All posts by Emily Barney

Interview with Becky Davis

Interview, Speakers

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Becky will be presenting Project Management or How to Herd Cats on Sunday in the Business/Project Management track

Becky is a solopreneur web designer/developer who specializes in custom themes. She fell in love with WordPress in 2009 and has never looked back. She is a big advocate for training and empowering site owners and to that end speaks regularly on WordPress and web design at SCORE Chicago and runs the Northside Chicago WordPress meetup.

Her kids are both out of the house at this point, but she still takes care of the kitties and her landlord’s garden. She is grateful that winter is over and she can once again ride her bike to the grocery store and to meet friends at the bar.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
At this point I know it so well, that’s there’s very little that I can’t do with it. I also like giving my clients as much control as possible.

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
Best, most affordable, most approachable tech conference around. You always learn something, meet interesting people and leave with your brain buzzing.

What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
lafeber.com
This is actually a collection of several sites under one corporate umbrella. We got the consumer (pet birds) side with a shopping cart and custom post types done last year. The larger membership restricted informational Vet site is getting re-done this year.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
Never discount a job and not charge what you’re worth, never stop learning and remember to give back. Doing presentations at meetups and Camps is a great way to learn more yourself and what makes the whole WP community so cool.

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
Google & twitter – seriously, so many good sources, never know where I’m going to find the answer I’m looking for.

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
I make some of the best cookies on the planet and over the holidays I’ve been known to go through over 5 pounds of butter. My secret? My great grandmother’s copy of Betty Crocker to start.

Interview with Travis Totz

Interview, Speakers

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Travis will be presenting Designing for Interaction on Saturday in the Design track

Partner and co-owner at Westwerk/WerkPress, Travis has been driven to build and create wonderful projects on-top of WordPress since version 1.5.

In-between working on client work and traveling the country, Travis helps organize and build-up the local, Minneapolis WordPress community through advanced user meet-ups and engagements.

Travis enjoys spending his time solving web design challenges – through design, interaction, and user experience.

Travis’ passions outside of WordPress are reading non-fiction, making music, traveling, and living a vegetarian/healthy lifestyle.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
The ease of client-use. The community and amazing, passionate people that are a part of it.

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
There is a nearly endless amount of knowledge and connections that one can gain from simply attending a WordCamp. Engage and benefit.

What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
The re-design and build of our own websites; Westwerk and WerkPress. It’s always fun (and excruciating) working on your own brand(s).

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
Make connections and be open to change, opportunity, and growth. Create a business plan and be smart about all of the decisions that you make. Be okay with saying “No”.

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
Following the best-of-the-best on Twitter. WP Tavern, and of course attending WordCamps 🙂

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
I love to spend time digging into nerdy historical or science-based non-fiction books.

Interview with Zac Gordon

Interview, Speakers

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Zac will be presenting Why Setting Up Themes is a Niche in Itself, What to Know on Friday
in the Foundation Friday 201 track

Zac is the WordPress teacher at Treehouse, an amazing online learning site. Before Treehouse, Zac taught WordPress and web development at the high school and college level.

In addition to teaching WordPress, Zac also runs Web Hosting for Students, a hosting company dedicated to students and teachers of the web.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
I use it as a blogger because I love it’s interface, ease of use and extendability. I use it as a developer because of it’s large community of users and developers as well as how easy it is to code custom templates.

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
No, really you should go.

What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
I have been working on a large BuddyPress project. I wouldn’t say I’ve enjoyed it, but it’s taught me a lot about the inner workings of BuddyPress.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
Definitely attend a WordCamp to network, have patience, and keep at it!

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
The Codex for me is a daily go to, but I also like wphierarchy.com 🙂

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
I love to practice and teach Kundalini WordPress

Interview with Zach Tollman

Interview, Speakers

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Zach will be presenting Speed as a Feature: Getting a Handle on Page Load Time on Sunday in the Advanced Development track

Residing in Portland, Oregon, Zack longs for the cold, snowy days of his Alaskan youth. He enjoys strumming his guitar, playing hockey, and spending time with his wife and dog.

Otherwise, you’ll find him at his computer meticulously spinning lines of clean code as a developer at The Theme Foundry.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
I use WordPress because of the amazing community around the software. People of WordPress are universally exceptional and it is a wonderful to work alongside so many talented individuals.

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
In order to understand why the WordPress community is so great, you need to start interacting with it. The best place to start is at a WordCamp. With very little effort, you will begin to build lifelong relationships that will affect many aspects of your life.

What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
At The Theme Foundry, we recently rebuilt our servers in order to improve security and performance. We were able to implement SSL everywhere, while not sacrificing (and in some cases, improving) performance of our site. Much of this work has inspired my WordCamp Chicago talk.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
Talk to people. WordPress business owners are competitive, yet very helpful. The business “stars” of our community tend to be more than willing to share information to help you be successful. The more successful businesses that champion WordPress, the more successful WordPress will be overall.

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
As a developer, I used to rely on what other people had to say about WordPress code; however, overtime, I’ve learned that it’s best to just go to the “horse’s mouth” to get the information that you need. In this case, that is the WordPress core code itself. You will learn more about WordPress, PHP, and development practices by reading core code than any one else’s writing about it.

