Clear your calendar! WordCamp Canada 2025 just got even bigger: we’re adding a full day of hands-on workshops on October 15th. And here’s the best part: it’s included in your ticket. That’s right, the same low $100 price now gets you three incredible days of WordPress learning, networking, and inspiration.
This isn’t just “a couple of workshops.” We’re talking two full tracks running side by side, with something for everyone: beginners ready to dive in, and developers looking to sharpen their skills with advanced topics.
The Beginners Track 🧑💻
Starting from square one? Perfect. Our morning sessions are designed to give you a comfortable, guided introduction to WordPress — you’ll walk away knowing how to set up and actually use your site.
After lunch, we’ll go deeper into two essentials every site needs:
Accessibility – because your site should be welcoming and usable for everyone.
SEO – because what’s the point of a site if no one can find it?
By the end of the day, you won’t just know WordPress basics, you’ll know how to build a site people can find and actually use.
The Developer Track 👩🍳⚡🤖
For the devs in the room, we’ve cooked up something special:
A block development workshop led by a famous WordPress chef (yes, you read that right).
More advanced, hands-on developer content is in the works — we’ll be announcing additional sessions soon.
And a couple of surprises we’re keeping under wraps… for now. (Trust us, they’ll be worth the wait.)
Even with one of our planned sessions shifting, this track is shaping up to be a rare chance to get practical, workshop-style learning with some of the best in the business. If you’re building with WordPress today (or want to level up), you won’t want to miss it.
Why This Matters ✨
Traditionally, October 15th is Contributor Day, an important but sometimes overlooked part of WordCamp. This year, we’re doubling down on the value of that day. Contributor Day is still happening (and you should definitely check it out), but now you’ll also have access to a packed schedule of workshops you won’t find at most WordCamps.
Where else can you get all of this, plus keynotes, coffee breaks, contributor opportunities, and the chance to connect with hundreds of WordPressers from across Canada and beyond?
Workshops like these don’t come around often. Make sure you’re part of it.
It’s official – the full schedule for WordCamp Canada 2025 is live! 🎉
With a whopping 25 sessions from 27 speakers, including three inspiring keynotes, this October’s program in Ottawa is set to be one of the most dynamic and wide-ranging WordPress events of the year. Whether you’re a developer, designer, content creator, or community organizer, there’s something in this schedule for you.
What to Expect at WordCamp Canada
Across two days of sessions (and a third day on the 15th for Contributor Day), our program highlights:
The future of WordPress development – from interactivity and block patterns to scaling for enterprise and beyond.
Design systems and UX – practical guidance for creating accessible, sustainable, and user-focused design at scale.
Performance and publishing workflows – strategies for newsroom-style content production, site speed, and editorial experience.
Accessibility and inclusion – hands-on lessons for building the web so that everyone can fully participate.
Community and sustainability – honest conversations about contributor balance, open source futures, and healthy growth.
And with Evan Prodromou, Dave Winer, and Jill Binder delivering our keynote talks, the big picture is covered too – from the social web to open standards to building inclusive communities.
Explore the WCEH Schedule
Here’s a glimpse of what’s waiting for you in Ottawa:
Opening remarks, followed by two full tracks of sessions running side by side.
Dedicated break times for hallway track conversations, coffee, and connection.
A closing panel to reflect on the future of WordPress and the open web.
This is more than just a conference schedule, it’s two days built for learning, sharing, and growing together as a community.
🎟️ Tickets are on sale now! Get yours today and join us October 2025 in Ottawa.
Whether you’re looking to sharpen your skills, meet new collaborators, or simply feel re-energized about WordPress and the web, WordCamp Canada 2025 will be the place to be.
We’re thrilled to share the second and final round of confirmed speakers for WordCamp Canada 2025! With this announcement, our speaker roster is now complete, bringing together a program that’s as inspiring as it is practical.
A New Keynote to Inspire Us All
We’re excited to announce our third keynote: Jill Binder, a globally recognized leader in public speaking and diversity in tech.
