Category: Announcements

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WordCamp DFW 2018 After Party To Be Held At Bar Louie

This year our post-conference events kick-off immediately following the closing remarks on Saturday! Join us in the main hall for snacks, non-alcoholic beverages, networking and camaraderie until 6:00PM.

The official WordCamp DFW After Party gets started at 7PM at Bar Louie on 2973 W. 7th Street, 76107. Beer and wine will be provided for attendees until 9PM, however you are welcome to enjoy the space until closing.

While you can also find food at Bar Louie, we have intentionally built in a bit of time for you and a friend or a new WordCamp buddy to check out some of the amazing local flavors all found within walking distance from WordCamp DFW.

You can enjoy five-star seafood at Eddie V’s, street tacos from Velvet Taco and Tortaco, or you might even brave the Diablo Burger at the famous Fred’s Texas Cafe. There’s a lot more and if you need a suggestion just find Mike Gillihan or another Funkytownie for some tips on good food in the West 7th area and Museum District. If walking isn’t your kind of thing, ride-sharing services and public transit are also available in the area.

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 10-11. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!

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Lindsey Miller, Paul Clark Keynote Speakers for WordCamp DFW

WordCamp DFW is excited to announce the two keynote speakers for this year’s event: Lindsey Miller and Paul Clark. Paul will speak on Saturday and Lindsey will speak on Sunday.

Lindsey Miller

Lindsey Miller is a WordPress pro by trade and a political junkie at heart. And she’s even managed to marry the two as founder of politicalheadstart.com. When she’s not traveling the world with her husband and two tiny humans, or helping save the world, she can be found creating magic for customers at Liquid Web’s Managed WordPress Hosting as the Partner Manager. She’s a native Oklahoman, a former sorority girl (I know, right?) and as a whiskey enthusiast, her Old Fashions are legend-ary.

Paul Clark

Paul Clark started using WordPress in 2006. “I was super-excited to find a system that would let me hand content management off to clients, instead of getting a call every time some punctuation needed to be changed,” he told WordCamp San Francisco 2014. He co-founded Brainstorm Media, which was then bought by 10up in 2013, where he worked at as the Director of Recruiting. Paul currently works at DreamHost as a WordPress expert and has spoken at many WordCamps, including WordCamp DFW 2014.

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 10-11. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!

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WordCamp DFW Speakers: Round Five

With WordCamp DFW just 15 days away, the organizing committee is ready to announce the fifth round of speakers for this year’s event.

So, without any further delay, here are the second round of confirmed speakers for WordCamp DFW 2018:

David Noland

Topic: Maintaining a HEART Healthy WordPress Database

David is a Customer Experience Data Analyst for WP Engine in Austin, TX. For the previous two years, he has served as a Senior Level 2 Support Technician and in-house WordPress Database and MySQL Subject Matter Expert. He has an MBA in Management Information Systems from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA. and a Bachelor’s in Applied Behavioral Sciences from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, LA. He has worked as a freelance database design consultant and has been supporting WordPress for 5 years.

Christopher Harris

Topic: Gutenberg 101

Christopher launched Faith Growth in 2010. Since then, he has led his team in assisting churches with moving to a digital-first mindset.

For some churches, that means creating a custom website. For others, it’s implementing smart social media practices. For others, it’s developing a comprehensive plan to engage and grow their church communities online. Christopher understands church needs and challenges, as he has held several church staff positions.

Born a geek, Christopher coded his first church website in 1997. In 2003 he entered Seminary, concluding his M.Div. studies just as social media reached a critical tipping point when Facebook opened its site to the public. Christopher enjoys coding in WordPress, but his primary passion is in helping churches to communicate effectively by harnessing the power of digital technologies. Based in Dallas, Texas, Faith Growth serves clients internationally.

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 10-11. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!

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WordCamp DFW Speakers: Round Three

With WordCamp DFW just 31 days away, the organizing committee is ready to announce the second round of speakers for this year’s event.

So, without any further delay, here are the second round of confirmed speakers for WordCamp DFW 2018:

Nick Batik

Topic: Rapid Application Development with the PODS Framework

Nick Batik Chief Technical Officer, Senior WordPress Back-end Developer & Information Architect Nick Batik co-founded Pleiades Publishing Services in 1992, has been building websites since 1994 and has been a WordPress consultant and developer since 2007. A WordPress Evangelist, and a Co-organizer of the Austin WordPress Meetup, he has presented technical WordPress classes at numerous meetups, PodCamps and WordCamps. Nick specializes in the system design and implementation of custom, often complex WordPress-based solutions that address client data management issues. As the back-end developer, he creates the core computational logic of the website or information system to implement the customized functionality. Nick has dedicated his professional career to information architecture and information design.

