{"id":10,"date":"2025-10-20T08:38:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T15:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/sessions\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T19:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T02:43:14","slug":"sessions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/sessions\/","title":{"rendered":"Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-query has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-query-is-layout-constrained\"><ul class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-template is-layout-flow wp-block-post-template-is-layout-flow\"><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5921 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-contributor-day\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/contributor-day\/\" target=\"_self\" >Contributor Day<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/contributor-day\/\" rel=\"tag\">Contributor Day (North 120AB)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contributor Day is where the WordPress community comes together to build the project, and everyone is welcome, whether it is your first contribution or your five-hundredth. You will join a team, work alongside experienced contributors, and leave having helped move WordPress forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Doors open at 9:00 am with opening remarks at 9:30, and the day runs to 5:00 pm. Registration for Contributor Day is free and separate from your WordCamp ticket, so <a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/contributor-day\">sign up here if you haven&#8217;t yet<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>New to contributing?<\/strong> Come to the Connector Table near the entrance. We will help you set up a <a href=\"http:\/\/WordPress.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WordPress.org<\/a> profile, get onto WordPress Slack, and make your first contribution, and we will point you to the right team for what you care about.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/contributor-day\/\" rel=\"tag\">Contributor Day (North 120AB)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5943 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-4-wp101\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/wp101-contributor-day-1\/\" target=\"_self\" >WP 101: Build a Real Website, Today<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Have a portfolio, a small business, or a side project that needs a home online? Bring a laptop and open your browser \u2014 by the end of this session you\u2019ll have a real WordPress site built with your own hands: pages, a post, a logo, a menu, all live in the room. Every attendee also gets a free year of hosting and a domain to take their site live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What you\u2019ll learn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The basic building blocks of a WordPress site (posts, pages, themes, menus)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Beginner-friendly accessibility and SEO habits along the way<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confidence to keep building on your own after today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who it\u2019s for<br><\/strong>First-time builders, students, designers, marketers, and anyone with a portfolio or small business idea who\u2019s never touched WordPress before. Absolute beginners welcome and encouraged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No hosting account or experience needed. You\u2019ll walk out with a copy of your site &#8211; plus a year of complimentary hosting and domain &#8211; ready for Go-Live Office Hours to make it official.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5924 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-4-wp101\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/wp101-contributor-day-2\/\" target=\"_self\" >Office Hours: Take Your Site Live<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hosted by:<\/strong> WordPress.com, Pressable<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bring your laptop, charger, and the site you built in WP 101 \u2013 along with your complimentary year of hosting and domain. Drop in anytime and work one-on-one with volunteer mentors to get your site onto that host, connect your domain, and publish it to the world \u2013 your portfolio, your business, your project, live for people to see. Relaxed, hands-on help. No slides, no pressure. Perfect if you just finished WP 101, or already have a site ready to go public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5937 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-contributor-day\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/contributor-day-3\/\" target=\"_self\" >Contributor Day<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/contributor-day\/\" rel=\"tag\">Contributor Day (North 120AB)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contributor Day is where the WordPress community comes together to build the project, and everyone is welcome, whether it is your first contribution or your five-hundredth. You will join a team, work alongside experienced contributors, and leave having helped move WordPress forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Doors open at 9:00 am with opening remarks at 9:30, and the day runs to 5:00 pm. Registration for Contributor Day is free and separate from your WordCamp ticket, so <a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/contributor-day\">sign up here if you haven&#8217;t yet<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>New to contributing?<\/strong> Come to the Connector Table near the entrance. We will help you set up a <a href=\"http:\/\/WordPress.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WordPress.org<\/a> profile, get onto WordPress Slack, and make your first contribution, and we will point you to the right team for what you care about.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/contributor-day\/\" rel=\"tag\">Contributor Day (North 120AB)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5668 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1a-skills wcb_session_category-keynote\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/keynote\/\" target=\"_self\" >The Taste Gap: How AI Is Rewiring Developer Experience<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI can now write, test, and ship code with almost no human keystrokes \u2014 so why does developer trust in its output keep falling even as adoption climbs past 84%? The answer isn\u2019t a tooling problem, it\u2019s a taste problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI isn\u2019t eliminating developer work\u2014it\u2019s moving it. Time saved writing code now reappears in specifying intent, assembling context, supervising agents, verifying changes, and owning the outcome. AI mostly reshuffles a developer\u2019s day away from typing and toward judgment calls: what to delegate, what to verify, what to reject outright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drawing on real WordPress examples \u2014 the \u201calmost right\u201d bug that passes every glance-test, the security debt hiding in AI-suggested dependencies, the new bottleneck of feeding an agent the right context \u2014 we\u2019ll unpack what\u2019s actually changing in developer experience, and why the developers who thrive won\u2019t be the ones who prompt best, but the ones with the sharpest taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You\u2019ll leave with a practical model for working with AI\u2014specify, delegate, verify\u2014and a clear vision of the developer\u2019s future role: writing less code, perhaps, but making more consequential decisions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4615 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2a-ai wcb_session_category-showcase wcb_session_category-workshop\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/your-first-ai-only-team-build-it-brief-it-and-put-it-to-work\/\" target=\"_self\" >Your First AI-Only Team: Build It, Brief It, and Put It to Work<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2a-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You don&#8217;t use AI to help your team. You build a team that happens to be AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That shift \u2014 from AI as a tool to AI as a workforce \u2014 changes everything: how you structure work, how you delegate, how you quality-check, and what you actually need to show up for yourself. This workshop is where you make that shift for real, not in theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 90 minutes, you will design, assemble, and employ multiple AI-only teams \u2014 each with a defined role, a scope, and a manager agent coordinating their output. By the end of the session, your teams will have produced something tangible: a working plugin stub, a set of publish-ready blog posts, or a deliverable from your own work that you brought into the room.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2a-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5709 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-4-wp101\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/wp101-showcase-day-1\/\" target=\"_self\" >WP 101: Build a Real Website, Today<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Have a portfolio, a small business, or a side project that needs a home online? Bring a laptop and open your browser \u2014 by the end of this session you\u2019ll have a real WordPress site built with your own hands: pages, a post, a logo, a menu, all live in the room. Every attendee also gets a free year of hosting and a domain to take their site live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What you\u2019ll learn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The basic building blocks of a WordPress site (posts, pages, themes, menus)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Beginner-friendly accessibility and SEO habits along the way<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confidence to keep building on your own after today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who it\u2019s for<br><\/strong>First-time builders, students, designers, marketers, and anyone with a portfolio or small business idea who\u2019s never touched WordPress before. Absolute beginners welcome and encouraged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No hosting account or experience needed. You\u2019ll walk out with a copy of your site &#8211; plus a year of complimentary hosting and domain &#8211; ready for Go-Live Office Hours to make it official.