Welcome to a special episode of Open Channels News, recorded live (well, almost) from WordCamp US in Phoenix. Your host, Robert Jacobi, is joined by Robbie Adair, founder of A-Team Media and OS Training, for an unscripted and lively conversation covering all the buzz from this year’s event.
In this episode, they chat about the unique changes to the WordCamp schedule, including a last-minute switch from Contributor Day to an interactive hackathon, share their experiences with the ever-popular hallway track, recap standout sessions on AI and SEO, and offer their thoughts on the upcoming fireside chat with Matt Mullenweg.
Whether you’re a WordPress veteran or a first-time attendee, get ready for candid insights, community highlights, and a behind-the-scenes look at the conference energy that makes WordCamp US one of the marquee events in the open source world.
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Takeaways
- WordCamp US Format Shifts: This year’s WordCamp US experimented with its typical Contributor Day by switching it to a hackathon, making the event more interactive and project-focused, with almost all projects completed by the end of the day as Robert notes 03:01.
- Increased Collaboration: The hackathon format broke traditional silos, encouraging cross-team collaboration and allowing contributors to work together on documentation, development, and other skills, as highlighted by Robbie 04:16.
- Showcase Day Changes: Robbie observed that Showcase Day resembled more of an extra sessions day, diverging from previous years where agencies presented case studies, noting a shift in how the day was structured 06:20.
- The Value of Hallway Track: Both reflected on how valuable impromptu networking in hallways is, sometimes at the expense of attending sessions, as Robbie shared about her experience being swept up right after arriving 05:45.
- Early Session Speaker Experience: Robbie shared concern about speaking in the very first session slot, but was pleasantly surprised by the good attendance and engagement, showing attendees’ early enthusiasm 07:38.
- Sessions Provide Real-Time Insight: Both discussed the importance of sessions where speakers update previously given information, especially in fast-changing areas like AEO/Geo and AI, and appreciated when presenters admit when things have changed or when they were previously mistaken, as discussed by Robbie 09:21.
- Slower Social Pace: Compared to previous years, evening social events seemed to end earlier, giving attendees more time to rest and reset, which both Robert and Robbie mentioned appreciating 11:00.
- Fireside Chat Anticipation: Robbie expressed excitement for the upcoming fireside chat, mentioning some surprise that it wasn’t Mary co-hosting with Matt, and reflecting on Mary’s open, approachable nature offstage 12:08.
- Leadership Accessibility: Robert emphasized the accessibility of WordPress leadership, especially Mary, highlighting the benefit of leaders engaging with the community in informal settings rather than just on stage 12:51.
Episode Transcript
Robert Jacobi: Hello and welcome to Open Channels News, part of the Open Channels FM network. I’m Robert Jacobi, your host for today. This is a very special OCN broadcast. We are doing a live prerecorded, minus audience weird clapping and laughing, session at WordCamp US. And it’s my great privilege, honestly, to have Robbie Adair, founder of A-Team Media, as well as OS Training, to answer questions that she’s completely not ready to answer. And this is how we do it. It’s fun.
Robbie Adair: Oh yes, it’s so much fun to not know what you’re going to be questioned about.
Robert Jacobi: Welcome to the camera.
Robbie Adair: Exactly.
Robert Jacobi: Oh, don’t worry, we’re not going to edit anything because we’re going to do it like we normally do live at OCN. So some of the news which we would normally go through, it’s all overshadowed by the fact that we’re very excited and spending the whole week here at WordCamp US in Phoenix where it’s not just hot outside, it’s hot and awesome inside. I know, I can’t be any cheesier.
Robbie Adair: It’s kind of freezing inside actually.
Robert Jacobi: There’s nothing better than the 40-degree temperature changes coming in from the walk from the hotel to the wonderful acclimated connections.
Robbie Adair: Yes. Oh my gosh. So basically you get nose drip and then you go outside and feel like you’re just dying and melting into the sidewalk. That’s basically the weather.
