November 10, 2025 — Imagine not seeing your firstborn until they reach the third grade – missing out on so many experiences. For a portion of our community, that’s how long they’ve been away from Gutenberg/Full Site Editor (FSE), dabbling in premium page builders that don’t support blocks.

In this interactive presentation, we’ll consider the state of WordPress, Full Site Editor, and how new features such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Style Guide, anticipated improvements, and more.

April 9, 2024 — WordPress Events such as WordCamps, Meetups, do_action, etc. come in various flavours powered by local communities around the world each year. But how do we ENSURE they’re all as open, inclusive, and accessible as possible?

In this engaging, interactive presentation Joe will discuss creating shared baseline practices to help remove common obstacles every event faces and address. We’ll also cover questions like:

– What criteria should your organizing team leverage when deciding on a location and venue for your event?
– Is the physical layout of your venue, entrances, meeting, stages, dining, and networking areas navigable by attendees who use canes or motorized devices?
– Are your maps and wayfinding/signage usable by sighted and non-sighted attendees to navigate the event weekend?
– How to leverage quiet or low-capacity rooms for attendees who need a moment to themselves amongst the hustle and bustle of an event;
– Is your event messaging on websites, or social media created to be consumed by all users, even those who use assistive technology?
– Can compelling design and branding be accessible and beautiful?
– Working with Make community team members and other a11y advocates to continually hear and empower new ideas and voices in the process; and
– More challenges and wins you’re invited to share.

March 9, 2023 — Color is often a barrier to making your websites open and accessible to everyone, but it is an easy way to make strides that make a difference.

In this session, we see examples of assumptions designers and developers make and how to test, correct them, and what best practices and tools are available to add to your toolset.

Presentation Slides »

August 2, 2021 — Listen in on a conversation between two leading accessibility advocates in the WordPress community.

May 26, 2021 — Learn five tips that everyone can do to make their WordPress projects inclusive to the largest possible audience.

November 13, 2020 — Most WordCampers know what an image ALT tag is or have seen closed captions on television shows or YouTube videos. Still, the majority of those reading this skip these critical first steps in making client or personal sites accessible.

This talk covers these basics:

– What the first 4:44 seconds of the Lion King can teach us about accessibility
-How to find WordPress themes and plugins to get you started on being accessible right “out of the box”
– How to avoid generating creating “craptions” and tools to improve YouTube’s auto-captioning
– How, as a beginner, how you handle images and videos in a more mobile-first world can improve your site performance in SEO ranking
– How accessibility is often seen as an inconvenience but actually enhances your website performance if done correctly

November 3, 2020 — What is a Wapuu? If you’re new to the WordPress Community and a WordCamp or Meetup, seeing these whimsical and playful characters in and around events worldwide. In this presentation, we’ll look at how these mystical creatures came to be, fit into each event’s brand messaging, and sets the tone for each weekend.

We’ll also take a look at the five Wapuu characters I’ve created and the thought process behind their creation, the “rules” of creating a standard Wapuu, the Field & Trading Outpost – their home, review some of my favorite Wapuus spotted, and more.

Need a change of pace during your busy WordCamp day? Stop in for this fun peek behind the curtain.

Presentation Slides »

October 28, 2020 — One evening at a WordPress Meetup presentation in a northern valley of Los Angeles, an attendee turned and punched Joe A. Simpson, Jr, in the arm saying, “accessibility makes me sooooooo angry!” Why does baking even the most basic WCAG 2.0 guidelines into your project cycle create such a reaction?

In this presentation, we’ll debunk common misconceptions designers, developers, and business owners have and learn how advocating for access to all improves your site SEO, design, user experience, and function through interactive audience examples and discussion to ease the pain of compliance.

Presentation Slides »

September 29, 2020 — This talk explains the importance and value of advocating for accessibility. Learn how to add accessibility techniques to your processes. Learn how making sites accessible can increase revenue and grow audiences.

September 29, 2020 — This panel discussion offers a deeper understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). It suggests strategies for making WordPress, tech, and business communities more inclusive.