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4636 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical wcb_session_category-showcase wcb_session_category-workshop\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/building-wp-cli-automation-for-large-wordpress-content-sites\/\" target=\"_self\" >Building WP-CLI Automation for Large WordPress Content Sites<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Large WordPress content platforms often contain thousands of articles maintained by editorial and SEO teams over many years. Over time, this creates content debt: outdated blocks and shortcodes, inconsistent links, missing image ALT text, legacy markup, and other large-scale issues that are impossible to fix manually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this hands-on workshop, participants will build practical WP-CLI commands designed for large-scale WordPress content operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Together, we will create reusable and production-safe WP-CLI scripts that can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>perform bulk content transformations,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>migrate blocks and shortcodes,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>normalize internal links,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>generate missing image ALT text using OpenAI,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The workshop will focus on real engineering workflows used for maintaining large WordPress sites and multisite installations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Participants will learn how to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>structure reusable WP-CLI command classes,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>process posts safely in batches,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>work with parameters like:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>limit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>offset<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>category_id<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>dry-run<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>integrate external APIs,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>and evolve one-time migration scripts into automated cron-based maintenance workflows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the end of the session, attendees will have built multiple practical WP-CLI commands and gained patterns they can immediately apply to large WordPress projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Participants should bring a laptop with LocalWP or a Docker development environment installed. All setup instructions, requirements, and workshop materials are available in the workshop repository: <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/lukaszwilczakhostinger\/wp-cli-workshops\">https:\/\/github.com\/lukaszwilczakhostinger\/wp-cli-workshops<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4705 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1a-skills wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/wordpress-for-the-public-good-modernizing-civic-websites-for-accessibility-services-and-the-open-web\/\" target=\"_self\" >WordPress for the Public Good: Modernizing Civic Websites for Accessibility, Services, and the Open Web<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress has changed dramatically since 2020, with Full Site Editing, block themes, the Site Editor, patterns, performance improvements, accessibility work, and modern development workflows reshaping what the platform can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the same time, public-sector websites are being asked to do more than ever. They are not just marketing tools. They are public-service infrastructure where residents find services, access emergency information, apply for programs, report issues, and interact with local government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This session connects the evolution of modern WordPress with the practical realities of public-sector digital service. Drawing from real-world experience with city microsites, accessibility challenges, resident personas, service-based content strategy, and an in-progress effort to migrate a large city website to WordPress, this talk will explore how WordPress can support more accessible, trustworthy, and sustainable civic websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attendees will learn how to think beyond pages and templates and toward services, tasks, accessibility, governance, editor workflows, and long-term public value.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4881 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1a-skills wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/wordpress-as-an-operating-system-running-your-entire-company-on-wordpress\/\" target=\"_self\" >WordPress as an Operating System: Running Your Entire Company on WordPress<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress started as a blogging tool. It has grown into the operating system of the web. This talk takes that one step further: WordPress as the operating system of a company, the single surface where every business unit and every tool people depend on come together behind one login. It doesn&#8217;t do every job. It coordinates them. And now that AI is in the picture, that layer is the one place a model can reach everything at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drawing on a real multi-brand operation running in production, with thousands of daily users across dozens of offices, we&#8217;ll walk the pattern, where it breaks, and the choices everything else depended on. You&#8217;ll learn how to run a whole company on WordPress as an operating system: orchestrating the tools each unit already relies on, architecting multiple brands on a single block theme, and using AI to let anyone edit content easily and on brand. You&#8217;ll leave with a working model that scales from a 3-person shop to a 3,000-person enterprise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5712 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-4-wp101\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/wp101-showcase-day-2\/\" target=\"_self\" >WP 101: Build a Real Website, Today<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Have a portfolio, a small business, or a side project that needs a home online? Bring a laptop and open your browser \u2014 by the end of this session you\u2019ll have a real WordPress site built with your own hands: pages, a post, a logo, a menu, all live in the room. Every attendee also gets a free year of hosting and a domain to take their site live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What you\u2019ll learn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The basic building blocks of a WordPress site (posts, pages, themes, menus)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Beginner-friendly accessibility and SEO habits along the way<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confidence to keep building on your own after today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who it\u2019s for<br><\/strong>First-time builders, students, designers, marketers, and anyone with a portfolio or small business idea who\u2019s never touched WordPress before. Absolute beginners welcome and encouraged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No hosting account or experience needed. You\u2019ll walk out with a copy of your site &#8211; plus a year of complimentary hosting and domain &#8211; ready for Go-Live Office Hours to make it official.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4572 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/beyond-vibe-coding-build-an-ai-pipeline-that-ships-production-ready-plugins\/\" target=\"_self\" >Beyond Vibe-Coding: Build an AI Pipeline That Ships Production-Ready Plugins<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyone can vibe-code a plugin in an afternoon. Most of those plugins can&#8217;t go anywhere near a business-critical site (and you know it the moment you read the code). Learn how to build your own AI pipeline that ships plugins you can actually deploy: secure, performant, and built to the standards your senior engineers enforce in code review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4875 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1a-skills wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/3-things-all-website-owners-need-to-check-for-privacy-compliance\/\" target=\"_self\" >3 Things All Website Owners Need to Check for Privacy Compliance<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many modern websites are still not complying with a single privacy law. Not GDPR. Not CIPA. Not PIPEDA. Nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the rise of privacy-law lawsuits &#8211; and exploding cases of CIPA demand letters &#8211; now is not a good time to tempt the fates. But, as with most problems, the first step towards fixing a problem is to first identify there is a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, here are three things all website owners, designers, and agencies need to check their websites for to ensure they are being compliant with modern privacy laws:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1) Data collection methods (forms, ecommerce, newsletter subscriptions, etc.)<br>2) Data collection methods behind the scenes (analytics, pixels, reCAPTCHA, etc.)<br>3) Are your policies and consent methods adequate?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4687 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2a-ai wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/parenting-claude-guardrails-for-ai-assisted-development\/\" target=\"_self\" >Parenting Claude: Guardrails for AI-Assisted Development<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2a-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">LLMs are here and they\u2019ve already disrupted software development at every level. Revolutions are messy, fraught with challenges, risks and disruption as the status quo evolves to make room for new ideas. Large language models can dramatically improve productivity, but they also confidently output plausible garbage. This session is about getting the speed without surrendering responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I will be live demoing Claude Code in a terminal by interrogating a real WordPress plugin codebase and working backwards into the workflow that helps make it trustworthy: having Claude itself maintain a CLAUDE.md \u201cproject contract\u201d, requiring a plan for major feature development and using a verification loop where changes aren\u2019t pushed unless validation checks pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019ll dig into common points of failure that matter in real projects\u2014hallucinated assumptions, approval fatigue, and the licensing\/attribution questions raised when AI tools ingest open source\u2014and how to work in a way that treats the model as untrusted by default.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2a-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4869 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1a-skills wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/hablamos-wordpress-how-to-use-seo-ai-bilingual-content-to-reach-multicultural-audiences-where-they-actually-search\/\" target=\"_self\" >Hablamos WordPress: How to Use SEO, AI &amp; Bilingual Content to Reach Multicultural Audiences Where They Actually Search<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Latino market represents over $3.7 trillion in purchasing power but most WordPress sites are built for only one language and one culture, missing a massive, underserved, and far less competitive search opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this session, the presenter draws from years of real-world experience across four agencies \u2014 targeting bilingual audiences in industries as diverse as beauty, healthcare, retail, and tourism \u2014 to show how WordPress, the right plugins, and AI tools can be used to reach multicultural audiences based on location, language, and cultural context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The secret? Search volumes in Spanish and culturally specific niches are less competitive, more targeted, and highly underutilized by most brands. And this same principle applies to any multicultural or multilingual community that has been overlooked by mainstream digital marketing strategies not just Spanish speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attendees will walk away knowing how to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Identify low-competition bilingual and multicultural keyword opportunities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Choose the right WordPress plugins to manage multilingual content without the overwhelm<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use AI to create culturally relevant content in multiple languages without doubling their