With just over a month remaining until WordCamp US 2026, scheduled to take place from Aug 16-19, low ticket sales for the flagship conference have raised concerns among community members. Discussions around the slower registrations have focused on the absence of a published schedule and confirmed speaker lineup ahead of the event.
Community weighs in on ticket sales
At the time of writing, 445 tickets have been sold for WordCamp US 2026. The current figure is higher than when community discussions first emerged, after Kevin Geary noted that approximately 280 tickets had been sold with about a month remaining before the event.
In his post, Geary compared the figure at the time with the final ticket sales from previous editions of WordCamp US, which stood at 2,149 in 2023, 1,928 in 2024, and 1,200 in 2025. He said the declining numbers showed that WordPress was “not doing just fine,” arguing that the community needed to remain “flexible and adaptive”.
Not everyone agreed with that assessment. Katie Keith argued that WordCamp US ticket sales should not be used as evidence of WordPress’ overall health, pointing instead to the strong turnout at WordCamp Europe, which she described as “absolutely buzzing” and reflective of a thriving community.
Lack of a schedule comes under scrutiny
Some community members suggested that the absence of key event details may be contributing to the slower pace of registrations.
Anita questioned the absence of a published schedule and confirmed speakers just weeks before the conference, wondering whether attendees typically commit to attending without that information.
Similar questions surfaced in the #wcus channel on Slack on July 9, where community member Emma asked whether there had been any updates regarding speakers, volunteers, or other preparations for the event.
Responding in the thread, Megan Marcel, Head of Events at Automattic and one of the lead organizers for WordCamp US, said speaker confirmation emails had begun going out, same with volunteer emails, and the conference program and schedule would begin rolling out on the website the following week. She added that the organizing team was working to finalize everything before entering the final stretch leading up to the event.
Since those discussions, the WordCamp US team has published the speaker lineup on the official website. The conference days schedule is yet ot published.
Speaker announcements seen as a driver for registrations
In a separate discussion within the same Slack channel, Miriam Schwab (Head of WordPress at Elementor) said the lack of a published schedule made it difficult to encourage people to attend the conference. She added that once speakers are selected, they can announce their participation and promote the event through their own networks.
Schwab suggested prioritizing the speaker lineup and publishing the schedule as soon as possible, saying it would help “get the word out” about the event.
Following the publication of the speaker lineup, Jamie Marsland announced on X that he would be speaking at WordCamp US 2026, reflecting the kind of speaker-led promotion Schwab said could help increase awareness of the event.
Website criticism preceded ticket sales and schedule concerns
The discussion around ticket sales comes just months after WordCamp US 2026 faced criticism over its official website. Community members, including Mike McAlister, James Welbes, and Kevin Geary, criticized the site’s broken pages, placeholder content, and overall presentation, while Nicholas Garofalo highlighted the challenges organizers face in building WordCamp websites before volunteer teams are fully in place. Following the criticism, McAlister joined the WordCamp US team to help refresh the website.
The latest discussion around ticket sales marks another closely watched development as preparations continue for the flagship conference.
Earlier concerns over the event location
Questions about attendance are not entirely new. When WordCamp US 2026 was announced in August 2025, some community members expressed concerns about the event’s timing and location.
Amber Hinds said holding the conference in August made it difficult for parents to attend because it coincided with the first week of the school year, adding that she wished August could be avoided.
Others acknowledged concerns about the Arizona summer while encouraging the community to support the event. Raquel Karina, who lives in downtown Phoenix, where the conference is being held, said the city would be “hot” but emphasized that the dry heat was different and encouraged the WordPress community to help “bring those numbers back up” for its North American flagship WordCamp.
During his keynote announcing Phoenix as the host city, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg also joked about the weather, telling attendees to “bring a hat might be a little warm.”
I used to work for a trade association that did a lot of events. Our speakers always included senators, congresspeople, governors of the Federal Reserve, top regulators, CEOs of household-name firms, and the like. We did not simply rely on our reputation for having top-notch speakers and assume people would just sign up.