Check out the amazing remote lineup for 2020
Thanks to all of our outstanding contributors
We had a great response to our Call for Speakers, and thanks to everybody that submitted a topic.
We have mostly finalized our speaker lineup this year, but expect a few additional updates in the near future.
Introducing the speaker lineup
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Abha Thakor
Keynote Speaker
Abha Thakor is an experienced communicator, journalist, researcher and digital professional. She has specialisms in evolving technologies, artificial intelligence, strategic communications, sustainable development and cross-cultural working. She is on the WordPress Release squad for 5.5 and 5.6.
She is a WordPress Marketing Team Rep and Communications Lead for WordPress Translation Day. She is active in a number of other teams building cross-team collaboration, including WordPress.tv and Community. She supports events in WordPress and other tech and management areas through mentoring and championing communications, inclusion and accessibility.
She was Communications Lead for WordCamp London 2019 and a co-organiser for WordCamp London 2020, Europe 2019 and 2020, Abha is also Communications Lead for WordPress Translation Day and its mini-events. She has helped lead or facilitate the marketing team and various projects for Contributor events in Brighton, Milan, Zurich, Dublin, Belfast, Stuttgart and Mumbai.
With her journalistic training, she has developed a number of projects including the #ContributorStory series and the video marketing initiative, and runs training events in a number of environments. She is also the professional development lead for a number of organisations and writes on technology, AI and machine learning. She is an editor of the ‘People of WordPress’ series on WordPress.org/news.
Earlier this year, Abha was awarded fellowship of the international Chartered Institute of Public Relations in recognition of outstanding services to that profession and the industry. She is also a Chartered PR Practitioner and a Chartered Manager, and champions lifelong learning in communications and IT.
https://twitter.com/nonstopnewsuk
On the WordPress slack, @abhanonstopnewsuk
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David Artiss
Support automation: how to make it work for your customers
Providing automated responses to customers can save a lot of time in what would otherwise be repeated effort. But should we be reconsidering our use of auto-responders, bots, and the like? What impact does obvious automation have on your customer’s perception of your service?
Highlighting the benefits and the, rarely talked about, downsides of increased automation, this talk will offer alternative solutions to what is a rarely discussed side of this topic.
By day, David Artiss works as a Support Engineer and hiring lead on the WordPress VIP team at Automattic. His nearly thirty years of experience in IT support roles has given him the chance to cultivate the art of truly taking care of people and writing so anyone can understand. David has been active in the WordPress community for 12 years, first as a plugin author, then as a speaker and volunteer at various WordCamps, as well as contributing to Core, Support, Documentation, Translations, and WordPress.TV. By night, David has performed in 18 musicals and concerts, so is no stranger to the stage. He also writes for the straight-talking technology site The Big Tech Question. He lives in Nottingham, England, with his wife, two daughters, and a room full of Lego.
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Joe Cartonia
I am a Buffalo native working in Virginia Beach as a WordPress plugin and API developer for BoldGrid since 2014. Technology (electronics, computer hardware, and software) has always been a major interest of mine since the first grade. I also enjoy traveling, motorsports, snowboarding, playing guitar, and spending time at the beach.
Session
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Matteo Enna
How I turned WordPress into a framework to build ChatBots
In the last 4 years, I have created, in custom PHP, about twenty ChatBots for Telegram and Facebook Messenger. Being made without the use of CMS, every maintenance or update operation, even the simplest, required code-side changes taking away a lot of time.
Hence the idea of using a CMS to help me manage my ChatBots. In this talk, we will see together how this idea was born and which WordPress tools helped me in this challenge.
I come from Sardinia, Italy and now I live in Milan. I move where curiosity takes me! The programming language I use is PHP and I am a lover of Free Software. I like working with the most famous Open Source CMS, such as WordPress, PrestaShop, Drupal, and Typo3. I am an organizer of the Cagliari WordPress Meetup.
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Meg Phillips
WordPress, React, and CallForCode
How WordPress and React can work together in more ways than you may think.