Her keynote, From Canada to the World: 10 Lessons From Working With 50 Countries, tells the story of how a local WordPress workshop grew into a global program. Over five years, Jill facilitated public speaking workshops across 50 countries, learning first-hand how culture, identity, and language shape the way communities come together.
This candid and personal talk shares ten lessons drawn from those experiences — practical insights, surprising truths, and even a few humorous missteps. From “popcorn words” to “poster conundrums,” Jill brings a Canadian perspective to navigating the challenges and rewards of building inclusive communities on a global stage.
With Jill joining previously announced keynotes Evan Prodromou and Dave Winer, WordCamp Canada is set for three powerful talks that will frame some of the most important conversations about WordPress and the open web.
Our Final Speakers Have Emerged
Alycia Leno
Alycia crafts bold, intuitive marketing strategies that blend storytelling and tech to help brands grow with clarity, creativity, and purpose.
Dee Teal is a WordPress community leader, podcast host, and advocate for diverse, collaborative teams, with deep experience in digital communication and project delivery.
Paul is an Engineering Manager with 20 years’ experience leading teams to build maintainable, automated WordPress solutions for nonprofits and Higher Ed.
These speakers add even more depth and perspective to an already incredible lineup. From accessibility and performance to design systems, publishing workflows, and community sustainability, this final group ensures that WordCamp Canada 2025 has something for everyone.
Explore What’s Ahead
Together with our first round of speakers, this complete roster sets the stage for:
Fresh insights into the future of the block editor, patterns, and interactivity.
Guidance from designers and developers building at the intersection of systems, UX, and performance.
Real-world approaches to accessibility, publishing workflows, and sustainable community practices.
Conversations that challenge assumptions about plugins, the admin experience, and how we build for the web.
Full Schedule Coming Soon
With our speakers now finalized, we’re putting the finishing touches on the full schedule. Get ready for a weekend packed with insight, hands-on learning, and community connection.
Join us on Wednesday, October 15 the day before the main conference, for Contributor Day.
What’s Contributor Day?
It’s a full day of collaboration, learning, and giving back to the WordPress project. Are you a seasoned contributor? Is this the first time you’ve ever thought about getting involved? Either way, Contributor Day is for you.
So come spend a great day in a welcoming space to meet WordPress friends and brand-new connections, share your knowledge and learn something brand-new (fun fact: everyone is an expert in something and a beginner in something!) and make a real impact.
What’s new this year?
Beyond the standard contribution tables you might be used to, this year’s Contributor Day will feature a dedicated workshop track focused on hands-on learning, mentorship, and practical skills.
In that track, you’ll get a chance to dive deeper into tools, techniques, and topics that matter to the whole WordPress community — and you’ll learn directly from some of the most experienced folks speaking at the conference.
All that and accessibility too!
Plus! October 15 is also WP Accessibility Day — a global event that’s just for advancing accessibility in WordPress and beyond. Join us at Contributor Day, and you can contribute directly to official accessibility initiatives at the very same time you’re kicking off an incredible three-day WordCamp experience in Ottawa.
So what’s your jam? Are you interested in contributing code? Want to improve documentation? Are you getting started with—or have massive expertise in!—accessibility? Or do you just want to meet a bunch of people? At Contributor Day, you can do all that and a whole lot more.
Stay tuned for more details! They are coming imminently. From how to register to a sneak peek at the workshop lineup, you’ll want to keep an eye out for all the info. We can’t wait to kick off WordCamp Canada 2025 with you!
Please welcome the first round of confirmed speakers for WordCamp Canada 2025! So far, 17 speakers and 16 talks are already confirmed, making this event one of the most thoughtful, timely, and practical WordPress programs you’ll find anywhere this year.
This first group of speakers brings deep experience across the entire web, from accessibility, performance, and publishing workflows to block development, design systems, and community sustainability. And they span a breadth of perspectives that, together, give the WordPress community its outsized impact on the evolution of the publishing and business.
Our First Speakers Are In
Alex Melen
Alex Melen, co-founder of SmartSites, is an award-winning entrepreneur and keynote speaker featured in Forbes and Bloomberg for digital innovation.