workload<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Understand why diversity and cultural awareness is not just good values \u2014 it is a real competitive advantage in search<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4890 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/when-the-platform-belongs-to-its-users-migrating-daily-kos-at-scale\/\" target=\"_self\" >When the Platform Belongs to Its Users: Migrating Daily Kos at Scale<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Daily Kos isn\u2019t just a media publisher, it\u2019s a 20-year-old community where readers write, organize, and show up every single day. When it was time to migrate 1.5 million posts, 2.7 million users, and 88 million comments off a custom-built CMS, the technical challenge was only half the problem. The real risk was losing the trust of the people who fund 90% of the platform. In this session, the CTO of Daily Kos, and the staff engineer walk through what it took to migrate a community-first platform:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The scale: 1.5M posts, 2.7M users, 88M comments, and two decades of technical debt<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The decisions that mattered: architecture choices made around user psychology, not just infrastructure<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What we learned and what we\u2019d do differently<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How we ran a fully public beta with 500+ vocal community members, and what we learned<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4479 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2a-ai wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/own-your-audience-how-the-ankler-escaped-substack-and-took-back-control\/\" target=\"_self\" >Own Your Audience: How The Ankler Outgrew Substack and Built An Independent Platform on WordPress<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2a-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s a common narrative that publishers are leaving WordPress for Substack. Don\u2019t believe the hype. The Ankler is the case that runs the other way &#8212; and it\u2019s a case worth studying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With 15 newsletters and around $10m in annual revenue, The Ankler is one of Hollywood\u2019s most respected insider publications. In April 2026 it moved off Substack onto a fully owned and operated WordPress site, giving the business direct control over its platform, data, and reader experience. This is what happens when a publication outgrows a platform built for individual creators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This talk looks at what that transition actually took, and why it made sense at this stage of the company\u2019s growth. We migrated tens of thousands of posts and media files, with one all-or-nothing export that can hang for 28 hours, no images in the dump, and no comments, authors or SEO data at all. We reconstructed thousands of hand-placed paywall boundaries, and mapped a single Substack paid tier onto six Passport audiences, adopting Passport as the new paywall, membership, and newsletter infrastructure while it was still in beta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the transferable lessons go beyond migration mechanics; they also include how the site was designed. Instead of Figma, we built directly in the block theme we\u2019d chosen, selectively codifying designs into templates, patterns and a child theme, deciding in real time where flexibility mattered and where it introduced risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The result is a publication with direct ownership of its content, subscriber data, revenue logic, and reader experience. This talk makes the case that for media companies serious about independence, WordPress isn\u2019t the platform people are leaving. It\u2019s the one they should be building on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2a-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4566 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/stop-blaming-wordpress-building-a-real-editorial-workflow-without-leaving-the-ecosystem\/\" target=\"_self\" >Stop Blaming WordPress: Building a Real Editorial Workflow Without Leaving the Ecosystem<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Editorial teams are leaving WordPress, not because it can&#8217;t handle their content, but because the default admin experience makes it feel like it can&#8217;t. Writers face a cluttered interface built for developers. Editors have no clear approval workflow. And when stakeholders compare WordPress to tools like Sanity, the gap feels obvious: structured content, clean review flows, role-based UX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So teams migrate. They add headless layers, adopt new CMSes, and spend months and lots of money rebuilding what WordPress already does, just hidden under the wrong interface.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4476 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1a-skills wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/building-training-systems-not-sessions\/\" target=\"_self\" >Building Training Systems, Not Sessions<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every agency has seen it happen: the site launches, the training session goes well, and three months later the content team has questions no one remembers covering. WordPress offers a huge amount of educational material, but most of it is not designed to be handed directly to a client team with real workflows, custom tools, accessibility needs, and editorial decision-making.<br><br>This talk shares how Modern Tribe created Learn.tri.be, a reusable training system for WordPress and ModernPress that combines documentation, walkthrough videos, editor-focused guidance, and an AI assistant built directly into the WordPress editor. We\u2019ll explore how teams can move beyond one-time training sessions and build scalable education systems that support content creators at the moment they need help most.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5718 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-4-wp101\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/office-hours-showcase\/\" target=\"_self\" >Office Hours: Take Your Site Live<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hosted by: <\/strong>WordPress.com, Pressable<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bring your laptop, charger, and the site you built in WP 101 &#8211; along with your complimentary year of hosting and domain. Drop in anytime and work one-on-one with volunteer mentors to get your site onto that host, connect your domain, and publish it to the world &#8211; your portfolio, your business, your project, live for people to see. Relaxed, hands-on help. No slides, no pressure. Perfect if you just finished WP 101, or already have a site ready to go public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4894 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2a-ai wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/agents-need-good-tools-too-designing-an-editorial-experience-for-humans-and-ai-alike\/\" target=\"_self\" >Agents Need Good Tools Too: Designing an Editorial Experience for Humans and AI Alike<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2a-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We spend a lot of effort making the editorial experience good for humans \u2014 clear blocks, sensible constraints, guardrails that keep content on-brand. It turns out those same rules are exactly what an AI agent needs to publish well. This talk walks through the key tenets of a strong editorial experience in WordPress with Gutenberg, then demos how agents use the very same structure and constraints to produce on-brand content without breaking your visual integrity. Build it right for editors, and agents come along for free.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2a-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4518 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1a-skills wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/the-attacker-that-never-logged-in-session-hijacking-stolen-cookies-and-the-blind-spot-in-wordpress-security\/\" target=\"_self\" >The Attacker That Never Logged In: Session Hijacking, Stolen Cookies, and the Blind Spot in WordPress Security<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They didn&#8217;t guess the password. They didn&#8217;t break 2FA, bypass the firewall, or trigger a single alert. The activity log shows no failed attempts, no unusual login times, no new accounts created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And yet, the attacker is inside your WordPress site, accessing your WordPress dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Session hijacking leaves no login trace, because the attacker never logged in. They took an authentication cookie and reused an existing session. To WordPress, every request looks legitimate; the real user&#8217;s credentials, their 2FA, their login restrictions, none of it applies. The session was already authenticated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most WordPress security advice is built around hardening and protecting, however, that leaves a critical blind spot: what happens after authentication succeeds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this talk, we&#8217;ll walk through how WordPress creates and validates authentication cookies and session tokens, explore the real-world scenarios where sessions get stolen, and map out what an attacker can do with a hijacked session before the damage becomes visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then we&#8217;ll get practical. We will look into how session visibility, timeout policies, concurrent login controls, device recognition, and activity logging that captures post-login behaviour are the controls that catch what firewalls and 2FA miss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Firewalls, 2FA, and passkeys are essential. This talk covers what comes after them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1a-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4628 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical wcb_session_category-showcase\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/from-divi-to-fse-moving-a-small-non-profit\/\" target=\"_self\" >From Divi to FSE: Moving a Small Non-Profit<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What does it take for a group of volunteers to evolve a website with 20+ years of history through multiple CMS onto one that runs on a current and modern stack? This case study will look at what it took to give a face lift to a legacy site.