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
I’m a huge hockey fan and because my wife is from Chicago, I’ve adopted the Blackhawks as my team. I’m hoping for another parade during WordCamp Chicago this year.

Interview with Joe Casabona

Interview, Speakers

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Joe will be presenting Responsive Design with WordPress on Saturday
in the Development track

Joe Casabona is a web developer, author, and teacher who focuses primarily on WordPress and mobile development. His latest book, Responsive Design with WordPress is out now.

He is also a Yankee fan, plays the drums, and enjoys a fine cigar from time to time. You can find him over at casabona.org .

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
Because it’s generally the best tool for the job!

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
It’s cheap, the talks are great, and the networking is invaluable.

What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
I’m currently working on a mobile app for The University of Scranton using AppPresser. Pretty cool!

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
Find your niche and talk to people! The great thing about the WP community is that even though we are all technically competing, we are ready and willing to help each other out!

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
Can I say my book? 🙂

I find myself going to the Codex more than any other resource.

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
I play the drums! Not in a band or anything…but in my apartment!

Interview with Jamie Sanchez

Interview, Speakers

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Jamie will be presenting Admin as a User Experience: The Quest for Simplicity on Friday in the Foundation Friday 301 track

Jamie Sanchez is an award-winning graphic designer, front-end developer, and usability advocate in Chicago, IL. She’s been crafting websites for over 12 years, experimenting with WordPress since 2005, and has over 6 years of design and marketing expertise working with clients such as Follett, Holabird and Root, and US Equities. She currently develops websites at Association Management Center.

Jamie is extremely passionate about community building. She is the founder of AnimeChicago, board member of independent game developer community Indie City Collective, and proud Chicago Nerd Social Club member. Follow @spacedragon for nerdy rants and occasional craft beer live tweet tastings.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
WordPress makes life so much easier. It often saves a client a lot of time, money and hassle down the line. I cannot stress the importance of using an easy, non-anxiety-inducing CMS when educating and recommending content-first web strategy and editorial calendar to a client. But most of all, the community is avidly updating documentation and sharing their knowledge to make other’s lives easier, too. They are the best.

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
Although you may have learned a ton of WordPress knowledge from online documentation and forums, nothing beats humanizing your development experience. Don’t fear meatspace. Venting frustrations and sharing victories in-person is part of networking, and those connection made at WordCamp can go a long way.

What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
I spend a fair amount of time promoting and learning about independent games at events like Penny Arcade Expo, IndieCade and GDC. The indie dev community is phenomenal but most devs are new to running a business. There’s no consistent model to follow – what works for some probably might not work again in the future.

So I teamed up with a friend to conceive, craft and launch IndieBoothcraft.com over a weekend. It’s a resource hub to share design, marketing, and convention knowledge with indie devs who are new to exhibiting games. I had a ton of fun fiddling around with responsive code and integrating Advanced Custom Fields for easier data entry. A few devs have been very appreciative of the resource. I hope grow this project with more data and some cool tools!

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
WordPress development is a great way to earn extra income as a part-time freelancer. That type of work pays for my travels and adventures, but it also leads to severe burnout. Two tips:

1) You’ll be surprised how much time will go towards client management and security measures instead of the fun parts like theming and content creation. So either be picky about what kind of client work you accept or have a fun project on the side to keep your WP interest piqued.

2) Be clear about your business hours, your hourly rate, and how much support you’ll provide post-launch. Most of all, be honest with yourself about these commitments!

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
I know this is obvious, but the WP Codex is always my first stop when looking for answers. As for plugins, I can’t say enough about Advanced Custom Fields! It adds a professional touch and really cuts down on documentation and client education time.

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
My greatest adventure of 2014 thus far was taking an Amtrak train from Chicago to San Francisco with 58 indie game devs. It’s known as Train Jam and like most game jams, each team conceives of a game idea and executes as much of it as possible by the end of the jam. Although it was the worst two nights of sleep I’ve ever had, I helped make a game!

Interview with Chris Lema & Steve Zehngut

Interview, Speakers

Steve and Chris will be presenting Are you ready to learn a bit about Pricing? on Saturday in the Business/Project Management track

Chris Lema – twitter dark blue jeans social media icons designed by icons.mysitemyway.com facebook dark blue jeans social media icons designed by icons.mysitemyway.com LinkedIn dark blue jeans social media icons designed by icons.mysitemyway.com Google+ dark blue jeans social media icons designed by icons.mysitemyway.com

For twenty years Chris has been managing high performers and overseeing new product development.

He’s a daily blogger, an ebook author, a public speaker and works as the VP of Engineering for Emphasys Software. In his spare time he helps companies leverage WordPress, and WordPress companies find leverage.

Steve Zehngut – twitter dark blue jeans social media icons designed by icons.mysitemyway.com facebook dark blue jeans social media icons designed by icons.mysitemyway.com LinkedIn dark blue jeans social media icons designed by icons.mysitemyway.com

Steve founded Zeek Interactive in 1995 and he has been the creative technologist behind the Huntington Beach based company since its inception. Under his direction, Zeek has grown from an apartment bedroom to one of Southern California’s leading development and consulting shops.

