Navigation

Content

Say Hi

team@required.com

Sprache wechseln / Change language

Close menu
Home Blog WordCamp Europe 2026: New Worlds

WordCamp Europe 2026: New Worlds

Jeff Chi Avatar
Jeff Chi
A conference centre with a curved glass façade and several ‘WordCamp Europe’ flags.

We at required do not only use WordPress for our projects; we are also actively involved in the community. So, of course, we travelled to WordCamp Europe earlier this month, as we do every year. The venue changes annually – and this time it took us to Kraków, Poland’s second-largest city. What made me especially happy this year: For the first time since I’ve been working at required, Paschi was able to come along.

The five required team members are posing cheerfully in front of the WordCamp Europe conference building. From left to right, they are: Jeff Chi, Stefan Velthuys, Karin Christen, Stefan Pasch and Dominik Schilling.

Work first, pleasures second

Before the conference gets going on Friday and Saturday – packed with talks, workshops and networking – the traditional Contributor Day takes place on Thursday, for which you need to register separately. Since we have already introduced internal Contributor Days within our agency over the last few months, it felt only natural to participate with the whole team. Being able to use WordPress for free benefits us every day, which is why we are more than happy to give back to the project.

While Velthy and Karin were involved with no-code contributions, the rest of the team was working on the following issues and pull requests:

Paschi (Core team):

Dominik (Meta team):

Jeff (Accessibility team):

An orange ‘WordCamp Europe’ flag in front of a glass façade.
A gentle flight of steps runs alongside a glass-fronted conference building.
There are lots of people on stage. A large screen displays the words ‘It’s all about the Community’.
The five required team members are holding up their WordCamp Europe badges for the camera.
All the staff and volunteers at WordCamp Europe 2026 gather on stage in a large lecture theatre.

Highlights upon highlights

Rather than recounting all three conference days in detail, we want to share with you 6 highlights that have particularly left lasting impressions this year:

1. A fascinating insight into CERN

I especially like it when talks break out of the box, stepping outside the abstract world of source code and server commands that we navigate every day. The very first talk kicked off WordCamp Europe 2026 with a bang: Joachim Valdemar Yde and Francisco Borges Aurindo Barros from CERN (yes, that CERN) shared how they migrated more than 800 websites to WordPress.

The sheer scale of the task was already impressive. And on top, it offered a fascinating insight into a truly unique environment – after all, this is where the World Wide Web was invented!

2. An intriguing workshop on AI plugins

No other topic dominated this year’s programme as much as the ever-increasing use of AI in daily working life. It is no exaggeration to say: A whole new world has opened up in our industry.

To profit even more from this in my work, I paid particular attention during Jonathan Bossenger’s workshop. Using very concrete and simple examples, he demonstrated how to use the new Connectors API and Abilities API to build a WordPress plugin that can communicate directly with the AI model of your choice. By the time lunch was over, I had a local MCP server running on my laptop and could generate blog posts directly within WordPress using an AI agent.

You can look at the workshop demo plugin here:
https://github.com/wptrainingteam/wp-ai-workshop-demo

3. Karin’s awesome talk on our Contributor Days

We always enjoy giving talks on the stages of a WordCamp, just like Karin and myself did in 2025.

This year, Karin delivered a vibrant lightning talk about our internal Contributor Days. Her skilled presentation was followed by plenty of positive feedback. Certainly, she managed to inspire parts of the audience to incorporate contribution further into their day-to-day work.

Karin Christen is giving a talk on stage. She is gesticulating animatedly.

Did not make it to the talk? The full recording is available on our blog:
How we made WordPress contribution part of our agency culture

As you all know, a major part of a successful conference is everything which happens apart from the main stages. WCEU 2026 had a remarkable amount to offer in this regard:

