Driving the WordPress Economy at PressConf 2025

Marcus:
Hey everybody. Welcome to WordPress Event Talk. It’s a slightly different voice coming to you today, but if you’ve listened to Woo Biz Chat, you might know who this is. This is Marcus from Bluehost this time, and I have with me today the man, the myth, the legend, the one who puts all of this stuff together. Mr. Bob Dunn, how are you today, Bob?

BobWP:
Yeah, I’m doing good. Yeah, I like to stay behind the scenes most of the time, but I do sneak into shows every once in a while. I’m doing good, and I’m glad to be here. This is going to be fun to talk about.

Marcus:
Dragged you in here, tooth and nail, forced you to bring your voice back to the show because we have a very special guest today putting together a very special event coming up, and we want to have her talk about it. So welcome to the show also, Raquel Manriquez, how are you?

Raquel:
Hey, I’m well, friends. Super glad to be here.

Marcus:
Happy to have you. Thank you. You have an event coming up, I think it’s in April. Maybe we can get into it a little bit. PressConf, what’s that all about? What do you have going on?

Raquel:
Yeah, I mean, there’s so much to say, but yes—

Marcus:
What is it? Let’s start with what is it?

Raquel:
It’s a business of WordPress event. So PressConf is a reiteration, a resurrection, a revival—all the adjectives—of Pressnomics. If any of us remember that from 2012 to 2019, it was a beloved business of WordPress conference, and it’s happening this April 23rd through 26th. It really is a conference to serve those who drive the WordPress economy. It’s not a conference necessarily for users. You don’t go to this conference to learn how. You go to this conference to be inspired, to allow for serendipity, to start new ventures with others, and to rub shoulders with some of the biggest players in WordPress.

BobWP:
Yeah, that’s cool because I look at it as this other piece in the puzzle. I mean, we have WordCamps that we go to, and then we can go to other conferences. I go to CloudFest, which is very business-oriented, but it’s a humongous conference too. So this kind of puts us in that special little spot—smaller, a little bit more intimate, more time to network. So you have this mission. I mean, this thing’s probably been in your head for quite a while. How did it get out of your head and actually start happening? I mean, you have these thoughts. How did you get to the point where you are right now?

Raquel:
Yeah, a series of events. I think it honestly started 10 years ago, just being a part of community WordCamps, Pressnomics, and really starting to discover who I was and what I was gifted at. I took that with me, and I’ve been a long-time organizer for WordCamp Phoenix since 2015—on and off the lead organizer or on the org team. And when the pandemic hit, all of us were just trying to get in-person events back and dealing with the struggles that came with it. Then, when they finally did come back—especially with the flagships—we had Porto and San Diego, and then Asia finally happened. We were getting back into the swing of things, and the sentiment started to be from a lot of (I mean this in an endearing way) the old guard, right? Like, “Oh, we miss Pressnomics. We miss the sort of opportunity to start new ventures together with others.”

And we all love WordCamps, and we go to WordCamps, but the hallway track was getting bigger and bigger. I would say probably in Athens is when I started to hear a lot of, “Man, we need Pressnomics back.” Then, in DC last year (I guess I should say WordCamp US in DC and WordCamp Europe in Athens), I really started to actually think, “This could happen, and I think I could really do this.” But there still was a lot of self-doubt. I was talking with Corey Miller, and we actually, for a hot minute, tried to bring something back, but life happened, and nothing materialized. Fast forward to just this last spring at WordCamp Asia in Taipei, the sentiment—especially among a lot of the product developers in WordPress—was, “Man, we really need something like this back.” And I thought, “You’re right.” So I just started even talking with them. I asked, “Do you think I could do this?” And I was hearing a lot of affirmations. A lot of the community was like, “Oh my God, Raquel, if anybody could do it, you can do it. You’re the one who could bring this back.”

