Another WordCamp Europe in the books. And after getting some rest and reflecting on the event, I could almost not be happier with how it went. The 2026 edition was held in Kraków, and once again it was a blast. Those of you not closely familiar with the WordPress ecosystem must know upfront: WordCamp Europe (or WCEU for short) is one of the biggest WordPress conferences in the world. It’s organised by a big team of volunteers for the better part of the year before finally inviting the whole community to a new European city every year. This year was Poland’s turn.
The city
Kraków itself is stunning and vibrant. I’ve been there last year to check out the city, the local WordPress community and do all the sightseeing. Partly because I knew I would not be able to do much of that during the actual event. (That was very true.)
The organisation
For the millionth time, I’ve been a media partner at WordCamp Europe. And as every year, that gave me some interesting insights into how the sausage is made. Event from the pure logistics, it’s always super impressive to me, that a team of volunteer organisers can pull WCEU off. But seeing them having actual fun, doing it, is incredible.
The one thing I usually don’t trust too much at WordCamp Europe is food. The options are often a bit limited and getting really good food into 2,500+ pairs of hands can be challenging. Like every professional WordCamp attendee, I have backup plans, know to bring a snack or where to go with some friends to have proper lunch if the queues or choice of food does not spark joy. This year’s food setup all over the venue deserves a special shout-out, I was quite impressed.
Also, the after party. That was one for the history books. From the top of my head, I cannot think of a WCEU party even coming close to this. (But hey, there’s always next year!)
Overall, I can’t thank all the organisers and volunteers enough. I work more closely with the media/comms team and some of the global leads, but really all the teams I saw in action, did a wonderful job!
Doing some media work
WordCamp Europe and CloudFest are both like Christmas for me. One of the big things leading up to WCEU and to do during the event is my job as a media partner. The lovely folks at media/comms set us media partners up with separate rooms and a (sometimes flaky) booking system. I was a bit light with the on-the-ground recording during the event. Which after some super unhealthy workloads in past years is a good thing if you ask me.
But I got some nice interviews in and already published some. But maybe even more important is a head full of ideas for what might be next. I’ll be testing something new for the podcast this month and if it sticks, it will be a big game-changer for me going forward – no spoilers yet.
Just an excuse to meet friends
I’m not sure if I’ve ever had more (and more deep) conversations with folks at any previous WCEU. If you stick around a community for as long as I’ve been around WordPress now, you get to know plenty of people. Chatting online and having occasional calls is fun. Meeting in person, sharing a meal, a coffee or just a little walk are pure gold. And lucky me, I got to meet some of my favourite people in the world in Kraków this year.
But WordCamps are also a great place to make new friends and connect to people you’ve only known online. It was great meeting everyone and I don’t think it’s fair to have to wait another 50 49 weeks to do this again.
Did someone say security?
And last but definitely not least, this was my first big WordCamp since joining Patchstack last summer. So many of my incredible coworkers decided to go to Kraków, and spending time with them was one of the highlights.
We had a nice booth at the WordCamp venue and as always talked to basically all the serious hosting companies around about how to make their customer’s sites more secure. And oh so many people to photos at our booth, pretending like everything is fine. Security clearly is on many people’s mind these days.
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