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4694 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2a-ai wcb_session_category-showcase wcb_session_category-workshop\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/democratizing-the-theme-directory-building-block-ready-themes-with-wp-rig-ai\/\" target=\"_self\" >Democratizing the Theme Directory: Building Block-Ready Themes with WP Rig &amp; AI<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2a-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The standard toolkit for custom WordPress theme development is undergoing a generational shift. Legacy bundlers, bulky frameworks, and guessing games with AI code completion are being replaced by lightweight execution environments, composable architectures, and rigid, deterministic code scaffolding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this immersive, hands-on workshop, developers will dive into the future of theme development using WP Rig, the open-source progressive development starter theme and build tool system tailored for modern WordPress theme development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Participants will strip away development friction by moving into a completely automated local development environment powered by Bun and Lightning CSS, unlocking instantaneous feedback loops and hyper-optimized assets. We will dive deep into native WordPress Block support, exploring how to structure high-performance layout systems and map them cleanly to global styles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next, we\u2019ll unlock the true power of modern development: AI-Native Engineering. Attendees will discover how WP Rig\u2019s structural blueprints interact seamlessly with AI coding agents. By leveraging codebases intentionally architected to minimize model hallucinations, you will learn how to turn your AI coding agent into a reliable pair-programmer for complex theme features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, we\u2019ll touch on the future of building &#8220;a la carte,&#8221; demonstrating how open-source component library paradigms allow developers to inject community-driven, plug-and-play features instantly into their projects without introducing theme bloat and increasing deterministic AI theme enhancements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bring your laptop, leave legacy tooling behind, and discover how to write cleaner code faster while remaining fully aligned with modern WordPress standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\ud83c\udfaf What Attendees Will Learn (Learning Objectives)<br>Directory-First QA Pipelines: How to leverage WP Rig\u2019s native automated check suite to identify and correct code violations against official WordPress.org Theme Review guidelines.<br>Modern Block &amp; Hybrid Scaffolding: Safely integrating standard PHP-based code with block architectures, including flawless generation and testing of theme.json.<br>AI-Guided Architecture (Agentic Workflows): Utilizing AI coding assistants alongside WP Rig\u2019s structured structural blueprints to build error-free, custom block patterns rapidly.<br>Blazing-Fast Tooling: How to bypass legacy configurations using an integrated build tool system designed for instant compilation feedback loops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\ud83d\udee0 Prerequisites &amp; Requirements<br>Attendees should have a foundational understanding of PHP, CSS, and localized development. To participate in the coding portions, they will need:<br>A laptop with a local WordPress development environment (e.g., WordPress Studio or LocalWP).<br>Node.js\/Bun and Composer installed locally.<br>A code editor equipped with an AI programming extension (optional, but recommended for experiencing the agentic workflow elements).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Directly Supports the Open Source Project: One of WordPress\u2019s biggest needs is getting more developers to submit high-quality, block-compatible themes to the official directory. This workshop removes the intimidation factor of theme submissions and directly trains attendees to become directory contributors.<br>Aligns with Core Innovation: The session balances the historical PHP strength of WordPress with modern Block paradigms and automated testing frameworks, providing a masterclass in how hybrid development should look in 2026.<br>Solves the &#8220;Review Loop&#8221; Pain Point: By showing how the framework mimics the validation logic of the Theme Review Team, this workshop solves a massive developer pain point (waiting weeks for code-review feedback only to get rejected over basic formatting rules). It introduces an automated safety net.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2a-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5723 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1-ai wcb_session_category-keynote\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/keynote-2\/\" target=\"_self\" >Dreaming with AI: Innovation Lessons from the Front Lines of Disney &amp; Meta<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drawing on his work developing breakthrough experiences at Disney Imagineering and Meta, Loyal Pyczynski examines how AI can help teams build digital products that are more useful, engaging, and distinctly human. He\u2019ll explore what it takes to move beyond the hype: bringing creators, developers, researchers, and communities into the process early, using experimentation to guide decisions, and ensuring human judgment and trust remain at the center of the work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4506 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/migrating-to-blocks-with-artisanal-care-at-industrial-scale\/\" target=\"_self\" >Migrating to Blocks (With Artisanal Care, at Industrial Scale)<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether we&#8217;re modernizing an old personal blog or migrating hundreds of thousands of existing posts from another CMS, using WordPress in 2026 means converting our content to Blocks. The &#8220;Convert to Blocks&#8221; button in the editor works well enough for one post, but if we have dozens or hundreds, what can we do to make the process less manual and more powerful? How can we migrate a site&#8217;s content directly into full block patterns, without losing the columns and structure it had before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this talk I will share my experience leading a Sitecore-to-WordPress migration for a global nonprofit, and how full-site editing and AI are reshaping site migrations. We&#8217;ll show how we leverage AI to analyze and understand the structure of an existing site, the decisions and process we use to map that content into WordPress data structures, the strengths and limitations of agents and WordPress MCP for restructuring content, and how we build in-editor tools to let humans customize and enhance bulk-migrated content where it matters most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;re excited to share practical lessons from bringing an entire project directly into block patterns and templates, along with takeaways about block transforms, block bindings, and balancing automation with editorial oversight&#8230; lessons that can apply to WordPress projects of any scale!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4538 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2-skills\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/trust-as-a-competitive-advantage-how-trust-helps-agencies-choose-hosting-partners-that-wont-let-their-clients-down\/\" target=\"_self\" >Trust as a Competitive Advantage: How Trust Helps Agencies Choose Hosting Partners That Won&#8217;t Let Their Clients Down<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every web agency has been there: a client&#8217;s site goes down at the worst possible moment, support is unreachable, or a security incident turns into a client-relationship crisis, and the root cause is a hosting provider that was never up to the job. Picking the right host matters, but in a market where every provider claims to be reliable, secure, and agency-friendly, how do agencies sort signal from noise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This session talks about two things: the Secure Hosting Alliance (SHA) and its trust seal program, a practical, standards-based framework designed to help WordPress agencies identify hosting partners that meet a clear, defensible bar for quality, transparency, and security; and how agencies can leverage this trust to better market to their clients and earn a premium on their services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;ll walk through the real-world concerns agencies have: from control panel access and PHP version control to abuse response and terms of service clarity. We\u2019ll show how to address each one. We&#8217;ll also discuss how hosting providers that earn the SHA trust seal benefit from the association, and how that alignment of incentives creates a better ecosystem for everyone in the WordPress community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5754 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-4-wp101\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/wp101-programming-day-1\/\" target=\"_self\" >WP 101: Build a Real Website, Today<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Have a portfolio, a small business, or a side project that needs a home online? Bring a laptop and open your browser \u2014 by the end of this session you\u2019ll have a real WordPress site built with your own hands: pages, a post, a logo, a menu, all live in the room. Every attendee also gets a free year of hosting and a domain to take their site live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What you\u2019ll learn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The basic building blocks of a WordPress site (posts, pages, themes, menus)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Beginner-friendly accessibility and SEO habits along the way<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confidence to keep building on your own after today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who it\u2019s for<br><\/strong>First-time builders, students, designers, marketers, and anyone with a portfolio or small business idea who\u2019s never touched WordPress before. Absolute beginners welcome and encouraged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No hosting account or experience needed. You\u2019ll walk out with a copy of your site &#8211; plus a year of complimentary hosting and domain &#8211; ready for Go-Live Office Hours to make it official.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4878 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1-ai\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/everything-is-fine-and-nothing-is-good-design-systems-in-the-age-of-ai\/\" target=\"_self\" >Everything is Fine and Nothing is Good: Design Systems in the Age of AI<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We used to think the hard part of digital work was consistency: building reusable components, scalable systems, and reliable patterns that teams could ship quickly and safely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, modern tooling has made production almost too easy, generating interfaces, layouts, and variations almost as fast as we can think of them.<br>The harder problem is what we optimized away in the process: intent.<br>As systems scale and tooling matures, it becomes easier to move fast without asking whether we\u2019re still solving the right problem. Our components and tokens may remain visually coherent, but drift emerges at the level of meaning, purpose, and direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this talk, we\u2019ll discuss how design systems must evolve from static libraries into living feedback systems, shaped as much by governance, communication, and organizational learning as by tokens or components. We\u2019ll look at how intent gets lost at scale, why \u201cdoing the thing right\u201d is not the same as \u201cdoing the right thing\u201d and what it means to build stewardship practices that help teams notice and correct drift over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attendees will leave with a different way of thinking about design systems: not just as tools for consistency, but as infrastructure for ongoing decision-making in complex, changing environments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4586 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/staying-relevant-as-a-wordpress-developer-in-2026\/\" target=\"_self\" >Staying Relevant as a WordPress Developer in 2026<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI is rapidly changing the WordPress industry, automating repetitive tasks and reshaping what companies expect from developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this session, the presenter explores the skills that continue to create long-term value in modern WordPress careers \u2014 from performance, accessibility, and problem-solving to communication, systems thinking, and business awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drawing from experience leading teams and working on enterprise WordPress projects, this talk examines how developers can adapt to AI-assisted workflows, stand out in a globally competitive market, and evolve beyond task-based development work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attendees will leave with a practical understanding of how WordPress careers are changing and which skills are becoming increasingly important in 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4482 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1-ai\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/from-crawlers-to-customers-wordpress-and-the-rise-of-ai-buyers\/\" target=\"_self\" >From Crawlers to Customers: WordPress and the Rise of AI Buyers<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every few years, something new shows up at your WordPress site that isn&#8217;t a person. Search engines, mobile browsers, social platforms \u2014 each time, the ecosystem adapted. But those were one-way streets: your site pushed content out to be indexed or previewed, and that was the end of the conversation.