When you attend a WordCamp, it’s easy to get caught up in the buzz. The sessions, the hallway conversations, the friendly faces, the energy of a community coming together. But behind that experience is a small group of people who spend months making it all possible.
This year, I was one of them.
I’ve helped organize several WordCamp Ottawa events in the past, but WordCamp Canada 2025 was something different, and my first time back in an official organizing role since 2018, but on a much larger scale. After attending the first WordCamp Canada in 2024, my first WordCamp in five years, I knew I wanted to get involved and help make the next one even better.
What follows isn’t a recap of sessions or announcements. It’s a look behind the curtain. The WCEH story from my point of view, and a reflection on the people, planning, and moments that made it all come together.
A Different Kind of WordCamp Story
Most people experience WordCamp as an attendee, moving between sessions, connecting in the hallway track, and engaging in conversations that shape the future of WordPress. My experience was a little different.
I was one of the organizers for WordCamp Canada 2025, held on the campus of Carleton University in Ottawa. My role wasn’t about attending sessions, it was about creating the environment where they could happen. From coordinating logistics and schedules to managing space, signage, and food for hundreds of attendees, I helped our organizing team transform a beautiful academic venue into a national WordPress event, complete with all the little details no one notices unless something goes wrong.
The Early Days
When we first applied back in 2024 to host WordCamp Canada, the WordPress community was in a delicate place. The events surrounding WordCamp US were still fresh, and questions around trademarks and sponsorships were being debated openly. Those uncertainties posed a real challenge to fundraising.
From day one, we faced some difficult realities: there were genuine financial risks that could have limited what we were able to deliver. But this is where the strength of our team shone through. Dan (Knauss), one of my fellow organizers, took the lead on sponsorship outreach, and through his persistence, and the generosity of long-time and new sponsors alike, we managed to pull it together.
By the time we finalized our plans, not only were we able to fund more than the essentials, but we delivered something much closer to what we had envisioned — a warm, inclusive, and professional event that reflected both the friendliness and togetherness of Canada, and the spirit of our WordPress community.
Roles and Responsibilities
When planning began, my responsibilities were fairly defined: coordinate the venue and setup, and manage food and catering. I’d done these tasks several times before as part of the organizing team for WordCamp Ottawa, and our venue, Carleton University, is familiar territory. Not only do I work there, but the last few Ottawa camps had also been hosted there, so I know the space well and already had good internal relationships.
This meant diving into the world of floor planning. I have to say, our event coordinator was amazing, which made things a lot easier. I worked closely with Dan and Cathy (Mitchell) on venue planning. Dan focused on sponsor coordination, while Cathy led the attendee experience. Together, we refined the layout to make sure everything flowed naturally. In the end, we designed a setup that directed traffic toward the centre of the venue’s atrium, surrounded by sponsor booths arranged in a circle. The goal was to keep sponsors engaged with the always-popular hallway track, and I think it worked beautifully.
On the catering side, I worked with the university’s food services team to develop menus that worked for everyone, with a big assist from Miriam (Goldman) and Cathy, who managed dietary restriction information and feedback from attendees. From quick sandwiches and buffets to vegetarian and vegan options, we aimed to offer something for everyone. I coordinated timing, deliveries, and service to keep everything running smoothly. The food and service ended up being fantastic, something many attendees commented on throughout the event. It’s more than a small detail, good food really does elevate the whole experience.
Once the venue and catering were booked, there was a bit of a waiting game while contracts and logistics settled. That’s when I started taking on other responsibilities. Our web lead had to step back for personal reasons, and at the time I was diving deeper into block themes, so it felt like the right opportunity to help push the website forward.
I focused on improving the layout and structure so we could publish updates more efficiently and get information out faster. I also began writing articles for the site, highlighting announcements, sharing updates, and covering topics like my first WordCamp experience and the importance of accessibility in higher ed, all part of our effort to keep WordCamp Canada visible and top of mind, but in a good way.
As planning went on, I also took on another major responsibility: speaker liaison and scheduling. It wasn’t something I had originally planned to do, but it quickly became one of my favourite parts of the process. I worked directly with presenters, answering questions, helping with logistics, and ensuring they had everything they needed for their talks. I took the lead on building and proposing the final schedule, sharing drafts and updates with the rest of the organizing team for input along the way. While I handled most of the legwork, it was very much a collaborative process, and I’m grateful for how supportive everyone was.
I also helped develop the workshop tracks for Contributor Day, designed to help attendees of all skill levels get involved and learn something new. When I reached out to potential speakers about leading workshops, the response was overwhelmingly positive, the enthusiasm and willingness to help made planning these workshops a real highlight of the experience.
