Topic: Community Impact: Using WordPress to build 48 websites for 48 nonprofits in 48 hours
I’m a Business Consultant for the Digital Marketing agency Sideway8. National Committee member for the nonprofit 48in48. Organizing Committee of WordCamp Atlanta and Atlanta WordPress Meetup. I’ve been a WordPress advocate since I started using it in 2008 and fell in <3 with the WP community at my first WordCamp in Savannah 2010. Outside of the internet, I’m a musician, producer, and audio engineer making weird sounds with weird people.
How did you get involved in WordPress?
When I first came across WordPress, I was building websites for family and friends back in the mid 2000’s. I was learning PHP and had started to create my own CMS in an effort to streamline some of my work. Stumbling on WordPress, I realized there was an entire community already focusing on building such a great platform. I quickly scrapped my CMS and started using WordPress. From there I started diving in to the local WordPress community here in Atlanta.
What do you do with WordPress?
Today I am more of a power user (Dashboard Champ!), but for a long time, I was a developer.
I am currently responsible for scoping and pricing projects for the digital marketing agency Sideways8. A decade of using and developing with WordPress gives me an upper hand for strategy and problem solving using resources that already exist in the platform itself, and an understanding of its capabilities.
The nature of the work we do has me in the backend of multiple WordPress sites every day. Our own and for our clients.
What has your experience with the WordPress community been like?
Amazing! I knew for sure that I wanted to be a part of this community after my first WordCamp in Savannah 2010. Considering that there were noobies like me at the time, all the way up to the highest tier, including Mr. Mullenweg, that says a lot.
I literally was talking to everyone (having no idea who they were in the WordPress world), and never once was I snubbed, looked down on, or turned away. At one point I was talking with Mark Jaquith about securely wrapping form field data. When I looked him up after the event I realized how involved he was. In many other communities, people at that level wouldn’t even give someone like me the time of day.
Since then I’ve been a participant and speaker at many other WordCamps. I’ve wanted to give back to the community the way it’s given back to me. I’ve literally built my life and business because of this platform and community.
The past two years I’ve been a part of the organizing committee for WordCamp Atlanta and spent several years as an organizer of the Atlanta WordPress Meetup.
Why did you want to speak at WordCamp DFW?
I really want to speak at all WordCamps! It’s such a great way to see new places and meet new people.
We’re (48in48) also strongly considering Dallas to host one of our events next year. For that reason alone it made sense for me to show up, even if I wasn’t speaking, to build awareness and hopefully make some new friendships.
Why did you decide to speak on your topic?
While I am not a founder of 48in48, I have been involved since the first event. I showed up to the event as a volunteer, I quickly saw where my skillsets could be used and ended up diving in as far as I could. At this time I’m a member of the global committee.
I chose this topic in an effort to spread some awareness not only about the event(s), but about the impact it has had on my own life and the lives of those people these nonprofits are reaching.
My company, Sideways8, has been the driving force behind the technical part of the platform that allows us to build 48 websites in 48 hours. It’s all built around WordPress and a heavily curated set of themes and plugins. Over the past few years, we’ve seen the kind of impact it has on the community, both for the nonprofits and the volunteers that participate.
What do you hope the audience gets from your talk?
My hope is that the audience leaves inspired to do something bigger than themselves. I want people to know that even doing a little bit can go a long way. It’s possible to use their skill set, and this amazing community, to have a global impact and make a positive difference in the world.
We are so fortunate to live in a country with a thriving economy. With that, we also have more opportunities than most to make a difference in someone’s life that may not have those same opportunities. I feel like we, as a community, are in such a great place right now and I just want to do my small part to keep driving that home.
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!