A Journey Across the Atlantic
As someone who has been using WordPress since its first release in 2003, attending a major WordCamp has always been on my bucket list. Living in New Jersey, USA, I've seen WordPress grow from a simple blogging platform into a tool powering over 40% of the web. This past June, I made the decision to attend WordCamp Europe 2024 in Torino, Italy, my first major WordCamp, with the hope of meeting some of the legends behind WordPress, particularly Matt Mullenweg.
The flight from Newark to Milan was nine hours, then a two-hour train down to Torino. I'd timed it so I'd arrive the evening before the contributor day, giving me a quiet first day to walk the city, eat something that wasn't airline food, and acclimate to the time zone. Torino in mid-June was sunny, breezy, and felt smaller than I'd expected. The conference venue, OGR Torino, is a converted 19th-century railway workshop, all brick arches and exposed steel, exactly the kind of building that puts you in a creative mood before the first session even starts.
Exploring the Exhibition Floor
The main event spanned from June 13th to 15th, and by the second day, I had already participated in full days of sessions. During breaks and between sessions, I took the opportunity to visit the exhibition halls. The energy was infectious, with over 3,000 WordPress enthusiasts, developers, and agencies gathered under one roof. The exhibition floor was buzzing with conversations, demos, and swag giveaways. I wandered from stall to stall, talking to everyone, soaking in the diversity of ideas and innovations. It was during one of these casual conversations at the WP VIP booth that I met Jodie, Partner Manager at WordPress VIP/Automattic. We ended up talking for quite some time about infrastructure, where I shared how we use Google Cloud and run a setup similar to what WP VIP offers. My curiosity was piqued to find out more about WP VIP after speaking with her, and she unexpectedly invited me to a special WP VIP event.
The side events are usually listed on the WordCamp website, so when Jodie mentioned the invite, I assumed I could simply register online. However, this wasn't just any event. With only about 40 attendees from the 3,000 participants, it was an exclusive gathering of WP VIP partner agencies and prospective clients. Initially, I hesitated. The event was a few metro stops away, followed by a short scooter ride, and I wasn't sure it would be worth the effort. But as the day wore on, I decided to give it a shot.
Securing the Golden Ticket
Returning to the WP VIP stall to confirm my attendance, I encountered a new shift of staff. When I mentioned the invitation, their reaction was one of surprise. "This is an exclusive event. Are you sure you were invited?" they asked skeptically. I explained that Jodie had invited me, but they informed me that the event was fully booked and there were no more invitations available. Refusing to take no for an answer, I persisted. After some scrambling, they found an invitation tucked away in a cupboard and handed it to me with a mix of disbelief and amusement. It was clear they hadn't pegged me as someone "important," but persistence paid off.
Arriving at the WP VIP Event
I arrived at the event about 45 minutes late, just in time to catch the tail end of a presentation by a company called Syde. They were sharing how they leveraged the WP VIP platform for data migrations and other projects. While their achievements were impressive to the audience, I couldn't help but compare them to the day-to-day work I've done over the years, the kind of work I've written up in posts like WordPress: sending HTML formatted emails using wp_mail and the wp_insert_post memory deep-dive. The room was filled with representatives from agencies that had invested heavily in becoming WP VIP partners, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to join this elite circle. In contrast, I was just an individual on a personal mission.
Meeting the Man Behind WordPress
The highlight of the evening was yet to come. After the presentations, the organizers announced a special surprise: Matt Mullenweg himself was in attendance. He spoke briefly, addressing the group with his characteristic humility and insight. As the event transitioned to a cocktail hour, I knew this was my chance.
Matt was surrounded by agency representatives eager to pitch ideas and discuss partnerships. Not wanting to miss my opportunity, I did something a bit bold. I interrupted his conversation, handed my phone to the person he was speaking with, and asked them to take a picture of us. Matt seemed momentarily surprised but graciously obliged. That picture, now one of my prized possessions, marked the culmination of one of my primary goals for the trip.
Reflections on the Experience
Meeting Matt Mullenweg was a surreal moment. Here was the man who co-founded the platform that has been central to my professional and personal life for over two decades. While I didn't have a long conversation with him, the brief interaction was enough to make the trip feel worthwhile. The persistence it took to get to that point, from securing the invitation to boldly interrupting him, made the moment even sweeter.
I think the lesson I keep coming back to from that night is that gatekeeping is mostly a perception problem. The people working the booth had a script: invitations were closed, the event was full, no exceptions. None of that was actually true. The invitation existed; it was in a cupboard. Asking the next question, being polite, and just not accepting the first "no" was enough. That's been true in a lot of my career, and the WP VIP event was a fresh reminder.
It also reminded me how rare it is to be in a room where everyone shares the same niche obsession. Most of my work happens remotely from a desk in New Jersey. I write code, I write up the wins on this blog, and the feedback loop is usually asynchronous. Standing in a courtyard in Torino at 10 PM, drink in hand, talking to someone from a German agency about caching strategies on managed WordPress hosts, I remembered why people pay for plane tickets to events like this. The conversations don't compress into Slack DMs.
Why This Matters
WordPress has always been about community, openness, and empowerment. Attending WordCamp Europe 2024 and meeting Matt reminded me of these values. It's not just about the software; it's about the people who build, use, and support it. This experience reignited my passion for WordPress and reinforced why I've been a part of this ecosystem for so long. It's the same community that produced the patterns and reference posts I keep coming back to on this blog, including practical references like how to change a WordPress password when you've locked yourself out of admin.
Closing Thoughts
The event itself was really good. The food was amazing, and the drinks flowed. I was able to meet people from some of these revered agencies and got to know them better, in some cases putting a face to people or companies I had virtually known about for years.
WordCamps are a strange format: half conference, half family reunion. The talks are useful, but they're not the reason most regulars come back year after year. The hallway track is the real product. By day three I'd had more good technical conversations in passing than I'd had on Twitter in a year. I came home with a notebook full of "ask this person about that thing", which has steadily turned into emails, slack DMs, and one or two actual projects in the months since.
As it got late around 11 PM, I said my goodbyes and headed back to the hotel. Walking back through the Torino streets that night, jet-lagged and tired in the good way, I already knew I'd be at the next WordCamp Europe wherever they decide to host it.