I’ll admit, part of the reason I volunteered for that role was selfish. I wanted to connect with speakers, learn from them, and grow my network. That decision turned out to be one of the most rewarding parts of the entire year. I met so many talented, generous people and walked away with genuine new friendships.
There ended up being an unexpected communications strategy that came together almost by accident. I had a hunch that WordCamp US was about to start announcing their speakers, so I waited for their first announcement and helped share it across social media. A few days later, I published our own first round of speakers — and the gamble paid off. They returned the favour, and that friendly back-and-forth continued as both camps supported and amplified each other in the weeks leading up to our events.
That back-and-forth led to something even bigger. We caught the attention of Matt Mullenweg, and before long I found myself and James tweeting with him, playfully egging him on about coming to WordCamp Canada. Not long after, he mentioned our camp during his WordCamp US keynote, which was surreal to hear. From there, we were able to confirm that Matt would not only attend WordCamp Canada, but also host a Town Hall session.
The Event Itself
After months of planning, countless meetings, and a few late-night Slack threads, it was finally time to bring everything to life. No matter how much preparation goes into an event like this, nothing quite compares to the energy, and sometimes the chaos, of seeing it all unfold in real time.
Contributor Day
The day was mostly a blur. We ran into Wi-Fi issues right from the start, and with a full slate of workshops that depended on a solid connection, it was stressful. I’m incredibly grateful to my close friend and colleague at Carleton, Mike Corkum, who stepped up and helped get things fixed fairly quickly. We also had a few minor video connection problems, and I spent the first part of the morning scurrying between rooms to check-in to make sure everything was running smoothly. Thankfully, we had one of our A/V team members from Carleton’s Production Services on standby, and he arrived within minutes when I called for backup, a huge relief.
By late morning, once most of the technical kinks were worked out and a few scheduling adjustments were made, I finally had a chance to sit down in the Contributor Room. It was great to catch up with old friends and make a few new ones. While I didn’t get the chance to contribute code myself, I overheard several people asking questions and getting guidance from experienced committers, including one of my own colleagues from the university. That moment made me smile. This is why we have Contributor Days, to connect, learn, and share knowledge in real time.
Hearing feedback later that day, and throughout the event, made me especially proud of the workshop tracks we introduced. We had been planning to add them for months, and when our original plan with an alternate venue fell through, I immediately put new plans in motion to make sure they could still happen. While I deeply value the traditional contributor experience, I also believe one of the most important things our community can do is welcome and onboard new talent, especially younger audiences who represent the future of WordPress.
That’s why I wanted to create meaningful, accessible workshops, and our presenters absolutely stepped up. Their enthusiasm made it all worthwhile and made those extra hours of planning feel more than worth it.
Credit to Our Workshop Leads
Looking back, I have a special place in my heart for the workshops we hosted during Contributor Day. While every speaker at WordCamp Canada played an important role in drawing attendees and shaping the event, these workshops represented something I care deeply about, creating opportunities for learning and helping prepare the next generation of contributors in our community.
I want to take a moment to recognize the people who helped make these workshop tracks possible. Their willingness to step up, share their knowledge, and bring their ideas to life truly captured what Contributor Day is all about.
Shanta Nathwani was the first to confirm not just one workshop, but back-to-back beginner workshops. Her early commitment gave this idea momentum. She jumped in with the vision of creating a two-part introductory session for newcomers, the perfect foundation for the morning track. Once Shanta was confirmed, I set out to round out the rest of the morning with sessions that would build on that foundation, ideally something focused on SEO, accessibility, or WooCommerce.
Soon after, Jennifer Curry Jahnke and Sandi Gauder reached out to talk about the difference between running a workshop and giving a main-stage talk. They preferred the longer, hands-on workshop format, and with their confirmation, our accessibility workshop was locked in. That commitment really boosted my confidence that we could create something unique and valuable for attendees.
Then came Alex Melen, who, going all the way back to my earliest outreach to confirmed speakers, was one of the first to express interest in supporting Contributor Day. Even before we’d officially announced it, Alex offered to run an SEO workshop in addition to his main-session talk. The best part? His flight landed the morning of the workshop — yet he still confirmed without hesitation. I made sure to slot him in for the 3 p.m. time slot, just in case. His dedication was remarkable, and he absolutely earned my personal “rockstar of the event” award.
That rounded out our Track One, an introductory flow for attendees looking to learn practical skills from some of the most generous educators in our community.
Track Two had a slightly different focus, one that celebrated contribution and technical depth. Jonathan Desrosiers has been a leader in the WordPress community for over a decade. After watching his “How a Core Committer Thinks: Making Decisions for Millions” talk from WordCamp Europe, I reached out to see if he’d be interested in joining us at WCEH. Not only did he agree to give a talk, but he also led a workshop on contributing to WordPress Core, a session that perfectly captured the spirit of Contributor Day.