I spent the past year just thinking about it. I was still a full-time mom, so I kept pushing it off. But then two catalysts happened. First was at WordCamp Asia in Taipei—Robert Windisch made a comment while we were all hiking together. He said, “CloudFest is the new Pressnomics.” I was like, “Excuse me? No.” I was flabbergasted. That really kind of started the fire. Then shortly after that, I was on a mastermind call for the WordPress community, and again, there was this sentiment: “We need a WordCamp that’s the business of WordPress.”

Literally, that was it. I got off the phone and immediately contacted Josh Strebel and asked, “What do we need to do?” Then I got in contact with Sally. The rest is history. There’s a lot to be said there, but those were the catalysts that finally got the ball rolling.

Marcus:
There’s plenty of context to be provided around why it’s not Pressnomics again, because of the name and stuff. I know you reached out to Josh and Sally Strebel to kind of chat with them. You didn’t need the green light from them, but you’ve been friends forever. Is there anything advice-wise that they gave you in starting this back up? I mean, you were there—what’s worked well, what worked well in the past, or how it could be approached post-COVID in a different world? It’s a different WordPress landscape now than it was from 2012 to 2019. In those conversations with them, I’m just curious if there was any advice you’ve gotten from them or anything about where this could go that maybe Pressnomics was but could go further from where it was before?

Raquel:
Yeah, totally to that whole point. At first, even my thoughts were like, “Sally, you resurrect it, and I’ll be right there with you again.” But she’s living the life. And to your point, Marcus, I didn’t necessarily need the green light, but it was so important to me to respect and honor what they built. It was so precious to Sally, and that’s my vibe. You guys know me, others know me—I am very much about sincerity and being genuine with others, and I’m on this platform of love to this world. So it was important to me to get their blessing at least, even though it is completely a new event.

But there definitely was some advice. The last iteration, there were times where the audience got a little out of control at the 2019 iteration. So Sally advised me on how to handle things like that. Honestly, it’s helped a lot because, even going forward with plans, my thoughts have been about what culture we need to set ahead of time to prevent that sort of outbreak (for lack of a better phrase). At the same time, there is an opportunity for feedback and for people to share what they want to share. But we need to look at an opportunity for more structured time when that could happen. There was also advice about making sure to let people know this is happening. So even at WordCamp US in DC this last September, I reached out to some key mathematicians and said, “Hey, this is happening. Just want you to know.” Again, in good faith—that’s really the reason why.

And that is actually a lot of growth for me. I’m the type of person who in the past would have been like, “I need permission.” I’m a recovering people pleaser, and I’ll always be a recovering people pleaser. But that’s the idea: you’re recovering, so you’re growing, and you’re getting better. For me, there’s been a lot of liberty in knowing I don’t need anybody’s permission. But I’m still going to be on this platform of love, reach out, be respectful, and be dignifying to others and their work. So that’s just a few things I could think of.

Marcus:
The culture is going to come primarily, I think, from the team and speakers. I know that you’re the head and the face of the event, but I know that you’ve put together quite a nice team. I don’t know if you want to tell people a little bit about the team, how you decided who to reach out to, and some of the folks that are helping out with the project.

Raquel:
Yeah, I love this part. Well, I always say my very first was Carol Stambaugh. Carol Stambaugh is a mentor to me. We endearingly call her “Mama WordPress” in the whole Valley, Phoenix, and she’s been one of the longest-running members of this WordPress community in Phoenix. She’s the heart and soul, the backbone, and has been along my side the entire time. She’s incredibly gifted in WordPress and is, I swear, WordPress’s best-kept secret. But I’m not keeping the secret anymore. She’s been along my side always with every WordCamp Phoenix iteration. She knew this had been brewing for so long, so I don’t even think there was ever a formal, “Hey, you going to help me?” It was just, “You’re helping, right? Here’s the first meeting.” But she’s incredible. She’s definitely my number one. It’s not about hierarchy in the team, but it is what it is. She’s just my right-hand woman.