Dave was an early open web developer who built core tools behind WordPress. Software developer, blogger, and podcaster sharing insights on web technology.
Sasha is the founder of Endoh Collaborative, a feminist digital agency crafting accessible design and branding to empower nonprofits and purpose-driven businesses.
With an incredible lineup of speakers now confirmed, WordCamp Canada 2025 is set to deliver a program packed with insight, inspiration, and real-world takeaways. Whether you’re passionate about performance, accessibility, design systems, or cutting-edge block development, there’s something for everyone. These sessions reflect the depth and diversity of the WordPress community—and you won’t want to miss a single one.
Here’s a glimpse at what’s coming:
Cutting-edge insights into the future of the block editor, including what’s next for layout tools, patterns, and interactivity.
Design and UX guidance from those working at the intersection of design systems and user experience in both agency and enterprise environments.
Front-end development practices that balance modern tooling with performance and maintainability.
Talks that challenge assumptions about plugins, the admin experience, and how we build for the web.
Sessions rooted in real-world needs, like improving publishing workflows in newsrooms, creating accessible experiences from day one, and building themes that work for everyone — not just developers.
Honest conversations about sustainability and burnout, and what it means to contribute meaningfully without sacrificing well-being.
In addition to the speakers announced today, we’re proud to feature two keynote talks that will help frame some of the most important conversations happening around WordPress and the open web.
Evan Prodromou, founder of identi.ca and long-time advocate for open standards and federation, will deliver Beyond Microblogging: WordPress Leads the Way in Long-Form Text on the Social Web. His talk explores how WordPress is uniquely positioned to support rich, thoughtful publishing in a social web increasingly dominated by brevity and walled gardens.
Dave Winer, a pioneering developer and writer whose work helped shape blogging, RSS, and podcasting, will present WordPress and the Open Social Web. He’ll share lessons from decades of building for the open internet and make the case for WordPress as a cornerstone of a more distributed, user-owned web.
Together, these keynotes will set the tone for a weekend of discussion, reflection, and hands-on learning, rooted in the idea that WordPress doesn’t just power websites, it helps shape the future of the web itself.
The Journey to October Begins
We can’t wait to share more in the weeks ahead, including additional speakers, workshops, and the full schedule. But for now, we’re incredibly proud of this first group and the conversations they’re bringing to Ottawa this October.
Whether you work in WordPress full-time or just want to better understand the tools and people shaping the modern web, WordCamp Canada 2025 will be an event grounded in learning, connection, and community.
We’re thrilled to announce that Evan Prodromou will be joining us as a keynote speaker at WordCamp Canada 2025 this October in Ottawa.
Based in Montréal, Québec, Evan has been at the heart of Canada’s open tech ecosystem for more than two decades — and his latest work has exciting implications for the future of WordPress.
In the late 2000s, Evan co-founded the first federated microblogging platform. His groundbreaking work with microblog architecture set the stage for today’s fediverse.
“The Fediverse isn’t about connecting software packages. It’s about connecting communities and people.”
Curently, Evan is Director of Open Tech at the Open Earth Foundation and Research Director at the Social Web Foundation, which he founded in 2024 with Mallory Knodel and Tom Coates. The SWF is backed by Automattic, Fastly, Ghost, the Ford Foundation, Medium, Meta, Mastodon, and a variety of other federated platform organizations. Its mission is to support a growing, healthy, sustainable and multi-polar Fediverse.
The ActivityPub standard can be implemented in WordPress thanks to an Automattic-sponsored community plugin called ActivityPub. Dating back to 2018, development for the ActivityPub plugin continues to be led by Konstantin Obenland and Matthias Pfefferle, with many other contributors joining in on GitHub.
Father of the Fediverse
Evan Prodromou’s name is closely tied to some of the most important movements toward decentralization on the internet.
Evan Prodromou
Sometimes called “The Father of the Fediverse,” he founded Identi.ca, which launched in 2008 as the world’s first federated microblogging platform. Identi.ca was the driving force behind a series of early open alternatives to centralized social media, like StatusNet, that helped shape what would become the Fediverse, a network of independent platforms connected by open standards.
