April 4, 2016 — This talk will be helpful for any WordPress developers or consultants who are thinking of building products of their own. I’ll use our own story as one example of how to do this, with advice that should helpful for businesses and freelancers looking to increase the value of their consulting services, add revenue streams from products, or transition 100% into products like we did.

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April 2, 2016 — If you have ever had a client pick out a random theme, and asked you to build it out- then you spent 2 days learning how it worked- then this is for you. Don’t spend all your time learning new wheels- get a framework and learn it inside and out.
Frameworks are going to be your best friend- there are several out there, I will talk about my top four faves- and the pros and cons of each. And, there are so many snippet resources out there- implementation will be your best teacher.
The Bonus? Build sites in 2 days, not 2 weeks.

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March 31, 2016 — The WordPress community is typically one of sharing – what we know, what we do, info on the latest big thing and the latest threat. Would sharing your knowledge of WordPress be right for you? Should you charge for it? What pitfalls are there? What are the benefits vs. the cost to produce a WordPress class? Are you considering consulting one-on-one or teaching a seminar to a roomful of people?

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March 31, 2016 — I’ll introduce the audience to AWS (Amazon Web Services) hosting and we’ll go through a step by step process to install WordPress on AWS. It will include many tips & tricks. This session will also include an overview of some key features of AWS that makes it so great for WordPress hosting.

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March 30, 2016 — Scott comes from a long line of business owners that drove their businesses into the ground by being too nice. He spent 5 years not charging enough and 10 years doing favors that were never returned. He’s here to share some of his hard-knock tips and tactics on staying nice but earning what you deserve and leveling up your business.

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March 29, 2016 — When you submit a plugin, it seems to fall into a big black box. Then, suddenly, you get an email telling you things that are incorrect and need some attention. What actually happens is at once incredibly simple and painstakingly annoying. I should know. I do it every single day. And I’m here to help you understand what it is.

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March 29, 2016 — Unpredictable income creates stress and anxiety for many freelancers. Learn how to stabilize your business with a growing revenue stream of recurring income based on WordPress maintenance plans. We’ll talk about why this is important, how to package and price your services, and how to sell your services to clients.

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March 28, 2016 — Much like online businesses or blogging, higher ed is a world of its own with unique challenges, content, stakeholders, and target audiences. In our world, we don’t worry so much about which eCommerce plugin is best. Instead, we’re more concerned with how to manage a large-scale network of faculty blogs, abide with FERPA regulations, and implement Active Directory single sign-on. This talk will showcase how WordPress is used in the world of higher ed and how we’re a great candidate for utilizing WordPress to its full potential, whether it’s using the powerful CMS to stretch limited resources or using its new API capabilities to share information and break down silos.

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March 28, 2016 — Pulling from my experiences developing leenk.me and iThemes Sync, I will discuss the most important aspects of integrating a SAAS app with WordPress. We will cover the basic ways of communicating data to and from WordPress, including creating a basic REST API in WordPress and using the WP-API. I will also briefly discuss the benefits of using WordPress as your SAAS framework.

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March 26, 2016 — I’m a digital marketer with a love for my community and the nonprofits that serve my community. Some friends and I set out to create a way to help marketing professionals and developers use their specific skills to help local nonprofits, and 48in48 (48in48.org) was born. We recently finished our first 48in48 event where a team of over 150 people built 48 WordPress websites for 48 nonprofits in 48 hours. This session will explore what I learned during the creation, planning and execution of the event and will give some thoughts on how the WordPress community can give back using their professional skills.