Sessions

WordPress hosting threats cross company lines—when one provider falls victim, the entire ecosystem suffers. This session explores how the Internet Infrastructure Forum (IIF) enables hosting providers, registrars, and registries to coordinate abuse response through real-time intelligence sharing. Learn how operational collaboration helps responsible operators detect and stop attacks faster than adversaries can adapt, and why working together produces results no single provider could achieve alone.

Every time a new WordPress e-commerce plugin launches, the rumour mill predicts doom for WooCommerce. But the truth is the opposite: WooCommerce thrives when the ecosystem grows.

This session reveals why internal competition is largely a myth and how collaboration is the real driver of success. We’ll look at examples of plugins coexisting and complementing one another, and explore how shared knowledge, integrations, and partnerships amplify the entire WP ecommerce ecosystem.

Attendees will also gain perspective on the bigger picture: Shopify isn’t going away, but a collaborative, open-source community has unique advantages that SaaS platforms can’t match.

By the end of this session, people will understand how embracing diversity and collaboration makes WooCommerce stronger and equips developers, store builders, and agencies to compete more effectively in the global e-commerce market.

Open source is democratic infrastructure: built in public, improved by many, and trusted because it is transparent. But infrastructure does not maintain itself. In this talk, Marcel Bootsman shares a practical playbook for how companies and individuals can support open source without taking control, reduce burnout risk, and turn good intentions into sustainable contribution.

Many people in the WordPress community want to contribute, but don’t know where to start, don’t feel confident enough, or simply don’t have the time.

As an agency, we faced the same challenges. Client work was always prioritised, and contribution often felt like something you do *after hours* — or not at all.

At the same time, our daily work is built on WordPress as an open-source project. We benefit from it every day, and with that comes a responsibility to give something back. Five for the Future gave us a clear framework to turn that intention into action.

In this talk, I will share how we changed that mindset by making contribution a **shared team experience**. Through internal Contributor Days and our Five for the Future commitment, we created a safe space for learning, trying, failing, and growing together.

One of the most common questions beginners ask is: ‘What should I install?’

Themes.

Plugins.

Builders.

Security tools.

SEO tools.

And the most honest answer is often: “It depends.”

For experienced users, “it depends” feels normal.

For beginners, it feels paralyzing.

Because when everything is an option, every choice feels risky.

Choosing the wrong theme feels like wasting time.

Choosing the wrong plugin feels dangerous.

Choosing wrong feels permanent.

In this talk, I want to explore a simple idea: the same freedom that makes WordPress powerful can also make it overwhelming for people just starting out. And when choice becomes pressure, learning slows down.

For decades, open source advocates and Internet purists have rallied behind a righteous call: “we must fight to preserve the open web.”

That rallying cry is all wrong. The web itself remains as open as the day Tim Berners-Lee created it – built on patent-free standards, decentralized architecture, and universal access. Yet today, billions of users have been conditioned into believing the opposite is true, unknowingly abandoning and surrendering openness in favor of convenience in the form of walled gardens, proprietary apps, and centralized services.

In reality, we’re not losing the open web – we’re losing the battle against closed alternatives trying to replace it.

Open source projects like WordPress have long championed the technologies built on open web standards that have powered the web from the very beginning. The project and surrounding ecosystem exemplifies what the web is meant to be: open by default. Let’s explore how WordPress continues to embrace the true spirit of the Internet and identify the real enemy: the closed web that seeks to replace the web’s open foundation.