Page Builder Summit 3.0 opened its doors on Monday, October 17th, for a week-long virtual WordPress Page Builder conference focusing on WordPress agencies. Cloudways was happy to be a featured sponsor of the event with a special promotion and several sponsored sessions.
Hosts and organizers Nathan Wrigley and Anchen le Roux have been leading figures in the WordPress community for years, in which time they’ve been podcasting and speaking, organizing WordCamps, and running their own businesses. These two professionals have taken advantage of current technology and created a virtual event together from two sides of the globe, Nathan in the UK and Anchen in South Africa.
The frequency of virtual conferences has ramped up over the past two years. The last Page Builder Summit happened just five months ago. But it seems that the team has learned a lot about hosting a successful virtual event. Page Builder Summit 3 wasn’t just a rehashing of the past shows, but a fun and engaging conference full of knowledge and open discussions.
The First Two Days of Page Builder Summit
Monday showcased everything from page builders to website content to building fundraising websites and more. The second day hit its stride with talks focusing on content, quality assurance, WordPress full site editing vs. Page Builders, and customizing the Gutenberg Block Editor. Already a pressing topic in the WordPress community, Chris Lubkert of Extendify took the page builder debate head-on in his controversial talk, RIP Page Builders.
Tuesday’s theme of Page Builders vs. the core vision of full site editing and WordPress continued in the closing panel “Meet the Builders.” Cloudways Director of WordPress, Robert Jacobi, was panel moderator with some of the key players in the Page Builder ecosystem in attendance. Raitis Sevelis of Visual Composer, Anthony Tran from Beaver Builder, Elijah Mills of Oxygen builder, Raquel Landefeld from Divi builder, and Dimi Baitanciuc of Brizy discussed the need for page builders, the difference between a page builder and site builder, Gutenberg, and the low-code future in web design and development. The panel closed with the understanding that hand-coded page design is a thing of the past and page builders are Ikea!
If you aren’t entirely up to date with the state of WordPress page builders, please visit the following Cloudways blog articles:
- 9 Popular WordPress Page Builders Reviewed
- WP Page Builder for WordPress
- Beaver Builder vs. Elementor
- Divi vs. Elementor
- Beaver Builder vs. Divi
​​Website Building Made Easy. No More Coding Hassles.
Launch Beaver Builder on Cloudways with 1-Click to build exceptional websites on the finest cloud hosting provider.
While the conference lacked the networking aspect that’s usual to visual events, the team did a great job with a daily pop quiz and bingo game to keep the fun and engagement levels up throughout.Â
Page Builder Summit Days Three and Four
The third day kicked off with another high-level session on using WordPress Full Site Editing and custom blocks. The focus for the rest of the day surrounded foundations, processes, and strategy.
The Page Builder controversy started again on day four with another panel featuring Cloudways Mavericks (our hand-picked experts from across the digital world.) Jan Koch, Piccia Neri, Brent Weaver, and Lee Matthew Jackson discussed if agencies should use page builders. The panel showcased the natural apprehension of coders and developers to use page builders and the gradual push towards acceptance. As the day continued, we heard more tips, tricks, and hacks in running a successful WordPress-based business.
Page Builder Summit Day Five Conclusion
On the fifth and final day, there were only four full sessions, but after four straight days of sessions and panels, this was a welcome change. The event ended with sessions on Gutenberg, the power of page builders, and agency automation. Â
Overall, Page Builder Summit was a very informative and entertaining event. We at Cloudways look forward to the next Page Builder Summit and the possibility of an in-person styled event in the future. We want to thank Nathan, Archen, and their team for a beautiful event. For more information on Cloudways sponsorship of the event, please visit this page.
