WordCamp North Canton 2014

Come ask the lead developer of the BuddyPress and bbPress projects anything!

So you want to build a website! You know WordPress is the way to go, but you’re not sure which route to take: WordPress.com or self-hosted. We’ll consider the benefits and limitations of each avenue, helping you make your choice by weighing everything from hosting considerations and theme selection to upgrades, security, and plugins. After the session, you’ll have a better sense of which flavor of WordPress is right for you.

An overview of what WordPress is and how the Kent City Schools district and Kent Roosevelt use it in education.

How to take your theming skills to the next level including tips on CSS, child themes, frameworks, customizer options, and submitting a theme to the WordPress.org Theme Directory.

I will discuss ways that you can safely keep your blog under version control with git. I will discuss the safety concerns about storing your secret keys and database passwords in your wp-config file if you are using git and how to correctly do it.

There’s a movement to make the web a more interactive, friendly, and exciting place to create and publish content. With WordPress you can publish a variety of material, but it’s all somewhat static. A one-way street of interaction.

One way to build and publish interactive content is through the power of faceted search. Faceted search is pervasive where people can afford it – site like Yelp, Amazon, Kayak, LinkedIn, and Ebay. Unfortunately, it’s usually been too expensive to implement for sites without 10 figure development budgets. Recently, there have been a number of solutions to add faceted search functionality to WordPress sites, but what’s the best way to use this awesome new technology?

We’ll talk about the importance of faceted search, how you can leverage faceted search technology to widen your tool-belt, how it can expand the level of interaction on a WordPress site, and its utility in the world of content publishing and web design.

You can probably recall a really well designed website or two. What if there was a science behind what made it memorable to you?

In this session we will break down 10 essential elements of web design, including some current trends, from colors and typography to page layout and navigation. We will then further explore their practical application with some examples.

I will teach beginner & intermediate WordPress users where to find, how to select, and how to install the best WordPress theme for their blog or website.

I have created a 5 point checklist that anyone can use to measure the quality of any WordPress theme.

My presentation will be great for new WordPress users, or people who do freelance WordPress work.

Learn how to keep your WordPress sites under version control using a git workflow refined over dozens of sites. We’ll cover repository organization, what belongs (and, perhaps more importantly, what doesn’t belong), and how to make deploying updates and working with multiple environments as painless as possible.

Please note that this presentation is not an introduction to Git nor version control. While Git experience is not mandatory it’s recommended that you have some understanding of version control going into the talk.

A quick overview of Generic Framework and why it was built, then leading into how to set up a workflow for rapidly building child themes, including processes and tools. This could easily be a live development presentation if the time and resources are available.

Want to learn how to change a WP theme? I will teach you how I used Google Chrome’s tools and extentions to learn the basics of themes and how to alter them all by yourself.

Whether you’re new to WordPress or have been around the block a few times, it’s easy to let projects fall by the wayside and get out of hand. Learn how to stay on track while working with WordPress and set yourself up for future growth.

Website security is important to everyone who has a website, as well as everyone who uses a website. Whether it gets five visitors a day or five-thousand, hackers are looking to compromise, break, infect and virtually own every website that they can for monetary and social purposes.

While the topic seems mysterious to most users, website security is actually a set of simple principles that everyone can adopt to keep their risk at the absolute lowest. Being a WordPress user is a great start, and the discussion will surround habits, practices and techniques to follow to keep a WordPress site secure from hackers and malware.

This session will be a continuation of Beginner Photoblogging or serve as a standalone session for the WordPress.com user that already has a basic blog established. Perfect for users that want to delve more deeply into setting up a static front page for their site, creating custom menus, and utilizing the perfect combination of widgets for a beautiful, functional site. The importance of tags, categories, and attachment details will also be covered. Most of the content of this session will be relevant for WordPress.org users as well.

