Sessions

  • Beginner’s Day

    Beginner’s Day is designed to introduce new users to WordPress. WordCamp volunteers will teach you how to use prepare your site locally using Desktop Server on your computer so you’ll be ready for the weekend.

    Schedule

    • 9am – Welcome & Introduction with Josh Knapp
    • 9:15am – What is WordPress?
    • 9:45am – Introduction to Local Development Using Desktop Server with Gregg Franklin
    • 10:30am – The Block Post Editor
    • 11:30am – Choosing  and Installing a Theme
    • 12:15pm – Break*
    • 12:30pm – Choosing and Installing Plugins
    • 1pm – Securing your website
    • 1:30pm – Deploying and Hosting your website

    What you should bring

    To get the most out of Beginner’s Day, you should bring a modern Mac or Windows laptop and power cable and install Desktop Server before attending Beginner’s Day.  The free limited version will work for what we will cover.

    Things to consider

    Desktop Server’s Minimum System Requirements

    • Windows 7, 8, 10
    • Macintosh OS X 10.10.X to 10.14.X. 
    • At least 500 megabytes of free hard drive space for installation. 

    Desktop Server will not run on a mobile device such as an iPad, Android tablet or smartphone.

    *Lunch will not be provided during Friday’s session. We will provide snacks but you may want to bring a packed lunch.

    November 8, 2019 at 9:00 am PST in Arts

  • Cloud on a Budget.

    Presented by Joshua James

    Step by step example of how to configure a your own WordPress hosting with Plesk and the AWS for about the cost of shared hosting. This course is meant to show people that setting up your own server isn’t as hard as they think.

    I will go over basic set up of a AWS Lightsail I stance and provide instructions on how you can run basic maintenance, backups and security with plesk WordPress toolkit.

    Developers: To get the most from this talk please have an AWS account and a registered domain with access to the DNS.

    November 9, 2019 at 9:00 am PST in Innovation
    Development, Strategy

  • WordPress at the Heart of Your Strategy

    Presented by David Mayne

    It discusses the pre-launch and analysis stage of bringing a website to marketing in a competitive landscape. Using a current client as a case study, David will show the analysis, tools and traffic strategy he uses to find competitive advantage for his client and the project. This session is perfect for both site owners and WordPress professionals alike. Presentation time: 45 minutes

    November 9, 2019 at 9:00 am PST in Arts
    Analytics, Strategy

  • I Dream of WooCommerce

    Presented by Sean Conklin

    Sean will paint the picture of what all one can do with the leading open-source eCommerce platform for WordPress powered sites. Includes data from a 2019 research project he conducted examining hundreds of Southern California WooCommerce sites. We’ll stick to bigger picture topics such as hosting / caching, theme choice, design effectiveness, compliance, performance and some faux pas that were observed. We’ll examine various real World applications of this powerful and popular technology in its heyday.

    November 9, 2019 at 10:00 am PST in Innovation
    WooCommerce

  • Marketing Your Business with WordPress

    Presented by Matthew Woodard

    My focus is on helping small businesses increase their customer base and revenue through the web using WordPress.

    I focus on design, conversions, marketing strategies, and UX to drive more business to their site.

    November 9, 2019 at 10:00 am PST in Arts
    Marketing, Strategy

  • The Art & Science Behind Killer Content

    Presented by Rob Bonham and Michael Tesauro

    This will be a tag team presentation by Michael Tesauro and Rob Bonham, respectively Content and Digital Marketing Managers at Cengage, speaking on how to develop a data centered content strategy that drives organic traffic.

    The general outline is as follows…..

    I. So, Your Blog is Looking Thin…
    – Knowing when to rethink your current blog strategy

    II. Content Is King and Why That’s Still True
    – The current landscape of content and how to align with it

    III. What’s the Point?
    – Defining business goals, ROI, and how content fit achieves it

    IV. Identifying Content Gaps (and Planning How to Fill Them)
    – Performing a blog audit and planning next steps

    V. Data Mining Your Way to Better Content Strategy
    – Using past metrics (readership, clicks, page views) to inform your new blog strategy

    VI. The Secret’s in Your Audience
    – Understanding how your readership interacts with your content and how your content fits into the current sales funnel

    VII. Managing An Editorial Calendar (and Not Losing Your Mind)
    – Simplifying your editorial calendar

    VIII. To SEO or Not SEO (Trick Question, Always Use Keyword Research)
    – Where SEO best practices fit into the content development process

    November 9, 2019 at 11:00 am PST in Arts
    Content, Marketing

  • Welcome to Web 3.0, the internet you always wish you had.