So Carol is there, and she’s actually handling—her main job is handling all the speakers. From the WordCamp Phoenix team, I also recruited Nathan Atkinson, who takes care of the budget. Then I have Dave Ryan, known from Bluehost. He worked on the website and has a journalist background. Dave’s a bit of a unicorn, and he probably doesn’t want me to say that, but I believe he is. He just can do a lot—hardcore developer but also has some design skills and can write content. He’s taking care of the site, and I could not breathe without Dave. I’m so glad he came on. He was the latest addition to the team—just came on a month or so ago—and he just reads my mind. That’s what it comes down to.

Then there’s Brian Richards, whom I’ve known for a really long time, and Matt Medeiros—Matt and I are really good friends. My old manager at Elegant Themes, Nathan B. Weller, also reached out and was like, “Hey, I want to help.” And I was like, “Oh my gosh, yes.” I think I hit everybody—yeah, there’s like seven of us. It’s a small team, but really I just needed people to fill my gaps. I can’t do everything, but they came along and joined. If it’s not obvious, I’m beaming because it’s such a grand team. I just love and respect every single one of them, and they’ve meant so much to me even outside of organizing. These are friends. So I’m excited. I’m super excited.

BobWP:
It’s a nice balance of personalities and skills in the team.

Raquel:
Yeah, totally.

BobWP:
I think both Marcus and I know most of them—or all of them, actually—so that’s great to hear.

Marcus:
There’s plenty of context to be provided around why it’s not Pressnomics again, because of the name and stuff. I know you reached out to Josh and Sally Strebel to kind of chat with them. You didn’t need the green light from them, but you’ve been friends forever. Is there anything advice-wise that they gave you in starting this back up? I mean, you were there—what’s worked well, what worked well in the past, or how it could be approached post-COVID in a different world? It’s a different WordPress landscape now than it was from 2012 to 2019. In those conversations with them, I’m just curious if there was any advice you’ve gotten from them or anything about where this could go that maybe Pressnomics was but could go further from where it was before?

Raquel:
Yeah, totally to that whole point. At first, even my thoughts were like, “Sally, you resurrect it, and I’ll be right there with you again.” But she’s living the life. And to your point, Marcus, I didn’t necessarily need the green light, but it was so important to me to respect and honor what they built. It was so precious to Sally, and that’s my vibe. You guys know me, others know me—I am very much about sincerity and being genuine with others, and I’m on this platform of love to this world. So it was important to me to get their blessing at least, even though it is completely a new event.

But there definitely was some advice. The last iteration, there were times where the audience got a little out of control at the 2019 iteration. So Sally advised me on how to handle things like that. Honestly, it’s helped a lot because, even going forward with plans, my thoughts have been about what culture we need to set ahead of time to prevent that sort of outbreak (for lack of a better phrase). At the same time, there is an opportunity for feedback and for people to share what they want to share. But we need to look at an opportunity for more structured time when that could happen. There was also advice about making sure to let people know this is happening. So even at WordCamp US in DC this last September, I reached out to some key mathematicians and said, “Hey, this is happening. Just want you to know.” Again, in good faith—that’s really the reason why.

And that is actually a lot of growth for me. I’m the type of person who in the past would have been like, “I need permission.” I’m a recovering people pleaser, and I’ll always be a recovering people pleaser. But that’s the idea: you’re recovering, so you’re growing, and you’re getting better. For me, there’s been a lot of liberty in knowing I don’t need anybody’s permission. But I’m still going to be on this platform of love, reach out, be respectful, and be dignifying to others and their work. So that’s just a few things I could think of.

Marcus:
The culture is going to come primarily, I think, from the team and speakers. I know that you’re the head and the face of the event, but I know that you’ve put together quite a nice team. I don’t know if you want to tell people a little bit about the team, how you decided who to reach out to, and some of the folks that are helping out with the project.

