Category: WordCamp DFW Speakers

Topic: Five Tips for Better Blogging as a Beginner

Cathy Rueter took time away from an active freelance writing and editing career to work as a reporter and newsletter editor for ten years. She’s returned to her passion of writing and pursuing a career as a Christian author, blogger, and Development Editor. She is currently the vice president of the DFW Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. Originally from the Greater Grand Rapids, MI area, she now lives in Dallas/Fort Worth with her family. After a few stumbles, her WordPress website – “Up in the Attic” with Cathy Rueter – is growing up thanks to the wonderful people at the Fort Worth Chapter of WordPress. Running her own website/blog, FB Writers page, guest blogging, editing, and writing keeps the words tumbling out of the attic. Open one of the boxes “Up in the Attic” and discover a variety of topics and treasures.

How did you get involved in WordPress?

A) I got involved with WP itself for my website after looking at several different website creation programs. Knowing I was newer to the DFW area, am not particularly computer savvy, and didn’t have a lot of contacts at that time, I needed something as intuitive and user friendly as possible. WP seemed to fit the bill. Between the online tutorials that I could find and the local FW WP Meetup group, I’ve been able to find most of the help I’ve needed. WP has been a good choice for me.

B) I needed to get out of the house (editing and writing are pretty solitary businesses). I went searching on Meetup to find some interesting things to do. At the same time, I was stuck on some things with my WP site. Not expecting much I attended a meeting of the WordPress Users FW. Even as a total novice and I didn’t understand a lot of their “computereze,” they never made me feel stupid. The group has always been welcoming and encouraging.

What do you do with WordPress?

I use WP to run my own blog/website “Up in the Attic with Cathy Rueter.” The attic is my head and there’s a lot of stuff up there. I’ve had some missteps and false starts with it but I continue to work on it and ask questions of the local group. The site is growing up, slowly but surely.

What has your experience with the WordPress community been like?

My experience with the WordPress community has been positive, both online and locally. Other than what I need for editing, writing, and office admin stuff, I’m a novice at all things computer and even more so with WordPress. The local group has been welcoming and answered my many questions.

Why did you want to speak at WordCamp DFW?

I wanted to speak to people just like me…newbies. I wanted to give back a little to this community that has been so welcoming and helpful to me. And since you all REALLY don’t want me speaking about computer and coding related things….writing/blogging/editing is my thing.

Why did you decide to speak on blogging?

As a blogger, guest blogger, writer, and development editor, I work with words on a daily basis. I love to read well thought out blogs – whether their in my genre or not, whether they’re necessarily about something I’m interested in or not. Nothing makes me want to click off a site more than if it looks like the blogger just doesn’t care about their reader enough to make their content enjoyable to read.

What do you hope the audience gets from your talk?

Writing/blogging can be a lonely business. I’ve been there – still there some days. We all need to know how to make our blogs the best we can make them and we can’t do that in a vacuum. These five tips aren’t so much about how to blog as they are about how to make ourselves better bloggers and survive in this sometimes solitary industry. I hope that people will take heart that there are others out there like them and maybe begin to reach out more to the blogging community. I know they’ll at least take away some resources that they haven’t seen before.

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!

Topic: Introduction to WordPress Multisite

CTO of WPMU DEV (140+ premium plugins and support) and Edublogs (hosting 3 million+ education blogs), managing a team of 30 developers around the globe. WordPress plugin developer specializing in Multisite for 9 years, working from home in Dallas. Proud father of 3 and a world travel nut.

How did you get involved in WordPress?

I started my first website with WordPress, and began teaching myself how to develop plugins for it to meet my needs.

What do you do with WordPress?

I’m the Chief Technical Officer of WPMU DEV, we provide a complete toolkit of plugins, themes, services, and support to help members with their WordPress sites.

What has your experience with the WordPress community been like?

It’s been good, I’ve attended many WordCamps and had the privilege to speak at a few.

Why did you want to speak at WordCamp DFW?

I want to get more involved with my local DFW WP community.

