I’ve recently returned home from Vancouver after a whirlwind trip that included taking in WordCamp Canada 2026. On the heels of WordCamp US in Portland last year and WordCamp Europe in Kraków, Poland in June, this was a significantly less crowded event and also the first domestic WordCamp for me in over a decade.
Taking place a couple storeys underground at the University of British Columbia (Robson Square), this year’s WordCamp featured some pretty interesting talks alongside networking, good food, and endless coffee. Here are a few takeaways from the sessions I attended:
Collaborate, don’t do everything solo. Alexanne Laplante’s opening talk titled Stop Building Alone: How Smart Freelancers Use Collaboration to Take On Bigger Projects Without Burning Out really spoke to me personally as it related closely to my past experience running a WordPress products company on my own, contrasted with the privilege I now have to work with an amazing co-founder and a talented team right here at BerryPress.
AI, meet WordPress? In The New Front Door, Andy Peatling brought a fascinating keynote presenting his research on why AI agents seem to avoid choosing WordPress as a framework for creating new websites when not specifically told to do so, despite its long-held position as the #1 CMS. Accompanying quantitative analysis were practical recommendations on what we as a community can do to address these trends. There is work to be done!
Intrinsic design rocks in the block editor. Although UX and design are far from strong suits of mine, I can always appreciate elegant and user-friendly solutions and interfaces. Anton Plauche’s discussion of intrinsic design brought exactly that and left me with some knowledge to bring back and share!
As always, it was a good time out of the office that resulted in new ideas, good conversations, and an expanded LinkedIn network. Until next time!