<br><br>Agentic commerce flips the script. The buyer&#8217;s AI agent never opens a browser, never sees a checkout page, never clicks &#8220;Pay&#8221; \u2014 yet the transactional plumbing still has to work. For the first time at real scale, your store isn&#8217;t just sending data out, it&#8217;s taking instructions back. An AI agent submits a cart, requests a price calculation, initiates a payment \u2014 and your store has to accept, validate, and follow through, with real money on the line.<br><br>That raises the same trust question that comes up every time a new commerce channel emerges: when there&#8217;s no UI, where does trust live? The answer, as it&#8217;s always been, is infrastructure \u2014 trusted payment providers, buyer protection, and fraud detection doing the heavy lifting, just as they did when people were first nervous about typing a credit card into a website.<br><br>This talk explores what it looks like to build for that reality \u2014 walking through real implementations using custom REST endpoints in WooCommerce payment plugins, as a first step toward open agentic commerce, where any AI agent can walk up to any WooCommerce store and complete a transaction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5078 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2-skills\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/no-code-audience-engagement-low-effort-strategies-to-connect-with-your-site-visitors\/\" target=\"_self\" >No-Code Audience Engagement: Low-Effort Strategies to Connect With Your Site Visitors<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are you struggling to grow a loyal community because building engagement funnels feels too technical or complex? In this session, we will share an accessible, no-code blueprint that empowers anyone to seamlessly connect with readers and understand how different types of visitors interact with your content. By exploring simple ways to reduce friction and gather actionable insights, you\u2019ll learn how to turn casual readers into a dedicated community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4708 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1-ai\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/ai-search-why-your-whole-company-should-care\/\" target=\"_self\" >AI Search: Why Your Whole Company Should Care<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI Search isn\u2019t just SEO\u2019s problem anymore \u2013 it\u2019s everyone\u2019s. From content teams to developers, PPC to partnerships, the shift to AI-native discovery affects your entire business. This session is your wake-up call: why you\u2019re probably already behind, what\u2019s changed, and the quick wins you can implement now to catch up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4682 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2-skills\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/youre-the-only-one-at-your-company-who-understands-wordpress-now-what\/\" target=\"_self\" >You&#8217;re the Only One at Your Company Who Understands WordPress. Now What?<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a lot of organizations, there&#8217;s one person who owns WordPress. They didn&#8217;t necessarily choose the job, they just became the person who knows the most. That means fielding every request, managing vendors, and fighting for every budget dollar while translating technical decisions for people who don&#8217;t speak your language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This session is for that person. We&#8217;ll cover how to communicate the value of your work to stakeholders who don&#8217;t understand it, how to manage agency and freelance relationships so you stay in control, and how to make a case for resources when leadership sees the website as a cost center. You&#8217;ll leave with practical frameworks, real language you can use with your team, and the reassurance that you&#8217;re not alone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-6294 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/abilities-api-for-humans\/\" target=\"_self\" >Abilities API for Humans<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;ve heard of the Abilities API at all, it&#8217;s probably in the context of AI in WordPress. That&#8217;s a valid use case and is what drove the development of the Abilities API by the Core AI team, but the Abilities API has a lot more to offer than just AI integration. This talk will help you understand those pieces and how they create a new fundamental architecture for the platform so you can start building with the Abilities API today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5755 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-4-wp101\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/wp101-programming-day-2\/\" target=\"_self\" >WP 101: Build a Real Website, Today<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Have a portfolio, a small business, or a side project that needs a home online? Bring a laptop and open your browser \u2014 by the end of this session you\u2019ll have a real WordPress site built with your own hands: pages, a post, a logo, a menu, all live in the room. Every attendee also gets a free year of hosting and a domain to take their site live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What you\u2019ll learn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The basic building blocks of a WordPress site (posts, pages, themes, menus)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Beginner-friendly accessibility and SEO habits along the way<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confidence to keep building on your own after today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who it\u2019s for<br><\/strong>First-time builders, students, designers, marketers, and anyone with a portfolio or small business idea who\u2019s never touched WordPress before. Absolute beginners welcome and encouraged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No hosting account or experience needed. You\u2019ll walk out with a copy of your site &#8211; plus a year of complimentary hosting and domain &#8211; ready for Go-Live Office Hours to make it official.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4444 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1-ai\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/beyond-prompts-the-part-of-sales-ai-is-changing-first\/\" target=\"_self\" >Beyond Prompts: The Part of Sales AI Is Changing First<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every WordPress agency lives or dies by the next contract. Outreach, follow-ups, qualification, proposals. They sit on the founder&#8217;s desk and have done so for as long as agencies have existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That part is changing first. AI agents now run entire pieces of the sales process on their own, without supervision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this session, I share examples from my own work and how I automate my processes and standards with AI agents. What runs reliably in production and what fails, with a path you can follow without losing your voice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4452 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2-skills\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/0-days-since-the-last-supply-chain-attack\/\" target=\"_self\" >0 Days Since The Last Supply Chain Attack: Protecting the WordPress Project in an AI World<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI is improving every day, giving us tools that surface security vulnerabilities in our software faster than ever before. But there\u2019s a catch. Those same tools are available to everyone, including attackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It feels like every day a new supply chain attack rolls across your feed. Bad actors are using AI to discover vulnerabilities, steal credentials, and inject malware into packages consumed by millions. After years of skating by on suboptimal dependency hygiene, many projects are now paying the price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So how do we protect ourselves from becoming the next headline? What does this shift mean for a massive open source project like WordPress, with its sprawling ecosystem of plugins, themes, and contributors? And what&#8217;s now non-negotiable on our security checklist in an age where AI finds the vulnerabilities first?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-6744 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/the-making-of-a-wordpress-certification\/\" target=\"_self\" >The Making of a WordPress Certification<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For years, WordPress engineers have lacked a globally recognized, professionally governed credential\u2014an unusual gap in an ecosystem that powers a significant portion of the web. Employers have likewise struggled to reliably identify qualified WordPress engineering talent for mission\u2011critical work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To address this need, a small team at Automattic spent a year designing and building the new standards\u2011based Advanced Professional WordPress Developer Certification for WordPress developers, in partnership with Kryterion, a global leader in secure testing and assessment design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This session offers a behind\u2011the\u2011scenes look at how this credential was created, validated, and how it is structured, governed and delivered. We\u2019ll explore what value credentials deliver to engineers and employers, and how they can expand access, equity, and diversity within open source communities. We\u2019ll also discuss what additional credentials could emerge in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This session is ideal for engineers, employers, and anyone curious about the role credentialing can play in strengthening the WordPress ecosystem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4657 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2-skills\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/the-wordpress-agency-is-becoming-invisible-why-that-is-a-good-thing\/\" target=\"_self\" >The WordPress Agency Is Becoming Invisible: Why That Is a Good Thing<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Walk through any enterprise procurement conversation in 2026 and one thing becomes clear: customers are no longer shopping for &#8220;WordPress agencies.