Sara Graybill

Topic: Working with a developer on your next website project

Sara is the owner of Graybill Creative and a WordPress developer. She creates custom WordPress websites for designers that are beautiful and easy for their clients to use. She also organizes the OKC WordPress Users Group where she works to get the word out about WordPress. When she isn’t building websites you can find Sara outside with her husband chasing their son.

Gayle Williams

Topic: Born This Way

Gayle Williams, owner of Vision Marketing in Sarasota, FL, has spent the majority of her career as a marketing professional directing marketing operations for not-for-profits and small businesses. Gayle moved over to agency account management in 2002 and founded her own agency in 2008. From directing strategy and client relations she moved into hands-on design and development—growing in the opposite direction than most designers has had its strategic advantages. Today she runs a thriving digital marketing and WordPress design business from her home office and enjoys the work-family balance it provides. Gayle was an early inbound marketing adopter as a Hubspot partner agency and maintains her Inbound Marketing certification. She is also a WP Elevation-certified Digital Business Consultant. At WordCamp Dallas-Ft. Worth Gayle will be talking about those parts of her life that might be surprising, but that’s the fun of it, right?

Aaron Edwards

Topic: Building API Services for your Plugins Using the WordPress REST API

CTO of WPMU DEV (140+ premium plugins, services, and support) and Edublogs (hosting 3 million+ education blogs), managing a large team of developers and sysadmins around the globe. Cloud architect and WordPress plugin developer specializing in Multisite for 10 years, working from home in Dallas. Proud father of 3 and a world travel nut.

Pratik Ghela

Topic: Our 6 months journey around AMP, WordPress & AMP Stories

Pratik Ghela has been working on WordPress since 2011 and has worked on 500+ WordPress projects for clients across the world. His core interest has now focused to Customer Satisfaction. Apart from just working as a bridge between his Dev Team and Clients, he regularly keeps an eye over upcoming technologies. Currently, he is working exclusively on Google AMP based projects and developing a product MakeStories for building web based stories.

Cate DeRosia

Topic: Finding Work in WordPress When You’re Not a Developer or Designer

In 1994, I left my incredibly small town for what I thought would be a short 4-year tour in Grand Rapids, MI where I planned to pitch a little softball and get my teaching degree. Instead, I met my husband who’d just fallen in love with website development, as well as me, and the rest was a whirlwind I could have never imagined. I exchanged the dreams I had to take on the full-time education of our two daughters. But now, as the youngest graduates this year, it’s my turn. I am embracing this next stage of life full on. Instead of taking a well-deserved vacation, I’m using what I’ve learned from twenty years of contracting alongside my husband to branch out on my own. Recently I soft-launched my business, Paradev.io, where I use my language, communication, and operations skills to make developers lives easier.

LaToya Frazier

Topic: Managing Your WordPress Projects With Ease

LaToya is an Online Project Manager who helps busy entrepreneurs streamline their processes and get their creative ideas out into the world. She gets excited about timelines, due dates and clear plans. She has over a decade of project management and consulting expertise and a knack for translating project needs in a way that makes them understandable and executable. With a foundation in learning and development, business operations, process improvements, and new products she uses her skills in project management and digital marketing to specialize in managing membership and e-learning site launches driving efficiency and results.

Doug Stewart

Topic: WP Local SEO Basics: How to Get Your WordPress Powered Website Listed in Google’s Local Map Pack

Doug Stewart is a former tech salesperson turned SEO professional. Doug started what is now DSC Web Services, Inc. in 1999. Doug taught a class helping small business owners get found online at Tulsa Tech. He also spoke at several Social Media Tulsa conferences and a 140 Characters Conference.

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 10-11. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!

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WordCamp DFW Speakers: Round Two

With WordCamp DFW just 37 days away, the organizing committee is ready to announce the second round of speakers for this year’s event.

So, without any further delay, here are the second round of confirmed speakers for WordCamp DFW 2018:

Elayna Fernandez

Topic: How To Use Your Blog To Become A Digital Influencer

Elayna Fernández, known worldwide as The Positive MOM, is an award-winning storyteller, a master digital strategist, and an avid student of pain. Elayna helps moms transform their pain story into positive growth, step into balance, and create joy and success on their own terms – in all areas of life. Elayna travels the world as an International keynote speaker and panelist in the topics of motherhood, mindset, and mompreneurship. Her guidance encourages, empowers, and equips millions of moms in 134 countries to increase their impact, income, and influence, without guilt, shame, or regrets in motherhood. As an influencer for over 13 years, Elayna has partnered with over 250 brands and has made her blog her main source of income. She loves to teach, train, and mentor others to do the same! Elayna is Certified Guerrilla Marketing Master Trainer, Certified Passion Test Facilitator, Certified DreamBuilder Coach, Certified Success Principles Trainer, a graduate of the Steve Harvey School for Business Acceleration, and a web designer for over 20 years. She has been awarded as Best Marketer, Mom Entrepreneur of the Year, Best Latina Lifestyle Blogger of both 2015 and 2016, and the 2017 Best Family and Parenting Creator at the TECLA Awards, and she has been named one of the Top Latina Influencers in the USA two consecutive years. ThePositiveMOM.com, has been ranked one of 100 Top Moms Blogs Worldwide both in 2016 and 2017. Elayna is often featured in global media including ABC, NBC, FOX, Telemundo, Univision, Latina Magazine, CNN en Español, The Huffington Post, and is a contributing writer to Thrive Global! Elayna has spoken on stages such as S.H.E. Summit, Texas Conference for Women, eWomenNetwork, BlogHer, Hispanicize, Mom 2.0 Summit, Texas Social Media Conference, Work Hacker, Rocks Digital, Boy Scouts of America, Rotary International, and more! She’s also been a member of both the BlogHer and Hispanicize advisory boards. Born and raised in a slum in the Dominican Republic and a single mom for many years, Elayna now lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with her family. Her philosophy is “BE Positive and You’ll BE Powerful!”

Brent Jett

Topic: CSS Jam Session

Brent Jett is a designer and developer in Dallas, Tx and is currently the Design Lead at Beaver Builder. He likes exploring new tools and technologies for creating things on the open web as well as finding ways to bring more of traditional graphic design into the digital creative space. 
Brent is also a photography nerd and enjoys filling instagram with adorable photos of his beagle.

Jacob Martella

Topic: Keeping Your Themes and Plugins Separate

Writing. Web Development. Storytelling. These are a few of Jacob’s favorite things. He first loved writing stories, specifically sports stories, and it eventually became my major in college. But along the way, he began to fall for web development, and finding ways to help others tell their stories through websites. He’s created a couple of WordPress plugins and themes and currently works with Faith Growth, Inc., and as a freelancer.

David Ryan

Topic: 10 Strategies To Teach Yourself Before Taking a Development Class

Dave Ryan is an Interdisciplinary WordPress Developer at Bluehost, where he focuses on contributing to WordPress. In the past Dave has worked for large publishers and universities scaling high-traffic WordPress sites, blending his skills in information design, journalism and web development. Dave lives in Phoenix, loves a good taco and will like every photo of your dog on Instagram.

Zach Stepek

Topic: Immaterial Woo – eCommerce Without Products

Zach is the CEO of Mindsize, an eCommerce -focused agency that builds and maintains stores for mid-market and larger eCommerce store owners. He’s been in the digital space for the last two decades as a designer, developer, and instructor. When he isn’t sitting in front of a screen, he’s behind a camera capturing images of musicians or pretending to be a musician himself.

Mia Mian

Topic: WP DIY Gone Awry… NOW WHAT?!

Startup and Tech Enthusiast byways of San Diego, CA. WordPress was my true entry point into the world of development and I wouldn’t have it any other way… from working in agencies to now as a client facing lead for a WP development firm. I’m stoked to represent and advocate for the non-technical WordPress user.

Summer Alexander

Topic: Cut the Copy: Take Your Marketing Message from “Meh” to Mesmerizing

With a unique background which includes education and work experiences in technology, market research, and marketing communications; Summer Alexander is uniquely qualified to help businesses combine their data with their story to create client-centered messaging.

Cory Webb

Topic: Build your first custom Gutenberg block

Cory Webb is a senior full stack developer at Reaktiv Studios hailing from Waco, Texas, home of Dr. Pepper, Baylor University, and shiplap. Before joining the team at Reaktiv, Cory ran a small web development company specializing in WordPress and Joomla development. His educational background is in engineering and business, but his true passion has been web development since he built his first web page as a freshman electrical engineering student at the University of Texas in 1997. When he’s not busy manipulating 1’s and 0’s, you can usually find him spending time with his wife and 3 kids, traveling, watching movies, and serving at his local church.

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 10-11. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!

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WordCamp DFW Speakers: Round One

With WordCamp DFW just 40 days away, the organizing committee is ready to announce the first round of speakers for this year’s event.

So, without any further delay, here are the first round of confirmed speakers for WordCamp DFW 2018:

Adam Fout

Topic: How to Write an Awesome Blog Post (That Actually Ranks on Google)

Adam Fout is the lead content writer at Blue Steele Solutions, a content, branding, and web-design company in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex with clients all over the U.S. After completing a series of degrees in technical communication, he left the manuals and SOPs behind and made the switch to digital marketing and content creation. He writes regularly on the subject of content marketing and customer retention, has contributed to a variety of publications (including PostFunnel and The Layout), and specializes in the intersection between content marketing and WordPress. He’s helped a number of bloggers to launch successful blogs and knows the tricks to developing and growing a popular blog (even in saturated markets). To learn more, visit bluesteelesolutions.com and adamfout.com.