Raquel:
Yeah, I love this part. Well, I always say my very first was Carol Stambaugh. Carol Stambaugh is a mentor to me. We endearingly call her “Mama WordPress” in the whole Valley, Phoenix, and she’s been one of the longest-running members of this WordPress community in Phoenix. She’s the heart and soul, the backbone, and has been along my side the entire time. She’s incredibly gifted in WordPress and is, I swear, WordPress’s best-kept secret. But I’m not keeping the secret anymore. She’s been along my side always with every WordCamp Phoenix iteration. She knew this had been brewing for so long, so I don’t even think there was ever a formal, “Hey, you going to help me?” It was just, “You’re helping, right? Here’s the first meeting.” But she’s incredible. She’s definitely my number one. It’s not about hierarchy in the team, but it is what it is. She’s just my right-hand woman.

So Carol is there, and she’s actually handling—her main job is handling all the speakers. From the WordCamp Phoenix team, I also recruited Nathan Atkinson, who takes care of the budget. Then I have Dave Ryan, known from Bluehost. He worked on the website and has a journalist background. Dave’s a bit of a unicorn, and he probably doesn’t want me to say that, but I believe he is. He just can do a lot—hardcore developer but also has some design skills and can write content. He’s taking care of the site, and I could not breathe without Dave. I’m so glad he came on. He was the latest addition to the team—just came on a month or so ago—and he just reads my mind. That’s what it comes down to.

Then there’s Brian Richards, whom I’ve known for a really long time, and Matt Medeiros—Matt and I are really good friends. My old manager at Elegant Themes, Nathan B. Weller, also reached out and was like, “Hey, I want to help.” And I was like, “Oh my gosh, yes.” I think I hit everybody—yeah, there’s like seven of us. It’s a small team, but really I just needed people to fill my gaps. I can’t do everything, but they came along and joined. If it’s not obvious, I’m beaming because it’s such a grand team. I just love and respect every single one of them, and they’ve meant so much to me even outside of organizing. These are friends. So I’m excited. I’m super excited.

BobWP:
It’s a nice balance of personalities and skills in the team.

Raquel:
Yeah, totally.

BobWP:
I think both Marcus and I know most of them—or all of them, actually—so that’s great to hear.

Marcus:
So moving from the team to speakers, I think you’re currently looking at speakers. What does that look like? How are you deciding? Obviously, there’s a theme for the event—it’s the business of WordPress—so you’re looking for people that are business-minded. But how are you going about that? Is there a call for speakers? Are you reaching out to people personally?

Raquel:
Yeah, we’re reverse-engineering it. It’s been really interesting to do it this way, and it’s new for me, but I’m loving it. We are inviting speakers first, and it’s going by the big names. We’re just asking, “Who in WordPress do you want to hear from?” That’s really what I’ve done with the team. Even in Notion, I told everyone, “Just drop who you want to hear from—all over the spectrum: from Automattic, from product developers, from WP Engine, even.” We are just reaching out and saying, “Hey, we want you to speak. We don’t know exactly what you want to speak on. So first things first: Do you accept? If you do, we’ll get on a call and figure out what you’re going to speak about.” I’ve been loving this approach, so it’s basically figuring itself out.

Again, we reverse-engineered it. We first started with our schedule—we figured out our schedule and how many slots we’d have—and then, given the state of WordPress today, we’re filling those slots with certain persons based on how relevant they are to what we’re doing. We’re still inviting. So, if anybody even hears this by the time we publish it: We’re still inviting! There’s room. I know some have already reached out to me. If anyone is interested, you absolutely can reach out.

We’re experimenting with a call for speakers in a couple of sessions where those sessions specifically are designed to have a call for speakers. Also, we’re not just going to showcase or ask to hear from the most well-known names in WordPress. Yes, we do want that, but that’s more because we want to hear from them. However, we also want to showcase some new, up-and-coming voices. We’re going to be innovative with this.

I guess I’ll just call it out now—I don’t even mind. There’s a big push now in our community—a new, growing community of builders who came from page-building communities. That’s my world. I’m an Elegant Themes community manager, so I’m in the Divi space. There are people who don’t even know what WordPress is, but they discover Divi, they discover Elementor, and then they’re like, “Oh, what’s WordPress?” They think it’s a Squarespace competitor. But we’re seeing this growing community, especially in the podcast and YouTube world, of people entering into WordPress through page builders. We definitely want to showcase that. We don’t have all the answers yet, but that’s on our radar for sure.