&#8221; They are shopping for partners who can solve digital experience, content operations, governance, and editorial workflow problems at scale. Whether WordPress sits underneath is increasingly a technical decision, not a strategic one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is not a problem for WordPress. It is a problem for how agencies in the WordPress space describe themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The argument of this talk is simple: the strongest agencies in the WordPress space have shifted from platform identity to outcome identity. They no longer come across as WordPress specialists. They come across as solution drivers. And that is what enterprise customers actually want to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The agencies that have already made this shift are having very different conversations. Different stakeholders in the room. Different scope and budget. Different competitive set. Customers stop comparing them to other WordPress specialists and start comparing them to other solution partners, which is a smaller and less commoditized pool to be in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of this means abandoning WordPress. WordPress is still the substrate. Technical depth still matters. The shift is in how the agency is seen, not in what it actually does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drawing from 17 years of enterprise WordPress engagements, this session explores what changes when an agency makes this shift, what stays the same, and why the agencies that look invisible from the WordPress side are often the most valuable to their enterprise customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is not a case against WordPress. It is a case for what comes next.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4473 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/surviving-the-plugin-stack-a-practical-playbook-for-auditing-and-simplifying-complex-wordpress-sites\/\" target=\"_self\" >Surviving the Plugin Stack: A Practical Playbook for Auditing and Simplifying Complex WordPress Sites<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every mature WordPress site accumulates plugins the way a garage accumulates boxes\u2026 one at a time, each for a reasonable purpose, until the whole thing is load-bearing and nobody wants to touch it. The problem is not that plugins exist. The problem is that most teams have no repeatable method for evaluating what they actually have, what is redundant, what is risky, and what can safely go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This talk walks through a practical audit playbook developed across enterprise WordPress sites with 40, 60, even 80+ active plugins. The presenter will cover how to inventory a plugin stack against actual usage rather than assumed need, how to score plugins for maintainability and risk, how to identify consolidation opportunities that reduce surface area without losing functionality, and how to sequence removals so the site stays stable throughout the process. Attendees will leave with an audit template they can run on their own sites the following week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attendee takeaways<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A repeatable plugin audit method that goes beyond &#8220;&#8221;check the last updated date&#8221;&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to score plugins for real risk: maintainability, overlap, dependency depth, and data exposure<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A sequencing strategy for simplifying a plugin stack without breaking production<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Concrete examples from enterprise sites where plugin consolidation reduced maintenance cost and improved stability<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4887 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1-ai\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/lost-in-machine-translation-ai-wordpress-and-the-translations-nobody-saw-coming\/\" target=\"_self\" >Lost in (Machine) Translation: AI, WordPress, and the Translations Nobody Saw Coming<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[Joint presentation by the Agency Project Manager and Tech Lead, and the Client.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What happens when you hand a global industrial manufacturer&#8217;s website over to an AI and ask it to speak fluent German, Japanese, and beyond, all within WordPress? This session is a candid, data-driven deep dive into a real-world project for Standex Electronics, a precision engineering company operating across multiple international markets. We focus on integrating OpenAI&#8217;s translation capabilities into a multilingual WordPress multisite. We&#8217;ll walk you through exactly why the team chose to explore AI translation as a serious contender alongside well-known tools, and what the architecture of that decision actually looked like in production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We put the tools head-to-head, and we&#8217;ll share accuracy benchmarks comparing OpenAI against well-known translation platforms. The things that surprised us, the ones that didn&#8217;t, and the meaningful gaps that only revealed themselves when native speaking colleagues, not developers, were the target audience. Industrial and technical language is its own dialect, and machine learning doesn&#8217;t always get the memo. We&#8217;ll share a collection of our favourite &#8220;technically correct, and completely wrong&#8221; translations &#8211; the moments where a direct translation produced something that ranged from mildly confusing to a genuinely hilarious problem, and what each tool revealed about the difference between translating words and translating intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beyond the laughs, we&#8217;ll get into the operational reality: how long it actually takes to push translation updates, run human review cycles, and maintain consistency across a multisite at scale. We&#8217;ll share honest timings from the Standex project, from content change to live translated page, you&#8217;ll also hear how OpenAI was woven directly into a leading multilingual WordPress content management workflow, the integration decisions made along the way, and what the team would do differently if starting from scratch today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This session is presented by three people who lived it together: the Project Manager, the Developer who built the integration, and the client from Standex Electronics who commissioned it and trusted the output. They have the kind of candid working relationship that makes for an honest conversation &#8211; the kind you don&#8217;t usually get at a conference. Whether you&#8217;re a developer scoping a multilingual build, a project manager navigating client expectations around AI, or a digital leader wondering whether machine translation is ready for your audience, this session will give you the real picture, stats, stumbles, and all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5756 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-4-wp101\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/office-hours-day-1\/\" target=\"_self\" >Office Hours: Take Your Site Live<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hosted by: <\/strong>WordPress.com, Pressable<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bring your laptop, charger, and the site you built in WP 101 &#8211; along with your complimentary year of hosting and domain. Drop in anytime and work one-on-one with volunteer mentors to get your site onto that host, connect your domain, and publish it to the world &#8211; your portfolio, your business, your project, live for people to see. Relaxed, hands-on help. No slides, no pressure. Perfect if you just finished WP 101, or already have a site ready to go public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5807 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-4-wp101\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/wordpress-202\/\" target=\"_self\" >WP 202: Beyond the Basics: Customizing your WordPress Site<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Session Description: <\/strong>Already built your first WordPress site? Now it\u2019s time to make it yours. In this hands-on follow-up to WordPress 101, you\u2019ll take the site you already created and start customizing, extending, and improving it with the tools WordPress gives you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019ll work through the kinds of things most people want to do once the basics are in place: installing and managing plugins, changing colors and other design settings, adding new functionality, and learning where to look when you want your site to do something it doesn\u2019t do yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What you\u2019ll learn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How to find, evaluate, install, and manage WordPress plugins<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to customize colors, styles, and other site appearance settings<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to add useful functionality without rebuilding your site<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to make smart choices about themes, plugins, and customization<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Where to look when you\u2019re ready to do more with WordPress<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who it\u2019s for<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyone who has completed WordPress 101 or already understands the basics of creating pages, posts, menus, and navigating the WordPress dashboard. You don\u2019t need to be a developer, and no coding experience is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bring your laptop and the WordPress site you want to work on. You\u2019ll leave with a more polished, more capable site and a better understanding of how to keep building on your own.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4435 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2-skills\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/the-future-of-creator-commerce-building-a-business-beyond-ads\/\" target=\"_self\" >The Future of Creator Commerce: Building a Business Beyond Ads<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The creator economy is rapidly evolving beyond sponsored posts and display ads. Today\u2019s most successful creators are building diversified, community-driven businesses powered by owned platforms, strategic partnerships, and commerce-first content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As both the COO of Tastemaker Conference \u2014 a leading conference for food creators and digital entrepreneurs \u2014 and a longtime creator myself, I\u2019ve had a front-row seat to how the industry is changing. In this session, I\u2019ll share what brands, creators, and audiences are prioritizing in 2026 and how WordPress creators can position themselves for long-term growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attendees will learn:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Why creator commerce is becoming more valuable than traditional influencer marketing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How creators are building sustainable income beyond ad revenue<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The role WordPress plays in audience ownership and long-term business stability<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What brands are actually looking for in creator partnerships today<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How community and trust are becoming a creator\u2019s greatest competitive advantage in the AI era<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Practical ways creators can future-proof their businesses<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Whether you\u2019re a blogger, content creator, entrepreneur, marketer, or WordPress professional, this session will provide actionable insights into the next era of digital business and creator-led commerce.