Tell us a bit about yourself.\u00a0\u00a0Please share a brief history of your company:<\/p>\n
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My name is John Gibson, but I use the alias DJ Johnny Medley for all media- and production-related endeavors.\u00a0\u00a0I am one half of the DMA Media Group LLC, along with the founder of Dance Music Authority Magazine (DMA, 1993-2003), Gary Hayslett.\u00a0\u00a0Thanks specifically to\u00a0WordPress<\/a>, our \u201cdeceased\u201d print publication has been \u201creincarnated\u201d and managed to \u201ccome back from the dead\u201d online at\u00a0DanceMusicAuthority.com<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0This has been a life-affirming, work-in-progress since April of 2008, but, again, thanks to WordPress, DMA is on its \u201cfeet\u201d and building positive momentum every day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I cannot overstate how much we love WordPress and the concept of an open source community. You are never alone within the WP community and the desire to learn becomes infectious.\u00a0\u00a0I never thought that one day I would actually install blogging software on my local machine and get under the hood cutting and pasting code.\u00a0\u00a0WordPress grows on you, and that is a very good thing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We just snagged a spot in Chicago\u2019s\u00a0OfficePort<\/a>,which has a significant WordPress user base within the facility.\u00a0\u00a0TheChicago WordPress meetup<\/a>\u00a0group hosts a lot of functions there, so I feel we are definitely in good company.\u00a0\u00a0I also like the fact that OfficePort is in the heart of downtown Chicago, 9 West Washington Street.\u00a0\u00a0I worked for\u00a0Cook County government<\/a>\u00a0for nearly 12 years in public relations and OfficePort places me steps away from Chicago\u2019s political nucleus.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s also very cool to see that Cook County government is running on WordPress; they\u2019re definitely \u201cWP Rockstars\u201d over there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is your favorite plugin?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We got very lucky and were able to get DMA into the\u00a0VaultPress<\/a>\u00a0beta program.\u00a0\u00a0VaultPress absolutely rocks, and also allows us to contribute to the WordPress community in a tangible way.\u00a0\u00a0We love VaultPress because of the real-time, backups it provides; it\u2019s elegant and transparent.\u00a0\u00a0Jetpack<\/a>\u00a0is another new favorite because it consolidates several plugins into one.\u00a0\u00a0Moreover, since it\u2019s from\u00a0Automattic<\/a>, you know it won\u2019t be abandoned, but, rather, further developed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We also rely heavily on\u00a0Gravity Forms<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0We want DMA to be a completely open forum where visitors can easily post their own events, clips, or news to share with the world.\u00a0\u00a0Gravity Forms makes that possible.\u00a0\u00a0We actually got turned on to them at WordCamp Chicago, 2009.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s funny how things work.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0Post Expirator<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Duplicate post<\/a>\u00a0plugins are also golden; the Expirator reduces the post (event) to a draft at a set time, which is perfect for contests.\u00a0\u00a0Duplicate post is cool for recurring or multi-day events.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tell us about your latest WP project:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We switched over to a different theme at the beginning of this year because we felt \u201clocked\u201d into our prior theme, which was heavily customized.\u00a0\u00a0The cool folks over at\u00a0Solostream<\/a>\u00a0really helped us out and significantly reduced the number of plugins we use.\u00a0\u00a0One of the goals of the makeover was to lean as much as possible on WordPress\u2019 built-in functionality.\u00a0We use a custom field called \u201cdate\u201d and use \u201cquery_posts\u201d to order our events by date, and region (category).\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019re on the serious lookout for an even better way to showcase date-specific events, which are primarily parties or podcasts.\u00a0Recurring events is a specific area we want to improve.\u00a0\u00a0We have been looking at a number of events plugins, but nothing seems to offer everything we\u2019re looking for.\u00a0\u00a0Since we showcase party flyers, the visual image, as opposed to just text, is essential.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m sure that a solution will soon manifest; I\u2019m an optimist.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Share one WP tip:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The best tip I can give is rather generic:\u00a0\u00a0Just dive in and enjoy WP!\u00a0\u00a0WordPress will expand your world purely by osmosis\u2014if you let it.\u00a0\u00a0My original role in this LLC was never intended to be that of a web designer, but thanks to timing and WordPress, we managed to save thousands of dollars and actually make our dream a tangible reality.\u00a0\u00a0Another cool and significant benefit of the online arena and publishing with WordPress is affordability.\u00a0\u00a0Quite simply, there is no excuse for not flexing online.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s empowering to be able to emphatically state \u201cDance Music Authority is here to stay!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0That is a major blessing that cannot be overlooked or overemphasized; the sense of permanence online publishing provides is a huge advantage over print.