Christie will be joining us as a speaker for WordCamp DFW with her talk entitled “A/B Testing FTW” on our Business track.
Why do you use WordPress?
I’m one half of Caldera Labs, a WordPress plugin company. My business partner, Josh Pollock, and I create and market Caldera Forms, a drag-and-drop form builder with extensions for payment processing, front-end editing, membership sites and more, Ingot, an automatic A/B testing tool, and Caldera Search, a feature rich search suite for your site. We also do custom plugin development and training for developers.
When and how did you get started using WordPress?
My introduction to the WordPress world was when I launched a nonprofit, about 3 years ago. My organization’s first website was a WordPress site. Over time, I began building sites for other people, and eventually joined the space of products. Starting out as a user and moving through the experiences of and collaborations with designers, developers and project managers has been an invaluable experience. This understanding of the needs of different groups helps me in my day-to-day at Caldera.
How do you stay informed about WordPress news, tips, etc.?
I’m naturally a huge fan of Torque Magazine and WPTavern. The PostStatus newsletter is one we follow pretty closely at Caldera as well, in addition to staying on top of Facebook groups like Advanced WordPress and the contributor blogs on make.wordpress.org. Personally, I make sure I diligently follow the interesting speakers, sponsors and attendees at WordCamps on Twitter. Staying up to date with everyone’s daily work keeps me informed, brings me joy and fosters community.
What do you like most about WordCamps? (and which have you attended?)
I’m relatively new to WordCamps, but I’m still blown away by the deep sense of community and by the positive energy that abounds. I’ve attended WordCamp NYC both in 2015 and 2016, as well as the inaugural WordCamp US last winter. I just got back from WordCamp Pittsburgh, too. That was an awesome experience.