This talk will focus on my experience building SchoolListit (a WP / React app) and the adventure I’ve had offering it to the 2020 CallForCode Covid response challenge.
- Description of SchoolListIt, how I built it, and where I plan to take it.
- Under the hood – how I chose to integrate WP – React – IBM Cloud.
- Learnings and Observations: My experience participating in 2020CallForCode Covid Response
There will also be an opportunity to deep dive into the topic through a Q&A session.
Meg Phillips is a mom, marketer, and web developer. Before having children, Meg worked in apparel product development and was part of the team that launched the Soma Brand for Chico’s FAS. Since becoming a mom, Meg continues to work as a product developer focused on technology and marketing for start-up ideas. Most recently, the Covid-19 crisis inspired Meg to found SchoolListIt, what is due and when for any school, anywhere. You can find Meg on Making WordPress Slack, Twitter, and Youtube with the handle @MegPhillips91.
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Michael Wisby
Starting Your Business With WordPress
Starting a new business, especially during a global pandemic, is a scary and risky process. But when you strongly believe your business idea has a market and it’s worth the risk, you need to get it out to the public.
Using WordPress as a foundation, you’ll be able to leave the coding and heavy lifting on website design to the WordPress community, while you focus on your business.
I’ll go through some key features of WordPress that directly benefit you as an entrepreneur and vital plugins that you need to get started so you don’t need to spend hours on your website. Most of your time should be spent directly on growing your business.
Michael is the founder and CEO at Two Trees PPC. It’s his mission to save businesses money from wasteful marketing campaigns by using real data—not opinions. Real data has the power to show us how to adapt your marketing investments to achieve a quicker ROI. Michael got his start in digital marketing after moving to the US from London, UK back in 2012. Working with local business owners in Sacramento, using his accent as a talking point to get in the door, he was able to develop trust through showing actual results.
Throughout the years, Michael has transformed the fate of thousands of national and international Google Ads accounts into successful, profitable campaigns. Outside of marketing, Michael loves travel and European music festivals. He actually spent 10 years helping to organize volunteers at huge events like Glastonbury Festival, Reading Festival and Latitude Festival. Michael is passionate and knowledgeable and founded Two Trees PPC as a platform to connect with business owners and share honest, transparent advice.
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Mike Reid
Blogging as a project management tool
Did you know that the Project Management Institue now considers Blogging to be an official part of running a project?
This talk will focus on communications strategies and using blogging to communicate with multiple levels of stakeholders (and customers!) at every stage of the project lifecycle. We’ll tackle strategies for “Early Access” programs and ways to build customer engagement into every stage of your projects.
- We’ll look at creating a Communication Plan and outlining the needs of your project’s stakeholders.
- Then, some examples from within WordPress on how contributor teams communicate specific milestones within a release cycle.
- Next, we’ll dive into a few Early Access examples and how to set proper expectations for your users, provide status updates at regular intervals, and incorporate user feedback into the ongoing project.
- Finally, we’ll look at some tools and templates that will help you get started.
I am a PMP certified project manager for InMotion Hosting, and I am based in Virginia Beach, US. I’ve been involved with WordPress since around 2015, mostly with the Global Marketing team as a rep. I’m active in the local WP Virginia Beach meetup and an organizer for WCVB 2020. I have also been to around twenty WordCamps around the US as a speaker or attendee.
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Tim Sisson
SEO Strategies for Businesses
In this session, we’ll cover the basics of SEO including but not limited to performance, user experience, content creation and publishing, and advertising. Attendees will walk away with a solid understanding of the role optimization plays in driving high performing traffic and lead generation. We’ll look at why SEO isn’t just about content, and how mobile-first indexing is a front of mind topic.
I enjoy leveraging WordPress to help businesses reach their full potential. I am the customer experience analyst for Trader Interactive where I work on the Data Team. When I’m not creating with WordPress and growing businesses online presence, I spend my time on outdoor adventures with my amazing wife Lisa, three daughters Autumn, Stella, & Petra.
