking at the livestreams. There have been over fifty classes throughout 4 tracks. Contributor Day drew 425 individuals — 29 of them contributing for the primary time — who arranged into 26 groups round targets they may reach in an afternoon.

So why make the commute when the talks are livestreamed, recorded, and recapped?

At the stroll to the development corridor, I requested Anne McCarthy the similar query (sure, we braved the warmth!). She nailed it: it’s a circle of relatives reunion. Within the age of monitors, AI, and video-meeting tradition, other people don’t seem to be handiest yearning human connection but additionally their selected circle of relatives. 

Others who consider in WordPress and what open supply represents. Like-minded creators and developers making issues that topic now, and optimistically for years yet to come.

WordPress 101 Workshop: Construct a Website online

I sat in on Jamie Marsland’s novice consultation to construct aspect through aspect with different WordPress customers and notice the buyer enjoy with recent eyes. 

We began from a clean web page. And there’s one thing actually thrilling about stripping the whole lot away and going again to the fundamentals.

When we’d constructed a couple of pages and posts, Jamie confirmed us the Quilt block (his favourite). Gazing him use it felt extra like designing than construction.

At the subject of educating and studying, the WordPress 101 consultation felt complimentary to the WordPress.com Scholar Plan we introduced at WCUS. Scholars get to be informed on an actual WordPress website online, now not a brief lecture room challenge, and the paintings they devise can stick with them after the route ends. Be told through making one thing actual, then stay construction on it.

Jamie’s enthusiasm for WordPress is contagious; actually, midway thru his consultation, a pigeon flew into the room and settled in. It got here for the air con, stayed for the demo.

Periods aimed toward creativity, simplicity, and buyer centricity

In keeping with the artwork and generation theme, WordPress 7.1 “Mary Lou” shipped all the way through WordCamp – a unencumber named after the pioneering jazz artist, filled with new styling gear, up to date media flows, added notes capability, and extra. 

The hole keynote, Dreaming with AI: Innovation Classes from the Entrance Traces of Disney & Meta, used to be delivered through Dependable Pyczynski. His standpoint: AI can lend a hand groups construct merchandise which are extra helpful and extra distinctly human, however provided that you convey creators, builders, researchers, and communities in early, let actual experimentation pressure selections as a substitute of assumptions, and stay human judgment on the heart.

And his take a look at for whether or not you’ve executed your activity? Person consideration. If the item you’ve made is just right sufficient, other people gained’t get distracted — they’ll glance up and notice time has long gone through they usually need to stay going.

Just about part of the classes have been AI-focused or AI-adjacent, the largest appearing at a flagship WordCamp to this point. This system coated agentic construction, AI-powered plugin pipelines, vibe coding for non-technical customers, block subject matters and AI in company workflows, WordPress readiness for the agentic internet, and extra.  

The final consultation with Matt Mullenweg and Robert Jacobi introduced it again to simplicity. WordPress co-founder and CEO of Automattic, Matt Mullenweg, pulled out his digital camera and snapped footage of the target audience, pronouncing he’s bringing again @photomatt – a playful nod to the maintain he makes use of on Tumblr and X. All through the fireplace, he additionally spoke to the will for generation to get more practical. Over the years we tend to make issues extra difficult, however knowledge brings us again to simplicity. Matt’s tales and tech references are laced with poetic references that tie again to generation.

Which introduced me again to the barren region. Not anything wasted, the whole lot with a objective — in all probability the toughest factor to construct and the very last thing you arrive at.

WordPress Studio shines

On the WordPress.com sales space, our agentic native construction instrument, WordPress Studio, drew other people into longer-than-planned demos, with attendees amassing across the monitors to observe websites being constructed and altered in actual time.

Proper along it, WordPress Agent confirmed any other aspect of the similar thought: AI that doesn’t simply advise you, however can in reality make adjustments in your website online for you. We additionally demoed Pointers, which supplies the Agent a shared reminiscence of your website online’s voice, targets, and visible route.

What me used to be how temporarily the dialog moved previous the demo itself. Folks have been already imagining those gear within the way in which they in reality construct, organize, and replace WordPress websites.

WCUS performed to our humanity

The tactical studies, the emphasis on play, the prioritization of creators, and the unending picture alternatives are all a part of what made this convention uniquely human.

It’s a tech convention, finally, however I used to be completely extremely joyful through how it transcended virtual sameness and AI-driven standardization to face out and phone our humanity.

Listed here are examples in motion:

• Code for the Folks non-public screening with stickers and swag
• Paint your individual Wapuu – tactile, emotional, sensible 
• Sales space giveaways that have been Arizona-centric: water bottles, enthusiasts, sunscreen, along side baggage and bandanas designed through native artists 
• The WordPress Mercantile featured native companies constructed on WordPress
• A focal point on play, together with a seating space with cornhole, an in-booth air hockey desk, and a couple of picture ops with delightfully ingenious backgrounds
• A author studio staged with couches, crops, highest lights, and prime finish recording apparatus designed particularly for producing nice video. Loose SD playing cards for individuals who applied it 

Even the Wi-Fi password used to be a nod to the convergence of generation and artwork…IYKYK.

As I climbed into my Waymo and headed to the airport, I mirrored on how artwork connects other people. It conjures up other people. It will probably additionally polarize — and that’s now not a nasty factor. 

As companies and as people, we don’t must be the whole lot to everybody. We simply have to search out our other people (like our WordPress group). Be uniquely you. 

In finding your consumers, focal point on them, and use generation that will help you gas that connection.