WordCamp US (WCUS), North America’s largest WordPress event, recently welcomed over 1,500 attendees from around the globe at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland from September 17 to 20.

This four-day event saw WordPress professionals and enthusiasts gather to delve into the latest advancements and use cases, collaborate on open-source projects, and reinforce community bonds.

The event was made possible by a dedicated team of more than 40 volunteers, led by Aaron D. Campbell, Julia Golomb, Katie Richards, and Sandy Edwards.

Building WordPress

Contributor Day brought together over 400 contributors across 25 teams to support the WordPress project. As is customary for Contributor Day, participants learned and collaborated while tackling key projects such as triaging issues, exploring performance improvements, advancing the Twenty Twenty-Five theme, and preparing for the upcoming WordPress 6.7 release.

WordPress contributors discussing all things design at WCUS 2024’s Contributor Day.

Celebrating WordPress

WCUS 2024’s inaugural Showcase Day shone a spotlight on how enterprises like Disney Experiences, The New York Post, CNN, Vox Media, and Amnesty International are utilizing WordPress across various industries. With 19 sessions, attendees were provided with diverse insights into WordPress’s extensive capabilities and features.

Showcase day presentation by Alexandra Guffey and Katrina Yates of Disney on Gutenberg’s use in a complex ecosystem of sites.

Sustaining WordPress

Keynote presenter Joseph Jacks shares thoughts on the future of OSS.

Joseph “JJ” Jacks, founder of OSS Capital, inaugurated the first day of programming with a keynote on how open source will dominate the next wave of software. He examined emerging tech trends and expressed how closed-core, or closed-source, software is reaching a plateau. Commercial open source companies are disrupting the space and forging a new path.

JJ shared his optimism for the future, highlighting emerging projects OSS Capital is excited about and emphasizing that the most successful open-source companies thrive by generating more value than they capture.

Learn WordPress

The latter half of the conference featured more than 20 sessions and workshops across three tracks. Topics ranged from leveraging AI in WordPress to maximizing the functionality of wp-admin.

Thursday’s dedicated networking session brought attendees to the sponsor hall to explore and connect with the vast ecosystem of hosts, plugins, agencies, and service providers. The WordCamp US Lounge, located within the exhibit hall, hosted focused discussions on hosting, neurodiversity, inclusivity, and content marketing.

Friday began with a fireside chat between TIME’s CTO Burhan Hamid and WordPress VIP’s CMO Tim Hossain. The duo discussed how TIME’s implementation of reusable components enabled them to scale and support major traffic-generating topics such as Taylor Swift’s Person of the Year, House of the Dragon, and political events.

WordCamp attendees stopped by the Code is Poetry lounge to try their hands at the vintage Smith Corona and have a poem written by the Typewriter Troubadour.

Attendees take a break in the center of the exhibit hall at the “campfire” where various discussions were held throughout the event.

Q&A with Cofounder Mullenweg

WordPress Cofounder Matt Mullenweg delivered a dynamic keynote, blending insights on WordPress’s open-source future with a creative twist. He began by reading his recent post that explores open-source philosophy, touching on themes of freedom, collaboration, and the ongoing influence of open-source projects like WordPress. Mullenweg also critiqued companies for misleadingly labeling proprietary models as open source, stressing the importance of true open-source licenses for the future of software freedom.

Matt further emphasized WordPress’s ecosystem-driven development and highlighted the Five for the Future initiative, which aims to avoid the tragedy of the commons and ensure that WordPress thrives for everyone. His speech addressed community concerns about companies profiting off WordPress without giving back and urged attendees to support companies that contribute to the platform’s growth.

Before diving into the Q&A segment of the presentation, Matt expressed the importance of recognizing:

“What we create together is bigger than any one person.”

WordPress Cofounder Matt Mullenweg on the main stage at WCUS 2024.

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