May 11, 2016 — Are you tired of cranking out the same old header-content-footer web layouts we see? Wonder if a WP page even needs a header, or a footer? Wanna get seriously crazy with page layout in WP? I have two recommendations: 1. Make lots of thumbnail sketches. Then make some more. 2. Master the fine art of registering widget areas. If you can register a set of widget areas, and load them up with graphics, type and images, you can make a WP page look like ANYTHING. You can even make a phone screen look interesting!

May 11, 2016 — Having a fast WordPress site is probably more important than you think. The speed of your website affects nearly everything related to your online goals in some way – bounce rate, search ranking, conversion, page views, reader satisfaction, total revenue… I could go on but you get the point.

Unfortunately WordPress performance optimization has become clouded in a bunch of technical speak that makes it difficult for many of us to know where to start.
I too was once lost and intimidated when it came to this stuff, but I recently made the conscious decision to roll up my sleeves and learn what it takes to serve up websites with blazing speed.

The result: faster websites, happy clients, and even happier end users. Everybody wins!

And the very best part: It’s really not that hard to do.

I’ve been creating websites for over 17 years, but I’m still no development wizard like the type you’ll find walking these halls at WordCamp San Diego.
When it comes down to it, I’m just a dude with an interest in fast-loading WordPress sites who has spent a lot of time learning things the hard way. Through my efforts I’ve honed an easy and bulletproof technique that I want to share.

In this talk we’re going to cover:

Why performance is a major concern
How to measure page speed / performance
Why you need a good web host
Server-side caching, browser caching, and recommended caching plugins/techniques
Minification & Concatenation – What it is and how to do it
Image optimization
Content Delivery Networks – What they are and when you should use one
How to bundle performance optimization as a service to earn more money on your next web project.

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May 7, 2016 — Pippin is a prolific plugin developer and founder of several successful commercial WordPress plugin projects. This session will have a Q&A style format where the audience can ask any question related to plugin development, the WordPress.org plugins directory, selling plugins, building a development team, and anything else related to plugins. Pippin will do his best to answer every question to the best of his ability.

May 4, 2016 — Let’s face it, blogging is a profitable practice and if you’re not doing it, you’re missing out. But how do you know you’re doing it right? In her presentation, Elayna Fernandez, award-winning Marketing Master Trainer, teaches you exactly how you can become a credible, visible, and profitable blogger so you can increase your influence, impact, and income.

What this session includes:

3 Common Reasons Why Blogging Isn’t Working For You (And How To Fix It)
7 Little Changes That Will Make A Big Difference With Your Blog Success
7 Horrible Mistakes You Could Be Making With Your Blog
The Ultimate Checklist For A Successful Blog Post That Both Google and Your Readers Love
13 Tools Every Blogger Should Be Using To Get The Results They Want
…and much more!

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May 4, 2016 — Dr. Nancy Richmond will share best social media practices from her #LeadersGetSocial West Coast Road trip which included visiting Facebook, Twitter, Google, Pinterest, Instagram, Nike and Starbucks headquarters. Learn how the best leaders in the industry are using social media. Discover how to increase social media engagement and create a dynamic online community.

May 4, 2016 — WordPress upgrades, they bring us new features, faster sites, and better security. But pushing that upgrade button can be a scary moment, unless you’ve ensured your site is ready and compatible. I’ll show you the best practices for ensuring your site is ready including a 5 step plan that works whether you manage one site or hundreds. This talk is for anyone that is responsible for keeping WordPress up to date on a site, beginners and technical experts alike have taken away great tips from this session.

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May 3, 2016 — Do you remember when you could run a “fast” WordPress site with just an Apache server and PHP? Yeah, those were days! Things were a lot less complicated then. Now, everything has to load lightning fast! Visitors don’t have the same expectations about loading times as they used to. A slow site can have serious implications for you or your client. You just can’t have a site that feels fast to your visitors without adding a few more gears to your server engine. During this talk, you’ll learn what makes up the modern WordPress server stack. You’ll see how the various pieces fit together to make your WordPress site fast. You’ll leave knowing what your next steps are to get your own modern WordPress server stack.

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May 2, 2016 — Kids talking about WordPress and blogging at WordCamp Miami 2016.

May 1, 2016 — Did you ever wish you could go beyond what index.php, page.php and single.php have to offer. Have you ever wondered what taxonomy.php in your premium theme actually does? Have you ever had the need to target a blog category or a custom post type with a unique layout? Well, it might be high time to put the WordPress Template Hierarchy to work for you. I will take you on a little tour of this powerful aspect of WordPress development. Learn how to the hierarchy is structured, how to create a custom post type template, how to drill down and create a template for even a specific page or post and more. And as a bonus some tips on using get_template_part() to avoid bloated files and to neatly organize your themes templates! Like a Boss!

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May 1, 2016 — Google, Firefox, and the IETF are currently engaged in major initiatives to convert the web to be secure by default. Page ranking, new browser APIs, and HTTP/2 are all pushing websites to require HTTPS. An HTTPS only web is imminent. Unfortunately, according to SSL Pulse, 75% of the top 1 million websites that use HTTPS are not actually secure because of misconfiguration. Do you know how to configure HTTPS properly? In my talk, I will discuss the key aspects of HTTPS to empower developers to deploy truly secure HTTPS sites.

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