WordCamp US – National Harbor, MD 2023

It’s that time of year! Time for WordCamp US, and this time it’s being held in National Harbor, Maryland from August 24th through the 26th. It’ll be at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, which is a spectacular location in itself.

This year, our team members Ericka Barboza and Marco Berrocal will be attending in person. So, feel free to stop by and say hello as they love interacting with WordCamp folk.

What Will You Find at WordCamp US 2023?

Not only is this year’s WordCamp US at an incredible location – the Gaylord is just phenomenal – you can also be a part of quite a few talks and gatherings. For example, on the 24th, the contributor day is open for everyone.

There are a lot of great talks at this year’s WordCamp US. Some of the ones that stand out most to me include:

• For All Userkind: NASA Web Modernization and WordPress – Abby Bowman and J.J. Toothman talk about how NASA’s web modernization efforts include WordPress and the challenges they face revamping its websites and adding its first on-demand streaming service.
• Tell the Story You Want To Tell – In this talk, you’ll hear the story of how Ken Liu, an award-winning writer, lost faith in storytelling and how he rediscovered the meaning of narratives in day-to-day life.
• Modern WordPress Development – While this talk might be a bit more advanced in comparison to beginner tracks, Gary McPherson will go over some of the more profound components that you can integrate into the WordPress development experience.
• Learn WordPress: A resource for you and your community – Presented by Courtney Patubo Kranzke, the Learn WordPress element is a resource for those who want to understand more of what the content management system can do and what you can do to contribute. This is a great talk for beginners!
• Gutenberg: Next – WordPress Co-founder and CEO of Automattic, Matt Mullenweg, will discuss the improvements delivered in 2023 and the plans going forward for WordPress. This will also include a live Q&A at the end, so bring your questions!

Personally, I’m highly interested in learning more about what NASA is building and how it’ll incorporate video-on-demand. Then again, I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to anything space and science related.

Plus, being able to toss questions at Matt Mullenweg would be fun. Especially after the most recent updates in WordPress 6.3 that are a bit questionable, such as the ability to add links to Gutenberg. It now takes extra steps just to set it to open in a new window.

Anyway, from the talks available, it’s sure to be a great weekend for those joining.

Interesting Facts About National Harbor, MD

The Gaylord Convention Center is located along the Potomac River just south of Washington DC. As such, it’s surrounded by some amazing attractions and a lot of US history.

One of the features in the area is the Capital Wheel, a 165-foot Ferris wheel with an amazing view of the most prolific national monuments in the country.

A few other things to keep in mind include:

Hope to See You at WordCamp US in National Harbor!

As you’re visiting WordCamp US, don’t forget to stop by and say “hi” to Marco and Ericka, who will be attending on our behalf. Although the Gaylord is relatively large, they should be fairly easy to find.

I’d like to finish by thanking all of the organizers, speakers, volunteers, attendees, and sponsors who put in the time and effort to make WordCamp US something amazing. Between the locale and the talks, it’s definitely one that I wish I could attend myself.

Have a great weekend and enjoy everything National Harbor and WordCamp US have to offer.