September 3, 2025 — Big ideas don’t scale on inspiration alone—they scale on systems. In this talk, Tammie Lister makes the case for treating systems thinking as a core strategic tool, not just a design discipline. From building resilient design systems to structuring AI workflows, she’ll show how the most effective work happens when strategy and systems are inseparable. You’ll learn how to architect flexibility into your tools, reduce friction in your processes, and design for the long term, without sacrificing creativity. Whether you’re navigating complexity in teams, tools, or technology, this talk will reframe how you think about structure: not as a constraint, but as your most significant advantage. Presented byTammie Lister

September 3, 2025 — Artificial Intelligence is no longer just a novelty. It is becoming an essential ingredient in how we build, publish, and connect online. In this session, I’ll take you into my Cozy AI Kitchen to demystify how AI really works, why it matters to the WordPress ecosystem, and how builders can approach it with both curiosity and care. Rooted in my book How To Speak Machine, I’ll explore the pivotal shift we’re living through: machines that appear to “speak human.” WordPress itself has always carried a poetic tension. It was built for publishing prose, and it is powered by a community that also sees code as poetry. Now, with AI entering the picture, we face a moment where both the poetry of words and the poetry of code are being reshaped by machines. You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of AI’s fundamentals and a perspective on how this evolving technology can be used not only to automate, but also to inspire creativity. AI can generate endless blog posts or even code on its own, yet its true value may be in sparking the words and the code that only you can create.

September 3, 2025 — Have you ever celebrated a record-breaking month, only to find yourself scrambling for leads the next? You’re not alone. Revenue instability is one of the most common and fixable problems in the web agency world. In this session, former agency owner and Atarim founder Vito Peleg reveals the real reasons agencies struggle with unpredictable income—and shares the exact playbook he used to break the feast-and-famine cycle. Presented byVito Peleg

September 3, 2025 — Ever wished you could add a little something extra to a Gutenberg block’s HTML without resorting to hacky workarounds? Meet the WP_HTML_Tag_Processor – a powerful yet approachable tool in WordPress core that lets you modify HTML tag attributes on the fly. We’ll explore how to harness this new API to safely tweak the output of core blocks and make them do your bidding (no advanced wizardry required, but having some knowledge on how to customize blocks would be helpful!). We’ll start with a quick intro to what WP_HTML_Tag_Processor is and why it makes customizing blocks easier (hint: no more fragile regex or heavy DOM parsing). Then we’ll dive into practical examples that developers of all levels can appreciate. For instance, you’ll learn how to lazy-load videos (both the core block and cover). Next, we’ll show how to sprinkle custom attributes on column blocks (imagine adding a role when the columns are more representative of a list) to adapt core layouts to your project’s needs. Presented byRory Heaney

September 3, 2025 — Open source software runs on passion, but passion doesn’t pay the bills. WordPress powers over 40% of the web, yet many of the people maintaining it aren’t funded. That’s starting to change, and your company can be part of it. In this talk, we’ll explore how sponsored contribution works, why it matters, and how companies, big and small, can participate. We’ll walk through my experience working within my company to sponsor contributors: from promoting the idea internally, identifying key areas of the WordPress project to support, finding and interviewing contributors, and building an internal framework for long-term sponsorship. You’ll hear real examples from contributors we support, and we’ll talk honestly about challenges like ROI, alignment, and accountability. Whether you’re a founder, product leader, or agency owner, you’ll leave with a clear understanding of how to start supporting the people behind the platform your business relies on. Presented byRoger Williams

September 3, 2025 — Machine learning has been around for decades. Until recently, running ML models typically required big centralized servers due to high computational demands. With modern hardware and tools like Rust and Burn, we can flip the script. When run on a user’s device, trained models can be an incredible boost to human creativity and expression. Harper is a grammar checker that is designed to improve your work without degrading your integrity—or the writing experience itself. Our users generate and publish novel ideas faster because we focus on what’s important: speed, privacy, and accuracy. WordPress’ mission is to democratize publishing. This talk will explore how we can use AI to democratize writing too. More importantly, how you can train and deploy specialized models at the edge to eliminate inference costs, lower latency, and improve user satisfaction. Presented by Elijah Potter

September 3, 2025 — For millennia, humans have engaged in the creation and ritualization of experiences to enrich our lives and promote mental well-being, such as meditation and mindfulness practices. Despite this extensive history and its foundation in the science of neuroplasticity, most people do not think of experiences as medicine, certainly not in the same way they view pills. Dr. Gazzaley will share his two decades of research into advancing technology-based experiences as medicine for the mind. Notably, he will present his pioneering inventions of closed-loop video games as the first and currently only FDA-approved video game treatments. He will then explore the next generation of experiential medicine that integrates advancements in artificial intelligence with sensory immersion, multimodal physiological recordings, non-invasive brain stimulation, and psychedelics to enhance human cognition. While artificial intelligence does pose significant threats to our future on this planet, this journey represents a new frontier of human potential where AI and the brain unite to improve our lives and redefine the essence of humanity.

September 3, 2025 — This talk explores how AI can be used to automatically fix detected website errors and boost overall site performance. Along the way, I’ll share key lessons we’ve learned from working with AI—along with the challenges and roadblocks you might encounter too. The goal of this talk is to spark your curiosity about the kinds of tools you can build with AI and the tasks you can automate. Presented byArnas Donauskas

September 3, 2025 — Handing the keys to a shiny new site over to clients is always a nerve-wracking experience. In this technical session, we’ll look at how to leverage modern CSS alongside the block editor to take the anxiety out of client handoffs by building resilient web experiences with fluid design. We’ll start by reviewing fluid design concepts and examining fluid options available in the theme.json file. Then we’ll move to building a real-world, fluid custom block that adapts to its surroundings – giving content editors power without the need to expose complex responsive controls. We’ll close with a discussion of how embracing fluid modalities can be a win for everyone by enabling faster developer workflows, easier content management, and cleaner frontend interfaces. Attendees will leave with practical tips to deliver websites that are elegant, adaptable, and bulletproof for content management teams – all while writing less code. Bring your laptops, questions, and an open mind and let’s explore building resilient websites for the future! Presented byAnton Plauche

September 3, 2025 — It’s been over a decade since Atomic Design brought the world of digital design systems into the modern era. With the introduction of the block editor, and further expansion into Full Site Editing, WordPress has never been better suited to delivering modular, systemic, and consistent content editing experiences. However, without putting thought into the process of creating content, the editor interface becomes frustrating and complicated, and the experience of the end user often suffers as a result. We will discuss how incorporating User Experience tools to your workflow (including user research, information architecture, and design systems) can improve the content creation experience. We will also discuss how new and upcoming tools will make these system-driven editing experiences better, and how we can continue to improve the WordPress editor as we have more of these conversations. Presented byMichelle Schulp Hunt