Evan co-authored the OStatus specification and the Activity Streams 2.0 data format, which then led to ActivityPub. ActivityPub evolved from Identica’s lineage and now powers decentralized services like Mastodon, PeerTube, Pixelfed, WriteFreely, and many others.
Evan is bringing ActivityPub to WordPress — bridging two of the most powerful ideas in modern web development: open publishing and federated social networking.
Today, ActivityPub in WordPress bridges two of the most powerful ideas in modern web development: open publishing and federated social networking. This work stands to dramatically expand the reach of WordPress, enabling seamless integration with platforms across the Fediverse while staying true to the values of openness and autonomy.
Innovation in the Canadian Context
Throughout his career, Evan has championed Canadian innovation with a practical, inclusive, and collaborative spirit. He’s advised international standards bodies, led startups, contributed to countless free software projects, and advocated for an internet that is more ethical, more human, and more free.
Evan’s story is a great example of Canadian innovation in action. Grounded in practicality, inclusivity, and collaboration, his work reflects the very themes we’re exploring at WordCamp Canada this year. Whether he’s helping shape international web standards or mentoring local devs in Montreal, Evan’s focus has always been on building sustainable, people-first technology that empowers users — not platforms.
In a time when artificial intelligence, platform monopolies, and algorithmic bias dominate headlines, Evan’s voice is a reminder of what truly matters: open access, ethical technology, and human-centered design. As we ask ourselves what the future of WordPress looks like in a world increasingly shaped by AI and automation, Evan helps bring us back to the core principles of the open web.
Join Us in Ottawa
At WordCamp Canada 2025, we’re gathering folks from across the country and around the world to reflect, connect, and build together. Whether you’re a seasoned contributor, a first-time site owner, a plugin developer, or an advocate for digital rights, Evan will offer thoughtful insight — and practical inspiration—for the path ahead.
We can’t wait to all get together!
Get your tickets, bring your curiosity, and join us in Ottawa this fall for an unforgettable celebration of WordPress, community, and the open web! 🌐
In addition to our travel planning guide for WordCamp Canada attendees, we also have a “Recommended Hotels” page. There you can find some limited-time offers for discounted rates at several hotels near the conference venue:
You can choose from General Admission or Micro-Sponsor, which both come with full access to both days of the conference.
Micro-sponsors will get special recognition since they are paying the true cost of attending WCEH, but thanks to our great sponsors, general admission tickets can be offered at a substantial discount.
It’s our great pleasure to introduce Dave Winer as a keynote speaker for WordCamp Canada.
Dave has been a pioneering force whose contributions have shaped the very fabric of the open web. From his earliest work in blogging software to his enduring impact on syndication, podcasting, and content ownership, Dave’s influence has been foundational.
WordCamp has always celebrated the freedom, creativity, and community fueling WordPress — and few individuals embody these values more fully than Dave Winer. As the architect of indispensable publishing tools and a stalwart defender of decentralization, his work has empowered creators worldwide to shape their own online presence and control their digital destinies.
“It’s really all about getting enough people to do something the same way so that a new medium emerges.”
Dave Winer
Veteran Technologist & Visionary
Dave grew up in Queens, New York and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1972. Degrees in Mathematics (Tulane) and Computer Science (UW Madison) followed. Dave became a software developer, entrepreneur, and writer whose early innovations include outliner tools and scripting environments like Frontier and Radio UserLand. He started two Silicon Valley companies, wrote for Wired, and has been a Fellow at Harvard and NYU.
Champion of the Open Web & Decentralized Platforms
An outspoken advocate for user control and distributed systems, Dave has always championed interoperability over centralized silos. His “EC2 for Poets” project demystified servers, empowering everyday users to host personal content — free from corporate gatekeepers.
Acclaimed Influencer & Thought Leader
Recognized by InfoWorld as one of the “Top Ten Technology Innovators” (2002) and awarded WIRED Tech Renegade in 2001, Dave continues to publish daily through Scripting News.
Architect of the Blogosphere & RSS
RSS
Scripting News began in 1994 — before “blog” was a common term. It helped define what blogging would become. He designed the original RSS specification in December 1997 and led the evolution through RSS 0.92 into the widely used RSS 2.0, which became the syndication backbone embraced byThe New York Times — and pretty much everyone else.
