It’s crazy to think about the last year in the design, web dev, WordPress, and even marketing world in general. Between #WPDrama and AI taking over along with the stubborn effects of COVID and public gatherings lingering, it’s been a rough couple months (maybe years).

In 2023, my agency Luminus sponsored WordCamp Buffalo, I was personally unable to attend, but my team did and noted how great it was to see in-person events bouncing back. The event still didn’t quite “hit” the way it should as that post-COVID effect was still hampering the success of all events starting to come back. So in 2024 our agency got involved and took on the entire branding and marketing side of WordCamp Buffalo. The event looked the part and we all had a blast there and met great people, but it still felt underwhelming for some reason.

So I joined up with Ron & Ben as a co-organizer and as early as July 2024, we started planning for WordCamp Buffalo 2025. Well, that got derailed in September lol. Things got dicey with WordCamp Central, sponsors, wordpress.org logins, etc etc. We were already wondering what else we might be able to do if we attempted an independent event. #WPDrama pushed us over the edge and by October 2024, we had started planning for ColorCode.

With the barriers torn down, we were able to accomplish a number of things we desperately wanted to do:

1. Expand event topics beyond WordPress specific topics
2. Brand the event and build assets exactly how we wanted without trademark or platform restrictions
3. Build sponsorship relationships directly rather than being handed them
4. Run the planning and logistics of the event and promotional marketing the way we wanted to

Ron and Ben had run nearly 10 years worth of WordCamps, they didn’t go into this blind, but we still had to start from scratch.

It’s been a long 10 months of planning, pivoting, and work to get to this point. ColorCode: Buffalo 2025 is THIS WEEK and we have a full slate of amazing speakers, a sponsor roster that nearly fully funded the entire event allowing us to keep ticket costs low, and over 100 attendees ready to network, learn, and have fun together!

This process has been a rollercoaster ride, but like any good rollercoaster, we’re having a blast and we’re ready to do it again!

We believe in the power of the user, design, development, and marketing communities coming together.

There’s more to this story and we can’t wait to build upon this foundation.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

– Tim