A close-up of a plate in a restaurant. It shows Polish potato pancakes with goulash. There are beer glasses in the background.
A wall-mounted illuminated sign displaying a minimalist menu. It features Asian dishes and a black-and-white illustration of a cartoon character eating ramen. In the foreground is a modern spherical ceiling light.
A variety of Asian starters are served on modern, minimalist tableware at bistro tables.
A close-up of a creamy ramen soup, served with a sheet of nori in a tall earthenware bowl.
A close-up of a Fusion Kitchen version of Dan-Dan noodles, Carbonara-style.
An urban building façade with graffiti and window boxes at dusk. An illuminated sign reading ‘Hand Made French Ice Cream’ hangs in the window.
Two generously filled zapiekanki are held up to the camera; this is a Polish street food dish made from white bread baked with a cheese topping.
An unrenovated house façade with a turquoise door, all lavishly decorated with graffiti. Above it, a colourful sign bearing the words ‘Art Factory’ lights up.
A close-up of a naturally cloudy beer in a glass, with the bottle beside it. On the bottle is a cartoon-style illustration of monks and the words ‘Opactwo Króla – Belgian IPA’.
In a colourful, modern ice-cream parlour, two portions are held up to the camera – one in a cone and one in a tub.
In a colourful, modern ice-cream parlour, two portions are held up to the camera – one in a cone and one in a tub. In a modern shop selling Baumstriezel, neon lights illuminate the following slogan on the wall: 'Life’s Too Short To Eat Bad Cakes.'
Someone is holding a Baumstriezel up to the camera. The packaging reads ‘Life’s too short to eat bad cakes.’ In the background, someone is pulling a face.

4. The exciting city of Kraków

None of our team had been to Kraków before, and our experience of Polish culture in general was limited until now. This will surely change in the future – we were all more than pleasantly surprised by Poland’s second-largest city. Here on the banks of Vistula river, a whole new world has opened up to us.

I do not just mean the venue itself, the ICE Kraków Congress Centre opposite Wawel Castle, which impressed with its modern architecture outside and excellent service inside. The whole city captivated us with its mix of historic architecture and modern cultural and culinary offerings. Since we’re all foodies and design enthusiasts, we particularly enjoyed the lively Kazimierz district, where we would happily stroll over to at the end of each conference day.

5. The beautiful Polish WCEU design

Already during the conference, the word kept echoing through the halls. So I would like to say it once again: This year’s design was a total hit!

Under Ohia’s direction, a colourful flat design was created, featuring ornaments and illustrations based on local culture, legends and myths. It worked just as well on small stickers as it did on huge screens.

It was a feast for the eyes and I could not get enough of it.

Jeff Chi poses with the WordPress mascot 'Wapuu' in front of a wall featuring the 2026 conference design.

6. Our upcoming trip to Málaga

The most exciting moment at every WordCamp arrives on Saturday evening, when the big secret of the next venue is revealed. And in 2027, something will happen we have never had before: For the first time, the event will be held in a country that already hosted once. After WordCamp Europe 2015 in Seville, next year’s edition will take place in Málaga – we cannot wait to return to Spain and the beautiful region of Andalusia.

Farewell by the Vistula

The core idea of varying host cities for WordCamp Europe has once again worked out just as intended: People, communities and cultures were brought closer together in Kraków, and we were allowed to experience a whole new world, not too far from home. I am certain that some of our team members will start making plans to visit Poland again in the near future.

Come to think of it: Looking at my calendar, I realise that I have already planned a cycling trip to the Giant Mountains in July. That’s great news, because writing this recap has already started to give me some serious wanderlust again …

A view of the south bank of the Vistula, featuring the former Hotel Forum, a Ferris wheel and a hot-air balloon.
A black-and-white photograph of the former Hotel Forum, a large, brutalist building. In front of it is a building with the word ‘Bowling’ written on it.
A view of the Vistula from a bridge, with lots of green trees and bushes.
Dominik Schilling and Karin Christen can be seen from behind as they explore Kraków’s Old Town.
View of Kraków Castle from a bridge over the Vistula, looking from the west.
A view of the amusement park on the Vistula, with the illuminated Ferris wheel and the evening glow in the distance, despite the cloudy sky.
A great many people take a stroll along the Vistula at sunset, sitting on boats or in the stands that have been set up.
At sunset, at the foot of Kraków Castle, many people sit on the stands set up along the Vistula.
In illuminated letters, the words ‘I LOVE KRK’ – as tall as a man – are displayed in an archway, with the word ‘Love’ depicted as a heart.

Mehr Artikel

Lesen Sie mehr interessante Artikel von unserem Blog.