Paul’s Experience At WordCamp US 2022

13 September 2022 3 mins read

Our CTO, Paul Halfpenny, attended WordCamp US last weekend. This was the first in-person WCUS event since 2019.

The image is a collage with three sections: a night outdoor gathering with lights, an indoor conference with attendees seated, and a portrait of a person standing in front of a conference logo.

Paul attended this years sold-out WordCamp US event, in San Diego, from the 9th to the 11th of September.

WordCamp events take place throughout each year, in many different countries around the world. They are a community-led celebration of all things WordPress. Find out more here.

WordCamp US 2022 took place over the weekend, starting off with opening remarks and then moved on to some great talks from experienced speakers.

One of the first talks Paul attended was with Keala Gaines of WooCommerce, who spoke about ‘How Businesses Can Thrive in a Digital-First World’. She also shared some interesting stats such as how buy now, pay later solutions have grown by 81% and that digital wallets are now used more widely than credit cards for e-commerce transactions.

Beka Rice of GoDaddy provided some great insights, while speaking about the benefits of a good online sales strategy and multi-channel selling.

Other notable mentions include an insightful talk about the importance of creating an inclusive culture with Cami Kaos of Automattic, learning about ‘a New Era of WordPress Themes’ with Rich Tabor of Extendify and ‘The Future of Themes’ with independent UZ Designer and Front End Developer, Michelle R Schulp.

Over the weekend, Paul caught up with our colleagues at WordPress VIP, as well as lots of our global partners from within the WordPress community such as SiteGround, XWP, 10up, alley, Fooz, Plank and more.

The conference closed with a Q&A from WordPress Co-Creator, Matt Mullenweg, where he revealed that next years conference will be a longer event, starting with a community summit. This will take place in August 2023 at National Harbor, Maryland. Of course, the Filter team will be there – watch this space!

This was followed by the WordCamp US social, where everyone from the event was invited to celebrate.

The last day of the event is known as Contributor Day, where the community comes together to work on the open-source WordPress project. Paul was part of the community table, discussing how to drive more events in the future.

WordCamp US has been an amazing experience, I’ve met so many wonderful people who are passionate about WordPress and learned a lot from listening to some very talented speakers. I’ve enjoyed making new connections and even seen some old friends during my time in San Diego and I hope to continue those conversations

Paul Halfpenny

CTO, Filter

We’ve left Paul alone for his last full day in San Deigo so he can relax and do some sight-seeing but our team are definitely looking forward to welcoming him back. Even if we are a little jealous…

You can connect with Paul via LinkedIn here or follow our company page for more updates.

If you attended WordCamp US and didn’t get chance to catch up with Paul or if you want to discuss your digital requirements, please get in touch to organise a convenient time to talk.

If you’d like to learn more about what we do here at Filter, you can visit our Solutions section or read through our current Client Stories here.

Paul Halfpenny
Paul Halfpenny

CTO & Founder

Having worked in agencies since he left university, Paul drives both the technical output at Filter, as well as being responsible for planning. His key strengths are quickly understanding client briefs and being able to communicate complex solutions in a clear and simple manner.

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