But it has been so much fun, Marcus. It’s different. That whole reverse-engineering—starting with your schedule first and then filling it with speakers—we’ve never done that before. Usually, you do a call for speakers and then start to categorize the speakers and their talks by business, marketing, accessibility, or whatever. Then you create your schedule. Nope! Complete opposite now, and we’re figuring out the topics with the speakers themselves. So it’s been a lot of fun.

Marcus:
And also different from WordCamps since it’s a single track. So you don’t have to choose between, “Oh, I’m going to miss this person because they’re not being recorded.” You don’t feel like you’re missing out on a session or anything—it’s just a single track.

Raquel:
One track, on purpose. I’ve been saying: This event is for hallway-track peeps. I’m one of them, and you both are too. This is for us. You don’t want to miss these talks. You’re going to want to be there. It’s one session, so it’s not going to feel as overwhelming. You’re not going to have to choose. That’s really the idea—it’s this intimate, “we’re in this together” vibe. All us hallway trackers are usually out in the hallway talking while the sessions are happening. But actually, no. This time, it’s worth it—we get to go into the room together and have these talks, watch these sessions that we actually want to see.

That sounds bad. It’s not that we don’t want to see other talks, but that’s the beauty of a WordCamp: It showcases a lot of new and up-and-coming people. I’m for that. I’m very for that. But a lot of times, as a product developer, as an agency owner, or as someone with a key role in a big company, you use that time to network with others. You schedule meetings. I’ve had plenty of companies reach out to me at flagship events and say, “Hey, we’ve scheduled this room at the Ramada from this time to this time. Please meet with us.” They don’t go to a single session—all they do is meet with their VIPs or desirables. That’s all grand and great, but you’re not doing that at PressConf. We’re all going to go to the sessions together, and we’re going to like it.

BobWP:
On the networking side of things, I feel like you will have some organized networking where it’s not just the hallway track. The sessions themselves can be networking in a way, but will you have opportunities laid out for people specifically for networking? Is that the case?

Raquel:
Yeah, totally. I mean, one, there’s the social events. Day one, in the afternoon, when everybody’s registering—after that is our welcome party. So, I mean, that’s all networking. Then there’s a Friday after-party before Fun Day on Saturday. On Saturday’s Fun Day, all you’re doing is either playing golf or not playing golf. We haven’t figured it out yet, but we are doing it together. So, again, it’s more just off-the-cuff networking that you can do.

The middle evening, Thursday, is one of those open evenings that is allowed for other companies to do their own dinners or things like that, similar to a WordCamp. But otherwise, besides all those moments of opportunity—because our community has been so used to the hallway track—we know we have work cut out for us to get everybody ready. We’re not going to do that. We’re going to go to sessions. We’re all going to go together, and you’re going to want to go.

So we’re working on that part. Don’t even worry about it, everybody. You’re going to want to see these sessions. But we’re also planning—and still figuring it out, this is pretty new and innovative—we don’t want it to be speed networking, but we’re planning a couple of sessions each day to basically have time to off-the-cuff, sort of unconference-y time to network with each other, for lack of a better way to put it. But it’s not going to be speed dating or speed networking. It’s going to be different.

BobWP:
When’s that ever going to go away?

Raquel:
Right? You still see it; it still exists. But the idea is that it’s going to be time to unconference and to just have moments where, maybe at a WordCamp, you would have scheduled time with somebody. During that time, you could use that to say, “Hey, let’s you and I talk.” You could organize it ahead of time, or it could be like, “Let’s just see what happens in that moment.” But details are still to come. We’re still figuring that out.

Marcus:
Well, we’ll get to the fact that tickets are on sale now. I do want to just sort of say out loud the elephant in the room: The ticket prices are a little bit higher than a WordCamp, and that’s for a number of really great reasons. That’s why I want to ask you about it. You’re paying people to speak and organize this, correct?