Creator of a New Social Medium
Dave added the enclosure element to RSS and OPML in 2000 as part of the creation of an entirely new medium with software. RSS directly enabled the blogging and podcasting revolution as well as the rise of the CMS — not simply because it was great software, but because it enabled people to use it socially, and they did.
RSS is social at its core and in its intention. It enabled our most convivial tools — tools fit for human use, unlike so many that have followed. The success of independent, digital publishing that is truly our own grew out of and through the relationships that code for people — and people coding together — enabled at conferences like WordCamps.
It is not a stretch to say that we have a WordPress community and conferences like WordCamp Canada thanks to Dave. In his words, “It’s really all about getting enough people to do something the same way so that a new medium emerges.”
Whatever you do with WordPress—just starting out? A designer? A content creator? Maybe you’re a publisher or a developer, or you build for the community— you’ll find great people to meet and lots to discover at WordCamp Canada.
Set against the backdrop of Ottawa’s Richcraft Hall at Carleton University, this event will help our community peer into the future of the open web, figure out where AI belongs in content creation, and shape the evolving role of WordPress.
Expect two full days packed with hands-on workshops, enlightening talks from experts you trust, and lots of time to meet old friends and new contacts—so you can grow, connect, and learn.
Whether you’re exploring new tools, mastering WordPress best practices, or expanding your network, you won’t want to miss a minute.
Have a topic you’re passionate about? Share your expertise with the WordCamp Canada community! We’re accepting speaker applications for sessions on the following topics:
The Future of WordPress in an AI-Driven World
Keeping the Web Open in the Age of Closed Platforms
Want to help make WordCamp Canada happen? It only happens if you volunteer—to help attendees, guide sessions, support speakers, or do lots of other things. Whatever you do, you’ll have a great time, get behind-the-scenes experience, and connect with other WordPress people.
Showcase your brand to a passionate, engaged audience, in a very special space, at WordCamp Canada. A variety of sponsorship packages let you match your budget to your visibility—but of course, a great idea can always take you farther!
Here’s the new visual identity for WordCamp Canada 2025 — a logo that blends the spirit of Canadian tech with the timeless energy of campus life.
You can right-click on this image and choose Save Image As… to download a .png file and spread the word!
More than just a nod to our host venue, Carleton University, this new look signals a bold, future-focused vision for the WordPress community across Canada.
Shoutout to our design director!
All of this year’s design work is the product of WCEH 2025 design director Alleanna Barrera and folks working under her direction.
A Campus Mindset: Innovation, Exploration & Possibility
When the leaves turn, do you ever think about the days you used to head back to school? The crackle of new ideas and energy, the excitement of seeing new faces and old friends?
Remember that insatiable sense of possibility, where curiosity ruled, and no challenge was too big?
Feel a pinch of that old energy at WordCamp Canada 2025.
This fall, WordCamp Canada becomes a space for curiosity, experimentation, and connection. It’s where future-forward thinkers meet and build. And a community comes together to reimagine open source for what’s next.
It’s a place where:
New voices feel heard.
Wild ideas find a path to reality.
The future of WordPress takes shape at the crossroads of vigorous debate and raucous collaboration.
Like every good campus gathering, WCEH will combine deep learning with a little mischief. (Hey, we’re Canadian! Of course there’s fun baked in, eh?)
A Tribute to Place and Possibility
This new logo draws inspiration from college letter jackets — the kind you’d wear with pride, boldly sewn together with the spirit of community and curiosity.
“WCEH” is more than a memorable handle. More than an inside joke. It’s who we are: connected, curious, and committed to building great things — together.
Join the Movement!
This is your invitation: make WordCamp Canada your home base. Come to campus to explore. To contribute. To connect.
To find what’s missing, to find you’ve got all you need, or help someone new find you—whether you’re building products, communities, agencies, or content.
This fall, it’s time to hit the campus of WordPress in 2025. So pack your bag, polish your ideas, and get here already!
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