Robert Jacobi: Nothing wrong with a little desiccation. News-wise, it’s been an exciting week. Today is actually day 2, the last day. Day 2 official because the calendar is kind of interesting with WordCamp US. We had Contributor Day on Sunday, we had Showcase Day on Monday. Yesterday, day 1, very typical WordCamp day. And today’s day 2 on Wednesday. I almost said Thursday. A lot of us have lost track of time because it’s been such a busy—
Robbie Adair: A blur.
Robert Jacobi: Busy blur, as one would hope.
Robbie Adair: And actually, Contributor Day turned out to be Hackathon Day.
Robert Jacobi: So that is probably—
Robbie Adair: There was a switch-up.
Robert Jacobi: Most fun news, and kind of really a last-minute change-up. The organizing team decided to put together a hackathon. I’m gonna let you explain it.
Robbie Adair: Oh, I really don’t know that much about it. I actually was not here. I know, that’s what you were saying. I know, I was like, I just know that I, you know, that’s what I heard when I got here was that they had swapped things around and did a hackathon day instead of a contributor day. So I don’t know what kind of results they got out of that hackathon. Did you?
Robert Jacobi: I did. I don’t have any of my notes because we’re just gonna freeform this. But yeah, it was a wonderful change-up actually. I’ve been to a number of contributor days and it’s more of a fixed format. You pick your team, the team leads already picked the topics that you’re gonna work on, and hopefully you get something done. This year, the hackathon, or the new WordCamp hackathon, was focused on getting something out that day.
Robbie Adair: Oh, wow.
Robert Jacobi: And there was a few sort of pre-populated submissions for projects, and then folks were able to go up there. There was a 30-minute window where people could go up there and pitch a project.
Robbie Adair: Oh, cool, cool.
Robert Jacobi: Which made it very interesting because it doesn’t necessarily mean that the pre-planned projects were the ones that were taken up because you can move from table to table, choose what you want to do, be very successful. You know, feedback on the ground watching it, it was much more interactive and engaging than I would say a traditional Contributor Day was. And having had a chance to speak to some folks who were also a lot of brand new WordCampers this year, I’m really happy to see.
Robbie Adair: That’s interesting.
Robert Jacobi: And those folks were very excited that they could easily get into a project, not stress out about, oh, is this documentation? Is this hosting? Is this blah, blah, blah? And literally have something done at the end of the day.
Robbie Adair: That’s interesting. I mean, I feel like when you do a project-based day like that versus the Contributor Day, where the Contributor Day is, like you said, very siloed among the teams that are already siloed out there, they only meet with each other and there’s little cross-teamwork.
Robert Jacobi: Cross-contamination.
Robbie Adair: Yeah, well, or working together, collaboration. Yeah, that. And so I feel like that, you know, even when you would do a contributor day, you were just kind of still in your little silos there. And part of when you switch to a project is you could have someone who’s gonna do documentation, someone who’s gonna do dev work. And so you’re mixing up the palette, as it were. And so you’re introducing people to other people they probably don’t know yet.
Robert Jacobi: Which was— and literally saw that as it happened. People had sat down because the table tents were up there with like, this is the hosting table. And then the rules were explained and all those things. It was like, meet at table 5, meet at table 1.
Robbie Adair: Okay, cool.
Robert Jacobi: Table 29, tons of activity. I’m trying to remember, I heard what the count was. It was probably around 400. Don’t hold me to that, approximately 400 people contributing in one day and got, I think it was 27 out of 28 projects were completed.
Robbie Adair: Wow.
Robert Jacobi: Like completed, shipped.
Robbie Adair: That’s a successful hackathon, I would say.
Robert Jacobi: Shipped, done, or at least committed to the repos for validation.
Robbie Adair: Awesome. And so the second day was Showcase Day. That’s the day I came in.
Robert Jacobi: Tell me more.
