February 2, 2019 — Join digital strategist Andrew Schulkind as he lays out the process he and his team have developed over 22 years of tackling web development and other digital marketing initiatives for a range of B2B clients. In this session, you will gain insight into:
• Convincing stakeholders of the value of proper planning process (hint: it actually saves time and money)
• Aligning the process with your desired outcomes
• The document templates you’ll find most useful
• How the planning process helps post-launch

You’ve built dozens of WordPress sites, maybe even hundreds. You know what you’re doing. So when starting a new site it’s tempting to roll your sleeves up, dive right in, and get to work.

Or maybe you’re a marketer or business owner about to build your first WordPress site. Sure, some things seem daunting, but you can let your developers hand the confusing bits, right?

On even the simplest of sites, something nearly always gets lost in translation between the client’s expectations, the designer’s vision, and the developer’s execution.

A solid planning process and proper documentation minimizes the potential for confusion and miscommunication. You save time, you save money, and most importantly, the finished project is more likely to successfully achieve the desired results.

February 2, 2019 — The new visual editor sure does inspire consternation in the WordPress community. As with any disruption, there will be winners and losers in professional world – and lots of questions. Instead of focusing on launch and transition issues, I’ll describe how I believe the fundamentals of the WordPress experience will change for both the end-user AND the professional – and discuss potential opportunities for businesses in the WordPress ecosystem.

February 2, 2019 — The wp_options database table is the center of all WordPress websites. It stores critical site data and is used on nearly every page in WordPress. However, it’s also very easy for the wp_options table to slow your site to a grinding halt. This talk will review best practices for keeping your wp_options table in check to keep your site performant.

February 2, 2019 — Come get all your questions answered on building and growing companies from our group of seasoned veterans.

Moderated by Sam Hotchkiss

February 2, 2019 — In 2014, The University of Maine determined that umaine.edu needed to be taken to the next level. A year later, a robust new website was launched to coincide with the incoming class and our 150th year celebrations. This session details the journey between these two points, and how we avoided common pitfalls in website redesign projects affecting hundreds of content contributors and their individual websites.

February 2, 2019 — A required feature of any website these days is a contact form. There are many free and premium plugins for WordPress that can be used to create simple contact forms, surveys and quizzes, user generated content, email marketing captures, or even complex conditional ecommerce checkouts.

We’ll go through the options in what form plugins will allow you to do to suite your needs. Also, we’ll look at some features that makes your forms easier to fill out than others.

February 2, 2019 — Gutenberg is making waves in the WordPress community and changing how we compose content forever. So what’s the essential new stuff that Gutenberg brings to content authoring? We’ll focus on the block–the brick that builds our content–and will learn how to build a nifty Gutenberg block from scratch to offer our customers an easy and predictable way to compose their content.

February 2, 2019 — “Why don’t we just use this plugin?” That’s a question I started hearing a lot in the heady days of the 2000s, when open-source CMSes were becoming really popular. We asked it optimistically, full of hope about the myriad solutions only a download away. As the years passed, we gained trustworthy libraries and powerful communities, but the graveyard of crufty code and abandoned services grew deep. Many solutions were easy to install, but difficult to debug. Some providers were eager to sell, but loath to support.

Years later, we’re still asking that same question—only now we’re less optimistic and even more dependent, and I’m scared to engage with anyone smart enough to build something I can’t. The emerging challenge for today’s dev shop is knowing how to take control of third-party relationships—and when to avoid them. I’ll show you my approach, which is to ask a different set of questions entirely.

February 2, 2019 — As someone who builds WordPress websites for clients, you’ve probably learned that offering (or requiring) monthly maintenance contracts is smart business. It’s likely you’re including core software, plugin and theme updates as part of your maintenance plan, which ensures a steady income stream you can rely on and helps with your financial forecasting. But are you including website security as part of your project proposal and scope?

The security of your clients’ websites is often not a priority or is left till the end of a project (or sale?) as an optional add-on for the client to consider after going live. The value of a strong website security posture can be difficult to explain to clients, but when put in the context of their business and possible loss of revenue, it can become an integral part of your offering that separates you from the rest.

In this session, Adam will cover simple website security best practices that you can implement immediately for your own site and those of your clients. In addition, he’ll also offer advice and examples on how to best present the importance of website security during the proposal, scope, and maintenance package stages to your clients. Not only does this ensure your maintenance plans offer what every website needs, but also presents an additional revenue stream opportunity for your business.

February 2, 2019 — Psst! Hey, buddy, do you have questions about quotation marks? Issues about italics? Concerns about commas?

If so, join award-winning author and editor Liz Coursen for this fun, fast-paced workshop that will have you writing like an Einstein after 50 minutes! Using real-world internet content, you will learn how to recognize, identify, and avoid the most common editing mistakes made every day by web content writers.

If you were playing hooky the day your high school English class reviewed punctuation and grammar, you will learn most of what you need to know about modern editing if—IF—you come in with one thing: the belief that you can learn the fundamental rules. Come in with an open mind and leave a better writer than 90% of the population! Come in with an open mind and leave a better, more confident writer! Come in with an open mind and leave with portable, permanent skills, actionable skills that will give you a significant edge over your competition!