XWP at WordFest Live 2022

We’re incredibly excited to have five of our incredible XWPeople speaking at WordFest Live 2022—a global celebration for all things WordPress!

The virtual festival is delivered by Big Orange Heart and takes place twice a year. With more than 60 sessions delivered at each event, WordFest Live is one of the largest remote WordPress gatherings, with sessions spanning every time zone and happening continuously over 24 hours.

In January 2021, Big Orange Heart delivered the first-ever WordFest Live. With almost 2,500 Attendees registered, the event surpassed all expectations and was instantly recognized as one of the most exciting community-driven live events in the WordPress space. 

Since then, the event has grown exponentially, with the third installment on March 4th expected to further surpass expectations.

A ticket costs $10, with every penny going to enable Big Orange Heart to deliver free wellbeing and mental health support into our community.

Register for WordFest Live 2022.

XWP at WordFest 2021

We’re proud to have some of our fantastic XWPeople contributing to WordFest Live 2022! There will be 5 of us speaking at the event- and a lot more of us watching from home. 

Check out the full event schedule here.

Speakers

Alain Schlesser
Senior Engineer, Architect

@schlessera
Connect with Alain on LinkedIn

Whether it’s because of his extensive contributions to WordPress Core and WP-CLI, or his many talks at live events and meetups… There’s a good chance you’ve met Alain before! 

Alongside being a recognizable presence in the WordPress community, Alain is one of our Senior Engineers, and has proudly helped XWP and Google bring performance-driven automated Page Experience optimizations to everyone through our work on the AMP Project.

Alain at WordFest: The Cost of Contribution 

In a session talking about feelings of responsibility and the adverse effects of making open source contributions in an unsustainable way, Alain aims to destigmatize the topic of money when it comes to “free” software, and directly address immediate issues of frustration and burn-out as they surface.

Lance Robbins
Global Recruitment Lead

Connect with Lance on LinkedIn

Having spent the last 13 years in people and operations-focused roles, Lance is an outspoken remote work advocate and led the growth of our 100% remote team from 25 to 100+ over the past two years.

He has served as a consultant to agencies and product companies both in and outside the WordPress ecosystem, helping them leverage workplace flexibility to build and support happy, high-functioning teams.

Lance at WordFest: “Always On” Culture is a Killer: A Remote Survival Guide

Lance will talk about what employers can do to combat the “Always On” culture that often leads to employee burnout and turnover, what individuals can do to create the much-needed boundaries between home and the workplace, and how these efforts contribute to a more inclusive working environment.

He will also be exploring some of the best practices and “hacks” that make remote work a dream come true, rather than a recurring nightmare.

Leo Postovoit
Head of Partnerships & Product Strategy

@postphotos
Connect with Leo on LinkedIn

Leo is in charge of Product and Partnerships here at XWP. A long-time technologist, Leo has worked for various heavy hitters in the publishing space, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Denver Post, and Lowrider Magazine. 

With a background in design, marketing, and software engineering, Leo advises on best practices for usability, deployment, and performance across a number of disciplines—from education and nonprofits to publishing and eCommerce.

Leo at WordFest: Why you need Website Performance as a Mindset

We all love to see sites that are fast, user-friendly, accessible, secure, and reliable. But how do you get there? In his talk, Leo will share how we use the various aspects of “performance” to guide decisions, from the product ideation stage right through the creation of the final product, including how we measure and tools for success.

Tammie Lister
Senior Product Designer

@Karmatosed

Tammie is our Senior Product Designer and is passionate about open source and human-centered experiences. She is a long-time contributor to WordPress, with a huge amount of experience working remotely: From leading design, to creating products and collaborating with a range of different teams, Tammie has done it all!

Tammie at WordFest: Designing Remote

Tammie will be covering how to build a successful design function within a remote team- including the challenges that it can raise. With insight into where design fits into the remote product cycle, and how to help design teams flourish in a distributed business environment, this is one product specialists don’t want to miss.

Tom Stinson
Community & Culture Lead

@tom__stinson
Connect with Tom on LinkedIn

Tom is a people person. Cultivating team cohesion can be tough when a company is 100% distributed, but it’s Tom’s joy to grow the culture that makes XWP a great place to work. His passion is to see workplaces release the potential of their people by shaping an environment where people feel human.

Tom at WordFest: Remote Leadership; How To Lead Humans In A Way That Makes It OK To Feel Human

The remote landscape allows leaders to really strip back to the fundamentals of guiding teams forward. What has become apparent, is the traditional “cogs-of-a-machine,” “well-oiled,” and “everything-automated” focus on leadership is dying out.

Leading in the remote world means having a greater awareness of and skills to manage the diversity, messiness, and wonderfulness of human beings. In his talk, Tom will be taking a look into key principles that leaders in the remote world need to specialize in to successfully serve their teams.


Our fully-remote team of more than 100 experts now spans more than 35 countries and 17 timezones. From Canada to Korea, South Africa to Spain, you’ll find exceptional XWPeople all over the world, serving our clients and building a better web together.

Want to learn more about what makes us tick? Find out How Remote Works at XWP or Search our vacancies.

We’re always looking for driven engineers and designers to help us grow. Our team members work with the biggest names in tech, tackle unique challenges daily, and are part of a robust culture that spans the globe. Do you have what it takes to be a part of XWP?