Category: WordCamp DFW Announcements

With WordCamp DFW just 47 days away, the organizing team is ready to announce the next round of speakers for this year’s event. The schedule for WordCamp DFW 2017 will be released in the near future.

So, here is the next round of confirmed speakers for WordCamp DFW 2017:

Kevin Fontenot

Topic: Chatbots: Why Your Business Must Adopt Conversation Based Marketing

Kevin Fontenot is the Director of Marketing at TrainedUp.Church. He also likes to refer to himself as a professional interneter. In the past, he was worked on all kinds of WordPress projects including building (and selling) a marketplace built using EDD. Kevin is passionate about helping organizations reach people with marketing that is actually engaging. He lives in Carrollton, TX, with his wife Brooke and their two dogs.

Tanner Moushey

Topic: Javascript – Beyond jQuery

Tanner is a web developer and entrepreneur located in the small town of Granite Falls, Wa. He’s passionate about using technology to promote community. When he’s not tracking down new leads or coding, he loves playing music and spending time with his wife and 5 kids.

Susan Ramsey

Topic: Customizing a theme in the browser

Susan is the owner of One Happy Studio, where she creates and customize themes, and develops custom websites using the Genesis Framework. Creating the website is just part of the story for Susan – she is somewhat obsessed with the process, and loves to help others by answering support questions for a number of theme developers including Pretty Darn Cute Design, and on the StudioPress community forums. Susan is honored to be a StudioPress recommended developer.

Dave Navarro, Jr.

Topic: Advanced Custom Fields; Beyond the Basics

When not working as an International Spy for the ACME Donut Corporation, Dave lives his secret identity as a mild-mannered web developer for the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. In additional running numerous WordPress web sites for the library system, he custom codes plugins and child themes for the library and his side-hustle as a freelance web developer. When not blending in with the general public, you will often find him out flying his camera drone or taking pictures with his extensive camera collection… usually of his teenagers, who hate having their picture taken, of course.

Aaron Campbell

Topic: The Future: Why Open Matters

Aaron is the WordPress Security Team lead, has been a regular contributor to WordPress for more than ten years, and is currently funded by GoDaddy to work full time on the WordPress open source project. He has over seventeen years of web development experience and worked with clients ranging from small local businesses to Google, Yahoo, Disney, and Harvard. He’s been called both a coffee snob and a beer snob, but considers both to be compliments. When not buried in code, he enjoys spending time with his wife and son, riding his motorcycle, and reading sci-fi/fantasy books.

Tom McCracken

Topic: Getting to ROI – The Shift to Results Oriented Google Analytics

Tom McCracken is a 20+ year web industry veteran. He has a blended background ranging across web development, UX, marketing, content strategy, data analysis, and agile project management. His passion is helping organizations leverage technology to drive measurable impact. Tom has consulted on over 100 interactive projects for organizations such as AT&T, U.S. Bank Corp, Simon & Schuster, IBM, Miami Dolphins, NEC, McDonald’s, SMU, Abbott Labs, Pratt & Whitney, ADP, E*TRADE, Nationwide Insurance, and Tektronix. An avid open source contributor, he has built more than two dozen Drupal modules and WordPress plugins. Today, his core focus is developing results-oriented, data-driven tools to enable teams to deliver decisively better web experiences and ROI.

Alex Juchniewicz

Topic: How Losing My Son Gave Birth to So Many Blessings

Originally from California, Alex now lives in Houston with his beautiful wife Marie and their cat Zeke. Having worked with WordPress since 2010, he got his real start by working as an Internet Marketer at a digital agency building WordPress sites for local SEO clients. Since then Alex has had the opportunity to work for some of the best WordPress companies in the community such as Pagely, Pantheon, and Valet (formerly WP Valet) where he had the opportunity to grow personally and professionally dealing with support, processes, partnerships, and site development. Currently he works at cPanel, Inc as a Scrum Master (Agile Coach) for an internet development team. He also leads efforts in Business Development over at Jilt.com, part of the SkyVerge family, in helping merchant store owners recover lost revenue due to abandoned cart orders. Growing up he has always had a passion for other people, whether be just talking to someone he just met or serving others by loving on them. The WordPress community has provided many opportunities to meet so many people and build relationships. If you see him walking around please do not hesitate to come up and say hello!

You can see all of the confirmed speakers here.

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 11-12. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!

With WordCamp DFW just 52 days away, the organizing committee is ready to announce the first round of speakers for this year’s event.

If you still want to speak at this year’s WordCamp DFW, don’t worry; there’s still time. You can still fill out an application here. The deadline for speaker applications in Sept. 24.

So, without any further delay, here are the first round of confirmed speakers for WordCamp DFW 2017:

Scott Kingsley Clark

Topic: If you think it, you can build it

Scott is a Senior Product Developer at Modern Tribe, the lead developer of the Pods Framework, and one of the driving forces behind the Fields API proposal for WordPress core. He spends his days thinking about and solving complicated data architecture problems.

Erin Flynn

Topic: How to raise your web design rates

Erin has been making websites since 1999, and started her own web design and development company in 2012. After a few years creating websites for clients, Erin shifted her business. Now, her primary business is helping other designers and developers navigate the difficult waters of entrepreneurship by providing courses and guides to teach everything from how to start a web design business to how to deal with nightmare clients. When she’s not teaching designers or working with her own design/development clients, Erin can be found exploring the mountains near her home in Aspen, Colorado. Find out more at erinflynn.com!