\u00a0\u00a0WordPress is now the most important software in our studio and that is profound.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What inspires you?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I firmly believe that one should be passionate about what one does for a living.\u00a0\u00a0I am an \u201call or nothing\u201d type of person. \u201cYou can\u2019t fake the feeling without feeling,\u201d is a classic house music line which essentially sums up my approach to life.\u00a0Obviously, there are times when one cannot do what one wants, but it is a good overall goal for those who want to live in \u201cthe flow.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0WordPress empowers people and has changed countless lives for the better.\u00a0\u00a0Businesses have been created and countless ideas have been disseminated thanks to WordPress.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Any tips for people just getting started with Blogging or using WP?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Again, \u201cjust dive in!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Because the WP community is so large, it\u2019s easy to get a ton of information to practically any question.\u00a0\u00a0One only needs to use \u201cWordPress\u201d in their search term and they will, undoubtedly, find a ton of answers to practically any question they may have.\u00a0\u00a0I always start with Google search for any question..\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0WP Codex<\/a>\u00a0is golden\u2026and vast.\u00a0\u00a0I recently got into loading WP on a local machine with\u00a0BitNami<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0The WordPress community is mind-blowing and the sheer joy of getting under the hood with WP is, again, infectious.\u00a0\u00a0This may sound corny, but you are never alone out there and forums can be priceless.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do you have a WP hero?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In addition to Matt Mullenweg, et al., it was Brian Gardner\u2019s forum which really turned us on to the limitless possibilities of WordPress.\u00a0\u00a0That was in April of 2008.\u00a0\u00a0We were at the 2008\u00a0Winter Music Conference<\/a>\u00a0which takes place in March every year.\u00a0\u00a0At that time, we only had an HTML \u201ccoming soon\u201d tease page.\u00a0\u00a0We were fresh off of a bad experience with a developer who suddenly became impossible to reach after delivering an incomplete site.\u00a0\u00a0The biggest rub was that we had to go through him to do anything.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We had to reboot the project, but that was a good early lesson.\u00a0\u00a0We lost exactly $1,000 on the incomplete site, but that was the only time we \u201cwasted\u201d money.\u00a0\u00a0We moved on early and the design never went live.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m thankful we got out immediately.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After our reboot, another developer wanted to charge us more than $7,000 for a Drupal-powered site.\u00a0\u00a0Given that our previous developer wanted to string us out, I moved on and looked for other options.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thankfully, we found WordPress.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is your motto?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always an answer\u201d quickly became my motto after a few early sessions getting under the hood with Brian Gardner\u2019s themes.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m definitely not a coder or designer, but I\u2019ve had lots of fun messing around\u2014since day one.\u00a0\u00a0I just cut and paste chunks of code\u2014definitely nothing special\u2014but it does feel great to be able to get down a little bit.\u00a0Playing with code is good for you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is your favorite restaurant or club in Chicago?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe Segal\u2019s Jazz Showcase has been a favorite for years.\u00a0\u00a0They just moved to a new location, but the vibe is the same in every venue\u2014straight-ahead jazz, front and center!\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m a fan of virtually any club that features DJs who actually mix, since we take our DJing very seriously in Chicago.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is your idea of success?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I find that it is important to be passionate about what one does for a living.\u00a0\u00a0When that is the case, good things start to happen\u2026naturally.\u00a0\u00a0The ability to live autonomously and be financially secure are also parts of the equation.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m pretty simple.\u00a0\u00a0I love technology, music and never want to stop growing.<\/p>\n Contact Info:<\/p>\n DJ Johnny Medley:\u00a0\u00a0jmedley@dmaclub.com<\/a>;\u00a0twitter.com\/dmaclub<\/a>;\u00a0773-550-6122<\/a><\/p>\n WordCamp is always a blast and a phenomenal, mind-expanding experience.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019re really amped this year and looking forward to meeting folks and learning as much as we can!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tell us a bit about yourself.\u00a0\u00a0Please share a brief history of your company: My name is John Gibson, but I use the alias DJ Johnny Medley for all media- and production-related endeavors.\u00a0\u00a0I am one half of the DMA Media … Continue reading Interview with Sponsor DJ Johnny Medley<\/span>