October 23, 2017 — WordCamps and meetups are always brimming with help on how to best tune your WordPress development environment for your MacBook Pro. But what about us Windows users? Nadda. Let’s see how to put that time-tested OS to work and create the ideal set-up to get your Windows box all jazzed up to pump out an awesome WordPress site.

Presentation Slides »

October 23, 2017 — Design is a broad specification with many disciplines, and naturally, with such an expansive set of tools, practices and thought processes, it can feel seemingly impossible to define. As a result, some have sought to create tightly controlled representations of what “design actually is”. However, this line of thinking is … quite frankly, BS, and can be to our detriment in the ever evolving design landscape; leaving design out of some rather important and influential conversations, when it could (should) have a bigger role in general. Why? Because design plays a role in pretty much everything we do.

In this talk Joe will discuss the importance of designers embracing their role as empathy dealers, and the core areas in which the need for designers to engage is more important than ever.

October 23, 2017 — Drew Poland is a freelance WordPress developer in the Baltimore area specializing in custom theme design & development. He is also a regular WordCamp speaker.

Presentation Slides »

October 22, 2017 — Corey Brown’s expertise in designing, inventing, building, leading, founding and tweaking successful websites spans more than two decades and a host of site types, from publishing and e-commerce to social platforms and user-generated content.

Presentation Slides »

October 22, 2017 — It is the American Dream – quit your 9-5 job and build your own business. Is that your dream as well? Are you thinking about taking the plunge and giving notice to your boss in order to embrace your entrepreneurial spirit? This engaging discussion will present a foundation on things you need to think about when starting your own WordPress business – either Full-Time or even Part-Time. Topics include (but of course, are not limited to):

How to get started
What to charge
Where to find clients
Services to provide
How to protect yourself
Insurance (what? you need that?)
Pitfalls to avoid
Proposals, Agreements, and Contracts
and more!

Presentation Slides »

October 22, 2017 — Here is your chance to hear how two seniors working with seniors accomplished a redesign of a 5-year old website to meet the needs of an older population. We will tell the story of the beginning of a website for and by retirement community residents that moved to WordPress in 2014 and this year underwent a major redesign to meet the current needs of a changing population. We will share why we did it, why Divi was selected as a theme, the development and roll out process, and how we used resident and content provider feedback as part of our usability studies. A website is never done, and so improvements and changes will continue.

Presentation Slides »

October 22, 2017 — A couple case studies on how to use the API and code samples to get you started. It allows us to further separate the data from the code. Use WordPress as a CMS and then via the API easily access or update that data to power whatever we like. We’ll touch how to set it up and a handful of examples and then explore an iOS app pulling all it’s data and assets from a WordPress site via this API.

October 22, 2017 — I work with WordPress site owners every day, many have been hacked. I’d like to share actionable steps to keep WordPress sites safe.

October 22, 2017 — Do you have a cause that you are passionate about? Are you thinking about starting a nonprofit or helping a cause in need? WordPress makes for an excellent platform for every nonprofit – regardless of size or budget.

In this session we will review how WordPress can be used to further empower your cause with little barrier to entry. With WordPress, you don’t need to have a big budget or be super techie. Using ready-made tools and effective goal setting and planning, creating a website your cause can be proud of can be a reality. Discover how an effective nonprofit website can engage its audience and bring in mission critical funds. Learn about the planning, tools, and know-how needed to get the job done and take the first step to sharing your mission with the world, using WordPress.

Presentation Slides »

October 22, 2017 — After spending five years as a developer and then the last ten years in operations and project management, I have often found myself in a position where I have to estimate what it will take to build a WordPress site without expertise as a front-end or PHP engineer. I will explain how scoping feature build time as a function of risk is how you can accomplish the three part goal of client acceptance, developer buy-in, and realistic delivery date attainability.

Presentation Slides »