Interview with Andy Christian

May 16, 2014Interview, SpeakersFoundation Friday 101Emily Barney

Andy Christian –

Andy will be presenting Choosing and customizing WordPress themes (no code required!) on Friday in the Foundation Friday 101 track

Andy has been involved in the WordPress community in New York for five years. He is an active member of the WordPress.org Community Contributor group, and has volunteered or spoken at more than a dozen WordCamps around the USA. Andy also volunteers at the monthly WordPress NYC Meetup.

Andy is a co-founder of Tadpole Collective, a web development firm specializing in WordPress and CiviCRM integration. At Tadpole, Andy provides technical support to clients and develops documentation and training for various projects. Andy also provides customer support for WordPress themes at CyberChimps. He blogs about his travels at Andy Was Here.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
WordPress makes expressing yourself on the web easy and accessible. I’m a strong believer in democratizing the web, which just happens to be the main mission of WordPress.

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
Everything is awesome! Seriously, WordCamps are a great place to learn about WordPress, meet other awesome people, and just

What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
The site for WordCamp NYC 2014. 🙂

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
Don’t go it alone. A team, even a team of two, is exponentially more productive and supported than a single freelancer. Even if you freelance alone, build a support network of other developers, designers, financial gurus, etc., to rely on when things get overwhelming.

What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
http://plan.wordcamp.org/

Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
I was a member of a Beatles tribute band for about a year and a half. I played woodwinds (clarinet/flute) and hand percussion, and sang backup vocals.

Interview with Heather Acton

May 15, 2014Interview, SpeakersFoundation Friday 301Emily Barney

Heather Acton –

Heather will be presenting Introduction to Custom Theming on Friday in the Foundation Friday 301 track

Heather Acton is the founder and lead WordPress developer at Helio Interactive, a boutique digital agency in Chicago, IL.

She’s passionate about good practices, mentoring others, and drinking craft beer with colleagues and friends.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
I use WordPress for two main reasons. The first is because it is the right tool to use for most of my clients’ projects. Of all website frameworks available, it is the easiest for them to use, is the most well-supported, and it is the most likely to still be well-supported in the next 5-10 years. Continue reading Interview with Heather Acton →

#wcchi call for Volunteers! We want YOU!

May 14, 2014News & Updates, VolunteersMichelle Schulp Hunt

volunteers WordCamps would not be possible without a strong volunteer base from the community. If you’ve been thinking about attending WordCamp Chicago and want to help out, we would love to have you join us! We have tons of positions, from setup to registration to the Happiness Bar to helping with the rooms and everything in between. Or, let us know how you can best help us out! Sign up now to get on our volunteer list. If you register before May 23rd we can guarantee you a special volunteer t-shirt and a discount ticket to WordCamp Chicago! Click Here To Sign Up To Volunteer

Interview with Mel Choyce

May 14, 2014Interview, SpeakersFoundation Friday 101Emily Barney

Mel Choyce –

Mel will be presenting Getting the Most out of WordPress.com in the 101 Foundation Friday track.

Mel is a Design Engineer at Automattic. She loves big type, cold brew coffee, and printmaking.

Interview:

Why do you use WordPress?
I love how easy it is! You don’t need to be an expert developer to get a beautiful site up and running.

What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
WordPress has an incredibly vibrant, diverse, and welcoming community. Attending a WordCamp is like hanging out with a bunch of friends, even if you’ve never met anyone before. There’s always something interesting going on, and you’ll learn so many new things. Continue reading Interview with Mel Choyce →

Interview with Suzette Franck

May 14, 2014Interview, SpeakersFoundation Friday 201Emily Barney

Suzette Franck –

Suzette will be presenting WordPress Wizardry Without Code on Friday
in the Foundation Friday 201 track

Suzette Franck is the WordPress Evangelist at (mt) Media Temple in Culver City, California, where she educates and advocates for WordPress and the WordPress Community.

In 2013, she attended 80 WordPress meetups where she presented at 25 of them, spoke at 12 WordCamps in 8 different states and two countries, as well as presented online at WordSesh #2 with Natalie MacLees. Suzette has 7 published talks that can be found on WordPress.tv. Continue reading Interview with Suzette Franck →

Tickets for #wcchi are going fast! Register by May 23 to get your swag!

May 13, 2014News & UpdatesMichelle Schulp Hunt

shirts

Do you love attending WordCamps? Do you love all the classy WordCamp-themed stuff we give you? Do you love having a personalized badge and shirts in your size? Do you love being guaranteed a goodie bag of all the best swag? Register for WordCamp Chicago before May 23rd to make sure you get all of these things!*

Get Your Tickets Now!

Tickets for Foundation Friday are also selling fast, we’ve only got a couple left in some of the tracks, so be sure to grab yours now before they are gone!

*Tickets purchased after May 23rd will still get you into all the awesome WordCamp Chicago sessions, but we can’t guarantee all the cool extra stuff.

#wcchi 2014 Schedule Posted!