Raquel:
Yeah, everybody gets compensated. That’s the idea. The organizers—everybody. Even if I’m asking or they’re saying, “I want to join,” I’m like, “Here’s the compensation. Do you like that?” And everyone’s like, “Yes.” All of our speakers—we’re figuring out per speaker what works for them compensation-wise. But yes, that is absolutely what is happening here. Nobody’s volunteering.

I said earlier: Carol’s job is speaker coordinator. That’s because it’s literally a job. It’s a contract. We’re not volunteering. And we all know I’m very much about volunteering—I’ve poured my heart and soul into WordCamps, and I will always love and continue to support that. But I’m also a recovering serial volunteer.

Marcus:
It’s an incredible amount of work.

Raquel:
Exactly.

Marcus:
So the fact that you’re able to do that and have decided that is the way to go—I truly admire it. I’m just curious: What has the reception been for that? Do people feel a different sense of freedom in being able to do the things they want to do without being burdened by finding an odd hour here or there to volunteer time? What has the reception been like? Obviously, the speakers know when you’re reaching out to them. Are they like, “Oh, this is different”?

Raquel:
So far, all of our speakers that we’ve even started conversations with—it hasn’t come up too much yet. I think it’s because their level in life and success means that’s not their number one concern. But others—especially if we do a call for speakers—we’re definitely going to make sure compensation is one of the first things. That’s just different.

Even for me, if someone invited me somewhere, compensation would be an important aspect for me to consider. But honestly, it’s been received really well overall. Like I said, the hard part with speakers wasn’t compensation. Everyone liked their compensation and was on board. That was the easy part. With speakers, it’s really a case-by-case basis. It’s like, “Okay, I don’t want to embarrass you by offering this because you are obviously very successful. So what is valuable to you?” It’s been great.

That is why the prices are what they are. Also, everybody knows—it’s only slightly more than the 2019 Pressnomics, and that was five years ago. Actually, it’ll be six years ago when this event happens.

Marcus:
No, that makes sense.

Raquel:
I know. And truth be told—I was clinging to the past like, “Oh my God, everyone’s going to lose their minds.” A lot of this is like six times the cost of a WordCamp. I had to help myself understand where we’re at today in today’s economy and the value this conference provides. There’s so much value.

And to that point, the hotel room block is cheaper than almost any flagship WordCamp we’ve been to in the past since the pandemic. It’s literally cheaper than any of them. The hotels are the same exact price they were in 2019. So I’m very glad about that. I’m like, “Yay.”

Marcus:
Yeah, the Tempe Mission Palms looks amazing too. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it and how conducive it is to hanging out together, and that all that organic networking will happen just from even being in the same place.

Raquel:
I’m glad you said that because the last time I was at Tempe Mission Palms was 2016. In 2019, it was in Tucson, but all the other times before that, it was almost always at Tempe Mission Palms. I’m hoping it still has that reputation because our event in particular got a little loud.

And it wasn’t loud in an obnoxious way. It was because we would be up late in the courtyards talking to each other, and voices can get a little loud. If anybody’s hung out with me, they would know that. But I love that. To your point—oh man, the whole courtyard and the ability to have everybody together so you just run into each other—it’s all part of the magic. It’s spread out enough to be comfortable, but it’s centralized enough to feel connected.

I get it—sometimes, even at a WordCamp, you can’t make that happen. I’ve been an organizer; we want that central location, but you just can’t always pull it off. Now we can. So, oh man, it’s going to be great. To that point, I’ve seen people talk about Airbnbs, and all that’s fine. But you’re going to want to be there. You’re going to want to be at the hotel. You could choose roommates—there are options with the hotel bookings, so you could have up to four people in a room. Get creative if anybody’s concerned about costs because being there is so much a part of the experience.

BobWP:
So with all of this said—and some of our listeners are businesses, even owners of large businesses and agencies—let’s talk about sponsorships. Everything you’ve said about how you’re structuring the sessions—I’m trying to picture how sponsorships fit into this or what a sponsor can expect. It’s a unique opportunity, and of course, there are a lot of sponsors in the space that would love to be there because of the audience. So give me a picture of what, as a sponsor, you’ll be given as far as visibility or any extras.

