November 10, 2025 — Once upon a time, I was envious of a friend’s freshly-published book. I told her I was happy for her, and that it was also a goal of mine to publish a book, but I wasn’t sure what I would write about. Her reply: “well, you practically have it written already!”

I had been a blogger for the Rochester, New York newspaper’s business section. I wrote tips, ideas, and how attention to small things could turn into good marketing. It was published online (and often added to the print edition). She suggested I take those posts and turn them into chapters.

So I did. My book, “A Good Firm Handshake (and other essential business tips)” was born. It wasn’t necessarily easy, but it wasn’t too difficult either. And most importantly, if I could do it, you could too.

Want to learn my process? Join this session for tips on writing, gap-filling, cover design, evaluation, editing, and publishing.

Then you, too, can be a published author.

September 3, 2025 — There are many job seekers in WordPress. There are many job openings. And there are plenty of opportunities to freelance. So how do the right people find the right jobs? As someone who has been tweeting weekly job openings for years, and who has a keen interest in seeing the ecosystem thrive, I’ve been (unofficially) working to help people find jobs – and helping companies learn better recruiting. So how does one find a job? How do you hire well? How do you make sure someone is a good fit for your culture? And how do you determine if a position is right for you? Or do you chuck it all and decide to freelance instead? This talk will highlight three things job seekers can do (or do better) in job searching, and three things employers can do better for recruiting. And a few things to think about before you hang your own shingle instead. Attendees from either side of the hiring table will leave this talk with actionable items to improve their prospective opportunities. Presented byMichelle Frechette

July 25, 2025 — In 2019 Allie Nimmons and Michelle Frechette grew tired of people constantly asking if they knew any black people who could speak at events or be guests on podcasts. So they set out to create a spreadsheet of folks that they knew in the WordPress space.

But about 20 rows into that Google sheet, they realized that it would be a herculean effort to reach out to each of those people on a regular basis to make sure they were still available and interested in being contacted. There was also no way to include people they didn’t know. And that limiting such an endeavor to one group of underrepresented people was shortsighted.

So Underrepresented in Tech was born.

In the almost five years since the database was published, the project has grown to include a podcast and webinars. There have been racist rants and online attacks, but there have also been gratitude and acclaim for the work that’s been done.

This session will talk about the WHY, the HOW, and the HOPES associated with Underrepresented in Tech. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how each of us can make a difference for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

April 30, 2025 — Gabriella Laster Michelle Frechette Neel Shivdasani Noel Tock Taco Verdonschot February 21, 2025 2:00 PM Meeting Room 1 – Rizal (Room 1) A 2023 Cisco survey discovered that most organizations believed that AI would have a significant impact on their business operations, yet few of them were actually prepared to deploy AI technology. So, why is there such a massive gap between vision and reality? Business leaders view it as a magic button, but few people understand AI and how to implement it. This campfire session aims to dispel some of the myths, and cut through much of the noise. Attendees will leave with a better understanding of AI’s capabilities, ideas for leveraging it in their work, and the benefits and pitfalls of using AI.

April 6, 2025

October 10, 2024 — In 2018, one of the early Customer Success Departments in WordPress was started with one person, added to a team of nine developers and support techs. This tenth employee was viewed with some skepticism and a “let’s see how it goes” outlook.

Within the first month, that new hire started phoning new customers. And thus disrupted the way that plugin companies interact with their users.

From that first phone call in January 2018 to present day, customer success teams have influenced sales, and more importantly, satisfaction – resulting in less churn, great reviews, and customers who feel confident in using plugin software.

This talk will narrate the history of the triumphs, mistakes, and (sometimes) accidental steps and missteps that have taken them from one person with a phone to entire teams of change agents determined to help customers succeed.

October 8, 2024 — In 2019 Allie Nimmons and Michelle Frechette grew tired of people constantly asking if they knew any black people who could speak at events or be guests on podcasts. So they set out to create a spreadsheet of folks that they knew in the WordPress space.

But about 20 rows into that Google sheet, they realized that it would be a herculean effort to reach out to each of those people on a regular basis to make sure they were still available and interested in being contacted. There was also no way to include people they didn’t know. And that limiting such an endeavor to one group of underrepresented people was shortsighted.

So Underrepresented in Tech was born.

In the almost five years since the database was published, the project has grown to include a podcast and webinars. There have been racist rants and online attacks, but there have also been gratitude and acclaim for the work that’s been done.

This session will talk about the WHY, the HOW, and the HOPES associated with Underrepresented in Tech. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how each of us can make a difference for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Presented byMichelle Frechette

October 8, 2024

August 17, 2024 — Whether you’re freelancing, starting a new company, or working for others, developing your personal brand is important not only to your personal success, but to the success of the places you work and volunteer.

It’s 2024, and you work in tech – so, of course, your information is on the web. You probably have at least one social media account. And you’re on a business About Us page. And maybe you also have a blog. Or volunteer somewhere (or multiple places).

So you have a brand out there already. But what does it look like? Is it well-organized? Does it lead to the places you want it to? Does it represent you well? Or is it a chaotic mess of whatever pops into your head at any given moment?

There’s a strategy to building a brand that helps you get ahead – and in turn helps any organization you’re attached to, whether that’s your own or not.

This talk will outline how to put together a strategy to help you move ahead with building a brand that will lead to higher success.

April 10, 2024 — The work we do in DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) in the tech community, and WordPress specifically, matters a great deal.

Imagine making unilateral decisions on global projects from only one point of view. This effectively disengages users, customers, clients, and community. The decisions we make about how products, software, services, and community operate must take into consideration how people from every part of the world – including underrepresented groups – will use them and be involved.

From making sure our venues are wheelchair accessible, to making sure our websites are accessible to users of different disabilities and languages, to making sure our community is accessible to all people inclusive of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, physical ability, nationality, socio-economic status, religious beliefs, and any other characteristics that are a part of our identity and humanness matters. It matters a lot.

How we do the work to achieve this is allyship. And it’s worth it.

This session will present some history of how we’ve gotten where we are, the work that’s currently in place, what might be on the horizon, and how each and every one of us can (and should) advocate for representation and inclusion.