Including 3 of my favorite stops at WCUS and your official reminder to book that hotel!
If this is your first time considering attending WordCamp US, hi! Glad you found us. Let’s talk about what’s actually waiting for you at the Phoenix Convention Center, August 16-19.
The program this year is genuinely different.
WordCamp US 2026 has a strong AI thread running through it and not the kind where someone stands on a stage and tells you AI is going to change everything. The kind where people who are actually using it in their day-to-day work show you what that looks like in practice. What does it mean for your content workflow? Your development process? The business you’re trying to build?
Those are the questions getting answered. And beyond AI, the program runs the full range: SEO, performance, accessibility, e-commerce, content strategy, agency life. Four days of sessions, contributor days, workshops, and a showcase that covers the WordPress ecosystem end to end.
Three things on-site I’m most excited about (outside of the sessions of course).
The Happiness Bar
It sounds like a cocktail bar. It isn’t but you might leave feeling just as good.
The Happiness Bar is WordCamp’s free, drop-in help desk. This is a dedicated space where you sit down with a volunteer WordPress expert, open your laptop, and actually work through whatever’s been blocking you. Plugin questions, CSS issues, ecommerce setup, “I don’t even know where to start” are all fair game. The volunteers come from diverse backgrounds, including developers, designers, builders, and yes, usually speakers head there right after their session to keep the conversation going.
If you’ve never been, make sure to bring one real question and find out what happens.
If you’re experienced, consider signing up for a volunteer shift. It’s one of the most genuinely rewarding ways to spend a few hours at WCUS.
Career Corner
Inside the Sponsor Hall, Career Corner is a low-pressure space for anyone thinking about what’s next. Browse the job board, chat with company reps at open times, or just get a feel for what companies are actually hiring for. No appointments, no formal pitch. It’s just a room full of people open to a real conversation. There’s also practical stuff on-site: resume tips, interview framing, a read on what the ecosystem is looking for right now
And while you’re there you can build a FULL WEBSITE IN HALF A DAY! Seriously. You know that item on your to-do list that you keep pushing to the next week? Well this is your sign to not put it off anymore. This space offers you real focus to create a site from start to finish for your portfolio, business, commerce, or brand and the best part is you have the accountability and support from some of the best on the web with you every step along the way. This is exactly the support and mentorship the WordPress community is made of and truly one of my favorite perks that WordCamp US offers.
The Sponsor Hall
It’s impossible to walk past without getting fully immersed in it. The Sponsor Hall is where a lot of the best unscheduled conversations happen, the kind where you end up talking to someone for 45 minutes and leave with three things you didn’t know you needed. Plus, the swag is worth the trip on its own. Just saying.
A few things to do right now.
Book the hotel.
The Sheraton Phoenix Downtown has a discounted group rate at $159+ per night and is a short walk to the convention center. The rates won’t last so make sure to get on this offer asap! If you’re staying there, you also get access to a dedicated registration desk in the hotel lobby on Contributor Day morning (Sunday, August 16, 8am–12pm). That means you grab your badge before the crowds, skip the lines, and start the week ahead of schedule.
Come partner with the community onsite.
Volunteer applications close July 1. Volunteering is one of the best ways to experience WordCamp where the conversations happen naturally around the work. If you’ve been looking for a reason to get more involved with the community, this is it.
The Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship deadline is July 10.
If you identify as a woman, contribute to WordPress, have never attended WordCamp US, and have financial need, this scholarship covers your ticket, flight, and hotel. All of it. Please pass this along to someone who needs to know about it.
47 Days!
Forty-seven days go fast, so grab your tickets! Can’t wait to see you, as you already know you can catch me in between sessions at the Happiness Bar, all around the sponsorship hall, or posted up at the Career Corner!
Whether you’re a developer, a designer, a freelancer, a marketer, a student, or just someone who has a website and wants to do more with it, there’s a version of WordCamp US built for you. The sessions, the workshops, the hallway conversations, the lunch tables, the things that start at 9am and somehow continue over dinner.