December 10, 2023 — The maturation of the block editor brought a major shift in WordPress theme development. For many independent developers, this change was a huge disruption to workflow: a once-reliable codebase now in flux, entirely new coding languages and tooling to learn, and layers of complexity added to tools that used to be simple and accessible.

Hear from a full-time independent developer – someone building and supporting real projects with classic WordPress, the block editor, “hybrid” themes, and Full Site Editing.

This talk shares lessons learned about navigating the triumphs and pitfalls of modern WordPress theme development. Find out how to confidently decide which tools and features make sense for your projects.

December 10, 2023 — This talk offers an introduction to Five for the Future. Five for the Future is the official contribution program of WordPress which encourages individuals and companies to pledge up to 5% of their time to give back to WordPress.

As WordPress scales up, this program will play a major role in helping WordPress grow with the times, and in taking our favorite open-source software to the next level.

Get practical tips and learn how to make the most out of the contributor program.

December 10, 2023 — Learn security lessons through a humorous but “scary story” about a WordPress site owner Joe and his website security troubles.

December 10, 2023 — Learn how a one-person agency manages (and grows) 450+ websites. Hear lessons learned from 20+ years of website development and business management.

Presentation Slides »

October 13, 2023 — In the past couple of years, there has been an increase in the number of WordPress businesses raising capital.

This talk explains how to decide if raising capital is right for your business, what options you have, how to go about the process, and what to look out for. Hint: bringing on outside investors isn’t always right, but it can sometimes help accelerate your business and impact.

October 13, 2023 — Learn multiple ways speed up your WordPress builds with AI tools ChatGPT and BARD, from generating content that looks better than “Lorem Ipsum” to helping you with your CSS and coding.

Find out more about AI generated images, and how to structure prompts to get both images and background images. Discover other AI tools that might help you speed up your website workflow.

October 13, 2023 — This talk explains how to generate income by teaching WordPress in your community.

Using WordPress as a teaching tool for high school students can help them tap into an entreprenuerial mindset, develop project management skills, and help to surface their creativity.

Learn how developers can get paid contracts with school districts and develop curriculums to teach WordPress in the clasroom.