August 7, 2018 — With the introduction of Gutenberg in WordPress 5.0, the themes and plugins of the future will revolve around this notion of ‘blocks’. But what is a block? Maybe you’ve heard you can create your own blocks…but where and how does one actually do that? Are blocks written in PHP? Are they JavaScript? Both? Do you need to know React to create a block?

In this workshop, we will take a deep-dive into the anatomy of a block, answering the aforementioned questions and more. After a high-level discussion of blocks and how they function, we will get hands-on, creating blocks of our own within a set of demo files that can function as a starting point for your own projects.

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August 6, 2018 — Learn how to use the power of semantic intelligent content to make your website talk and to improve the findability of your content. During this workshop we will cover: Why semantically rich, intelligent content is important for artificial intelligence and machine learning applications, how to optimise your content for Voice Search and Personal Digital Assistants, how to build a chatbot for your website and an app for the Google Assistant, and the discovery of chatbots and key performance indicators to improve them.

This is an interactive workshop that leverages structured data and semantic SEO techniques.

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August 6, 2018 — People use different ways to interact with the web. Users navigate for example with a keyboard only or with their voice. To make this work properly, it ‘s necessary that the design, code and content is properly set up, accessible for all devices and users. How do you test the accessibility of a design, code and content of a web project? What are the guidelines to test against?

We will go through the different ways to use the web, which guidelines to use, what to look out for when checking for accessibility errors and which checks and tools you can use to help you test. We will also discuss a setup for automated testing. Bring your laptop and join in.

This workshop is for people who develop, design and write content, of all levels.

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August 6, 2018 — We all want our sites to convert, but that doesn’t always happen the way we want it to. The way you present the information on the site is a big factor in conversion. Between design and copy, it can be hard to determine what will convert. This is where A/B testing can help you find what your audience actually wants. Join me as we learn how to A/B test our WordPress sites and experiment with your design to increase your conversion.

August 6, 2018 — We all want our sites to convert, but that doesn’t always happen the way we want it to. The way you present the information on the site is a big factor in conversion. Between design and copy, it can be hard to determine what will convert. This is where A/B testing can help you find what your audience actually wants. Join me as we learn how to A/B test our WordPress sites and experiment with your design to increase your conversion.

August 6, 2018 — Learn some fundamentals of accessibility and how it can benefit you (whether future you from aging or you after something else limits your abilities). We’ll review differing abilities, generate (minimal) user stories and personas, discuss best practices for design and development, prototype some ideas (on paper), and discuss where to get help. This isn’t intended to be a deep dive into technologies, but more of an overall primer for those who aren’t sure where to start with accessibility nor how it helps them.

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August 3, 2018 — The practice of branding can be traced back to 50.000 years ago. The concept of marketing branding to 4000 BC. And with the (r)evolution brought forth by Internet and Social Media, today “we are all brands” and as such, we all need to be aware of how a brand is best managed. This talk is a primer on the origin and the evolution of the concept of branding, so to better understand and care for our brand(s), regardless of their being a company, a product or a personal one. The talk covers 3 aspects of the branding practice: clarification on terminology, an historical overview to frame the culture, and a “branding recipe” section to highlight the process and the key aspects of quality branding.

August 2, 2018 — “When it comes to website traffic, the world is your oyster! Except for two small things: money and time. Unfortunately, we know that just because we have an awesome WordPress website, the traffic is not going to automatically come our way. We have to have a strategy. Success in generating brand awareness, website traffic, and ultimately conversions comes from having clarity and diversifying our efforts.
If driving more traffic to your website is important, and you need to take your efforts to the next level, come to this strategy session. We’ll discuss when you should “pay” for traffic and what activities are best, and when you need “free” traffic like from organic SEO. Let’s discuss which mix of activities is right for you and your business! “

August 2, 2018 — Enterprise clients are a unique group that requires special attention with their complex WordPress setups. In this talk, we will look at the methods to attract this level of client, how to convince them of the benefits of WordPress, and finally discuss the special considerations needed when working with Enterprise level clients.

August 1, 2018 — This session is aimed at business owners who want to understand how modern SEO works. Google is constantly changing the rules and 2017 has seen yet more changes to how Google wants you to promote your business online. We’ll dispel some of the common myths around SEO and talk about what you need to focus on.