October 11, 2022 — This session explains how to integrate external data into WordPress websites and how share data with external systems using REST APIs and webhooks.

Presentation Slides »

September 23, 2022 — Learn more about the purpose and potential of the WordPress REST API. Review some common API requests and live examples.

September 21, 2022 — This lightning talk provides a firsthand account of an agency owner’s journey building a WordPress-based business.

September 21, 2022 — This lightning talk explains the importance of local open source communities, Meetups, and how regular Meetups strengthen the community.

October 28, 2021 — This lightning talk offers expert recommendations for developers customizing WooCommerce Subscriptions. Learn more about best practices for developing, debugging, testing, and monitoring code that interfaces with the Subscriptions plugin.

November 17, 2020 — Using Site Health for Good
Site Health is a lesser-known addition to WordPress that was added in version 5.2. Many people see it as an annoyance, but this talk will walk you through the beauty of the centralized information it can give you and how you can make it even better by adding the Health Check and Troubleshooting plugin from the WordPress.org repository. Troubleshooting is a great way to rule out plugin conflicts that may be causing problems on your website.

8 Easy Things To Do To Protect Your Web Site
Don’t bury your head in the sand when it comes to protecting your website from bad stuff ever happening to you. Keeping your website safe and sound is a shared responsibility. In this presentation, Bud Kraus will share with you a common sense approach of practical you can can take to make your site more secure.

Back Up Before You Crack Up
Having a solid backup strategy can save your life in times of an extreme website crisis. No one wants to lose any of the hard work they have put into their site and why should you ever have to if you are backing things up.

November 17, 2020 — Web Components in WordPress
Creating a consistent look across an organization can be hard when applications are written in multiple frameworks. This talk will cover how you can utilize web components in your WordPress application. By using web components you can standardize the look across properties in your organization.

Pattern Libraries for the Non-Designers
Some people call them design systems or pattern libraries. Either way they seem to be the province of designers and something that is just handed to developers. But what if you work more or less alone, having the job of both builder and designer, making decisions about design for clients all on your own, or your designer doesn’t supply enough information to easily test. A pattern library can stream-line your process by showing you and your clients a site-wide system of recurring or common design options: colors, fonts, buttons, testimonials, call outs, etc. Without including distracting content or navigation structure, it makes for easier approval of design elements.

WordPress in a Headless World
WordPress has been a key part of the development of today’s web, but with the rise of the JAMstack, where does WordPress fit in? This talk will cover about how WordPress compares to the headless options available today and how WordPress is still one of the more powerful solutions available for a great CMS experience.

October 22, 2020 — In this lighting talk, I’ll go through 10 tips for designers, developers, and marketing gurus how to run their WordPress projects effectively. Some will be knowledge and expertise, some will be tools, some will just be common sense 😉

October 22, 2020 — You picked a web host and set up your WordPress site – everything is cool! Until it isn’t. Maybe your site isn’t loading. Maybe your theme looks all kinds of broken. Maybe some jerks graffitti’d over your latest travel adventures! Now what?

Step one is determining whether your WordPress config is the reason or if you’ll need to contact your web host for a deeper dive into your hosting environment.

Different companies may offer different levels of technical support, but there is a basic and universal approach to getting your WordPress site back up and running again as quickly as possible. You’ll learn who to contact and why if and when your WordPress site ever runs into trouble.

October 22, 2020 — This lightning talk discussed a process of creating a custom news vertical for WordPress.com