After a decade-long hiatus from WordCamp events, I returned to WordCamp US 2025 in Portland with renewed purpose. As the founder of Hill Media Group, managing over 100 WordPress websites for small businesses and nonprofits, I wanted to reconnect with the community that has been central to my work since WordPress version 1.5 introduced themes and pages. What I discovered was a conference at the intersection of technological evolution and community values; where AI’s transformative power meets the enduring spirit of open-source collaboration.
The Evolution of Search: Danny Sullivan’s Vision for Human-Centered Content
Thursday morning’s keynote from Danny Sullivan, founder of Search Engine Land and now Director within Google Search, set the tone for the conference’s forward-looking perspective. Sullivan’s journey from independent search journalist to Google Search Liaison gave him unique credibility as he addressed the fundamental shifts happening in search technology.
His core message resonated deeply with our education-first approach at Hill Media Group: write for humans, not algorithms. Sullivan explained how AI Overviews and AI Mode within Google Search represent a paradigm shift in how search engines understand content. “The search engines can infer a lot more context than they used to,” he emphasized, liberating content creators from the technical gymnastics once required to rank well.
This evolution validates what many of us have suspected, the era of keyword stuffing and mechanical SEO tactics is ending. Instead, Sullivan advocated for creating content that genuinely serves user needs, trusting that modern search algorithms will recognize and reward authentic value. For agencies like ours serving small businesses, this shift means we can focus more on storytelling and education rather than gaming the system.
Building at Scale: Lessons from Enterprise WordPress Management
One of my primary goals was learning how other agencies manage large portfolios of WordPress sites. A particularly enlightening session on managing 150 websites revealed sophisticated approaches to systematization that transformed my thinking about scalability.
The presenter shared how their team achieved remarkable efficiencies:
- 50% reduction in maintenance time
- 2.5x faster site rollouts
- 60% improvement in collaboration speed
The key insight wasn’t about individual website optimization but about building reusable systems. As the speaker noted, “Don’t build just websites, build systems which its output at some point becomes a website.” This systems-thinking approach meant creating global libraries of components, dynamic templates that propagate changes across all sites, and automated workflows that maintain consistency while empowering users to make necessary changes.
The balance between control and empowerment emerged as a critical theme. “Empower the people… but make sure you stay in charge, you stay in control,” the presenter emphasized. This resonates with our partnership approach at Hill Media Group; giving clients the tools they need while maintaining the technical oversight that ensures quality and security.
AI-Powered Development: The New Frontier of WordPress Plugin Creation
Maulik Vora from Zluck Solutions delivered a compelling demonstration of AI-assisted plugin development, live-coding an “Admin Alert Manager” plugin in just 15 minutes using Cursor AI. This wasn’t just a cute trick; it represented a fundamental shift in how we approach WordPress development.
Vora’s balanced perspective on AI tools was refreshing. “You don’t need to be an AI expert to build smarter today,” he assured the audience, while also warning against blind trust: “There can be many security problems if we just blindfoldedly trust them.” His workflow emphasized:
- Starting with basic functionality and incrementally adding features
- Maintaining separate instruction files for different features to manage context
- Rigorous human review of AI-generated code
- Continuous documentation and testing
At just $20 per month for AI developer assistance, the barrier to entry for sophisticated development has dramatically lowered. For agencies managing multiple client sites, this could revolutionize how we approach custom functionality requests.
John Maeda’s Philosophical Framework: Understanding AI’s Impact on WordPress
Friday’s opening keynote by John Maeda provided the philosophical underpinning for understanding AI’s role in the WordPress ecosystem. His observation that “PHP can stand for people helping people” perfectly captured the community spirit that makes WordPress unique.
Maeda traced the evolution of AI from simple pattern matching to sophisticated agentic systems, explaining how embeddings enable semantic search by converting text into comparable vectors. His definition of an AI agent, “a large language model plus memory, plus planning, plus tool use”, helped demystify the technology for many attendees.
Perhaps most importantly, Maeda emphasized critical thinking in the age of AI: “Every image has always been some form of distortion of reality.” This reminder to maintain skepticism and human judgment resonated throughout the conference, especially as we grapple with deepfakes and AI-generated content.
Building Successful WordPress Products: Insights from the Marketplace
A session on WordPress product development offered valuable insights even for agencies not directly selling plugins or themes. The speakers outlined three strategic approaches to product success:
- Create a new category – Pioneer unexplored territory
- Fill a market gap – Address unmet needs
- Innovate in crowded markets – Serve existing needs better
The emphasis on continuous marketing particularly stood out. “Marketing is just a daily practice. It’s what you have to be doing all the time,” one speaker noted. They revealed that free plugins serve as the “most profitable, qualified funnel” in the WordPress ecosystem, a strategy that aligns with our education-first approach of providing value before asking for commitment.
