October 13, 2017 — So you have your WordPress site up and running and it’s awesome. But what’s next? Don’t let those pesky Rebels destroy your new site.

Come learn about what you can do to keep your WordPress site in good working order after it is completed with Matthew Clancy.

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October 13, 2017 — In this interactive experience we’ll be exploring honesty in agency life. Too often in the agency world and society, we have an unwillingness to put ourselves in a state of vulnerability to our clients and our peers.

Adversity is what drives us to be better, to problem solve and to grow in all aspects of our lives. Nothing in life is perfect and even with extreme planning there are still curveballs thrown our way.

Aaron will be sharing his insights, missteps and lessons learned from nearly 20 years of agency experience, including his 10+ years running Linchpin: a WordPress focused digital agency. He will be encouraging interaction with attendees along the way, providing audience members with the ability to anonymously participate in sharing #fails and #wins on Twitter and/or the WordPress RI Website.

October 13, 2017 — Many of us build website for clients – most of us even get paid for it…

There is a lot of money in freelancing. There is also a lot of pain and frustration.

Ever wish you could just ask someone how they did it? You can! Our panel has been there, done that, has the t-shirt, scars, and lessons learned to share with you.

With any luck you can learn from their mistakes and avoid making a few of them yourself!

October 13, 2017 — Dans un monde où des “experts” de WordPress sont disponibles sur Fiverr pour 5$, y a-t-il de l’argent à faire avec WordPress ? Avoir les compétences est une chose n’est pas suffisant. Est-ce possible, dans l’économie globale dans laquelle nous vivons, de les vendre à un prix plus élevé que la concurence ? La réponse est: oui. Cette présentation vous montrera comment.

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October 12, 2017 — Live critiques of attendee-submitted websites on 3 categories:

Design
Marketing
SEO

October 12, 2017 — WordPress is software like no other. Businesses harness its versatility. Creative skills are mastered with it. It unifies individuals from diverse backgrounds. Yet to so many, it remains “just” software. As a blogger, web designer, marketer, educator, and entrepreneur since long before its existence, I’ve watched it grow into a worldwide phenomenon. My own path to success is intertwined with a decade of WordPress use. Clearly, there’s more to this software than just a free install. Discover how WordPress will completely change your personal and business life for the better, if you let it! This is an introduction to my concept of The WordPress Lifestyle (#wplife) which is all about community. It goes far beyond merely using WordPress to support one’s livelihood. It includes education, inspiration, art, experiences, relationships, and so much more.

October 12, 2017 — There are a lot of ways to control how WordPress looks and “Themes” covers all of them…

Commercially available themes, from ThemeForest for example.
Frameworks such as Genesis from StudioPress
Drag-and-Drop Builders from Beaver Builder to Bold Grid to the Visual Composer plugin.
How do you pick which is the best-fit for your project and your client?

October 12, 2017 — With all the buzz around the REST API maybe it’s been awhile since you took a look at WordPress core’s JavaScript-driven single page application (SPA), the Customizer.

In this talk we will explore how to use the Customizer to improve the user experience for theme and plugin settings, explore how the Customizer has evolved, and look at the future of the Customizer.

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October 12, 2017 — One Sunday morning while reconciling my books during a slow cash flow month, I was shocked to realize that I was paying nearly $300 a month in subscriptions to run my freelancing gig! Things like invoicing, project management, contracts and growing – it was seriously getting out of control.

Sure $7-$35 here and there was harmless, maybe even unnoticed most times. But after seeing all the subscriptions categorized (especially during a slow month) and knowing there’s over 40,000 plugins available in WordPress, I couldn’t help but wonder “What can WordPress replace?”

And with that, I started a journey into creating (even though I didn’t realize at the time) an extranet that my clients and I both could use, all with the ultimate goal of reducing my monthly operating costs.

This topic is about what I learned while creating my extranet and what monthly subscription services WordPress could totally replace, what it might be able to replace (depending on circumstances), what it should not replace and the unexpected benefits and head bumps I uncovered!

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October 12, 2017 — After investing so much time, effort, and resources in developing your WordPress website and marketing your brand, it can be frustrating if you are not achieving a high number of conversions on your website.

Tom Shapiro will walk you through effective techniques to get more of your site visitors converting. Some of the techniques will focus on behavior-based data gleaned from heat maps, scroll maps, and A/B testing, while others will focus on messaging, neuromarketing, and human psychology, while yet others will focus on color, design, and UX (user experience) elements. Whether you are looking to sell more on your website, increase leads, promote an upcoming event, build your email list, or drive site visitors to another type of conversion event, you’ll walk away from this session with highly specific methods for increasing your website’s conversion rates.