Raquel:
Yeah, well, there are a couple of options. Anybody can see it on our sponsor page on the site, but there are really two base options: You’re either a community sponsor or you’re a booth sponsor. There are only a few booth spots available. In total, there are eight spots. And those booths—boom—they’re not like a flagship WordCamp. It’s not like a trade show with a 20-by-20-foot booth, which is great, but the booths here are more like an 8-foot table where you can have a backdrop. It’s very similar to a local camp, but it will feel more like how a “super camp” has traditionally been styled—like WordCamp Phoenix, for example.

The booths are there to provide a presence for sponsors who still value that physical visibility. But with PressConf, the attendees are the sponsors’ targets. For them, it’s about connecting with decision-makers and big players, not just end users. Of course, we’re all users at the core, but this conference is more for the business side of WordPress.

If you’re a sponsor, you’re getting access to decision-makers for major products in WordPress. I can tell you right now—the attendees who have already signed up are exactly those people. Our attendees page is about to be published, and it’s already the “who’s who” of WordPress. It absolutely blows my mind. It shouldn’t blow my mind, but whenever someone signs up, I’m still like, “Oh my gosh, you love me!” That’s how I interpret it all. When I see the attendee page, I get so giddy. But it’s true—the attendees are exactly the kind of people sponsors want to connect with.

Even for a sponsor with a booth, you don’t need to have someone there at all times. You could just set up swag if you want, but you also have the opportunity to have a person there, to do giveaways, or other things like that. All of that is stipulated in our sponsorship packages.

From there, because I know how our community likes to operate, you can add extras. For example, we have party sponsorships. WordCamp Phoenix has always done this well. All sponsorships come with product or brand placement and external links, but this kind of sponsorship allows your brand to shine more prominently. The welcome dinner party, for example, could be “Brought to you by [Sponsor Name].” You can even name the desserts or appetizers! We’ve had some really fun ones over the years.

There’s also an opportunity to sponsor our Snack Shack. Any Pressnomics alum knows the Snack Shack is legendary. It’s literally a room stocked with every kind of snack imaginable—unlimited to every attendee all day long, from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM on both session days. You don’t even need to eat breakfast elsewhere. You could just go there for continental-style options. So we’re like, “Okay, we need a Snack Shack sponsor.” That sponsor gets branding and recognition like, “Don’t forget to check out the Snack Shack, brought to you by [Sponsor Name].”

Beyond that, we have other options that are fun and a little different from WordCamps, like lanyard sponsorships, hotel key cards, branded notebooks, etc. The funnier part is, we even asked the venue if we could do elevator wraps!

To summarize, as a sponsor, you’re getting access to exactly the audience you’ve been trying to reach: decision-makers and executives at some of the most successful companies in WordPress. That’s the real benefit.

BobWP:
It seems like, even with a small booth, you have a little home base there. And I know there’s a price to it, but it gives sponsors a clear place to connect. If attendees know they can talk to someone from one of the sponsors at a specific spot, it’s helpful.

Raquel:
Exactly.

BobWP:
Okay, I have a thought. I’m here in Porto, Portugal, and there are different reasons I might choose not to go to the event. But there’s also CloudFest and WordCamp Asia that I’m going to. Do you hope—or is there a wish—that others will pick this up globally, this concept? Maybe have something in other locations? I mean, you can’t be going all around the world doing this. How can we make this more accessible to people? Because there are a lot of business leaders that probably would love to go, but resources or time might get in the way. What are your thoughts on that?

Raquel:
Yeah, a few thoughts. First, I think Marcus nailed it, and I think Marcus knows me enough to know that I absolutely would travel all over the world and put this event on if I could. I absolutely would. And now I have the freedom to do it. Like I mentioned earlier, I had kids, and that kind of thwarted me from starting this in the past. That’s because I was very intentionally being their mom. I was going to “mom them” until they graduated from high school. Of course, I’ll always be their mom, but the physical part of motherhood is just no longer as relevant. Things change; your kids go off to college.