    Presented by Chris Aldrich

    I can have phone service on Verizon and you may choose to use AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint, but as long as we’ve got phones we can talk to each other or any other phone number that’s connected to the network. But why can’t Facebook users interact directly with Twitter users or Instagram users or vice versa? Crucially why couldn’t one website built on WordPress talk to another website built with Drupal or Kirby? The internet is an open communication platform after all! I’m going to show how this (and so much more magic) can all be done with some simple plugins in under an hour!

    Over the past several years a group of dedicated bloggers, technologists, and designers has been innovating, building, and testing a suite of open W3C web standards to allow their personal websites to recreate the major pieces of interactive functionality that are part of the largest social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, SoundCloud, etc. These larger pieces are now all working together across dozens of content management systems including WordPress, Drupal, WithKnown, ProcessWire, Elgg, Nucleus CMS, Craft, Django, Kirby, static site generators like Hugo and Jekyll and services like http://Micro.Blog and Mastodon. This means that instead of relying on smaller non-interoperable social media sites that obsessively surveil you and then pollute your stream with obtrusive ads, you can now better own and control your own data and comprehensive identity on your own domain name. In this talk we’ll take a high level look at W3C web specs including Webmention, WebSub, Micropub, and the forthcoming Microsub to see how you can make your own website a first class citizen on the (social) web. Using WordPress and a few simple plugins you can now close the circle of website-to-website intercommunication across the open web. Use your own website to read and consume web content, post your own status updates, bookmarks, likes, and replies while interacting directly with other websites. In many cases you can also do this with social platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, GitHub, Mastodon, and http://Micro.blog.

    November 9, 2019 at 11:00 am PST in Innovation
    Development

  • Beyond WordPress – easy WP automation and integration with no coding

    Presented by Sabrina Liao

    As WordPress developers, there comes a time when you wish you can connect the different web apps you use daily or even automate some of the tedious tasks.

    Well, thanks to the many great web tools out there, yes indeed you can do that, and with no coding needed.

    In this talk, we will look at some of the popular and powerful web tools available, and how you can use them and WordPress together to automate your posting, create leads from form entries, schedule periodically SMS and many more.

    November 9, 2019 at 12:30 pm PST in Innovation
    Plugins, Strategy

  • WordPress SEO 101: Key(word)s to Success

    Presented by Joe A Simpson Jr

    Everyone and their uncle or aunt knows Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important to the success of any WordPress project, but you’ve never had the time to fully understand how it can help. In this session, we’ll look at SEO tools, tips, and techniques that you can leverage to help your rankings.

    During this presentation, learn how the accessibility and the structure of your HTML and WordPress tools can help you create written content that gets you seen by the spiders. We’ll take beginners through the basics of Google Search, what the algorithm is looking for, what landing in the top six spots mean, and how it impacts your WordPress site. As always, we’ll look at real-world examples using hands-on exercises to illustrate key concepts.

    November 9, 2019 at 12:30 pm PST in Arts
    SEO, Strategy

  • Improve Your WordPress SEO Performance With Google Search Console

    Presented by Brian Jensen

    In this session, I’ll take a dive into how WordPress users can utilize Google Search Console to improve and enhance their website’s performance and visibility in Google Search. I’ll cover everything from setting up and verifying an account, submitting a XML Sitemap, performing a content audit, submitting new pages, analyzing page speed, rich features and more.

    November 9, 2019 at 1:30 pm PST in Arts
    Google, SEO

  • Managing Freelance Contributors

    Presented by Issa Diao

    More sites are paying freelance writers and photographers than ever before. OutVoice is a payment platform with a WordPress plugin that let’s editors pay contributors inside the admin interface as they publish posts. I’ll walk through how it works, and can provide helpful information to site owners and site builders about options for paying and managing freelancers.

