After CloudFest: Don’t Miss PressConf 2026
CloudFest draws the top global players in hosting and infrastructure. Big announcements and back-to-back meetings keep the industry’s leaders center stage.
After a much-needed post-CloudFest reset, the following week shifts gears with an event focused on the modern WordPress economy and the evolving product and hosting ecosystems.
PressConf begins in Tempe, Arizona, offering targeted opportunities for actionable insights, meaningful networking, and strategies directly applicable to improving your business outcomes in the WordPress economy.
This is a collaborative, single-track event designed to facilitate high-quality conversations, not just a hall traffic jam. Everyone listens to the same speakers. Everyone occupies the same space. And for the second year, the most influential founders, product leaders, journalists, creators, and ecosystem builders from a fully integrated space won’t be separated by a gigantic exhibition hall.
At PressConf, networking is no longer a competition.
Instead of sprinting from booth to booth trying to grab someone for a quick chat, you’re more likely to be in proximity to someone during the sessions, grab a coffee, or have dinner, and carry on the same discussion.
It is not a typical expo. It is more of an industry roundtable.
For sponsoring companies, this event provides rare access to targeted decision-makers and thought leaders, making it the most valuable networking and partnership setting for meaningful business growth.
The hosting industry is no longer operating in isolation. It is foundational to WordPress businesses, ecommerce, agencies, creators, SaaS, and the next generation of AI-driven tools.
PressConf was created to host ecosystem conversations in a single, cohesive setting.
Speakers Shaping the Discussion
The PressConf speaker lineup keeps getting better, and the companies behind the speakers are worth noting. This is not “big keynote theater.” This is operational knowledge from those directly influencing how products and platforms build communities across the modern web.
Here are the current confirmed speakers and their companies:
Anthony Ferrara (Principal, Oxy): A seasoned engineer and open source contributor; renowned for expertise in PHP and platform architecture.
Ben Gabler (CEO & Founder, Rocket.net; Chief Product Officer, Hosting.com): A hosting veteran, strategist, product scaling for WordPress and infra teams
Bryce Adams (Founder of Metorik): Bryce specializes in WooCommerce and analytics, with a talent for building user-focused products and strong audience connections.
Christian Dawson (Executive Director of i2Coalition): An expert in tech leadership, driving growth and fostering culture in creative technical organizations.
David Snead (Director, Secure Hosting Alliance): A digital policy and internet governance expert who leads industry collaboration on security, trust, and best practices across the global hosting ecosystem
Emma Young (Head of Organic Marketing, Hostinger): A digital strategist noted for content storytelling and web presence.
Jonathan Buford (CEO & Founder, Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company): The founder and CEO of Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company, an award-winning, sustainability-driven brewery he built from a garage startup into one of the world’s top-rated craft beer brands, inspired by Arizona’s outdoors and community.
Justin Livesay (CEO of Fueled): A global technology services agency that designs and builds digital products used by millions of people every day.
Katie Keith (Founder & CEO, Barn2 Plugins): Founder of a WordPress product company best known for its WooCommerce plugins.
Soeren von Varchmin (Chief Evangelist at CloudFest): Soeren has a robust career in the global cloud, hosting, internet infrastructure, and domaining spaces, with in-depth knowledge.
Matt Cromwell ( Founder of Roots & Fruit): A fractional CGO agency helping product companies grow without burning out their teams or their customers.
Vito Peleg (Atarium): A fast-growing visual collaboration and feedback platform with an embedded AI creative team that can see what users see, understand their goals, and collaborate in real time to help teams ship better work, faster.
Robert Jacobi (CXO Blackwall): An international and respected speaker and has served and serves in multiple industry and open source roles, including: President, Open Source Matters; Make WordPress Hosting; ICANN; and Internet Infrastructure Coalition.
This isn’t about people who have celebrity status.
This is about a working group of individuals influencing the ecosystem these companies rely on.
WebHosting.Today will also cover the event.
Jason Nickerson will conduct interviews, establish partnership connections, and cover the key discussions impacting hosting and WordPress in 2026.
If you are attending PressConf, let’s talk!
Why it should be on your event calendar
PressConf’s goal this year is to foster unity and deliver concrete business value to participants, focusing on access, collaboration, and impactful dialogue that translates into year-round business growth.
This event is becoming the top choice for high-level connections, expert guidance, in-depth discussion, and strategic partnerships that can directly accelerate your business goals this year.
Smaller spaces. More effective access.
Authentic dialogue and more effective follow-through.
This is where things become clear after CloudFest.
If you are building in hosting, WordPress, or the digital services economy, this is where you should be.
Jason Nickerson
With over 20 years of experience building and shaping the web, Jason Nickerson has worked across just about every corner of the industry. Jason’s career has mirrored the internet’s evolution — from the recovery after the .com crash to the open-source movement and the rise of cloud services that power the web today.