Over the weekend of November 2nd and 3rd, I attended my first Sydney WordCamp 2024. The event was organised by the Sydney WordPress group and attracted attendees from all over Australia and even Internationally. I gained a lot from the talks and met more people than I can count on two hands. It was truly valuable to hear different perspectives on WordPress and its future and to engage with a community of mostly like-minded individuals. Despite being the smallest web design agency in Wagga I was the only one to attend but that’s ok we’re all busy.
I also reconnected with an old acquaintances from some of the Drupal community during a meetup that I attended in Hobart in 2019 and Canberra a few years before that. Lot’s of great discussions were had for the Drupal 7 end of life debacle. Being at the forefront of WordPress is crucial, especially since it powers almost 48% of websites on the internet. Despite the rise of DIY builders like Wix and Squarespace, WordPress remains the dominant choice. As you can imagine alot of my discussions were around, how to deal with beginner web design freelances using these tools which mainly highlighted a low price template based model which could be implemented in the same time or less than a SquareSpace site. Takes time to build those templates though so maybe a Christmas based job which is often when I do business and training developments.
One other key takeaway was about running my own business, focusing on being helpful rather than salesy. I’ve written articles about this approach, emphasising the importance of maintaining trust and relationships with customers. Sometimes, offering free services and always remembering to smile can make a big difference.
WordCamp 2024 Speakers
I was particularly interested in a session by Kate Toon, a copywriter known for her podcast on SEO. She discussed how she manages her business, looks after her clients, and scales her services. Learning about her financial success, including her earnings and profits, was enlightening. It showed what’s possible in the early years of running a business.
I’ve been operating under the brand GetLeads for 12 months, and although I previously ran Angry Ant Web for over a decade with a business partner, it feels like starting from scratch, especially in the SEO game. However, I enjoy this area and plan to delve deeper into it in 2025.
Another notable talk was by the WP Mavens, a couple of ladys from the Tweed supporting women in tech roles like design, development, and marketing. Their discussion resonated with me, especially the empowerment to decline clients while maintaining financial stability. Always bummed with all the women in web design type support groups while there’s never any men in web design groups.
Lastly a talk on ChatGPT and AI never goes astray, I’m a bit of a sucker for AI but mainly just for specific things like generating code, a few images, some content outlines and strategy based information that end up in planning documents. There was a good talk and example scripts on training your AI and how to get them to a point where they’re useful. Creatives generally hate them because they feel threatened by them but I look at them as an efficiency when used the right way.
WordPress Community Networking
The networking opportunities were wonderful. Upon arriving, I sat next to a man and a woman who were initially on their phones as you’d expect. I struck up a conversation with the man, who worked for Automattic , the supporting organisation behind WordPress and had experience converting many WooCommerce shortcodes into the Gutenberg block editor. His passion for WordPress and his background in CMS development in Germany were fascinating.
Then there was Bridget Behan, from a design background she worked with an event coordination company MCI Australia from Gosford. She had a strong technical understanding, despite being a designer. Another great contact.
During the first talk, I sat next to Tim Wolstencroft from Bathurst. Amazingly we discovered a shared connection through the inner circle with Kevin Gearly and quickly bonded over our interests in tools like Bricks Builder and ACSS. I had the same question on why there wasn’t any talks on sustainable web design frameworks and of course the answer lies in the investment in the Gutenburg builder so it was all design pattern talks unfortunately.
In one of the breaks, I spoke with another woman Rae Morley who runs an article website about WordPress from Melbourne called The Repository. We discussed the open-source nature of WordPress and the conflict with vendors profiting from plugins. We also talked with Niels about caching and two-factor authentication potentially becoming core features, despite the implications for specialised plugin vendors.
Overall, the event was a profound learning and networking experience, highlighting the vibrant and evolving WordPress community.
Brisbane WordCamp 2025 here I come!