Steve is the organizer of the OC WordPress Meetup and has helped build the community to over 850 members. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has taught interactive courses at UC Irvine, USC, the American Film Institute, and Cal State Long Beach. Steve has a BA in Film from Cal State Northridge.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
Chris: It continues to be the easiest CMS to deliver editable websites for customers.

Steve: Ease of use for my clients. Rapid development for me.

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
Chris: They’re a great place to get introduced to an incredible community of helpful people.

Steve: WordCamps are the fastest way to get up to speed on WordPress. They are typically a 2-3 day intensive workshop covering several WP related topics. I also attend WordCamps for the networking opportunities. You get to rub elbows with the best in the WP community.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
Chris: Watch as much of the Matt Report as you can!

Steve: A quick business tip: Specialize. Do not try to be an expert in everything. Understand your strengths and focus on them. Partner with others who compliment those strengths.

Also, participate in your local WordPress meetup. If one doesn’t exist in your area, start a WordPress meetup. This is a great way to share with your peers and also to trade knowledge.

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
Chris: The WPWatercooler – it’s a 30 minute weekly show that is full of fun and educational material.

Steve: I use the Codex everyday.

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
Chris: I’ve participated in the design, development, marketing, pricing and launch process for over 90 software as a service (SaaS) products.

Steve: I love to play poker, although I don’t have any time to play currently. If anyone needs a lesson, I am happy to help you part with your hard-earned cash.

Interview with Sara Cannon

Interview, Speakers

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Sara will be presenting Do Big Things With A Small Team  in the Business/Project Management track  with Aaron Campbell, Brian Krogsgard and Pete Mall as well as Smart Design: Icon Fonts, SVG, and the Mobile Influence in the Design track, both on Saturday.

Sara Cannon has a passion for art, design, and typography. She is Partner and Creative Director for Range – A design and development agency specializing in WordPress.

Sara is a WordPress contributor, loves open source, her pets, and traveling the world. You can find her writing on her blog sara-cannon.com.

“Life is short, art is long, typography is everything, code is poetry.”

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
its the best. its freedom.

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
you’ll learn a ton and meet awesome people!

What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
Flickr.com Blog. It was so much fun designing and launching it!

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
Put time into working in the community and WordPress core.

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
PostStatus!

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
I’m an artist. you can see some of my work at http://saracannonart.com

Also: I type Dvorak.

Interview with Lisa Ghisolf

Interview, Speakers

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Lisa will be presenting A house with no walls: Creating a site structure for the future on Sunday in the General Interest track

Lisa Ghisolf is Gizmo Creative Factory, with 17+ years in print, web & email design, and 10 years in business. She’s worked with big and small agencies alike, creating print work and websites for Kraft, Allstate & many corporations & organizations.

Instead of just putting out fires, she’s now building robust WordPress sites and training clients and giving workshops on how they can manage them on their own.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
I’ve been building sites since 1996, and it’s the first CMS that’s felt flexible enough and robust enough to really handle most clients’ requests. The community is amazing too, and so helpful.

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
That they’ll get an amazing amount of information no matter their knowledge of WordPress.

What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
I’m a nerd, but I love optimizing and cleaning them up so they’re running well. This happens pretty often.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
Get to know other designers and developers and keep asking questions.

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
Probably WPMU. Lately I’ve been working on a number of Buddypress or multisite sites and it’s been invaluable.

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
I’m a Saab snob and love to discuss the various leaks with other Saab folk. We’re a small but dedicated group.

Interview with Joe Dolson

Interview, Speakers

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Joe will be presenting Accessibility Ready: Theming for a larger audience on Saturday in the Development track

Joe Dolson is a WordPress plug-in developer and accessibility consultant. He’s the author of several popular WordPress plug-ins, including WP to Twitter and My Calendar, and works to promote accessible development with WordPress.

He teaches a course at the University of Colorado at Boulder on developing accessibly with WordPress, and works with the WordPress Accessibility task force on the accessibility of WordPress itself.

Joe has been working in marketing and web development since 2001, providing web consulting and development services to clients in the US and in Europe. Joe writes and speaks regularly on important topics in accessible web development and web standards. Keep up with Joe at Joe Dolson Accessible Web Design.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
WordPress is powerful, flexible, and stable. It’s well documented, has a friendly community, and makes a killer sandwich.

What’s not to like?

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
For $20 you’ll hear a full day of speakers who’ll help you learn everything you need to know about WordPress. Add in some great networking opportunities and lunch, and you should be pretty completely convinced already.

What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
In the last few months I’ve significantly increased my time committed to working on WordPress core. What could be better than that?

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
Maybe I’m old fashioned, but 95% of my time is spent either browsing the documentation in the WordPress Codex or browsing source. I don’t think there’s a better resource out there for getting your hands dirty on WordPress.

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
My education is in music. I got my degree in violin performance and composition, and although it’s not how I make my living now, I’m still active as the concertmaster of a community orchestra in Saint Paul.