Sessions

Presented by Ryan Kanner in Events Lab.

There’s a simple yet powerful API within WordPress to help developers cache all sorts of data, and in turn speed up load times. Transients are often misunderstood by developers, and their powerful abilities can sometimes be misused.

In this session we will uncover the inner workings of the Transient API, and learn how to properly leverage it’s abilities.

Presented by Diane Whiddon in Ballroom.

Most people think of website content as static pages that hold basic information. This is not the best way to engage your site visitors and grow your business.

Instead, it’s possible to create website content that’s a dynamic story told through the pages of your website. In this way, your website becomes a *process*, not just a dumping ground for information.

This talk is all about how to identify a goal for your website and develop a clear strategy to guide your visitors through your website in a way that gets them to do what you want them to do, whether that’s build your list, sign up for a session, or buy your product.

Presented by Janel Kane in Ballroom.

How many of us work for people, or answer to people that ultimately have no real understanding of what we do? My guess is a lot of us. Learning to talking around tech terms to make yourself understood, or at least get the resources your project needs, can be an art.

Presented in Ballroom, Events Lab.

Social Sidebar is an extension on the “hallway track” concept in providing an open forum to meet and interact with other attendees in our local WordPress community. We’ll have some breakfast foods to nosh on, and selected speakers be manning designated Discussion Hubs for those who want to talk design, development, growth / marketing, business, or meetups. We’ll also have a business-free zone for those who would rather talk about scary clowns or cat videos.

Join us! Maybe you’ll make an important contact, find that perfect candidate for your team, or even just meet some new people 🙂

Presented in Ballroom, Events Lab.

Presented by Jason Bahl in Events Lab.

This talk will cover using React, Redux and the REST API to create decoupled JavaScript apps to interact with WordPress.

Presented by Chris Mospaw in Events Lab.

Presented by Colin Dowling in Events Lab.

In my experience WordPress professionals – from freelancers to full-timers – struggle to keep the pipeline full of new and interesting work. Far too often, there simply aren’t enough leads or the web pro finds themselves saying “yes” to every project that comes along.

This talk explores how partnerships and existing relationships can create a fun and evergreen sales funnel for developers. The focus is on keeping the pipeline full with engaging and interesting work without introducing tired and stale “sales” functions. I love working with Developers to help them grow the business side of their work!

Presented by Steve Wells, Jessica Wittmier in Ballroom.

Forms have become one of the primary tools for user engagement. Like it or not, how your forms are designed and utilized can make or break the effectiveness of your site. Learn some tricks to creating effective forms that engage users and increase conversion rates.

Presented by Amber Hinds, Tracy Malone in Ballroom.

For anyone who’s built a product or has a service you know that it’s not as simple as “build it and they will come”.

Knowing where to find new customers, how to get them to your site, and how to A/B test your site is just as important as building the site in the first place.

This town hall will be hosted by Tracy Malone and Amber Hinds.

Tracy is the owner of a successful marketing company – CoWEBop Marketing. Her team has been building websites for small businesses for over 20 years. She happily shares her knowledge with the WordPress community as a co-organizer of the Boulder WordPress Meetup.

Amber is co-owner and creative director for Road Warrior Creative, a digital marketing agency in Fort Collins. She’s also an organizer for the Fort Collins WordPress meetup and is wrangling volunteers as an organizer for WordCamp Denver this year.

The town hall format lets you ask the hosts a number of questions on a specific topic. Feel free to ask anything related to marketing & WordPress.

Presented by Chris Hinds in Ballroom.

When opportunity knocks, it doesn’t always take the form you would expect. In August of 2016, I left a decade-long career as a professional chef to become the COO and part-owner of a digital agency.  This talk is for would-be entrepreneurs, career changers, and just about anyone else that is thinking about taking a leap. It’s about preparing for the worst, expecting the best and trying to break free of the future we write for ourselves.

This talk is more than just a personal story.  It’s a step-by-step guide through the transition of “employed,” to “self-employed,” and finally to “employer.” I’m not leaving anything out.

Presented by Tim Blodgett in Events Lab.

In January 2016, I started using flex box in most of the custom themes I was creating. I have been amazed at how simple it is to use and how helpful it can be.

Presented by Kenn Kelly in Events Lab.

As consumer behavior changes so does eCommerce whether you’re a store owner or developer this talk will be packed with value for you. We’ll be looking at common misconceptions and pitfalls eCommerce as well as new things coming down the pipeline.

Whether you develop or run a digital or physical eCommerce business and are doing memberships, subscriptions or simple products this talk will cover it all.  Get prepared for the holiday season and 2017 with the latest to make the most of your WordPress eCommerce site.

Presented by Pippin Williamson, Caleb Burks in Ballroom.

Building a WordPress site is one thing – turning that site into a revenue-generating machine is another. This town hall will be hosted by Pippin Williamson and Caleb Burks.

As a business owner, a lead developer for eCommerce software, and a shop owner, Pippin has unique insight on the landscape of eCommerce. He is the author of Easy Digital Downloads and a host of other plugins.