With a focus on the entirely new WordPress user, this talk will introduce creating a photoblog with WordPress.com. Starting with identifying one’s muse and motivation, we will discuss different types of photoblogs, navigate through how to network with other bloggers and share your blog’s content on social media, and chat about some of the ideal photography themes available on WordPress.com. We’ll wrap up the session with a start-to-finish tutorial on how to create a new blog post with a photo gallery.

Leveraging the power of WordPress for anyone wishing to know how to use their WordPress site more effectively. You’ll leave knowing how to easily manage posts and pages, post resources, videos & links, setup custom menus and redirects, etc – all in an easy to edit, easy to access website. We’ll also discuss the first 10 things to do on your new website to get you up an running! No experience necessary!

Learn what plugins are, how to pick the best ones, and the 7 plugins every user should be running. Ask questions and pick my brain. Apple may say “There’s an app for that”, with WordPress “There’s a plugin for that”.

Some tips on where to find WordPress help. From the WordPress website, Codex and Make sites to Twitter, Facebook groups, WordCamps and beyond.

This talk will go over how Jessica Dickey used social media and blogging to change her life as well as her readers. It will also show how to utilize social media to gain followers and readers.

I can speak on the beauty of WordPress as a CMS. The key technique I’d like to speak on is custom post types. Building your own post types requires some coding, but isn’t too hard to get the hang of with some googling. Through custom post types, you can make one change in the back-end and see changes all across your website. Building WordPress with custom post types can make WordPress do a ton of manual work for you.

I’d like to bring in various examples such as an events custom post type for an “upcoming events” section on a homepage, or maybe a press release, or portfolio section.

Gone are the days of using XML-RPC to interact with your WordPress blogs. WordPress.com and Jetpack bring you the power of JSON based RESTful API. This talk will introduce you to the basics and show some code examples. Attendees will also learn about related tools and resources. Q&A will be included at the end. This is an improved version of the talk given at WordCamp Columbus and Saratoga Springs WP meetup group.

In this talk, I’ll show you how to keep attackers out of your site. We’ll talk about the common attack vectors and what your vulnerabilities are as WordPress site owners. Then we’ll talk about ways to protect yourself including: setting up your site, connecting to your host, logging in, and writing safe code (if you’re so inclined). You’ll walk away with a list of action items, and a good grasp on how to be a safer netizen. This is NOT a dry, technical talk. It’s interactive and aimed at helping people at all levels get safer.

A look at Jetpack and a review of favorite modules, and why they’re ridiculously awesome — like Related Posts and Publicize.

In December of 2013, the Jetpack team migrated our primary development from the WordPress.org plugins repository to GitHub. This talk will look at why we made the change, how it’s affected our workflow, and bits to consider if you’re thinking about making a similar change as well.

Anyone who has developed websites for clients understands some of the problems that arise when the completed site is handed over to the customer. WordPress is a powerful platform and clients greatly appreciate the ability to manage their own content. But at times their skills and expectations do not line up well with what they experience when they login to their site. This session will cover unique ways we can enhance the value of our services by improving and simplifying the UX for clients who are not experienced with WordPress.

This session will cover various tools and tricks we can utilize to enhance the overall admin experience for non-developers who are using our sites. Methods for simplifying the dashboard, creating highly intuitive options, guiding users and facilitating support will all be covered. Working examples, useful plugins and handy code snippets will also be provided.

This presentation will address the needs of anyone wishing to make changes to their theme. Everything from minor CSS adjustments to complex modifications of built in features and templates will be covered. In each example, the “wrong” way(s) will be explained and contrasted with more appropriate methods and detailed explanations will be given on both the “why” and the “how”.

Podcasting is one of the best ways to connect with your audience. Think about it, do you typically spend an hour straight reading one person’s blog post? Of course not. But podcast listeners don’t think twice about devoting time each week to listen to a show.

