As spring arrives in Taiwan, people from all over the world gathered in Taipei for the largest WordPress event in the region.
WordCamp Asia 2024, taking place from March 7-9, kicked off the series of flagship WordPress events. 1,320 people from over 60 countries traveled to Taipei to attend insightful talks and exchange thoughts on WordPress.
This year, Hostinger participated as a sponsor of Jade Mountain. Not only that, our team members also contributed to the WordPress project. For example, I had the opportunity to lead the Contributors Day panel during the event.
Read on as I recap the highlights from WordCamp Asia 2024.
Contributors Day
The event started with Contributor Day, where participants could contribute to the WordPress project.
Unlike the usual flagship WordCamp, all 22 Make Teams were not present. But that didn’t stop the excitement from the crowd, as more than 600 participants took part, and more than 200 of them were first-time contributors.
What I love about Contributor Day is that everyone, regardless of their WordPress experience and technical skills, can participate. And no matter how big or small their contributions were, they helped pave the way for the future of WordPress.
In this WordCamp, the organizer prepared an Orientation Board where new contributors can create the necessary accounts and tools to contribute. There were also mentors who helped them find the right team to join based on their skill set.
There was another unique corner – the Human Library. In this “library”, participants could have a one-on-one conversation to gain knowledge and insight with “books” – human volunteers, that is – who have experience with WordPress and their input.
Our team was spread across different tables throughout the day including Support, Marketing, Multilingualism and Documentation.
“Partner Day is one of my favorite parts of WordCamp. I love signing up for lots of tables and then joining the ones I’ve never been to before,” said our head of content Emma Young, keen to learn more about other groups.
I contributed to the Documentation board as a co-lead. This was my first time doing this role at a WordCamp event and it was amazing to see the enthusiasm of the new contributors.
Throughout the day, the Documentation Team onboarded over 10 new collaborators and guided them through their first tasks.
The Future of WordPress: Takeaways from the Keynote
The days of the conference started with a keynote on the future of WordPress by Noel Tock, the co-founder of Human Made.
It started with the surprising fact that WordPress market share has stagnated in recent years. The downward trend in search interest and the number of new WordPress sites launched supported this claim.
He then introduced the concept of the S-curve of the product life cycle, where mature products tend to become stagnant and susceptible to disruption by new entrants. Unfortunately, WordPress is now at this stage.
We have seen competition from SaaS website builders with strong marketing campaigns to attract people looking for a website platform. He also predicted more potential disruptors in the future, such as headless solutions and AI-based platforms.
While there is nothing wrong with the WordPress software, the contributors behind the project need to bridge the gap between the development team and the ever-changing needs of the market.
“The problem is not WordPress Core. It’s the distance between Core and the market,” said Noel Tock.
So what are his suggestions for making WordPress stronger in the face of these new challenges? Noel pointed out several opportunities to capitalize on WordPress’ market appeal.
One way is to develop native WordPress integrations for commonly used functions instead of depending solely on plugins. Imagine if you could get e-commerce functionality, form building and membership management from WordPress without having to find and install plugins. This Noel envisions as simplifying the initial setup and improving the user experience.
He also suggested that WordPress leverage artificial intelligence to empower users with built-in, no-code options. This could include AI-assisted content creation, website design, or workflow automation in the WordPress ecosystem.
Noel’s ideas can be challenging for the community. However, his keynote undoubtedly inspired the contributors and developers present in the room. This is a good starting point for planning the next evolution of WordPress.
Presence of the host at the event
Hostinger’s involvement as a top-level sponsor at WordCamp Asia 2024 is part of our commitment to supporting the open source community. In addition, over 60% of the websites hosted with us use WordPress, so every WordCamp is a perfect opportunity to meet our customers directly.
Strategically placed near the entrance to the sponsor hall, our black and white booth encouraged attendees to stop by and chat about our services or collect our merchandise.
Chamber interaction
Direct interaction with WordCamp participants is an invaluable experience for us, as it is a golden opportunity to get to know our users and their needs better. We were excited that many attendees were familiar with Hostinger and our services, some of whom were our customers.
We received great feedback – positive and constructive, from agencies, freelancers and business owners. They motivate us to improve and deliver the best WordPress hosting management experience possible.
Attendees who were curious about our services could get to know Hostinger better at our booth. They experienced our services first hand and our experts were happy to guide them through hPanel.
They could experience the ease of managing WordPress through our hPanel or starting a new WordPress site using the built-in onboarding process. Or, if they are interested in the growing AI trend, they could try the WordPress AI Assistant plugin and create content instantly by entering messages.
But it wasn’t all talk of hospitality. As a gathering of WordPressers, we also discussed WordPress itself and the trends going on in the industry.
For example, I had very interesting discussions about using AI in WordPress content creation. Many people agree that AI is a good companion to help writers and content creators speed up their workflow, but there is still a long way to go before AI can completely replace humans for work.
Another discussion I had was about the WordPress communities in Singapore and Malaysia. I discovered that WordPressers from Singapore and Malaysia sometimes attend the same Meetup events because of their proximity, which shows how close-knit the WordPress community is.
The amount of information we received is truly incredible and we wouldn’t have gotten it without interacting directly with the participants.
The merchandise
It’s no secret that one of the reasons people stop at any sponsor booth is for the merchandise. Of course, Hostinger had them covered.
We had something special at this WordCamp as we wanted to put our customers front and center. We partnered with Dou Zhai Coffee and Roastery, our client based in Taiwan, to deliver the WordPresso – Available in beans and ground coffee.
We also had two merchandise with local touches – stickers and bags. The tote bag attracted so many attendees. Not only because it incorporated local designs like Taipei 101 and Yin and Yang, but also because a tote bag is too handy to have at a WordCamp.
The draw
We also did something different – a raffle. We invited people who visited our booth to enter the draw to win a Macbook Air M2 and Business WordPress hosting plan.
200 people participated in the draw. The winner, Uzma Jafar, was announced at the end of the WordCamp, in the plenary room, in front of everyone present.
What’s next?
With WordCamp Asia done and dusted, it’s time to look forward to the next flagship event – WordCamp Europe 2024. It’s taking place in Turin, Italy, from June 13-15. Hostinger will also be participating as a sponsor, so if you live nearby, come see us at the event!
Meanwhile, if you’re looking forward to next year’s WordCamp Asia, great news: organizers have announced that WordCamp Asia 2025 will be held in Manila, Philippines. Stay tuned to their official website for dates and more information about the event.
Leo is a content expert and WordPress contributor. Armed with his experience as a Co-Lead and Spokesperson for the WordPress Documentation Team, he enjoys sharing his knowledge to help people build successful websites. Follow him on LinkedIn.