    November 9, 2019 at 1:30 pm PST in Innovation
    Plugins, Strategy

  • Discover How You Can Leverage Yoast to Achieve Massive Results for Your Clients Even if You Don’t Have a Lick of SEO Knowledge

    Presented by Candice Gilliatt

    Here’s what you’re going to learn: – What can happen when Yoast is working for you or against you. – What Yoast is and how to best configure the settings. – What’s a SEO Title, Meta Description, Focus Keyphrase, and all the other backend jargon that’s important. – How to interpret the SEO Analysis and Readability results, and better yet – how to improve them.

    November 9, 2019 at 2:30 pm PST in Arts
    Plugins, SEO

  • Website accessibility What it is & why it’s so important and the benefits for SEO

    Presented by Glen Ingram

    Glen will explain what web accessibility (WCAG 2.1) is and why it is so important we understand it and be compliant. People with disabilities ranging from blindness, deafness, dyslexia and others may navigate and consume content in different ways with assistive technology. Web accessibility is not just for developers, it is just as important for marketers to make it part of their digital marketing to ensure that opportunities for success aren’t missed. When 1 in 5 people have short or long term disability, creating accessible websites can increase your conversions by 20% by being accessible.

    November 9, 2019 at 2:30 pm PST in Innovation
    Accessibility, SEO

  • How to Rank Multi-location Local Businesses Using Content

    Presented by William Huff

    Many people feel SEO is still Voodoo or complicated, especially when it comes to business owners that have multi-location businesses.

    It’s actually much simpler than people think – especially if you know how to structure your website correctly and how to use content properly.

    In this session, I’ll show you how my company ranked an article nationally for a competitive term and then used that power to rank 65 locations in 5 different states – without any exotic SEO strategies or tactics.

    November 9, 2019 at 3:30 pm PST in Arts
    SEO, Strategy

  • Remediation of a WordPress Site

    Presented by Sumner Davenport

    This session is designed for WordPress designers of all skill levels. The information presented is more than offering a quick fix. The remediation of a WordPress website is not a one-size fits all.

    Accessibility testing will be addressed which will include going beyond an automated, online tester to a complete website accessibility assessment with manual code reviews and including various conditions and assistive technologies.

    Participants will learn steps and procedures for evaluating and remediating a WordPress site that includes understanding the selection of, and working with, resources that are readily available.

    Participants will learn procedures to meet standards and success criteria under the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1). Common errors will be addressed such as: Keyboard navigation, controls, skip-links, form field labels, heading levels, content structure, links in content, “read more”, contrasts, images, media, screen reader text and additional easy to remediate errors.

    This session is divided it into different steps to assist the participant to understand what actions are necessary from start to what’s next with remediation, including when to reach out for more assistance. The steps go beyond a simple checklist and understanding the audience.
    Accessibility is an ongoing effort. Participants will receive instruction on how to best stay on top of keeping their freshly remediated site accessible.

    This session will cover:

    • Who benefits from an accessible site
    • Where to start
    • Testing plan using automatic tools and native users
    • Common errors
    • Creating your WordPress remediation plan
    • Themes, Child Themes and Builders
    • Custom CSS
    • Plugins: the Good, Bad & the Ugly
    • When is it done? Or is it ever?
    • Resources
    November 9, 2019 at 3:30 pm PST in Innovation
    Accessibility

  • Intro to security, who needs it anyway?

    Presented by Jim Hunter

    Discuss the basics of WordPress security. Tell tail signs that you have been hacked. What you can do to prevent being hacked and what you can do if you have already been hacked.

    November 10, 2019 at 9:00 am PST in Innovation
    Security

  • Making Good Things With Goodenberg

    Presented by Adam Preiser

    Gutenberg is much more than a blog post editor … you can build all sorts of good things with it. Learn how to build any type of page using Gutenberg.

    November 10, 2019 at 9:00 am PST in Arts
    Content, Gutenberg

  • Drip, Drip, Drip to Convert Website Leads to Sales

    Presented by Amy Hall

    You have a WordPress product or service to offer and you have a signup form. But now what? Collecting email addresses is great for vanity metrics but even better if you bring them into your sales cycle.

