For the weKnow team, WordCamp U.S. 2017 was our first representation at an official WordPress event. It was a little nerve racking once again playing the role of the ‘new kid in school’, we’ve spent years participating in the Drupal community, so it was different starting from the ground up at an event. As a company, we decided that WordCampUS17 was the perfect event to introduce all the hard work we’ve put in over the last 6 months into building and improving the WP-Console project .
There were around 1800 attendees from all around the world participating in the biggest WordPress event hosted in the US. Although, I did hear that WordCamp Europe has a slight edge in attendance over WordCamp US, the US counterpart. The reception, despite being the new kids on the block, was overwhelmingly warm. From the lunch table on day one, everyone was eager to share knowledge, understand other platforms that we use, and even toast to the development gods at the after parties.
A special note has to go out to the organizers of the event. The traffic flow was extremely streamlined, the lunch was spectacular and sound and tech (including wifi!) was brilliant. How the event costs $40.00 a person is an amazing feat!
Key tools and topics from WordCamp U.S. 2017
- Project Gutenberg by @mor10
- WebPack by @KAdamWhite
- Continuous Integration by @TessaK22
- GraphQL by @JasonBahl
- Multilingual by @shawnHooper
- AWS by @Nathanielks
The main highlight was project Gutenberg, which was very well received. Simply put, this tool will make quick work of page design and adds the functionality to save and reuse design elements packaged in blocks. I believe this will drastically change the front end admin for a lot of WordPress content editors, very excited to watch this grow.
State of the Word was the perfect opportunity for our team to get a better sense of what’s on deck for WordPress as a platform. Among other things, Matt Mullenweg, creator of WP as well as founder and CEO of Automattic, provided great insights on how WP is doing by the numbers. He also introduced other topics and there was even the ‘dreaded’ live demo courtesy of Matias Venture (live demo went without a hitch!).
Kenny Abarca and Michael Kinjanyui
Our Best Picks
FRIDAY
- Evolving WordPress with GraphQL
- How Working Remote Saved My Life *
- Remote Control: Establishing accountability and shared expectations in a distributed environment. *
* Simply because we like this topic so much!
SATURDAY
- Conquering Continuous Integration & Deployment
- Financial Forecasting for WordPress Businesses
- WordPress of Things: Connecting your digital presence to your physical footprint.
We spoke with so many people during the event that it wouldn’t be fair to mention five or even ten. The most notable thing was how welcome we felt, WordPress has a great sense of community. People who understand that sharing knowledge and life experiences is fulfilling and appreciated by others.
[12/12/17 UPDATE] WCUS 2017: VIDEOS, PHOTOS, AND SPEAKER SLIDES.