Author: sarahwnyc

Sarah Wefald is a senior product manager, focusing on end-to-end B2B SaaS solutions for state & local government, finance, and education industries. She is also the founder and principal of Mother Blackbird, a digital solutions agency. Sarah has led a number of sessions on topics like WordPress development, as well as product and project management. Additionally, Sarah volunteers for Orange County WordPress, sharing knowledge, guidance and opportunities to those exploring careers in tech. Sarah attended Mount Holyoke College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

Speaker Spotlight: Thomas Patrick Levy’s developer’s guide to support

Thomas Patrick Levy is a developer, and for a while thought his work was done when the product or site shipped. And then he learned that the real work starts after launch when the emails and forum posts start rolling in.

Ever screamed over customer questions or cried over customer complaints? Join Thomas at 3:40 PM on July 10 in the Dwarf Star as he shares what he’s learned as a developer about interacting and empathizing with non-developers looking to him for help, education, and respect no matter how absurd or obvious the question may seem to him.

Thomas is a poet, weightlifter, and web developer.

Speaker Spotlight: oEmbeds with Jason Tucker

oEmbed has been around for a while – typing or pasting a YouTube URL in your post results in an embedded video on their website. But, there’s more to it. In Jason Tucker’s presentation, he’ll explain how oEmbed works, and how you can make changes to one or all oEmbeds on your site.

If you’re new to embedding content in your WordPress posts, don’t miss Jason’s talk at 11:30 AM in the Nebula on July 9, 2016.

Jason is an IT Director for a church and has been working with WordPress for well over 10 years. He’s been a podcaster as well for many years, and runs two podcasts, WPwatercooler (along with several co-hosts from the OC WordPress community) and WPblab, a question and answer show.

Speaker Spotlight: Content development with Greg Taylor

Business owners with websites compete not only with each other, but with much bigger companies for attention. “Good” will never be good enough again – only superb content will move the needle for your business goals and get you noticed. Greg Taylor of MarketingPress will help you navigate the waters between good and superb.

Check out this marketing-focused talk at 10:40 AM on July 9 in the Dwarf Star.

After working in marketing and business development for over ten years, Greg decided to pursue his passion for WordPress development and content marketing by starting his own company. Tired of seeing sites that look great but don’t achieve results, he founded Marketing Press to help business owners find the best of both worlds.

In addition to leading the company, Greg has become well-known in the WordPress community as a speaker and teacher. He has presented at several conferences (including TechPHX, WordCamp LA, WordCamp Phoenix, and WordCamp Vegas), been featured on industry podcasts (such as BusyMarketer and Hit the Mic with Stacy Harris), and regularly appears on popular shows (like WPwatercooler and his very own Marketing Press TV).

When he’s not working on code or content, Greg spends his free time mentoring at Gangplank, taking in and playing live music, or hanging out in his home state of New Jersey.

Speaker Spotlight: REST API for the modern business with Jamal Jackson

Ever wanted to know more about the WordPress REST API? Jamal Jackson of Five Alarm Interactive’s WordCamp presentation will go over how the WP REST API introduces a whole new world of possibilities for small business owners to keep their business thriving and introduce the new business avenues present.

Check out this business and developer focused talk at 3:40 PM on July 9 in the Dwarf Star.

Jamal Jackson is a developer based in Atlanta, GA. He has around 6+ years experience in the web development space. He currently has one hybrid app in both the iOS and Google app stores, and has worked on two yet-to-be-released apps. In addition, he was formally an engineer at Apple for the iCloud team.

Speaker Spotlight: Designing for complex content with Michelle Schulp

We’re all enamored with the minimalist websites that employ only the most essential use of color, images, and space. But what happens when the volume of information can’t be boiled down to something that simple? Michelle Schulp of Mark Time Media’s presentation will explore how to use design principles to organize and display elaborate user experiences like mega-menus, massive news sites, high-information catalog pages, and multi-level interactions.

Using current examples and a focus on actionable complex items including enterprise clients, Michelle will walk you through how to make lots of information feel intuitive to the user. Don’t miss her presentation at 9 AM on July 9 in the Nebula.

Michelle is an independent graphic designer in Minneapolis (formerly Chicago). Before beginning her career, she went to school for print and design, with studies in Psychology and Sociology. Together, this resulted in a love of How To Solve Problems. Lately she has been specializing in WordPress theme development and high-end presentations for her clients. She loves the open source community and speaks/volunteers/organizes at WordCamps and other events around the country.

Speaker Spotlight: Converting clients with Candice Gillatt

As a website designer, you can drive yourself crazy with the on-again, off-again roller coaster of building websites. The opportunity for you to engage clients beyond the website build exists and can lead to long-term stability.