Brennen Bliss

Topic: Starting Your Digital Agency With WordPress

Brennen is the CEO and founder of the North Texas digital marketing agency, PixelCutLabs. At 18 years old, he is a member of the American Marketing Association and an expert on the subject. His marketing agency provides services to local and multinational companies, with clients including The College Football Playoffs, Retreat Central, and MyClouset.com. Brennen is recognized for crafting results-oriented strategies to brand high-profile businesses, helping them stand out among the established competition. With Brennen, you get the best of both worlds, a young man able to keep up with the fast changing times of the digital marketing world, and an experienced professional with the track record and acclaim to take your brand and digital reputation to the next level. Every venture Brennen partakes in serves as a conversation starter, as Brennen makes an effort to disassociate himself with the status quo.

Chris Lema

Topic: Bringing a WordPress Product into the Market

Chris Lema has been building online web applications since 1995. He started working with WordPress in 2005, and today he’s the VP of Products & Innovation at Liquid Web, a 100M hosting company. He’s known in the WordPress community as a blogger, public speaker, and the creator of CaboPress, the best business conference for WordPress in Cabo.

Ani King

Topic: Herding Cats: How Project Management can Help Build Your Best Customer Experience (and then Make it Better)

Ani King is Liquid Web’s Managed WordPress project director, with ten years of experience building customer-centric support teams. A STE(A)M enthusiast, Ani works with school-aged girls to promote the use of technology and design in concert. Her other great passion is for literature and she operates Syntax & Salt: Stories as founder and Editor in Chief, which showcases new and established authors. Ani is a Michigan native, and she loves exploring the state with her husband and kids, though they usually leave the cat at home.

Lori Calcott

Topic: You Built It…Now What?

Lori Calcott is a co-founder and partner of webShine and WordPress SEO Hub. Originally from Pittsburgh, Lori has been working in the search space since 2001. As a paid search guru, Lori has transitioned with her clients through the various platforms starting with Overture, and currently in Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook Ads. As a published author of The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords, Lori is a leader in the paid search field. When not at work, Lori enjoys spending time with her family in the Colorado mountains.

Laura Dapkus

Topic: WordPress for Non-Profit Organizations

I own a boutique agency in Van Alstyne, Texas, and built my first website in 1996. It was HTML and it was dial-up, because I wanted to share photos of my Pit Bull, Lucy. Lucy sent me down a path of advocacy and volunteering that informs my work today. My ideal project is one that helps people engage with local services or motivates them to give to a cause that lifts up our community. My passion is education. I support our public schools and serve on the board of a foundation that provides community college scholarships. My other job is as a shepherd of actual sheep.

Treva Marshall

Topic: SEO, Design, and Analtyics – The WordPress Tifecta That Brings In More Traffic, Leads, and Income

Treva Marshall is the owner of Marshall Web Studio, where she uses her signature SMART Website System™ to help small businesses create a powerful website that’s not only beautiful but also search engine optimized (SEO) to bring them a steady flow of warm traffic to their business. Prior to starting her website design and technical support business, Treva spent over a decade in the IT industry as a Senior Software Developer for companies such as ExxonMobil and Atmos Energy. A teacher at heart, Treva’s passion lies in combining her technical skills with her love for helping small businesses thrive by teaching online and in person workshops and through her signature program – The SMART Website Academy™. Treva is also an Adjunct Professor in the Business College at Richland College and her work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Search Engine Journal, and more. When Treva isn’t geeking out on websites, SEO, and internet marketing, you can find her reading a classic period piece novel or planning our her family’s next road trip adventure.

The schedule for this year’s speakers at WordCamp DFW will be released after all of the speaker decisions have been made.

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 11-12. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event, speak at the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!

WordCamp DFW is excited to announce the two keynote speakers for this year’s event: Sheryle Gillihan and Carrie Dils. Sheryle will speak on Saturday and Carrie will speak on Sunday.

After spending time in the military, as a stay-at-home mother and in corporate America, Sheryle has learned to seek purpose in her work. She joined CauseLabs in 2010 and currently serves as the company’s CEO. She serves on three advisory boards in the DFW area and is also the co-founder and purpose ambassador of PurposeWP, a WordPress-based company that helps non-profits with their online presence.

Carrie is a podcaster, speaker, writer, and teacher. She took on her first freelance web development client in 1997 and has been actively involved with the WordPress community since 2012. These days she’s teaching front-end web development at Lynda.com and helping digital freelancers grow their businesses via the OfficeHours.FM podcast and carriedils.com.

If you still want to speak at this year’s WordCamp DFW, don’t worry; there’s still time. You can still fill out an application here. The deadline for speaker applications in Sept. 24. Tickets are also currently on sale and there are opportunities to sponsor and volunteer at this year’s WordCamp.

Out-of-town visitors to WordCamp DFW 2017 in Fort Worth will get special rates at the Courtyard Fort Worth University Drive and SpringHill Suites Fort Worth University Drive. Both hotels are located near the UNT Health Science Center, the venue for this year’s WordCamp DFW.

The Courtyard Fort Worth University Drive is offering WordCamp DFW attendees a $129 per night rate from November 10-13. The hotel is located 2.2 miles away from the UNT Health Science Center. The last day to book a room with this rate is October 20.

The SpringHill Suites Fort Worth University Drive is offering attendees a $135 per night rate for the same time frame. The hotel is located 1.6 miles away from the WordCamp DFW venue. The last day to book a room with this rate is October 30.

Visit the Transportation and Lodging page to learn more about each of these hotels and to get the link to book your room.

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on November 11-12. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event, speak at the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!