If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you either couldn’t make it to Palermo or you’re still processing what just happened.

Checkout Summit was my attempt to do something simple on paper and difficult in reality: bring the WooCommerce community together, in person.

We’ve had enough of small screens and Slack threads… I wanted an actual place where developers, founders, and agencies could actually talk about Woo.

For a first-time conference, it could have gone in many directions. It didn’t go perfectly (no event ever does, to be honest…), but it did go well. Better than I expected, and that matters.

What follows is a short recap of what worked, what’s next, and why this is very far from being “done“.

Because if there’s one thing that became obvious in Palermo, it’s this: we still need to keep talking about WooCommerce.

This was the real goal. The conference was just an excuse.

I simply wanted to get WooCommerce people in the same physical space.

For years, conversations around WooCommerce have lived online: GitHub issues, Twitter posts, support forums, Slack groups, newsletters. Useful, but very fragmented.

Seeing it all come together in one room changed the tone completely. People weren’t just sharing solutions anymore—they were sharing context, frustrations, ideas, and direction.

For a first edition, it went well

First editions are unpredictable. There’s no previous version to copy from, no benchmark to lean on, and every assumption gets tested in real time.

There was also a single organizer…

Checkout Summit had its challenges, but the overall signal was positive. Sessions landed well, conversations kept going long after talks ended, and the energy in the room stayed consistent from start to finish.

More importantly, nothing felt like a “test”. It felt like the start of something that could actually exist again. And again…

The speakers were amazing (honestly!)

I’m pretty happy with the 12 speakers I selected. Different backgrounds, great stories, and everybody gave us at least one actionable item we can implement in our (WooCommerce) businesses today.

James Kemp talk was very honest. And that’s what we need from Woo.

Katie Keith delivered. Great tips and value, as always.

Josh Kohlbach overdelivered, with his amazing “system” for managing multiple plugin companies.

Cathy Chen opened the new Wise payment gateway beta program, and we’re all delighted about that.

Patrick Rauland was a great story teller. Plus, a myth buster!

Nik McLaughlin was super fun and friendly, and shared lots of knowledge.

Jessica Risch was lovely and talked about a nice Woo-website-with-100-plugins case study.

Remi Corson is always full of surprises 🙂

Karolína Vyskočilová represented the freelance community in the best possible way.

Maciek Palmowski told us about the reality of hosting companies.

Matty Cohen enlightened us with a great slide deck and amazing content.

Andrea Cardinali demoed his agent integration, and same as Nik McLaughlin, it was great to see this live.

I want honest feedback, not just praise

So far, I’ve mostly heard the good things—and I appreciate that.

Everything was “freaking amazing“: venue, food, content, location, organization, people, weather, Sicily… you name it.

But I don’t want a filtered version of reality!

I’ll be sending out an anonymous survey to all attendees. Not because I expect problems, but because I also want to know about the potential improvements, and those are the things that decide whether this grows or fades.

If you were there, your honest input matters more than polite feedback.

We’re not finished yet: {Reloaded} is next

Checkout Summit doesn’t end in Palermo.

On May 7–8, we’re running {Reloaded}, the remote edition of Checkout Summit.

Same core content, additional speakers, and some extra things we couldn’t fit into the in-person schedule.

It’s designed for everyone who couldn’t travel, couldn’t afford it, or simply prefers joining online.

This can’t be a one-off event…

There’s a bigger conversation here.

If WooCommerce is going to keep growing as an ecosystem, we need more consistent spaces where people meet, argue, share, and build together.

I see what stronger ecosystems/competitors do—they build momentum through repetition.

If Checkout Summit continues, it will require support: not just interest, but also budget, sponsors, and a community that actually wants this to exist more than once.

Photos, videos, and what’s next

If you want a sense of what happened in Palermo, you can browse the first photos here: checkoutsummit.com/photos (by the amazing Roan de Vries).

Videos (stories and snippets) will be published soon.

And if you want to dive deeper into the actual talks, {Reloaded} tickets are available, featuring all 12 in-person speakers plus additional online content.

Final thoughts

There’s a simple question underneath all of this: do we want WooCommerce to be something we occasionally talk about online, or something we actively build around together?

If it’s the second option, then this shouldn’t be the last time we do something like this.