December 14, 2018 — PHPUnit is the standard PHP testing framework, but getting it working with a WordPress plugin is challenging. If you ever wanted to start adding automated tests to your code, but did not know how and where to start, this talk is for you.
This presentation covers:
– brief introduction to unit and integration testing
– scaffolding a test suite for an existing WordPress plugin using WP-CLI
– refactoring the existing code to make it testable
– writing and running the first tests

December 14, 2018 — Dipping into Child Themes is an introduction to theme modification & development for anyone curious about how WordPress themes are built and safely modified.

This talk will provide several simple and practical Child Theme examples and explain the modular nature of the Template Hierarchy. We’ll also touch on how Template Tags and Conditional Tags and how they can be used to enhance a website.

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December 14, 2018 — There are WordPress Features You May Not Know. If you are like many, there always seem to be things you wish you could do with WordPress, but maybe can’t figure out. This session will provide you with some great tips and tricks for you to make working with WordPress even easier. From changing the number of posts on the dashboard page, to adding a target to link to on the menu dashboard, there are many things that are easy to accomplish — if only you know where to look. Not only are there screen options on almost every dashboard page, but there are help pulldowns, too, helping to answer questions before you might even need to turn to help in a forum. We will also cover shortcuts for use in the editor window, and a quick and easy way to save your favorite plugins to find at a click to upload to your site.

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December 14, 2018 — CSS Secrets for Beginners

Discover ten handy tips in ten minutes for customizing your WordPress site with CSS. From quick techniques to hide elements you’d rather not see – to sneaky ways to add in extra bits of text, this talk for CSS newcomers will show you just how useful CSS can be. It’ll whet your appetite for more and suggest where to continue your CSS journey after the ten minutes whiz by.

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December 14, 2018 — In the technology world, often soft skills and outreach are forgotten. But they can be an important asset to whatever role you may have (developer, designer, marketer, blogger). I will discuss my own journey from just being a developer, to being a leader in my local WordPress community – and my journey to speaking at WordCamps across North America.

December 14, 2018 — Managing a multilingual website or promoting your business on social media in more than one language can be challenging. How can you create bilingual content without doubling your workload? What targeting options are available to reach specific linguistic subgroups? What cultural considerations exist when selecting platforms, content and messaging? Which plugin options are available for multilingual sites? This talk will look at best practices in bilingual social media management and content strategy, drawing concrete examples from government, multinational corporations and local startups.

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December 13, 2018 — The alphabet soup of relevant data privacy and security acronyms out there can be overwhelming: GDPR, PII, ISO, SOC, FERPA, and more. We’ll discuss the frameworks and laws most relevant to WordPress site owners, best practices, open-source resources, what to look for from your hosts and plugin/theme providers, and share a checklist to summarize it all to help ensure that you are on the right track.

December 13, 2018 — Whether it’s a single line of wayward CSS that just won’t style right or the dreaded white screen of death bringing down your entire site, having the right approach to debugging is half the battle. Attendees will gain an understanding of how to break a programming problem down into smaller, bite-sized pieces, and learn the likely trouble spots for issues with their WordPress sites.

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December 13, 2018 — WordPress powers almost a third of the internet, making it not only powerful, but as an open source project, WordPress is a tremendous gift to all of us. So what do you do with an amazing gift like this?

Make a living from it.
Have fun with it.
Give back.
Pay it forward.
All of the above!
I make a living with WordPress, but I’m also what you might call a “serial volunteer.”

In the years that I’ve created a career with WordPress, I have also set aside time to help others through:

Mentoring
Organizing Meetups
Organizing Hackathons
WordCamp organizing and speaking
Creating WordPress classes and clinics
Setting up WordPress coworking days
Creating free and discounted non-profit websites
and more!
There’s a side effect to giving and giving back with WordPress: I’ve found that the more I give…the more I’ve gained: friendships, clients, jobs, and the warm feeling that only comes from sharing good things.

December 13, 2018 — Much like online businesses or blogging, higher education is a world of its own with unique challenges, content, stakeholders, and target audiences. Higher education is WordPress at enterprise level but we don’t worry so much about which e-commerce plugin is best. Instead, we’re more concerned with managing large-scale networks of faculty blogs, abiding with FERPA and accessibility regulations, and implementing tools to promote research data.

This talk will showcase how WordPress is used in the world of higher ed. From learning management systems to intranets to student recruitment, college campuses are a great candidate for utilizing WordPress to its full potential.