In this presentation, I will share:
– the technical aspects of Podcasting, like how to set up a podcast, plugins, etc.
– the equipment necessary to podcast
– the benefits of having a podcast

This presentation will cover current WordPress security issues and different types of attacks. Learn how to protect your website or blog from hackers that are constantly trying to compromise networks. I’ll be sharing our favorite security plugins along with real world security stories that involved some of the biggest hosting and security companies which led to a meeting with the FBI.

Learn basic plugin development with Brian Layman. This session takes a look at how to get started creating your own plugin for WordPress.

FRIDAY MARKETING BOOTCAMP SESSION

Julie teaches courses in marketing and general business at Walsh University in North Canton. She holds a Doctorate of Business Administration and is certified as a Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) through the American Marketing Association. Julie will explain why consumer behavior, a hotbed of psychological research that marries issues of communication, identity, social status, decision-making, and health, is important to understand and consider in your marketing strategies.

Many new WordPress users get frustrated early because of WordPress overload or because they don’t have anyone to show them how to make things happen or why they happen the way they do. Much like having a new born. New parents may get frustrated because they may not be doing things right (if there is a right or wrong) or the baby can’t say what it wants or needs, leaving many new parents confused. The same holds true with new WP users. They get frustrated and leave the WP sites unattended. My presentation will walk people through what they need to know being an new or relatively new WordPress user, to hopefully keep them from getting frustrated and answer “those” questions and show a few tips to make their new addition something really great.

FRIDAY MARKETING BOOTCAMP SESSION

An award winning creative director, designer and owner of Trailer Trash Design, Joe thumbs his nose at the stuffed-shirt, smoke and mirrors approach to providing creative communication services. Operating under the sometimes unheard of adage that work can be fun, Joe, with his off-the-cuff approach, offers his clients full service creative consulting, graphic design, advertising and production for print media collateral, websites, Internet marketing and multi-media presentations. Joe will explain why incorporating your brand into your website is so important. He’ll show you that it’s not scary, but is critically important.

Getting customers to your business starts with effective keyword research. Learn how to research, assess and organize keywords, and how to effectively implement them into your WordPress site so you can draw new customers who are searching for exactly what you offer.

FRIDAY MARKETING BOOTCAMP SESSION

Since 1998, Stoney has been helping businesses grow their online presence through strategic web marketing strategies. He will offer tips and techniques to create a website that people remember and that is deserving of top search engine rankings for your target keywords. You will learn: 1. Why building a unique and unforgettable website is important. 2. The benefits of having a site that stands out from the crowd. 3. The 6 building blocks of making an unforgettable website.

FRIDAY MARKETING BOOTCAMP SESSION

Nathan recently organized WordCamp Dayton. He is skilled in spotting trends and technologies that play roles in consumer’s lives, and knowledgeable in SEM/SEO strategies. Nathan will offer tips for how to get your word out and not come across as a billboard online. He will show WordPress users how to utilize social media tools to create a simple but effect marketing strategy.

RSS. What is it? Really Stupid Software? Not even close! Try Really Simple Syndication. Find out how this easy-to-use tool, which your WordPress website already has, can be leveraged to easily and automagically provide content to readers and increase viewership. Learn what RSS is, what feed readers are and how to create an RSS-to-email campaign using MailChimp.

FRIDAY MARKETING BOOTCAMP SESSION

Kathy will guide you in building a strong social media foundation strategy for your business. Kathy specializes in helping businesses create and implement a social media strategy that integrates their business goals and overall marketing strategy. She’s an expert in social media best practices and developing social media plans and effective blogging.

FRIDAY MARKETING BOOTCAMP SESSION

When it comes to using social media for your organization, consider the visual possibilities of using Instagram and Pinterest to share your story. In this session, Ryan will offer advice on how you can market and drive traffic back to your WordPress site using these unexpected but rapidly-growing social media platforms. Ryan has advised businesses all over the US on social media strategy. Her social media philosophy is that every organization should have a social media champion. She loves working in the social media world and thinking of creative ways for brands to tell their story through social media.