April 30, 2014News & UpdatesMichelle Schulp Hunt

schedule

We’ve been working hard to put together a fantastic schedule for everyone, and now the preliminary schedule for June 13th, 14th, and 15th has just been released! Remember to purchase your tickets soon if you haven’t already, and check back the closer we get to June since everything is subject to change.

In addition to these amazing sessions, we’ve got a lot of other great activities planned for our attendees, including Lightning talks, architecture tours, networking lunches, and loads of other goodies, so keep an eye out for more great things to come!

Tickets now on sale for WordCamp Chicago 2014!

April 2, 2014News & UpdatesMichelle Schulp Hunt

document-waves

This is no April Fool: tickets are now officially for sale for WordCamp Chicago 2014!

Tickets are priced to sell at $60 for the entire three-day package and $40 for just Saturday and Sunday. The three-day ticket includes Foundation Friday classes.

NOTE: Foundation Friday tracks last all day, so you only need to register for one!

Saturday and Sunday welcome a whole slew of amazing speakers that will teach and challenge you. And if that wasn’t enough, your ticket includes some pretty great extras. We have an amazing after party in the works for Saturday night, some awesome social events planned, and you’ll even receive some great WordCamp Chicago swag!

Tentative Schedule

Foundation Friday: 9am to 5:30pm
Saturday Sessions: 9am to 6pm.
Sunday Sessions:10am to 4:30pm.

Remember: Tickets are limited and will sell out quickly, so make sure to get your tickets today!
We look forward to seeing you there!

Call For Speakers Is Now Open!

February 21, 2014News & Updates, SpeakersMichelle Schulp Hunt

The moment has finally arrived: the WordCamp Chicago 2014 Call for Speakers is live and waiting for your application!

Love WordPress and got something you want to share? We want YOU to apply!

Learn More and Apply to Speak

We have decided to do something a little different this year- our tracks will not be organized by specific topic, but will contain a variety of subjects that will encourage people to visit multiple tracks. Our goal is to have something to appeal to every experience level (beginning, intermediate, and advanced) across the spectrum of WordPress topics.

To give you an idea of the types of talks we are looking for, here are some examples of topics that would be a great fit. This is by no means a limiting factor, so if you have a great talk that doesn’t fit these suggestions, please submit anyway!

DEVELOPMENT: The structure behind WordPress!
Plugins, Cool Custom work, Documentation, Best Practices, Contributing to WordPress, Workflow and Tools, Version Control, Testing/Debugging, Front-End Development, etc.

DESIGN: Focusing on the visual language behind successful WordPress sites (and the web in general).
Graphic Design, Usability, User Experience, Front-End Development, Best Practices, HTML5/CSS3, Responsive/Adaptive, Building Themes, etc.

COMMUNITY: Building a community with or around WordPress
BuddyPress/bbPress, Meetups and Events, Contributing to WordPress, etc.

NICHE: Interesting use cases for WordPress, including niche markets or finding creative solutions for managing complex data.
Real Estate, News, Education, Ecommerce, Non-Profits/Charities, Large/Complex sites, Case Studies, Multisite, etc.

CONTENT AND BUSINESS STRATEGY: The reason for having a website in the first place
Writing, Multimedia, SEO, Lead Generation, Analytics, Marketing, Social Media, etc.

BUSINESS/FREELANCE: For WordPress business owners, agencies, and independents
Running a WordPress business, Working with virtual teams, Pricing and invoicing, Selling WordPress products/licensing, Getting new business, Lessons learned, Etc.

FOUNDATION FRIDAY TOPICS:
WordPress 101 – Beginning WordPress Users
WordPress 201 – Intermediate WordPress Users
WordPress 301 – Intro To WordPress Development/Design
WordPress 401 – Advanced WordPress Development

Learn More and Apply to Speak

Call for Sponsors

February 7, 2014News & Updates, SponsorsMichelle Schulp Hunt

WordCamp Chicago is looking for sponsors for our 2014 event coming up June 13th-15th. Sponsoring WordCamps is a rewarding experience for companies of all sizes, giving you lots of positive visibility and good karma. Plus, it’s a great way to give back to the WordPress community.

Why sponsor WordCamp Chicago?

By sponsoring WordCamp Chicago, you show your support for the WordPress project, that free open source software that has enriched your life and/or business; you also contribute to the growth of your local WordPress community.

WordCamps are run entirely by volunteers and the only funds available are those from ticket sales and our sponsors. We strive to keep ticket prices low ($20/day or less) to ensure accessibility to freelancers and small business owners with limited funds. However, that introduces a challenge when it comes to having a suitable venue, food & beverages for hundreds, technical capabilities, support services, and top-notch speakers.

That’s where you come in.

Whether you would love to feed us lunch, are willing to perform a service we are in need of, or have a spare $1,000 lying around, we would absolutely appreciate that help. With a wide variety of sponsorship levels and ways you can contribute, including Event and In-Kind sponsorships, we have something that fits nearly any budget.

Ready to learn more?

Click the button below to visit our sponsor page, download our sponsorship kit for more information about our sponsorship levels, and fill out the form, and our awesome sponsorship coordinator will be in touch!

Apply To Sponsor