I’ll be honest with you: when we started brainstorming what could make the sponsor hall feel a little more us, my first thought was a farmers market.
Not literally, obviously (though if anyone wants to bring peaches, I won’t stop you). But that feeling of walking down a row of tables, meeting the actual people behind the actual things, and leaving with something you didn’t know you needed? That’s the energy we’re chasing with a new activation we’re calling the “Made on WordPress” Marketplace.
So, what is it?
It’s a small, curated corner of the sponsor hall built entirely around merchants, makers, and small businesses who run on WordPress. Real people. Real products. Real “oh wait, YOU built that on WordPress?” moments.
Picture a row of simple tables, each one hosting a different maker or shop owner from our ecosystem that usually live quietly in the background of our community, powering their storefronts, their services, their whole livelihoods on the platform we all show up for every year. This is our chance to put them front and center.
Why we’re doing this
WordPress powers a wild percentage of the internet, and a huge chunk of that is small businesses. We talk a lot about plugins and themes and core contributions (as we should!), but we don’t always get to see the human end of that equation, who are the shop owners who picked WordPress because it just worked for them.
This is a chance to close that gap a little. This is a chance to close that gap a little, giving attendees another reason to spend time in the sponsor hall and discover everything it has to offer.
Who’s showing up
We’re pulling this together in a couple of ways:
- Sponsor nominations: If you’re a sponsor and you’ve got a standout client or customer story you’re proud of, this is your moment to bring them into the room with you.
- Direct outreach: We’re also reaching out to local merchants and creators who build their businesses on WordPress and would be a great fit for the Marketplace.
Every merchant gets a complimentary ticket to the event, because obviously, if you’re showing up to represent the community, you should get to be in the community for the weekend too.
The details
- When: August 18–19, 2026, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM each day.
- Where: Phoenix Convention Center, inside the sponsor hall.
- Setup: A 6ft table and tabletop signage is on us, just bring your products, staffing, and point-of-sale.
- What we handle: The space, the footprint, and getting the word out.
We’re keeping it lightweight on purpose. This isn’t about adding logistics for logistics’ sake, it’s about giving good people a good spot to show up and do their thing.
Know someone who belongs at that table?
If there’s a merchant, maker, or small business in your corner of the WordPress world who deserves a seat at this table (literally), we want to hear about it. Whether they sell physical products, offer services, or just have a really good story about how WordPress changed their business, please send them our way to fill out this submission form.
See you in Phoenix. 🌵
