Everything I love about the WordPress Community Summed up in One Event
As someone who spends most workdays solo, WordCamp Montclair 2025 was a welcome change of pace. I sneaked away during our trip to the east coast to round up a few new tips for my toolbox, a handful of meaningful connections and a refresher on why I love working in this community so much. Spoiler alert: it’s not just the design and code!
From Code to Conversation
Like many people in the web world, my work tends to happen behind a screen, often with more Zoom or Teams meetings than in-person conversations. But getting out of my routine and into a room filled with others who understand the quirks of the full site editor, have valuable insight into security strategies and still get excited about ways to use WordPress was pretty energizing for me. This was the second time I’ve attended WordCamp Montclair and I always walk away with new ideas on how to solve problems with code and improved business strategies, for both my clients and me. These tracks were no different.
For those of you playing at home, WordCamps are conferences for anyone in the WordPress space: that could be developers, agencies, marketing folks or solopreneurs looking for tips on how to better run their websites. There are usually “tracks” where you can pick between various talks. Sometimes the tracks are geared towards a specific audience (for example, a designer track or a developer track) but WC Montclair was a good mix and i found myself bopping back and forth between rooms, depending on the discussion topics.
I kicked off the day with Lucas Alvarado’s presentation on securing WordPress sites. Obviously this is a topic near-and-dear to me and I appreciated hearing his work flow and check points for security. It was also a good reminder that secure websites not only prevent data breaches, but uphold site integrity, support business continuity and perhaps most importantly, meet/maintain legal requirements.
He also shared this slide on password strength, which was eye-opening. Secure those passwords, people!
But it’s more than just complex passwords, it’s updating plugins, themes and core files, along with updating PHP versions. If any of this sounds foreign, definitely reach out so we can get you situated!
His talk was a practical reminder that even with managed WordPress hosting that says it takes care of this for you, it’s important to remember that your site’s security is still your responsibility.
Next up was Courtney Robertson and Evan Herman’s session on using AI tools to accelerate agency workflows. This was totally fascinating, and possibly my favorite talk of the day, as I have been in the market for some new tools to help with website accessibility. They shared some cool ways AI can help generate alt text for images and improve overall readability of blog posts. One of the more awesome ideas was to use AI to generate a knowledge base or help docs for those clients that have a need. I’m all about improving efficiency without compromising quality and I would not have even thought of that use case, but what a great idea! They also talked about the importance of reviewing code that is generated by AI for compliance and security, which is so important. This is also why I’m not too worried about AI taking my job, ha!
Joe Simpson Jr., a fellow Californian, also shared his journey through WordPress and how he modernized the website for the entire Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. It definitely resonated when he discussed some of the hurdles of inheriting a website, figuring out licensing fees, etc., as well as weighing the cost versus benefits of premium (read: paid) solutions.
And bonus, I learned he was organizing a WordCamp in California in the near future, which I was super excited to hear about!
The Real Magic
But as useful and energizing as the sessions were, the real value came in the “hallway track.” I got a chance to meet the person behind one of my favorite WordPress podcasts, Adam Silver of Kitchen Sink WP. We ended up having lunch together and while we chatted, he was kind enough to share super helpful tips on running a WordPress agency, contracts and tons of other valuable insight. It was such a pleasure and honestly, the reason I find these WordCamps (and other similar meetups) so worthwhile. These conversations sparked ideas, helped me see my own work from a new perspective and definitely felt like an antidote to the screen fatigue I’d been up against prior to the trip. There is just something about in-person conversations that virtual meetings can’t replace.
Final Thoughts
WordCamp Montclair was a full day of geeking out, inspiration and practical advice. I completely recommend attending a WordCamp or other similar conference, even if it’s just for an afternoon. It was incredibly refreshing to connect with other people who nerd out about website optimization or accessibility improvements, and who, despite vastly different workflows or client bases, share the same sense of purpose: to make cool stuff on the web.