Bret Phillips

Topic: Community Impact: Using WordPress to build 48 websites for 48 nonprofits in 48 hours

Business Consultant for the Digital Marketing agency Sideway8. Global Committee member for 48in48 (48 websites in 48 hours for 48 nonprofits). Organizing Committee of WordCamp Atlanta.

Johnny Thompson

Topic: Hearing Colors: A journey through accessible website development

Johnny Thompson has more than 20 years of web and application development experience, successfully launching and maintaining countless sites and utilities in industries ranging from defense to banking. He has called UNT Health Science Center home since 2011 as the Executive Director of Digital Outreach and Web Services for the Office of Brand and Communications.

Keisha McKinney

Topic: Who are the people in your neighborhood: Digital Persona Experience

Keisha (Pittman) McKinney lives in South Arkansas with her husband and sweet Boxer, Bailey and her new little man! Keisha is passionate about connecting people and building community, seeking solutions to the everyday big and small things, and encouraging others through the mundane, hard, and typical that life often brings. She put her communications background to work as a former Non-profit Executive Director, college recruiter and fundraiser, and Digital Media Director at a large church in Northwest Arkansas. Now she is using all of those experiences as Founder of Arkansas Influencers, a social media marketing talent agency, McKinney Media Solutions and her blog @bigpittstop which includes daily adventures, cooking escapades, #bigsisterchats, the social justice cases on her heart, and all that she is learning as a #boymom!

Craig Beaman

Topic: WordPress 101

I wrote my first blog on self-hosted WordPress in October of 2006. Since January 2009, I have developed and maintained websites for churches, nonprofits, and other small organizations through my company, All-In Web Services. My first WordCamp was WordCamp DFW 2017. Since then I have enjoyed getting to know and share knowledge with other WordPress users and I’m honored to be able to speak at WordCamp DFW 2018.

Treva Marshall

Topic: Automating Your Client Onboarding & Client Mangement Process For A High-End Customer Experience

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 workshops both online and in person. 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 out her family’s next road trip adventure.

Chris Lema

Topic: The Goal is Conversion

Chris Lema is a blogger, public speaker, WooCommerce evangelist, and product strategist. He’s currently the VP of Products at Liquid Web, where his team recently launched a dedicated platform for WooCommerce Hosting.

Kori Ashton

Topic: Establishing Clear Client Expectations

I’m currently CEO of a growing WordPress firm in a San Antonio. I have a weekly giveback to the WP community on my YouTube Channel https://YouTube.com/koriashton I love speaking and sharing actionable takeaways to our growing community. No boring workshops 🙂 No death by PowerPoint. Let’s give them life-changing substance!

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 10-11. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!

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WordCamp DFW 2018 dates, venue announced

For the second straight year, WordCamp DFW will be held at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth on Nov. 10-11, the organizing team announced on Monday.

“Last year was received as such an overwhelming success in terms of the venue, speakers, and organizer it simply seemed silly to not try to capture that success again,” lead organizer Marc Gratch said. “Hopefully we can increase the number of folks that can make it out and shore up any aspects that didn’t shine quite as much as we’d like.”

WordCamp DFW, re-started in 2014, is one of 740 WordCamps held in the United States and around the world. WordCamps feature talks about everything WordPress, the free and open source personal publishing software that powers over 75 million sites on the web.

Talks range anywhere from blogging, to development with WordPress, to running a business with the content management system. Anyone, from beginners to veteran users who have been using WordPress for years, are welcome to learn more and share ideas.

Tickets for WordCamp DFW 2018 are currently on sale for $40 for two days. You can also purchase single-day tickets for $25. To apply to speak at WordCamp DFW, please fill out the application here. Topics can cover everything involving WordPress, such as web content strategy, user experience, diversity, blogging, business, development and community. Talks outside of the WordPress realm, such as project management and how the web has changed your life, are also welcome.

Located in the Medical Education & Training (MET) Building at 1000 Montgomery St, the UNT Health Science Center is situated near the growing 7th Street area and the museum district. It also hosts the monthly Fort Worth WordPress Users meetup.

“Last year our goal was to help the community at every opportunity we could find — from a beautiful venue that many local WordPresser’s have visited for the monthly meetup, powerful keynote speakers reminding us that we can make the world a better place and that we are often our own worst critics, donating all of the remaining food and snacks, providing free tickets to veterans, and hosting a can food drive,” Gratch said. “We know we can do all that again, I have so much confidence in this organizing team and the members of our great community.

“This year I want see if we can do more; bring in more food for the can food drive, inspire more people to get involved, teach more attendees, and change more lives.”

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