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Audience Takeaways<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Understand where the creator economy is heading<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Learn how to diversify revenue streams<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Discover why owned platforms matter more than ever<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gain practical strategies for building trust-driven creator businesses<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Learn how creators can stand out in an increasingly AI-saturated internet&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4439 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1-ai\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/is-your-wordpress-site-legally-ready-for-ai\/\" target=\"_self\" >Is Your WordPress Site Legally Ready for AI?<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI is now embedded in plugins, themes, content pipelines, and client sites across the WordPress ecosystem. Most WordPress professionals have focused on what AI can do. Almost nobody has focused on what it requires of you legally<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This talk covers the compliance gap that agencies, freelancers, and product builders are about to run into: GDPR and data residency implications of AI tools processing user content, consent requirements when AI is involved in personalization or communication, the EU AI Act and what it means for WordPress businesses serving European clients, and disclosure obligations that are already in effect in some jurisdictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are not hypothetical future risks. They are current, and the WordPress ecosystem is largely unprepared for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attendees will leave with a practical checklist for auditing their own sites and client sites, an understanding of which AI use cases carry the most legal exposure, and clarity on what questions to bring to their legal counsel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4575 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/agentic-development-for-wordpress-how-modern-teams-are-building-with-ai-workers-not-just-ai-chat\/\" target=\"_self\" >Agentic Development for WordPress &#8211; How Modern Teams Are Building with AI Workers, Not Just AI Chat<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI is quickly becoming part of everyday work for WordPress teams, but in many cases we are still using it in a very limited way: asking isolated questions, retrying prompts, and manually feeding context into every conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whats next is not simply using better prompts. It is learning how to delegate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this session I will check how agentic development, is a new way of structuring repositories, workflows, and AI tooling so coding agents can operate with memory, reusable processes, and external awareness instead of acting like one-time chat assistants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I will look at why this changes the way modern WordPress teams think about development, delivery, documentation, and internal knowledge sharing, and why the competitive advantage in the near future will not come from access to AI itself, but from how well teams learn to organize AI execution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-6297 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/the-handshake-is-the-roadmap-product-partnerships-and-the-loop-between-them\/\" target=\"_self\" >The Handshake Is The Roadmap: Product, Partnerships, and the Loop Between Them<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Product builds. Partnerships open doors. Most companies treat these as separate functions that meet quarterly to align. Deals close on promises the roadmap doesn&#8217;t reflect, integrations ship that no partner actually asked for, customer feedback dies in notes that nobody on the product side ever sees, and the next big partnership opportunity fades away because nobody connected the dots in time.<br><br>The presenters have been working this loop together for years. They&#8217;ve seen what happens when the loop holds and what happens when it breaks, and they&#8217;re shaping how a business operates around that hard-won pattern.<br><br>In this talk, they&#8217;ll walk through partnership decisions made without product context and what they cost, product decisions made without partnership context and what those cost, and key moments where the loop worked and value compounded.<br><br>They&#8217;ll talk candidly about AI as a tool running the loop with them: surfacing patterns across partner conversations and product signals, drafting the first version of things humans then sharpen, and making it possible for a small team to hold more of the big picture at once. The argument isn&#8217;t that AI replaces either role. It&#8217;s that AI, used well, makes the loop between them faster, sharper, and harder to drop.<br><br>Expect concrete examples, honest failure stories, and a working model you can take back to your own team whether you sit on the product side, the business side, or somewhere in between.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4675 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1-ai\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/teaching-ai-tools-your-process-notes-from-a-wordpress-site-build\/\" target=\"_self\" >Teaching AI Tools Your Process &#8211; Notes From a WordPress Site Build<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this year I was the sole developer on a new WordPress site build. AI tools moved the work along, but only because I spent the project teaching them how to work in my way &#8211; correcting mistakes, capturing what I learned, and feeding it back so they wouldn&#8217;t repeat them over and over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This talk is about that practice: teaching your AI tools your process as you go, so they get better instead of just faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two actual instances from the project as examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A mega-menu nav with a dead click zone where the AI&#8217;s first move was a complicated JavaScript event handler &#8211; the actual fix was a few CSS utility classes on the link.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A tangled Tailwind class string that smelled wrong before I could name why &#8211; four AI agents running in parallel helped me diagnose it, clean it, and codify a rule that&#8217;s held up since.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What I&#8217;ve learned and my process improvements go beyond just writing code:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Asking for HTML output instead of markdown when richer visualizations are helpful.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dispatching multiple models to get different viewpoints for comparison and brainstorming solutions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Keeping the lessons I&#8217;ve taught the tools portable so I don&#8217;t lose the learning when I migrate to a new model.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My processes are still evolving and improving. This talk gives a snapshot of where I&#8217;m at now and attendees will leave with a new set of tools and perspectives to improve their own AI interactions, grounded in actual project work on a shipped site.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5008 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2-skills\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/the-site-is-the-source-of-truth-block-themes-ai-and-agency-workflows\/\" target=\"_self\" >The Site Is the Source of Truth: Block Themes, AI, and Agency Workflows<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Block themes give WordPress an opportunity to become more than a publishing tool or a place where finished designs are implemented. With the right theme structure, patterns, templates, and brand guidelines, a WordPress site can become the source of truth for how new pages and layouts should be built.<br><br>That matters even more as agencies begin using AI in their build process. AI is useful when it can work from existing pieces: approved patterns, real content, design tokens, reusable blocks, and known template structures. It is much less useful when it starts every landing page from scratch.<br><br>In this session, we&#8217;ll look at how agencies can treat WordPress as a practical design system for real client work. We&#8217;ll cover how block themes, patterns, `theme.json`, reusable layouts, and clear content structure can give both humans and AI better building blocks. WooCommerce will be used as a case study because store pages make the stakes obvious: product, cart, and checkout experiences need brand consistency, editing flexibility, and reliable structure.<br><br>Attendees will leave with a clearer model for using block themes as a foundation for agency workflows, client handoff, and AI-assisted page building without losing control of the design system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5808 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-4-wp101\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/office-hours-day-2\/\" target=\"_self\" >Office Hours: Take Your Site Live<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hosted by: <\/strong>WordPress.com, Pressable<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bring your laptop, charger, and the site you built in WP 101 &#8211; along with your complimentary year of hosting and domain. Drop in anytime and work one-on-one with volunteer mentors to get your site onto that host, connect your domain, and publish it to the world &#8211; your portfolio, your business, your project, live for people to see. Relaxed, hands-on help. No slides, no pressure. Perfect if you just finished WP 101, or already have a site ready to go public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4594 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1-ai\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/your-team-needs-a-shared-brain-shipping-ai-skills-like-you-ship-code\/\" target=\"_self\" >Your Team Needs a Shared Brain: Shipping AI Skills Like You Ship Code<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hook: Every dev on your team has their own pile of AI prompts and one-off scripts \u2014 which means every hard-won lesson stays trapped with the person who learned it, and the rest of the team keeps paying to learn it again. What if your team&#8217;s AI tooling lived in a versioned, reviewed, CI-enforced repo \u2014 the same way your plugins do? Take-away: a concrete starter pattern for a team-skills repo + the three policies that make it stick.