June 18, 2020 — When we think about AI, it’s hard to tell hype from genuine utility. In reality, AI is a bundle of over 25 different technologies, ranging from the ‘everyday’ to the cutting edge.
This talk uses the blade of WordPress to slice through the hype and focus on practical, achievable ways to start leveraging AI technologies into your WordPress tech stack today. Today we see the primary use cases falling into three silos: AI Enhancement, Improved Productivity and Data, Analytics and Intelligence. In his session, David will break these silos down into three practical examples each – using a range of solutions and services.

March 27, 2019 — Four key members of the WordPress community discuss what the future of WordPress holds – a panel discussion led by Ana Silva.

October 5, 2018 — In this session, I will be discussing the possible applications of the blockchain, such as e-commerce payment gateways, identity management, and content monetisation.

As blockchain is inherently open source, the blockchain hype cycle could also have great influence over the popularity of WordPress. And so, in addition to exploring the big questions surrounding security and licensing, I will also be looking at the future possibilities of where WordPress and blockchain can go next.

February 18, 2018 — Enterprise ecommerce is polarising. Option 1 is to choose a platform like Adobe or Salesforce, pay your license fees and hope you can drive the platform better than your competitors. Option 2 is to build your own platform by choosing best-of-breed components and services. This talk will run through a case study of how Pragmatic have delivered an Option 2 solution for a B2B ecommerce customer, including:
– why WordPress and WooCommerce are a great fit to play the central role in modern digital marketing and ecommerce platforms
– infrastructure – software architecture (integrations, components, etc)
– user experiences (e.g. personalisation)
– data strategy (e.g. single customer view & business intelligence)
We believe this polarisation of modern architecture is a key trend facing the WordPress industry.

Presentation Slides »

June 21, 2017 — Taking that first step from working as a freelancer to making your first hire and becoming an agency is an exciting but daunting step. In this talk I will explain how I accidentally started an agency and strategically grew my WordPress specialist agency from myself to over 40 people over the course of 5 years with minimum staff turnover.

I will cover:

– How and when to make hires
– Where to find new employees (from developers to operations)
– How to create a company culture
– How you can ensure your employees are on board for the long run

May 30, 2017 — Taking that first step from working as a freelancer to making your first hire and becoming an agency is an exciting but daunting step. In this talk I will explain how I accidentally started an agency and strategically grew my WordPress specialist agency from myself to over 40 people over the course of 5 years with minimum staff turnover.
I will cover:

How and when to make hires
Where to find new employees (from developers to operations)
How to create a company culture
How you can ensure your employees are on board for the long run

July 26, 2016 — Join our panelists over on the business track to ask all your burning questions about recruitment; how to do it, when to do it and how to bring the best people into your business.

July 3, 2016 — Getting burnt by a project can leave you and your team feeling unmotivated and your agency unprofitable. Using our proven Discovery & Definition approach to project planning you’ll learn how to plan and budget a WordPress project successfully from the beginning whilst keeping both you clients and team happy.

January 25, 2014 — Any seasoned WordPress veteran will tell you that there’s a world of difference between a good WordPress site and a bad one. In this session, David looks at why making good WordPress sites matters and what we can all do to raise the bar and make the world a better place

November 6, 2013 — This session is a journey to becoming a successful WordPress freelancer, looking at some of the key lessons learned along the way including a 6 step project process.