As a WooCommerce Ninja at Automattic. Caleb can offer equally unique insights on eCommerce today. Caleb is a web developer and support professional.

The town hall format let’s you ask the speaker a number of questions on a specific topic. Feel free to ask anything related to e-commerce. Here’s a few subjects that might come up:

• Can WordPress handle e-commerce?
• How does security work?
• What types of software can I use?
• How much will it cost?
• Can I sell something monthly?
• How do membership sites work?
• Can you get live rates from shipping providers?
• etc.

Feel free to bring up anything related to eCommerce on WordPress.

Presented by David Hayes, Jon Bellah in Events Lab.

WordPress is all about customization. It’s open source & GPL. That means you can do just about anything with it. This town hall will be hosted by Jon Bellah and David Hayes.

Ask the hosts questions about the REST API, developing plugins, WP-CLI, XML-RPC or whatever development question you have.

The town hall format let’s you ask the speaker a number of questions on a specific topic. Feel free to ask anything related to development and WordPress.

Presented by Nathan Ingram in Events Lab.

Spend time talking with a group of freelancers and the conversation will inevitably include someone’s unfortunate experience with a terrible client. Most freelancers have a story or two (or eight). While bad clients can’t be completely avoided, there are strategic steps any freelancer can take to contain the impact of a bad client.

In this session, Nathan will explain the how to create a system that preserves workflow and keeps problem clients in check.

• Slides

Presented by Meg Delagrange, Sonja Leix in Ballroom.

Back by popular demand this year, CritiquePress is a hybrid town-hall / panel discussion that brings valuable real-time feedback to attendees for designs they have submitted in advance.

One of the best things about WordPress is how you can pick from thousands of free themes. But to pick the best theme for your site you have to know a little bit about design. We’ve got you covered there. The Design Critique will be co-hosted by Sonja Leix and Meg Delagrange.

Sonja joins us all the way from New York, having recently completed a world tour of sorts as a digital nomad. Her design acumen is well known in design circles the world over, only bolstered by the fact that she’s also an active contributor to the WordPress design and community teams.

Meg is the Creative Director for Wanna Pixel, Inc., a Denver-based web solutions company serving nonprofit organizations. She takes the ideas and puzzle pieces of information from clients and turns them into beautiful, interactive, accessible, and modern user experiences.

This session will consist of a mix of real-time critiques followed by brief Q&A interludes to give attendees an opportunity to follow up with questions for each entry. Feel free to ask anything related to design & WordPress.

> Resources List

Presented by Jeremy Green, Cami Kaos in Ballroom.

There’s a huge community of WordPress enthusiasts out there. Getting them together though can be a bit like herding cats. This town hall will be hosted by Cami Kaos and Jeremy Green.

Cami Kaos is the heart and soul of WordCamp Central, the organization that makes running WordCamps possible. She is a WordCamp Organizer Organizer, so to speak.

Jeremy is the founder of the Fort Collins WordPress meetup and also an organizer for WordCamp Denver! Whether you have questions about starting a meetup or WordCamp or even building up your local  community, you’ll be in good hands with Cami and Jeremy in the hot seat.

The town hall format let’s you ask the speaker a number of questions on a specific topic. Feel free to ask anything related to communities in & around WordPress.

Presented by Caleb Burks in Ballroom.

Leave Session Feedback

Learning how to create and effectively use child themes was the gateway to development for me. I believe it is a crucial first step for those looking to build fully customized websites with WordPress. Child themes are practical in nearly every situation, whether you are a website tinkerer or full time web developer.

In this session, we will learn how to create child themes and when they should be used. But wait, there’s more. As a session bonus, we will also go over the template hierarchy and how WordPress magically works behind the scenes when choosing a page template.

• Slides

Presented by Miles Kailburn, Vi Wickam, D’nelle Dowis in Ballroom.

Knowing how to build a site with PHP & CSS is very helpful when it comes to building a site for clients. But it isn’t the only thing you need.

Knowing how to get clients, how to manage clients, how much to charge them, and how to get them to recommend you to other clients are things that every business owner should know.

This town hall will be hosted by D’nelle Dowis, Vi Wickam, and Miles Kailburn.

The town hall format lets you ask the speaker a number of questions on a specific topic. Feel free to ask anything related to business & WordPress.

Presented by Aubrey Blankenship in Events Lab.

Most small businesses are told they need to be on social media, or they need to blog, or they need to have a website but often they don’t know how to tie all the pieces together.

In this session, I’ll provide an inbound marketing-based strategy and a plan for how to bring all the pieces together.

Presented by Tracy Malone in Ballroom.

Clients come to me with websites that “A Friend” set up for me.. and it doesn’t work. Of course it can be pretty because it’s WordPress but HOW can we make it work?

Presented by Robert Jolly in Events Lab.

Making WordPress themes and plugins can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to accessibility for your end users.

Presented by Bethany Siegler in Events Lab.

Isn’t it heartbreaking to go through the process of writing a proposal and not getting the project? I’ll help you ask stronger questions up front to really understand your potential clients’ projects.

Oh, and as a bonus, I’ll share how I find out what they are really willing to pay before I write a proposal.