    In this talk, Amy Hall, a certified MailChimp expert, and partner will help you define your sales cycle, drip campaign, and how to nurture your subscribers. Sales are the goal of any good nurture campaign and, when done right, will help convert your website visitors into sales.

    November 10, 2019 at 10:00 am PST in Arts
    List Building, Strategy

  • Headless WordPress and You: A Practical Guide to Headless WordPress

    Presented by Keith Frey

    A guided tour through the basics of headless WordPress. We will go through a very quick introduction to what exactly headless WordPress is. Then we will talk about why (or why not) to choose headless WordPress. Lastly, we will go over how to get started using headless WordPress with a real-world example of headless WordPress at its best.

    November 10, 2019 at 10:00 am PST in Innovation
    Development

  • Strategies to Building a Solid Client Base

    Presented by Scott Tambling

    Getting your first clients as a website designer can be a challenge, especially in a saturated market. Over the years, developing my own client base has taught me many tactics and strategies that have worked well. Topics will include: Building your first Portfolio The Importance of a Professional Proposal Friends and Family – “Low Hanging Fruit” Subcontracting Inexpensive Advertising Strategies Networking Groups Warm Calling Secrets to Keeping Clients Happy Generating Recurring Revenue I could talk for hours about all of these topics – so promise to load heaps of valuable information into a short session.

    November 10, 2019 at 11:00 am PST in Arts
    Marketing, Strategy

  • Using WordPress with GraphQL, ACF, Apollo and NextJS to build a dynamic website.

    Presented by Lloan Alas

    I will be talking about GraphQL, using WordPress as a headless CMS, Apollo client, ACF and NextJS to build a dynamic website.

    November 10, 2019 at 11:00 am PST in Innovation
    Development

  • Accessibility Panel Discussion

    Presented by Glen Ingram and Sumner Davenport

    November 10, 2019 at 12:30 pm PST in Innovation
    Accessibility, Development, Graphic Design

  • Story Sharing, Brand Building

    Presented by Bob Marshall

    As we share our story with others; we can build our brand by giving them an outlet to share their story with us. Rather it be a blog on our website or a podcast show, giving our consumers an outlet to give back to us, ables them to invest in our brand. Learn how a local, non-fiction adventure author is doing this.

    November 10, 2019 at 1:30 pm PST in Innovation
    Branding, Content

  • Finding Your Type: Using The Right Fonts For Your WordPress Website

    Presented by Amber Hewitt

    Readability is a very important part to every website and yet it is taken for granted. Choosing the right font can make all the difference in any design. Learn how to select the right type, design your fonts correctly, and add them to your WordPress website.

    November 10, 2019 at 2:30 pm PST in Arts
    Branding, Graphic Design

  • Making Money with Multisite

    Presented by William Bay

    Many people get scared when they think about Multisite. It is quite a misunderstood feature for WordPress. That’s right, it IS a feature. It’s a very powerful feature that can be used to run entire university networks, and even the New York Times. It can also be leveraged with some plugins to create your own website subscription service, like Squarespace or Wix, but built entirely on WordPress, with themes and plugins that you approve of! In this talk, we’ll demystify Multisite, and show you how to set up your very own website service.

    November 10, 2019 at 2:30 pm PST in Innovation

  • Content Writing for Better Audience Engagement and SEO

    Presented by Taylor (Elizabeth-Rose) Waldon

    How much more could you boost the visibility of your website if you optimized your writing style? Writing for the web isn’t as easy as it seems. Learn how to write for your audience in a way that naturally enhances SEO while still adding value to your reader.

    This session will teach you to write website content that accomplishes three main goals every time.
    1) Get found by the right audience using search intent.
    2) Engage readers with easy-to-digest content that gives them added value.
    3) Inspire an action.

    November 10, 2019 at 3:30 pm PST in Arts
    Content, SEO

  • Oxygen – A flexible & powerful site builder for WordPress

    Presented by April Bowler

    We will go over what Oxygen builder is and demonstrate how to use its core functionality as well as touch on some of the more advanced features available, including the newest additions of WooCommerce and Gutenberg compatibility.

    November 10, 2019 at 3:30 pm PST in Innovation
    Development, Plugins