Jeff Paul brought a great sense of adaptability. In a conversation before Contributor Day, Jeff mentioned that the AI plugin he’d planned to demo wasn’t quite ready for a workshop. Together, we made a quick pivot. The organizing team encouraged attendees to stop by the AI table in the contributor room to learn more. That table quickly filled up, and so did others, and in a spur-of-the-moment decision, Jeff and I announced an open Q&A session about AI in the larger room. Jeff took it on without hesitation, and based on the number of people who stayed well past lunch, it was a hit.
Ryan Welcher is one of the most generous and supportive people that I’ve met in our community. From day one, he offered to help in any way he could, and once the workshop day was confirmed, I reached out and of course, he was all in. Ryan had already been planning a block development workshop, and I was thrilled to give him a full session to bring that idea to life. Based on the feedback I heard from my colleagues at Carleton, it was a complete success.
Conference Days
There was a certain excitement walking into the venue on the first morning of the main event. The registration table was ready to roll, our sponsors were nearly set up and looking energized, and there was this unmistakable buzz in the air that only a WordCamp morning brings.
I hadn’t been at the venue for more than ten minutes when I was introduced to Dave Winer. I had a long list of things to check on before attendees started to arrive, but really, when else was I going to have the chance to sit down and chat one-on-one with Dave Winer? That’s a rare opportunity I wasn’t about to pass up. Dave was generous with his time, and genuinely interested in hearing what others thought. It set a great tone for my day.
The first order of business after that was hanging up the 8-foot by 4.5-foot print of a cartoon-like moose that I’d created in about an hour of experimenting with Midjourney. It hoped it would be a bit of a mascot for the event, a lighthearted touch that made people smile as they entered the space.
Even though Miriam had taken on most of the speaker lead responsibilities while I shifted focus to keeping the venue and catering on track, I still felt obligated to check in before each session. Sometimes that was as simple as walking up to the doors for a quick visual check, and a couple of times it meant a bit of “wiggling” cables or troubleshooting connections. The sessions ran smoothly overall, but I liked being close enough to step in if something went sideways.
Overall I spent much more time in the hallway track than sitting in sessions, not entirely by design, though I do tend to spend more time chatting with folks at camps these days. This event, however, had an outstanding lineup of speakers, and I’m really looking forward to catching the recordings once they’re posted online.
I managed to catch half of the keynotes: I was in attendance for Dave’s opening keynote, but unfortunately missed Jill’s closing keynote that day due to family obligations. The next day, I made it for Matt’s Town Hall, though I missed much of Evan’s session.
To be honest, much of it is a blur, the pace of the event didn’t leave much time to sit still, but I’m really hoping to catch all of them once the videos become available online.
Speaking of Evan, one of my favorite moments from the event came from him. Throughout the event, a fair number of people asked me about the “zip-line-looking thing” near the venue. Even though it’s on campus, I honestly had no idea what it was. Evan, of course, wasn’t content to leave it a mystery. At one point, he flagged me down, excited to share that he’d gone to investigate and found a plaque at its base. It turns out the line is used by students in the Environmental Engineering program to collect water samples from the river.
I’ve worked at Carleton since 2009 (on campus up until COVID) and that exchange made me realize how much I take the beauty of our campus for granted. Watching attendees share photos of the river, the architecture, and the green spaces, often with captions about how beautiful the venue was, made me pause. I don’t see it every day anymore, but when I worked on campus, I definitely took that view for granted.
There were plenty of other little moments from those two days that stand out. Meeting and chatting with folks I’ve followed or interacted with online for years is always a highlight. This year, we had people from some of the largest WordPress agencies and companies in attendance, and it was wonderful to finally put faces to names and share stories in person.
Gratitude and Reflection
As I look back on this experience, I’m filled with gratitude for the incredible team that made WordCamp Canada 2025 possible — James Girous, Dan Knauss, Miriam Goldman, Cathy Mitchell, Mary, and Rick. Each person brought their own strengths, ideas, and energy to the table, and the event wouldn’t have happened without their dedication.
I’m equally thankful for our sponsors, volunteers, and attendees, the people who believed in this event, showed up, and helped create the positive, welcoming atmosphere that defined the event. Their support turned what once felt like an ambitious dream into a real, tangible success.
Having organized several WordCamp Ottawas in the past, this was my first time returning to the organizing side since 2018. It reminded me just how much I’ve missed being part of that behind-the-scenes effort, the collaboration, the creative problem-solving, and the shared sense of purpose that drives it all.
Organizing a WordCamp is a massive amount of work, much of it invisible, but it’s also one of the most rewarding things I’ve done. This experience deepened my respect for the WordPress community and renewed my appreciation for the people who make it what it is. I’m proud of what we built together — and excited to see where WordCamp Canada goes from here.
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