The discussion of customer engagement strategies was especially relevant: “Analytics and data show what users do, but conversations with customers reveal why.” This human-centered approach to product development mirrors our client partnership philosophy at Hill Media Group.
The Magic of Disney: Bringing Websites to Life
An unexpected highlight came from a Disney developer’s presentation on using dynamic images and motion to create immersive web experiences. Disney’s commitment to matching their digital presence with their renowned in-park experience offered a masterclass in brand consistency.
The presentation challenged us to think beyond functional websites to create digital experiences that evoke emotion and engagement. For small businesses, this doesn’t mean Disney-level production values, but rather understanding that modern users expect websites to feel alive and responsive, something we can achieve through thoughtful animations, hover effects, and interactive elements even on modest budgets.
Community Building: The Heart of WordCamp
Beyond the technical sessions, WordCamp’s volunteer-organized nature showcased the WordPress community’s collaborative spirit. Working alongside fellow volunteer photographers and hosting morning running groups for attendees reminded me that technology conferences are ultimately about human connections.
The WordPress community’s diversity impressed me; not everyone writes code. From designers to content creators, marketers to project managers, the ecosystem thrives on varied contributions. This inclusivity is perhaps WordPress’s greatest strength, powering over 40% of the internet’s websites not through corporate mandate but through collective effort.
Reflections on Pace and Culture
Compared to the frenetic energy of marketing conferences I typically attend, WordCamp moved at a more deliberate pace. This wasn’t a weakness but a reflection of WordPress’s stability as a platform. While marketing tactics might change monthly, WordPress development follows a more measured evolution, prioritizing reliability and backward compatibility.
I did notice the WordPress community seemed less open about sharing specific strategies compared to the marketing and SEO world. Perhaps this stems from the competitive nature of plugin and theme development, where proprietary advantages matter more than in the rapidly shifting marketing landscape.
Looking Forward: Recommendations for Future WordCamps
The conference would benefit from clearly defined tracks. An agency/marketing track would attract more businesses like ours that use WordPress as a tool rather than developing for it. Similarly, developers creating plugins, themes, and tools deserve specialized content tailored to their needs. This segmentation could make WordCamp more valuable for attendees with specific goals while maintaining the cross-pollination opportunities during keynotes and social events.
The Enduring Value of WordPress for Small Business
Attending WordCamp US 2025 reinforced my conviction that WordPress remains one of the best platforms for small businesses and nonprofits. While there are countless hosted solutions, the value of actually owning your website, having complete control without platform fees, cannot be overstated. This ownership principle aligns perfectly with our mission at Hill Media Group: transforming online presence into valuable business assets that our clients truly own.
The conference demonstrated that WordPress isn’t just keeping pace with technological change, it’s thoughtfully integrating innovations like AI while maintaining its core values of accessibility, ownership, and community. For agencies serving small businesses, this balance between innovation and stability makes WordPress an ideal foundation for sustainable digital growth.
Conclusion: A Community Worth Joining
WordCamp US 2025 was worth the journey, not just for the technical insights but for the reminder that technology serves people, not the other way around. The WordPress community’s commitment to democratizing web publishing while embracing responsible innovation offers a model for how technology communities can evolve without losing their soul.
For those of us building businesses on WordPress, whether as developers, agencies, or end users, the message from Portland is clear: the future is bright, the tools are powerful, and the community remains strong. As we integrate AI capabilities, refine our development processes, and adapt to changing search landscapes, we do so supported by a global network of professionals committed to keeping the web open, accessible, and human-centered.
The next decade of WordPress promises to be as transformative as the last. Based on what I witnessed in Portland, the community is ready to meet that challenge with innovation, integrity, and the collaborative spirit that has always defined WordPress. For Hill Media Group and the small businesses we serve, that’s exactly the foundation we need for sustainable digital growth.
One Response
As a fellow WCUS attendee, I agree with pretty much everything you said. I will echo the “tracks” you mentioned as this is something the local / regional WordCamps used to do. I am an agency of one (managing a few hundred sites) while some of “philosophical” talks were interesting, I’m interested in more practical talks that I can have takeaways I can apply for my business.
I sat in on the 150 site talk for a short amount of time and I had a bit of a different take away as all my sites are for individual clients and other than perhaps a generic accessibility or privacy statement, each site is unique so I would never have something the way they were describing.