WordCamp US Wrap-Up: Announcements and Take-Aways From St. Louis

WordCamp US 2019 is officially in the books. The largest WordCamp event in North America, which was held this year in St. Louis, MO, has wrapped up after a jam-packed weekend. 

WordCamp US is a great opportunity for WordPress pros and beginners alike to come together and share ideas, learn from one another, and hear from WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg as he presents his “State of the Word” keynote—an annual presentation recapping the year’s achievements in the world of WordPress and forecasting what the coming year has in store. You can find a full recap of Matt’s presentation here. 

As in years past, WP Engine had a strong contingent of team members attend the three-day event, and between all the various speakers, workshops, networking events, and other fun activities, this year’s WCUS was a great opportunity for WordPress enthusiasts from around the world to come together and soak up new ideas, energy, and motivation.

“WCUS was definitely an energizing event for me,” said Mathieu Saenz, a Partner Program Manager at WP Engine who attended the event for the first time this year. “Being able to sit down and chat with partners, customers, and members of the community was an overwhelmingly positive experience and has me excited for the year ahead!”

Between the WP Engine booth in the sponsor hall and our WordCamp after party, which was generously sponsored by Hubspot and Site Kit by Google, WP Engine had a lot going on at this year’s event. 

At the WP Engine booth, attendees were able to check out demos for new WP Engine products, including Atomic Blocks Pro (beta) and Smart Plugin Manager. 

“People were excited to see a new way to quickly create full-page content layouts with Atomic Blocks Pro (beta) and how they can automatically keep their plugins updated on hundreds of sites with Smart Plugin Manager,” said Scott Ammerman, the Manager of Product Marketing at WP Engine.

WP Engine employees Stacey Lane and Jay Hill—the designer and developer behind the recent redesign of Torque—were also on hand to field questions about the redesign project, which used the Genesis Framework, Atomic Blocks, and Gutenberg as part of the rebuild.

Torque’s own Emily Shciola and Doc Pop were also in the mix, talking to attendees about the redesign project and interviewing various influencers who stopped by the WP Engine booth. You can check out all of those interviews here.  

In addition to all of the great demos and interactions with attendees at the WP Engine booth, Steven Word, who oversees our WordPress practice at WP Engine and WordPress developer (and core contributor) Anthony Burchell both took part in the WCUS Contributor Day.

Additionally, our friends from the global Genesis Community had a nice turnout at WCUS, including getting together for the annual Genesis community photo.

“Supporting the Genesis Community we share with so many others is one of our top priorities at WP Engine,” said David Vogelpohl, the VP of Web Strategy at WP Engine. “Having the chance to hang out and socialize with countless community members we truly consider friends is one of our most cherished experiences at Word Camps.”

Overall, this year’s WCUS was an overwhelmingly educational, informative, and fun event. WordCamps are typically a great way for both new and veteran WordPress users to sync up with the larger WordPress community and leave with renewed momentum and motivation—this year’s WCUS was no exception!