So now I have the availability, and I want to do that. But one thing I’ve noticed is that Pressnomics in the past—and now PressConf—has always attracted an international crowd. People have come from Australia, India, Europe, and other parts of the world to attend. We’ve been very strategic in scheduling our dates. We respected CloudFest, WordCamp Europe, and WordCamp Asia. This year, WordCamp Asia is in February, so we’ve nestled PressConf with some good padding in between all of these events. We wanted to make it as accessible as possible for everybody.

At the same time, I get it—we can’t go to everything. People are going to have to make choices. But there are already talks of bringing PressConf to Europe. I’m going to keep calling it Pressnomics accidentally, but you know what I mean—there are talks of bringing PressConf to Europe and partnering with other European-based brands.

There’s also talk of other well-known brands in the WordPress space starting their own business-oriented WordPress conferences. These wouldn’t necessarily be PressConf, but I would still play a key role in helping organize them. The goal would be to serve the global WordPress community while still offering unique events in different regions.

For example, this other potential event would still focus on the “business of WordPress,” but it might be more polished and buttoned-up, with recorded sessions. PressConf, on the other hand, is raw, unfiltered, and about getting into the nitty-gritty with each other. This other event would complement PressConf by offering something different.

The great thing about what’s happening right now is that I can already think of three other independent events that are being talked about. These would still be WordPress-focused but might cater to different aspects of the community. Some would focus on business, while others would be more developer- or contributor-focused. I’m super excited about that.

BobWP:
And I’m sure you would enjoy another trip to Porto! It’s great that you’re getting this back on track because it might inspire other people to think about similar events. That’s very cool. Marcus, do you have any other questions before we wrap up?

Marcus:
No, I was just going to say that I think it’s really cool. It’s not exactly a “proof of concept” for an independent WordPress event, because Pressnomics went on for years. But this is sort of a reaffirmation that this kind of event can exist in the WordPress ecosystem. I’m excited to see it showcase itself and for other independent events to pop up as well. WordCamps will continue to happen and be amazing, but there’s room for other independent events to come alongside them, do different things, and have the freedom to be creative in new ways. That’s really exciting to see.

Raquel, if you want to share where people can find out more about PressConf, get tickets, and all of that, please let everyone know where they can do that.

Raquel:
The website is PressConf.Event. Pretty easy to remember. We’re everywhere—we’re on Twitter, we’re on BlueSky (along with the rest of the WordPress world), and you can also reach out to me or any of the team. But most likely, they’ll send you to me.

It’s pretty much “PressConf” everywhere. It’s not hard to find, without listing every single handle. But the website is very informative. Dave went to town on it. If anyone has further questions after scouring the site, I’d be surprised. There’s so much information and so many resources to learn about the event. You can also sign up for our email list or reach out to us if you have any other questions. Don’t be shy.

Marcus:
Awesome. Well, thanks for being with us, Raquel. Thanks for coming out of the shadows and joining us, Bob.

BobWP:
Yeah, yeah. I’m always here, just not always physically.

Marcus:
Always lurking in the background. But we got you to be in the foreground this time!

BobWP:
Yeah, it’s always fun to pop in every once in a while. It’s funny because I initially pinged Matt Medeiros about this, and he immediately sent me to you, Raquel.

Raquel:
Yeah, Matt got a lot of those pings last week. He kept saying, “Everyone’s reaching out to me,” and I love that. Then he’d be like, “Surprise! It’s Raquel!” I’m totally cool with it.

BobWP:
Well, thanks again, Raquel. This has been great. I know a lot of our listeners would find this event ideal. If you can make it, it’s definitely something you don’t want to miss. Reach out to Raquel if you have any questions.

We’ll keep everyone updated on Do the Woo, via the blog or elsewhere, with any news about PressConf. Thanks again, and have a good one.

Raquel:
Bye!