April 6, 2017 — This talk will provide a baseline introduction to some of the task and tools needed to provide a proper WordPress website preflight and QA. We’ll discuss team roles, organization, scoping, utilities, methodologies and measurement standards for carrying out successful website QA.

April 6, 2017 — Web accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of removing barriers that prevent interaction with, or access to, websites by people with disabilities. When your website is accessible, all users can access your content and functionality no matter their abilities. Visually-impaired users can visit your website using a screen reader. Those who can’t use a mouse can navigate your site using a keyboard or other input device. Most accessibility features will also improve your SEO. When your site is inaccessible, research shows you could be excluding up to 20 percent of your users. This talk will cover the basics of accessibility, why it’s important, and how you can support accessibility in your projects.

Presentation Slides »

April 6, 2017 — This discussion looks at different opportunities and techniques where project managers, designers, and developers can improve performance. The techniques presented range from beginner to advanced so just about anyone can walk away with something to apply to their next project. Topics cover concepts and planning, workflows, tools and services, plugin recommendations, and there are links to code examples as well.

Presentation Slides »

April 5, 2017 — Abdul Qabiz talking about how our local WordCamp community has affected him.

April 5, 2017 — With so many options in WordPress to edit and display your images, it can get confusing – “How can I rotate my image?” “How can I display my images in rows and columns?” Learn how to use the built-in tools and other plugins to upload, edit, and quickly display your images. You will also learn how to ensure those images look good when shared on social media.

April 4, 2017 — Many companies do not use the full potential of their existing customers. Too often those clients are considered a piece of furniture. The clients are there, but often overlooked and not being paid attention to.

The constant struggle to acquire new customers however is 5 to 10 times more expensive then selling services and goods to existing clients. At my company Weblish we mainly focus on catering our existing WordPress clients in an unusual and refreshing manner. I will share ten of our strategies to create a crowd of happy and loyal customers and as a result: more return (recurring) business.

April 4, 2017 — Everybody wants their site to be scalable. From shared hosting customers to large media companies on expensive dedicated hardware, people deserve to get every last bit of performance that they’ve paid for. A great first step is to do load testing. However, most of the people running tests tend to only do so on their local machine. To truly understand what you can reasonably expect, you need to throw real traffic (and real scenarios) at your production environment. In this session I will discuss how to generate tests that mimic realistic user traffic, ways to run these tests against your site, and what to do after you realize things maybe aren’t as fast as you’d thought.

April 3, 2017 — The WordPress economy is huge and still growing. Have you found your place in it? As in any industry, one fundamental question to answer is whether you are cut out for working for yourself or for someone else. There are abundant opportunities to start and grow new businesses based on WordPress but there are also countless amazing companies that are well established and looking to hire. How can you decide what role you are meant to play? In this session we will take a detailed look at both sides, share the pros and cons for each and really break down the fundamental differences between starting a WordPress company and working for one. If you ever find yourself questioning whether you’re really doing what’s best for you, this session will help you really understand which path to choose.

April 3, 2017 — WordPress is growing rapidly! It now powers 26% of the web. One of the main reasons for it’s global success is, that WordPress speaks more than 100 languages! Who translates WordPress? And how can we get involved? This is the story of how you, as a WordPress Theme or Plugin author can grow your products by connecting to the Polyglots community.

Presentation Slides »

April 3, 2017 — “If you blog it, they will come.”

Unfortunately this Field of Dreams reference isn’t true. These days, if you blog it, post it to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and send it to your email list, they *might* come. Learn inside tricks to help leverage social media to grow your website plus create engaged, loyal fans and customers.