This year, we were proud sponsors and speakers at Meet Magento Florida 2026. Held at the Hard Rock Hotel, the giant guitar building set the tone, bold, loud, and unapologetically rock & roll. Our main merch this year was wine from Georgia, and it was a hit at the booth. It was great to reconnect with old colleagues, meet new faces, and feel the energy of a community that's very much alive.
AI Is Coming in Waves
If there was one dominant theme this year, it was AI, but not in the way you'd expect. The conversation has matured.
The pattern is becoming clear: a new AI breakthrough arrives, everyone gets hyped, switches to AI for everything, and goes all in. Then reality sets in. People realize that human control, judgment, and creative touch are still essential. AI usage dials back a bit. Things stabilize, until the next big leap comes around, and the cycle repeats.
We're not anti-AI, far from it. But the takeaway is that the companies doing it right are the ones treating AI as a tool that amplifies human strategy, not a replacement for it. The hype-crash-stabilize cycle is natural, and each wave leaves us with genuinely useful capabilities. The key is knowing when to ride the wave and when to paddle back to shore.
Shawn Basey on AI in SEO
Our CMO Shawn Basey gave a talk on Magento Human Strategy & Generative AI, exploring how to use AI in SEO without losing the human element that actually makes content resonate. It was one of the most engaged sessions of the event.
Magento's Revival Is Real
Magento is on its way back, and it's been building momentum for a while now.
It remains one of the last truly professional open-source e-commerce platforms. And when implemented right, the value is incredible. Yes, Magento is harder to adopt correctly, you have to plan your infrastructure carefully and develop code well. But once that foundation is in place, what you get is unmatched:
- Full customizability, build exactly what your business needs
- Complete data and platform ownership, no vendor lock-in
- Unlimited integration possibilities, connect to anything
- No revenue sharing, your margins stay yours
- Enterprise-grade scalability, from startups to global brands
What's changed is that Adobe is getting more involved in the community. Their renewed engagement gives merchants and developers much more certainty about the future of Magento. It's no longer a question of if Magento has a future, it's about how bright that future is going to be.
MageOS and the Magento Association
MageOS is doing a phenomenal job strengthening and securing Magento 2's position. As a community-driven fork, it provides an additional layer of assurance that the platform's open-source DNA will be preserved and improved, regardless of corporate decisions.
We're proud contributors to MageOS, and we're excited to announce that we'll soon be joining Magento 2 core contributions through the Magento Association as well. It's important to us to give back to the platform that's been central to our work for years.
Florida Being Florida
The weather had other plans for us this year. It was so cold that iguanas were literally falling off the trees, a uniquely Floridian phenomenon that never gets old to witness. Despite the chill, we still managed to spot some alligators, which felt like a small victory.
On the entertainment front, we hit the casino and walked away with a grand total of 23 cents in winnings. Not exactly retirement money, but we'll take it.
The after-events were fantastic. There was even a beach party, which, despite the weather, brought out the best of the Magento community spirit. These moments outside the sessions are often where the best conversations happen and where real partnerships form.
A huge thank you to Ravi and the entire organizing team for putting together another incredible event. Meet Magento Florida continues to be one of the highlights of the Magento calendar, and we're already looking forward to next year.
