If you haven’t ever taken a look at WPCoffeeTalk, well today is the day to start. The video series by Michelle Frechette is such a breath of fresh air for its casual, one take, chit chat format. It really feels like you are just hanging out a table with Michelle and her guests. For her 100th episode, Michelle Frechette chats with Matt Mullenweg, one of the founders of WordPress and the CEO of Automattic.
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I thought I’d take the “Hollywood” movie review format. The hour long episode is full of stories, engaging questions and answers, and a very high production value. We start with Michelle in the GiveWP offices, a wonderful setting to celebrate 100 episodes, and 100,000 GiveWP installs.
Split screen to Matt Mullenweg in a gorgeously lit study, with some interesting tchotchke and books in the background. I’m sure someone will look to Zapruder the video and determine exactly what all these items are.
We shouldn’t forget the cameo that’s provided by Presston of GoWP, in full Wonder Woman mode!
The action begins … Matt drinks green tea from a living national treasure and Michelle is drinking good old fashioned coffee. And a surprising discussion about the WordPress community members who are coffee roasters and brewers. Who knew?!
Act One – WordPress
Act one is very WordPress focused, we get the origin story of our heroes, the motivation, and the universe (community) of our story. The history of WordPress that Matt provides is really telling about how so many open source projects begin. There is a genuine geek joy to how he talks about the history, the forking of an existing project, and who actually came up with the name WordPress. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t Matt. Also why WordCamps started charging for attendance, hint, it includes 25 lbs of frozen brisket.
Act Two – WordPress Community Challenges and Successes
The drama ratchets up in act two – how can WordPress help people learn about WordPress? Different types of engagement are mentioned, specifically learn.wordpress.com. How can our heroes reach another 200 million businesses just in the United States? Accessibility? Code? Interfaces? Languages? Devices? I see many sequels in the future!
The other conflicts presented are around open source and the rest of the world. COVID, work-from-home, climate change, and more. Matt talks about the rollercoaster of the pandemic, the shared hardships, the new connections, and a new puppy. And Matt’s greatest pandemic work challenge – The State of the Word.
Act Three – Rapid Fire!
We get a wild ride in act three, the Rapid Fire Questions! Michelle always hits up guests with their favorite WordPress plugins. Boom! One of my absolute must have plugins gets a shout out from Matt, Redirection. That was really a surprise because I had just recorded my WPCoffeeTalk (don’t know when it will go live), but that was my mention on the program as well.
Don’t want to spoil the ending but look for Matt Googling himself, the Matt Dance, Hot Nacho, and something I’m going to call “theme snippets.”
Last but not least, Matt doesn’t have websites, he has WordPresses. I do think that WordPresses and wordpressing will start becoming more and more a part of the web vocabulary. Now I think I’ll go xerox a kleenex or post-it, or open and close a zipper or some velcro 😉 .
The Quick Take
Director | Michelle Frechette |
Actors | Matt Mullenweg, Michelle Frechette, Presston |
Rated | G for all audiences |
Running Time | 61 minutes |
Release Date | Friday 12th March 2021 |
Rating | ★★★★ |