Communities and the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense

WordCamp Speaker Interviews

Josepha Haden is a speaker at WordCamp Chicago this talking about Communities and the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense. Get to know her below!

Bio

Josepha comes from a long line of writers and was raised to be a life-long learner. She has a passion for language and storycrafting, a skill she practices on starsandthemoon.com. Josepha has over a decade of experience using SEO, data analysis, and content marketing to bring success and visibility to clients all over the world. Since 2010 she’s been working in her hometown of Kansas City to increase digital literacy and get more women in tech. Josepha works at Automattic as a community organizer for the WordPress open source project and can be found on Twitter as @josephahaden.

WordPress Mini-Interview

  1. My initial introduction to WordPress was at WordCamp Fayetteville in 2009 or so. I founded the local Kansas City community in 2010 and started hosting WordCamps in 2011.
  2. I believe strongly that WordPress can be used to help everyone learn and perfect their 21st century skill set. One of the most elusive, but most important, is the skill that allows us to have more effective communication online. With better communication comes better collaboration which is, arguably, the heart of the WordPress project. I am motivated to speak at WordCamps to raise awareness of these skill-honing aspects of WordPress.
  3. The people, hands down. I’ve never been to a WordPress event (Meetups, training workshops, WordCamps, you name it) where I felt unwelcome. The platform is made infinitely better by the support and encouragement of the people who build it.

So You Think You Can’t Video

Uncategorized

Jessica Garbarino is a speaker at WordCamp Chicago talking about So You Think You Can’t Video. Get to know her below!

Bio

Jessica Garbarino is the founder of Every Single Dollar, a company dedicated to helping single women navigate the world of personal finance. She offers individual financial coaching, speaks on personal finance, and produces video on various financial topics.  Jessica lives the debt free life in sunny South Florida.

WordCamp Mini-Interview

  1. I first become interested in WordPress when I launched my business last year.  I had a developer create my website but I quickly discovered that I needed to have a better working knowledge about all the amazing features that WordPress could bring to my site.
  1. I attended my first WordCamp in Miami just a few months ago (Feb 2016).  The speakers at the event encouraged me and others to apply to speak at WordCamp to share our knowledge with the WordPress community.  I feel like it’s my way of giving back after receiving such great content at my first WordCamp event.
  1. What I love about WordPress is that it’s such a comprehensive and robust platform. When I was looking for platforms for my website, WordPress was the resounding recommendation for both stability and reliability.  I also like the fact that with WordPress.org, you own your site as opposed to other web platforms where you are merely renting space.  I also found through my research that many large companies have built their company websites on WordPress so it gave me comfort that I was using a reliable platform.

Make WP_CLI Work For You: Extending WP_CLI With Custom Commands

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Chris Wiegman is a speaker at WordCamp Chicago this talking about Make WP_CLI Work For You: Extending WP_CLI With Custom Commands. Get to know him below!

Bio

Chris is a Senior Web Engineer at 10up working on solving business problems with WordPress.

WordCamp Mini-Interview

1.) I was working for the aviation department at SIU and needed a system to provide sites to faculty, student groups and others and WordPress was the perfect choice. After using it there for a while I realized it was the bet platform to develop plugins for and the rest was history.

2.) I love teaching but I don’t get to do much of it lately. WordCamps are one of the few outlets I have to share what I’ve learned with the community. As for WordCamp Chicago, as a native Chicagoan I’ve been wanting to speak at this camp for years and am honored to finally have the opportunity to do so.

3.) Three reasons. First, the community. Having such a large and diverse community gives developers and users alike more opportunities than many technologies out there. Second, the commitment towards backwards compatibility has allowed a huge add-on market in plugins and themes to form giving users even more opportunity to do what they need to do. Finally, the low barrier of entry combines with the flexibility and power of the apis make it a great platform for rookies and veterans alike.

Intro to WordPress Hooks

WordCamp Speaker Interviews

Ian Wilson is the speaker on Intro to WordPress Hooks at WordCamp Chicago this year. Get to know him with our mini-interview below.