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4611 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2-skills\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/the-update-day-a-bulletproof-maintenance-workflow-for-wordpress-agencies\/\" target=\"_self\" >The Update Day: A Bulletproof Maintenance Workflow for WordPress Agencies<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most agencies still update WordPress sites the same way regardless of risk: backup, update, then click through some pages hoping nothing broke. That approach burns hours, scales badly, and still misses the layout break a client catches first. This session presents a rock-solid maintenance workflow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4884 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/beyond-plugins-when-to-move-workflows-outside-wordpress\/\" target=\"_self\" >Beyond Plugins: When to Move Workflows Outside WordPress<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Plugins are how most WordPress users solve problems, and for good reason. But there&#8217;s a point where adding another one starts to hurt. Performance gets shaky, updates break things, and your site ends up depending on a chain of small tools nobody fully understands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This talk is about recognizing that point. How do you tell when a workflow has outgrown its plugin? How do you move that logic somewhere else without losing what made WordPress easy in the first place? We&#8217;ll work through real examples, like a membership flow that started as three plugins and became one automation, and a CRM sync that stopped breaking once it left the plugin world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most WordPress talks assume the right answer is always to find the right plugin. This one is honest about when the right answer is to stop adding plugins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4866 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-4-wp101\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/how-to-vibe-code-in-wordpress-for-non-techies\/\" target=\"_self\" >How to Vibe Code in WordPress for Non-Techies<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I want to talk about what happens when non-technical people start building with WordPress and AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For years, if you wanted to create a plugin, customise an editing experience, build a lightweight app, or connect WordPress to another tool, you usually needed to understand code, or hire someone who did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is starting to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this session, I\u2019ll share what I\u2019ve learned from vibe coding in WordPress. I\u2019ll show practical examples of what is now possible, and give people the foundational knowledge they need to work with AI in the best way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A big part of this is translating technical WordPress concepts into language non-technical people can actually understand. That means explaining the difference between blocks, plugins, APIs, lightweight apps, local storage, and interactive front-end features in simple, practical terms, so people can ask better questions, choose the right approach, and get better results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is not a talk about replacing developers. It is about helping more people understand how WordPress works, so they can build, prototype, and experiment with more confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ll also talk honestly about the risks. AI-generated code can look impressive very quickly, but it can also introduce performance problems, hidden dependencies, security issues, and unnecessary complexity. I increasingly think of AI as an enthusiastic junior developer: fast, creative, occasionally chaotic, and still in need of human judgement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My aim is for people to leave with a practical mental model for building in WordPress with AI, even if they have never thought of themselves as technical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not so they can pretend to be developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So they can understand the shape of an idea, test it quickly, and know enough to build, improve, or ask better questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-4-wp101\/\" rel=\"tag\">Beginning WP101 (North 221)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4557 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-2-skills\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/the-agentic-web-is-coming-is-wordpress-ready\/\" target=\"_self\" >The Agentic Web Is Coming &#8211; Is WordPress Ready?<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI agents don&#8217;t browse the web the way humans do. They need to read it, query it, take actions on it. A new layer of the web is being built right now &#8211; one where sites aren&#8217;t just destinations for human visitors but interfaces that AI systems can interact with directly. WordPress, which already powers 43% of the web, has a real structural role to play here. But it requires the ecosystem to think differently about what a WordPress site actually is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this talk I&#8217;ll dig into what the agentic web actually means in practice &#8211; what agents need from a site, how MCP and the WordPress AI infrastructure being built in core (WP AI Client, MCP Adapter, Abilities API) fit in, and what developers, agencies, and site owners should be thinking about now before this shift accelerates..<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-2-skills\/\" rel=\"tag\">Honing Your Skills (North 120A)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-6755 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1-ai\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/beyond-plugins-real-accessibility-for-wordpress-websites\/\" target=\"_self\" >Beyond Plugins: Real Accessibility for WordPress Websites<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Accessibility in WordPress is often misunderstood as something that can be solved by simply installing a plugin. While plugins can be helpful, true accessibility requires understanding how themes, content, design choices, navigation, forms, images, headings, and interactive elements affect real users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this session, I will explain what real WordPress accessibility looks like beyond automated tools and quick fixes. Attendees will learn common accessibility issues found on WordPress websites, how to identify them, and practical steps they can take to make their sites more usable and compliant with WCAG and Section 508 standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This presentation is designed for WordPress site owners, designers, developers, content creators, and anyone who wants to build websites that work better for everyone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-4697 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-3-technical\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/your-client-wants-ai-their-lawyer-just-said-no\/\" target=\"_self\" >Your Client Wants AI. Their Lawyer Just Said No.<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two clients showed up with the same UX problem: visitors land on a complex site and can&#8217;t find the right path forward. One project ended up shipping a GPT-powered search block. The other shipped a deterministic, persona-driven block on rails, no AI at all. Both worked. Neither was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This talk walks through both production engagements side by side. The AI search block, built for a community college&#8217;s 643-course catalog, comes with the production-hardening list nobody mentions in the demos: rate limits, kill switches, prompt-injection mitigations, token ceilings, and cost predictability. The persona-by-goal Mosaic block, built for an industrial services company after their legal team rejected an AI chatbot SOW, comes with a different lesson: deterministic UX, full editorial control, zero model cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attendees leave with a framework for when an AI block belongs in a project and when a deterministic block does the same job better, plus a reusable persona-by-goal pattern they can adapt on their next engagement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-3-technical\/\" rel=\"tag\">Technical WordPress (North 222)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-5791 wcb_session type-wcb_session status-publish hentry wcb_track-track-1-ai wcb_session_category-keynote\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title has-var-wp-custom-typography-font-size-huge-clamp-2-25-rem-4-vw-2-75-rem-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/session\/keynote-4\/\" target=\"_self\" >Keynote &#8211; Fireside Chat<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"entry-content wp-block-post-content is-layout-flow wp-block-post-content-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every WordCamp needs a great send-off, and this year, we&#8217;re doing it the way our community actually talks to each other: two chairs, a real conversation, and a room full of people who get it. Think of it less like a keynote and more like the best hallway conversation of the week, just given a mic and a stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The conversation we&#8217;ve all been having<\/strong> comes to the big stage. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress is evolving alongside AI, changing user expectations, and a rapidly shifting web. How do we keep open source thriving? What should we hold onto? What needs to change? And where do we go from here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s what this conversation is about. Not prepared talking points, but an honest discussion between two people who&#8217;ve spent decades helping shape, support, and steward the WordPress ecosystem from different perspectives. Even better, it doesn&#8217;t end on stage. The final 30 minutes belong to the community, with live audience Q&amp;A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"margin-right:0;margin-left:0;padding-top:0;padding-right:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0\">Two perspectives shaped by decades in open source.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ma.tt Mullenweg has helped guide the project since co-founding WordPress more than twenty years ago, while also leading Automattic and its portfolio of products supporting publishing, commerce, and the open web. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Robert Jacobi has spent his career guiding organizations build, secure, and scale open source technologies, contributing across hosting, infrastructure, community leadership, and digital strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Together, they bring two distinct perspectives on the opportunities, challenges, and decisions shaping WordPress today. It&#8217;s a conversation grounded in years of experience, but one that&#8217;s ultimately about where the project goes from here and what that means for everyone building with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The best conversations don&#8217;t end when the session does.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the time Wednesday afternoon arrives, you&#8217;ll have spent four days learning new skills, meeting people from across the community, and sharing ideas that continue long after the event ends. This conversation is a chance to zoom out and connect those experiences to the bigger picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Expect an honest discussion about open source, the evolving web, AI, community, and the future of WordPress. Then, the conversation opens up to you. The final 30 minutes are dedicated to audience Q&amp;A, giving you the opportunity to ask questions, share perspectives, and be part of the discussion that closes out WordCamp US 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"taxonomy-wcb_track wp-block-post-terms has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/track\/track-1-ai\/\" rel=\"tag\">AI (North 120CD)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":17149178,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"wceu-2026-full-width-content","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PgSBpQ-a","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17149178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5496,"href":"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions\/5496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}