Robbie Adair: Yeah, I didn’t come in until about lunchtime. And then I, after I got everything put away at the hotel, I was like, okay, I’m gonna walk down to get my badge and just kind of see what’s going on. And I did come and get my badge, but then of course was swept up in the hallway track. And so I actually didn’t get to go to any of the sessions on Showcase Day because I was literally in the hallway track as soon as I hit the doors here, which was great. I mean, it’s always when you get to the conference and you start running into people like you and I, like when we run into each other, it’s like, oh, we haven’t seen each other in a while. So it’s like, you’ve got to get caught up, you know? And then it’s like, and then there’s a group, let’s go eat lunch somewhere, whatever. And so it was just like, and then all of a sudden it’s, you know, like, oh, showcase day is over and now it’s time for nighttime events. And so then you go on to the networking events.
Robert Jacobi: Yep.
Robbie Adair: So that was kind of my showcase day was really just getting in here. I did, I think it was interesting when I looked at the schedule, the Showcase Day didn’t look, also didn’t look like a Showcase Day, like a Contributor Day didn’t look like it either, because it was more like just an extra sessions day in my opinion.
Robert Jacobi: It was like a freebie session day.
Robbie Adair: Yeah, yeah.
Robert Jacobi: Get 2, the secret one on Showcase Day.
Robbie Adair: Yeah, yeah, I guess so. Anyway, so I was surprised by that because I expected the Showcase Day to be more like in the past where we’d have agencies come in and say, you know, maybe even bring their client and go like, here’s what we built.
Robert Jacobi: Case study day.
Robbie Adair: Yes, exactly, which is, you know, agency, that’s really interesting to see. But, you know, I’m like I said, I didn’t get here till halfway through the day. I had other business obligations. So that’s why I didn’t get here till that day.
Robert Jacobi: And then yada, yada, yada. And then brought me busy all the time.
Robbie Adair: Well, that’s true. That’s true. You know, with some fullness, I sleep and I do sleep sometimes.
Robert Jacobi: Day 1, exciting. Great keynote.
Robbie Adair: Yeah, absolutely. And I’ve attended several sessions. So I have been able to see sessions the last couple of days, which is not ’cause I don’t always, again, sometimes you get swept up in that hallway track and you don’t make it into the sessions, particularly as a speaker. So I did speak. And so that was nice. I was a little worried ’cause we were like in the very first spot on the first day. And I was like, are we going to have anybody here? Which we did. So I was, that was nice. And we even had really good feedback and questions at the end. So that was nice. Yeah. And then I attended some others. What session again? Mine was on Trusted Hosts as a Competitive Advantage. And so I spoke with David Sneed. He’s from the Secure Hosting Alliance, and they have a certification for hosts. He wanted me to help explain from an agency standpoint how important they are.
Robert Jacobi: Love it.
Robbie Adair: And so, yeah, so, and like I said, that’s not what I typically speak about. And so it was interesting. I was like, I don’t know if we’re going to have anybody here and I have no idea what the questions will be at the end. But it was actually—
Robert Jacobi: Just like this.
Robbie Adair: Exactly. Exactly. Just, just never know what the question’s coming at you. And so, yes. Yes, exactly the same. And then I did attend, like, Emma Young’s talk on AEO/GEO. She’s just, you know, when you can find people who have, like, they’re dedicating their time to start learning about that and then sharing their results, it’s just so amazing because it’s such a hot topic right now. It is such a convoluted topic right now that anytime you can find, you know, someone who’s willing to get up and share their results that they’re actually really getting out there right now, it’s really good information. It’s worth sitting through, you know what I mean?
Robert Jacobi: I’ve seen a couple of her sessions in the past. Uh, and not only is just sort of the raw data and like what you need to know amazing, she’s got opinions.
Robert Jacobi: Oh yeah.
Robert Jacobi: And it’s great to see a session with an opinion. Absolutely.
Robbie Adair: Absolutely. I, you know, being a redhead, I’ve always been opinionated.
Robert Jacobi: I did not say that. Dear Universe.
Robbie Adair: Yes.
Robert Jacobi: That was Robbie.