Bio 

Co-Owner at build/create and WordPress user since 2006.  Ian works as designer, developer, marketer, and erstwhile sysadmin to keep all aspects of site development running smoothly within his team.

Mini-WordPress Interview

1) I first became interested in WordPress in 2006 while I was looking at easier ways to make a website for myself.  When I looked at the PHP for the first time I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  Now here I am!

2) I also like talking about things that make me excited and trying to spread that excitement to other people.  I really want to be the speaker that helps a couple of people achieve that break through where suddenly something they didn’t understand before becomes clear and they “get it”.

3) I feel that the community around WordPress is one of the greatest things about it.  It embraces users of every skill level and incorporates their experiences into the end product.  WordPress empowers us to deliver high quality, easy to use solutions to our clients in a way that nothing else does.

Using WordPress for Bloggers

WordCamp Speaker Interviews

Maddy Osman is talking on how Using WordPress for Bloggers. Before WordCamp starts, get to know her in this post.

Bio

Maddy Osman is a digital marketer who has a passion for blogging. Her lifestyle blog,www.ChicagoCheapAss.com, shows young adults how the find the best deals and values in Chicago. If you’re more interested in learning how to be more effective with your own blog, check out her website, www.The-Blogsmith.com.

WordPress Mini-Interview

1.       When did you first become interested in WordPress?

I first became interested in WordPress when I created my initial portfolio website. At the same time, my boss in College was teaching me the in’s and out’s of the platform. I haven’t looked back – I work exclusively with WordPress in personal and professional projects, now.

2.       What motivated you to speak at WordCamp?

I use WordPress from many different perspectives – as a content creator and as a website designer. I hope that sharing my knowledge of the platform, I can help others!

3.       Why do you think WordPress is different from other web platforms?

WordPress is very user friendly once you’ve given it a fair chance. Even non-technical people can get a lot out of it! It’s also ideal for my web clients – I can pass on a website to them that’s easy for them to edit without my help.

 

Hotel Discounts

WordCamp News

Pre-negotiated Hotel Room Rates.

There are a limited number of rooms at each venue, so please book ASAP.

PLEASE NOTE RESERVATION CUT OFF DAYS

Travelodge Hotel Chicago
65 E. Harrison St. Chicago, IL 60605
$130-140/night
Reservations Department: 800-578-7878
Group Name: WordCamp Chicago
Block Code: CGWP16

Cut-off date for this reservation is 4/4/16.

Congress Plaza Hotel
520 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60605
$169/night
Reservations Department: 312/427-3800 EXT. 5025 OR 1-800-635-1666
Group Name: WordCamp Chicago

Cut-off date for this reservation is 3/29/16.

Call for Speakers

WordCamp News

Thank you to all the individuals that submitted speaker applications. The quality of the submissions is simply outstanding! We will be announcing speakers in a few batches over the next 1-2 weeks.

Please check back soon and don’t forget to book your hotel rooms before the discounted rates expire.

 

Hello Speaker Applicants! Please make sure to fill out all the fields on the form below. Submissions will be open till Saturday March 12, 2016 @ Midnight.

Deadline extended (1) more day to Sunday March 13th @ Midnight.  

 

WordCamp Chicago Tickets on Sale Now

WordCamp News

REGISTER NOW FOR WORDCAMP CHICAGO!

WordCamp is a popular event that brings in local and national speakers every year to present cutting-edge talks on design, development, content production, and other WordPress topics, for an extremely reasonable price… and we are very excited about what we have to offer this year!

We anticipate tickets for the weekend being in high demand, so get yours now!

April 30 – May 1, 2016 @ The University Center

REGISTER NOW

We’ll be posting information regarding speaker submissions, a call for sponsors, as well as other announcements as we get closer to the event.

Make sure to subscribe to updates (form in sidebar) to get the latest news and updates.

INTERESTED IN SPEAKING, SPONSORING, OR VOLUNTEERING?

We’ll be opening up calls for speakers, sponsors, and volunteers in the next couple weeks, so if you are interested in doing one of those things, don’t worry, we’ll be reserving some tickets for you! Subscribe to updates to make sure you catch these announcements.