September 10, 2023 — Growth and sustaining a product or service always come back to solving customer problems. Doing this well isn’t just a contest of technology or talent. It’s often about who is doing a better job of listening to their customers. Some call this “strategic empathy.” This can become a challenge as businesses grow, and as markets quickly change. So if you want to build a successful product or service, understanding your customer is paramount. In this talk, we will explore the ways that we can make data-informed decisions, and use design thinking tools to better understand our current customers and our future customers. And you don’t have to be a designer to use design thinking tools and techniques. We’ll see some real-world examples from companies like Ancestry.com, Bluehost, and others. And we’ll be sure to leave some time for a discussion on how this kind of thinking might help your business scale its ability to listen.

September 10, 2023 — We build websites and web applications so we can deliver value. In most cases, value is measured by conversion rates. A fast website is essential for a good user experience, which leads to a good conversion rate. But making a performant website is not the only thing we need to give a good user experience. Let’s dive into the world of Core Web Vitals, understand their origins, their implementation and what actions can we take to improve our websites for a better user experience.

September 10, 2023 — An overview of business models in the WordPress ecosystem, focused on product companies. We’ll review the benefits and tradeoffs of each model and then discuss improvements to each of the models to better reflect the value and market size of the WordPress ecosystem.

September 10, 2023 — In this talk I’m going to make the case that both agencies and clients should start to see their websites as Web products and the benefits associated with that. We’re going to be talking how you can make the transition from projects to products, the basic differences between the two and also the challenges and resources associated with projects and product teams.

September 10, 2023 — Looking for the good things during bad times has become one of my survival tactics. Finding the good in bad situations – like looking for a phoenix rising from the ashes – has often helped me stay positive when it felt like the world was burning.

The last few years have felt a lot like that. From a global pandemic to flooding, supply chain issues, political unrest, war, event cancelations, and personal struggles, this has been a difficult time for many, if not most, of us.

We have pivoted so much and so often it has felt like we have constantly been reinventing ourselves, our businesses, and our community.

So what good things have I found since this all began? WordPress has been constant and consistent. I’ve discovered a deeper love for WordPress and the WordPress community that I ever imagined.

Join me as I share the good things that have come from a trying time, and how I think we can continue to move forward in a globally-positive, community-oriented way.

September 10, 2023 — From building communities to teams empathy is indispensable. It’s simple but impact full. Talk will cover this aspect from personal, community and business perspective. Sharing personal and professional anecdote from community, business and friends/family.

September 10, 2023 — Have you ever been too ashamed to admit your current state of mind to yourself, your colleagues or your loved ones?
There is nothing EVER more important in life than your own health – both physical and mental.

There is a myth that we all have a destiny and that we know it from an early age. This is far from true for everyone. But it can be quite unsettling if you’re not part of that group, can’t it? Don’t envy these people!

There were many times when my path changed and when I had to break out of the life I was living to protect my health. It was only by taking a step back every now and then and reconsidering my personal choices and values that I became who I am today: a pioneer who loves new challenges and needs to reinvent herself from time to time to thrive. We’re aware change and stepping out of your comfort zone can be stressful and scary, especially when struggling with mental health issues. But everything you want is on the other side of fear!

In this talk, I’ll explain why taking a few steps back and finding out who you really are is important for your personal and professional growth. We’ll talk about how to re-evaluate your priorities and values, how to recognize when you need a break, and how to maintain your mental health status.

September 10, 2023 — Pandemic has not only affected millions of people physically, but also devastated them mentally. Though it has taken a backseat, the deep-rooted mental imbalance is still visible in different spheres and characters across the world. With the changing scenario, the demand of content looks for more and more customer friendly content strategy with lot more aggressiveness. They believe, this will open new avenues to closely interact with all kinds’ of customers in no time. That’ll ultimately help the World Economy to grow.

September 10, 2023 — With the site editor and block themes, the concept of Layout arrived. It took shape as a block support, which means it’s an add-on that provides a block with extra functionality. It’s also a fundamental part of how block themes work: Layout allows us to define the width of our post content, and arrange blocks horizontally or vertically, right or left aligned, inside container blocks. In terms of block styling, Layout is a complex feature because it affects child blocks in ways that go beyond CSS inheritance.

This talk goes into how far the Layout support has come since the site editor first made its appearance in 5.9, why it has been in experimental mode for so long, what you can do with it right now as a theme or block developer – and what you can expect of it in the future!

September 10, 2023 — …And don’t let anybody tell you that their opinion is better than yours. This talk opens up a liberating perspective on colour, providing practical information on how to use it in a way that makes it possible for everyone to enjoy the products we build. With the very welcome side effect of getting your clients the conversions they want – by using colour accessibly.