---
title: WordCamps
date: '2026-07-02T13:58:26.000Z'
author: Rich Tabor
summary: WordCamp US 2018 sparked a career-changing conversation in a hallway. Discover the importance of networking beyond sessions at WordCamps.
tags:
  - WordPress
published: true
type: blog
url: /wordcamps
canonical: https://richtabor.com/wordcamps/
id: 8461
---

One turning point in my career happened at a WordCamp, in a hallway, between two talks I’ve since forgotten.

It was [WordCamp US 2018](https://us.wordcamp.org/2018/). WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg were launching, and I wanted to see what everyone was doing firsthand, ask questions, learn, really just get as close to the source as I could. 

![Hundreds of attendees are seated in a large conference venue facing a central stage where a speaker is giving a presentation. Two large projection screens display presentation slides, blue stage lighting fills the room, and exposed steel beams span the high ceiling of the auditorium.](https://i0.wp.com/rich.blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/screenshot-2026-07-01-at-09.56.22%402x.png?resize=2036%2C1522&quality=80&ssl=1)

The sessions were good, but the real value was in everything around them: the conversations in the hallways, over coffee, and at the afterparty. WordCamp regulars have a name for this.

They call it the hallway track.

And once you’ve been, you understand why it’s kind of the part everyone goes to WordCamps for.

That’s where I met the people whose plugins I’d studied and whose leadership helped inspire how I approached building my own products. And it’s where the GoDaddy team first reached out to meet, after seeing my early work on [CoBlocks](/coblocks/).

A couple months later they [acquired CoBlocks](/godaddy-acquires-coblocks-themebeans/), which pushed me into my first real run at full-scale product management, and, a few years later, toward leading Growth and Data at [Automattic](/automattic-year-one/).

That likely doesn’t happen if I stay home. You can’t plan the conversation that changes your career, but you can give yourself the best chance for opportunity to strike.

That saying, the next [WordCamp US](https://us.wordcamp.org/2026/) is in Phoenix, August 16–19. [Grab yourself a ticket](https://us.wordcamp.org/2026/tickets/), line up the sessions you want, then leave room for those conversations you can’t plan.

I’ll be there too, and I’d love to hear what you’re excited about.