Candice Gillatt hopes her presentation “Get Off The Workflow Roller Coaster” will teach you:
– How SEO can to turn a one-time website build into a long term opportunity with your clients
– The critical point when you must introduce SEO in order to create happier clients and more referrals
– SEO secrets you can use right away to wow your clients and keep them coming back for more
– How to turn SEO into profits – whether you do it yourself or outsource it to an expert

Let Candice show you how at 2 PM on July 10 in the Dwarf Star.

Candice Gillatt is anxperienced internet marketing guru who thrives on strategy, data-driven decisions, and empowering clients and employees.

Speaker Spotlight: Mika Epstein and the Dependency Inferno

We want our code to be fast, to work well, and look good. But do we really need all the bells and whistles? Understanding the burdens we place on end users when we code, such as large plugins and themes with stringent requirements, is just as important as security.

Her talk “Dependency Inferno” will touch on the use of shared libraries, the perils of dependencies, the conscientious loading of JavaScript, and how to decide what to bundle and what to omit. While Mika may not have all the answers, she will strive to bring awareness to the developer community that all those fancy things we want to add to our code may just be hurting us in the end.

Hear Mika’s best practices and recommendations at 4:30 PM on July 9 in the Dwarf Star.

Mika Ariela Epstein is better known as Ipstenu, the Half-Elf Rogue. Working for DreamHost, specializing in WordPress hosting (aka ‘WordPress Guru’), Mika helps make WordPress and hosting better for everyone. When she isn’t reviewing plugins she’s helping in the support forums and speaking at WordCamps worldwide about code and open source technology. A self-taught guru on Multisite and .htaccess, she has a passion for writing and technology and blogs about them whenever possible.

Speaker Spotlight: Why your site is ineffective with Mike “Judah” Baker

Do you ever feel like your small business website is not working for you the way it should? Even if you made a substantial initial investment into your site, there may be issues that still need to be resolved before it can become an effective sales tool for you.

In his workshop “6 Reasons Your Website Is Not Working For You,” Mike “Judah” Baker will go over the most common reasons websites do not perform the way small business owners expect them to, and what to do to fix it. Each issue that is presented will have an actionable item you can take with you to solve the problem. If you have not built your website yet, you will be given sound direction to make sure your website is built to perform.

This workshop is designed to help small business owners grasp the importance of holistic web design and the importance of a well-rounded web presence. Find out how to make your business’ website work harder for you at 10:40 AM on July 9 in The Comet.

Mike worked for years in the fast-paced world of IT. He holds dual degrees in Network Engineering & Management and Website Design & Development. As a person who loves to give back, Mike was a Microsoft Certified Trainer for a time and even taught evening courses in Network Engineering & website design.

In the past, Mike has held IT career positions ranging from Director of Networking & Telecom to freelance website designer. A few years ago, he decided move away from freelance work and open his own company, Real Time Web Marketing. As part of his new role, he enjoys championing small businesses and conducting workshops whenever he can.

Speaker Spotlight: Jess Boctor and WordPress Organizational Tools

“These spreadsheets are killing me” was a complaint Jess heard about a year ago. Since then, she has been working with her client to build an internal tool that can standardize their sales quoting process, replace their current CRM process, and remove operational bottlenecks that prevent the business from scaling. Her presentation “Stop Maurauding Excel Sheets” covers the of development of the tool with WordPress, concerns in the process, and tools utilized.

WordPress has been evolving from a blogging platform into a full-fledged CMS for quite some time. However, most of the emphasis is still on customer and public facing websites. This session is about what can be built for internal purposes to help businesses succeed in operational avenues as well as marketing and content. Come get the scoop from Jess at 11:40 AM on July 10 in the Dwarf Star.

Jess is a loud introvert extraordinaire, a consultant at Rimoht Consulting & Services, artist at Phantom Blonde and WordPress Nerd.

Speaker Spotlight: Jerrett Farmer and WordPress for Beginners

How do you quickly get a WordPress site up and running with a minimal amount of effort?

Jerrett Farmer of InMotion Hosting will present an overview of core plugins, page builders, and themes, as well as the latest cutting edge software to help even the unmotivated get a high quality WordPress Site up and running.

He will also reveal with humor the pitfalls of taking shortcuts and more. Check out his talk at 9 AM on July 9 in the Dwarf Star for tips aimed at beginners to quickly get up and running using best practices. He might even bring a special guest!

Jerrett is the Marketing Production Manager at InMotion Hosting. He oversees the creation and maintenance of the company’s main websites and WordPress blogs. He’s been previously employed as a Producer, Project Manager, Software Architect, Programmer, 2D/3D Production Artist, Art Director, and Lead Technical Artist.