December 21, 2016 — This talk is about the importance of end-to-end testing, and not treating UX as something separate from programming. Promoting the idea that UX problems are fundamentally engineering issues, not design flaws that can be fixed later. This is aimed at a technical audience (plugin devs, designers, site implementors) but is not highly technical – includes examples of UI and error handling failures in general and from WP sites.

December 21, 2016 — Thabo Tswana is a web designer living in Harare, Zimbabwe. He states that “he has a hunger to constantly grow and evolve as a designer. He has a genuine passion for programming, technology and website security”.

Thabo was the lead organizer for WordCamp Harare, which was one of the three WordCamps chosen to take part in the WordCamp Incubator Program. The other two WordCamps took place in Denpasar, Indonesia and Medellín, Colombia.

December 20, 2016 — The thing about speed is that people only notice when it’s absent and this absence affects every metric you care about. + Bounce rate + Search ranking + Conversion + Page views + Customer satisfaction + Revenue Learn the top tips and tricks in order to speed up your website and increase satisfaction.

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December 20, 2016 — Have you ever had a light-bulb moment? Whether you’re a business owner, blogger, developer or dreamer, you probably know the feeling. Product ideas can be gold – if you know how to use them. WordPress can help you get there. In fact, thanks to new features like the REST API, there’s never been a better time to use WordPress as a platform for your product projects.

Luke will outline his framework for taking your product idea from conception through to reality, with his tips on experimentation, validation, user engagement, hiring, branding, and monetisation.

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December 20, 2016 — This talk will cover some things I’ve learned working customer support for WordPress.com. These things include:

when you need to get in-your-face
domains are hard
never reply upset
kill with kindness
when support informs development

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December 19, 2016 — Public relations, brands and bloggers: who’s influencing who? Sure running a blog is great, but social media followers aside — how do you monetize it? Can people really tell it you’re buying followers and engagement? The blogger market is becoming increasingly more saturated, as more and more Millenials want to be considered influencers. More often than not, bloggers with larger social media followings are hired over their low-follower peers, but how effective are the campaigns they are hired for? This talk will examine the realities of bloggers who are trying to make a living and whether or not these campaigns are actually paying off for the clients. A strong emphasis will be placed on the importance of systematic support in face to face discussions, versus faceless, less personal (and expensive!) sponsored posts on social media — and where the influencer world is heading. Spoiler alert: don’t quit your day job.

December 19, 2016 — Thanks to the internet you can start relationships, learn new skills, and discover new identities, but how does that translate offline? For some of us, it’s easier said than done but is indisputably key to growing our network. This talk highlights some of the best practices for building relationships, making the most out of networking mixers, and building your personal brand.

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December 19, 2016 — You’ll never know everything about WordPress. But you probably know something that other people don’t, and you know it in your own unique way.

So get over your impostor syndrome, and create something with WordPress by being yourself, giving back, and embracing your mediocrity!

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December 19, 2016 — As a developer, there are many experiences which have helped me grow and improve. None of them have been as valuable as blogging. We’ll look at how blogging has helped me as a developer and why I think you should be blogging, too.

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December 19, 2016 — Content is EVERYBODY’s problem: it’s a problem for the content creator, and a problem for the developer. Without content, there is no website. Without the website there is no client. Yet… how is it always left for last? In this talk I will teach you the core practices of the field known as Content Strategy: planning, development, and management of content. Learn how to integrate Content Strategy into your web process will transform your workflow to give everyone a grasp on creating, managing and structuring content– organized and delivered on-time.

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