Why did you decide to speak on multisite?

I run my own Multisite network, and specialize in developing for WordPress multisite.

What do you hope the audience gets from your talk?

Excited about the features and possibilities of WordPress multisite.

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!

Topic: Integrating VR (Virtual Reality) Content into WordPress Websites

Jeff VanDrimmelen’s biggest claim to fame is that he build the University of North Carolina’s WordPress Network. This initiative has now grown into tens of thousands of websites that runs all their web systems on campus. Since then he has owned several WordPress based website and software companies and is currently the Senior Marketing Director at a Virtual Reality start-up that is focused on making virtual collaboration and productivity spaces. He is the father of 4, and husband to one amazing woman. Together they reside in Frisco and work to try and figure out how to raise these amazing kids they have been blessed with.

How did you get involved in WordPress?

I saw a blog in 2003 that I liked and looked at what they used and was so impressed I learned how to install it then. Back then WordPress had 2 themes and no WYSIWYG editor.. oh how things have changed.

What do you do with WordPress?

You name, I have probably done it with WordPress. I’ve built thousands of business sites, huge multisite networks, and custom software to run leasing, invoicing and day to day operations of a property management company. I just completed a custom course multisite where each student get’s access to a course and then has their own integrated site that they build out as they work through the course.

What has your experience with the WordPress community been like?

The community has been amazing. I have always been amazed at the scores of volunteers that answer questions and help with anything and everything.

Why did you want to speak at WordCamp DFW?

I have been going to WordCamps for a number of years and I love just being with other WordPress geeks. I was hoping to share with them some of what I’m learning about virtual reality.

Why did you decide to speak on virtual reality?

I believe that VR will have an impact on almost every industry in the coming 10 years. This is especially true with websites. WordPress can be a great vehicle for easily sharing VR content.

What do you hope the audience gets from your talk?

I hope that they leave with an understanding of the VR (and AR) landscape, some tools to help get VR content into their websites, and a lot of ideas for future revenue opportunities for their companies.

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!

Topic: How to Turn Your Blog into a Book in 60 Days or Less

Elisha and Elyssa are homeschooled 15 and 14 year-old sisters, best-selling authors, artists, entrepreneurs, and public speakers. They live in Fort Worth, TX with their family and they love spending time with them. They wrote I Love ME! at ages nine and ten, because they loves helping other kids become bully-proof, love themselves, and be the best they can be. They teach children and teens to love themselves and have self-confidence through their books, blog posts, and artistic expressions. Learn more about them at WhollyART.com

How did you get involved in WordPress?

We started using WordPress back in 2012, when we re-launched our website and transferred it from a static to a WordPress website. It was very different and took some time for us to get used to, but it quickly grew on us and we have learned to use it effortlessly.

What do you do with WordPress?

We are bloggers, so we use WordPress to run our website. We couldn’t be happier with how amazingly simple it is to use and how it helps us follow our passion of writing and being creators.

What has your experience with the WordPress community been like?

We have attended (and spoken at) various WordCamps around the U.S. and we love spending time with fellow geeks. In addition, we also belong to a WordPress meetup near us and we love going and learning more, and offering up our expertise and input.

Why did you want to speak at WordCamp DFW?

We have spoken at WordCamp DFW before (yay!) and we really love the community here. The people are amazing and we always get a wonderful audience that is responsive and interact with us as well. We are very happy to be back.

Why did you decide to speak on turning a blog into a book?

We decided to speak about writing a book because we are authors. We believe that there are many creators out there that are doing wonderful work with their content, and packaging it into a book can really take it into a new level. Not many people these days are looking at how to connect the dots between their blog (or website) and a book, so we want to help others see why it’s important and how they can do it.

What do you hope the audience gets from your talk?

We really hope to give the message that anyone can write a book, and that we all make excuses that get in the way of our dreams. We’ve learned through experience that you should never limit yourself, we all have the potential to do more than we can imagine. We hope the audience can learn practical tips they can use so they can not only create their book, but benefit from it as well and make a difference in the world with it.

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!