WordCamp US 2026: ✓
Whew! Four days, 19 official keynotes, sessions, fireside chats, and a million conversations later, I’ve been trying to distill my notes into what might be useful beyond the conference.
Here are my four biggest takeaways:
1. Our jobs are changing, not ending.
The future of AI isn’t in better prompts, but in better coworking. It’s learning to work with AI throughout a process: directing, questioning, testing, correcting, and using human judgment along the way, with a final human check before anything goes out into the world.
2. Security, accessibility, and privacy are becoming more important, not less.
As technology, needs, and laws change, these aren’t extras or nice-to-haves. They’re foundational and non-negotiable.
3. WordPress is bigger than the conversations we hear in the U.S.
It’s a worldwide open-source community. I need to pay attention to changes, absolutely, but there’s no reason to make decisions out of panic.
4. The faster things change, the more valuable solid workflows and systems become.
Not because they lock us into one way of working, but because they free up brain space to learn, experiment, and adapt.
My overall takeaway? Technology is moving incredibly fast. We already know that. My answer isn’t to chase everything. It’s to use my human judgment, build strong foundations, and create enough structure to leave room for adaptation.
And one final takeaway: I remain deeply grateful for air conditioning. Phoenix in August is no joke. 😜