Robbie Adair: Exactly. So I’ve always been opinionated. So I, yes, I respect when people will take a stance and say what their opinion is and be willing to also say when they were wrong about something, right? I mean, so you have to do both things, I feel like. And that was interesting because she had given some information in a previous talk and then was like, you know, that changed and this is the new results. And so that’s really good because you’re really sharing then. And a lot of times we go to these sessions to learn and be able to avoid mistakes, right? So we can hopefully avoid those mistakes and move on past that. And the best way to do that is when you see how someone else made mistakes or things change, and that helps you guide yourself through and maybe save some time.
Robert Jacobi: I think this year is the year of not calling it a mistake, just call it AI.
Robbie Adair: Hallucinations.
Robert Jacobi: It’s a hallucination.
Robbie Adair: It’s just a hallucination I had yesterday.
Robert Jacobi: But it’s not even just that. It’s like what you said yesterday may have been 100% correct, and the stuff is moving so quickly. The tech, how, you know, AEO, GEO is working.
Robbie Adair: The legalities wrapped around AI and AI policies right now. It is— there’s just like questions.
Robert Jacobi: Intellectual property rights. Yeah. So it’s changing on a daily basis. So you’re not necessarily wrong last week. It’s just, guess what? It’s completely changed over the course of 24 hours. One of the comments that was actually on social media prior to WordCamp US was, where are all the side events?
Robbie Adair: I will say, I am normally like, my calendar looks like, oh, goodness, get up early because you’re speaking early, or something. And then, it’s like, the events go till midnight or later. And that has not been the case here, I will say for sure.
Robert Jacobi: I’ve actually really liked it.
Robbie Adair: I was gonna say, I actually have been to bed earlier. Yes, and nice.
Robert Jacobi: The ones that have been going on, and there have been every day, there’s been, you know, side events, whether they’re like official side events or just, for instance, people—
Robbie Adair: Groups. Yeah.
Robert Jacobi: Yeah, groups. Have been more focused on meeting more people. There was a great WooCommerce event last night.
Robbie Adair: Yes.
Robert Jacobi: Fantastic.
Robbie Adair: Mm-hmm.
Robert Jacobi: Just, you know.
Robbie Adair: And then the venue hotel lobby was pretty busy last night as well after that. And so I did stay up a little bit later last night, I guess, just because of that. But it also got pretty loud. And so that was it. And I was like, okay, yes, bed is calling Robbie now.
Robert Jacobi: Today’s the last day. We’re in the afternoon already. There’s only a few hours left.
Robbie Adair: Oh, yes, but we have—
Robert Jacobi: What are you looking forward to?
Robbie Adair: Well, you know what I’m looking forward to? I am looking forward to the fireside chat. I am so ready for that.
Robert Jacobi: Oh, do tell.
Robbie Adair: Hmm. So, I do believe that there’s like this fellow that’s gonna get on the stage with Matt and—
Robert Jacobi: Oh, I thought you just meant Matt.
Robbie Adair: No, I meant you. We’re all very excited about the fireside chat. But I will say, we’re excited about it, but we’re also a little surprised. I mean, no offense to you, but we would have expected Mary Hubbard to be up on that fireside chat with Matt. No offense to you.
Robert Jacobi: None taken.
Robbie Adair: But, you know, that is what we would have assumed as a community.
Robert Jacobi: I’m gonna leave it at that.
Robbie Adair: There you go. Exactly. No comment. No comment.
Robert Jacobi: Mary’s looking at us. Oh, no, she’s not.
Robbie Adair: I know, Mary’s peering at us through the door now. No, no. She’s a shy individual, I will say, I feel like, for these type of events.
Robert Jacobi: I’ve spoken to her a number of times. She’s like, I’m really accessible to everyone. I just don’t want to be accessible on stage. Which is great. Which actually is better because day to day, you actually have great accessibility to the executive director of WordPress. And so it’s on stage. Well, it’s on stage, but that’s maybe a little less meaningful if you can’t really continue that conversation down the road. Yeah, so that’s kind of, you know, I’m just going to wrap it up like that for WordCamp US 2026 in Phoenix special edition. Uh, thank you very much, Robbie Adair, for joining us. Uh, wonderful. And as usual, be open, stay secure.
