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Winning Brand. Winning Company.
Winning Brand. Winning Company. is a tour through how a brand develops. How and why the behaviors of a company influence the brand awareness of their target market is illustrated. The session explores the concepts of Brand Equity, Brand Fragmentation, Brand Awareness, Corporate Systems and Consumer Behavior.
Get to know the real differences between your brand, your marketing and your logo…this knowledge will go a long toward creating your Winning Brand or helping your clients develop theirs.
Understanding your brand and your clients’ brand(s) will allow you to craft compelling messages, content strategies and web concepts.
See real world examples of local brands that will solidify your knowledge and inspire you to act.
An Elegant WordPress Workflow
Version control.
We all know we should be using it. A lot of us are. And some of us are a little intimidated.
Fact is, it’s not always quick or easy. And sometimes the workflow doesn’t flow.
Enter git flow.
At 10up we use git flow with services like Beanstalk and Bitbucket to auto-deploy commits to staging and production environments.
Sound like a mouthful?
If you’re new to version control, you’ll start to understand its power. And you’ll see – it’s not as hard as you might think!
If you’re a seasoned developer, you’ll see how using git flow can help on bigger projects that have multiple developers. And if you’re even thinking about getting into the enterprise, it’s crucial to show companies you’ve got a systematic and secure development processes.
Closing remarks
What? It’s over already? We’ll have a few things to share with you at the end of the day and we’ll part ways…until next year!
Follow-up time for speaker Q&A’s*
This session is exactly what it says on the tin. Since we’ve gone to shorter 30 minute sessions this year we were concerned that folks might not have time to ask speakers their eager questions. Let your speaker know you’d like to chat with them at the Follow-up time on Sunday!
Give back to Core
This open workshop/hackathon will be all about how to give back to WordPress. Helping the WordPress community could be updating documentation, helping with theme review, answering questions, providing new designs, hosting a local WordPress-related event, or even contributing code to the software itself.
Join us as we share and learn more on how to get involved.
Happiness Bar
Have a question? Get an answer.
This open session/hackathon will allow all WordPress users to come together to troubleshoot, teach, and learn about the great big ecosystem around WordPress. The happiness bar is a great opportunity to get one-on-one help and advice from WordPress professionals.
Hackathon
We’re excited to announce that we are partnering with the Roy Clay Sr. Web Development and Entrepreneurship Workshop, a Hands Up United initiative, for our Hackathon during WordCamp St. Louis’ Community Day on March 15th.
Students learning HTML, CSS, and WordPress at T-REX
The 6-week workshop (named for North St. Louis County native and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Roy Clay) consists of teaching Ferguson/St. Louis youth HTML, CSS, JavaScript, UX, entrepreneurship, and small business management with the goal of participants learning the complete set of web development skills needed to help build sites for others in their community. Funds raised using the group’s GoFundMe campaign provide participants that complete the program with a $500 stipend and a personal laptop to continue using the skills they learned.
To develop these skills, participants have been meeting for 12 hours per week since early February doing everything from creating static HTML pages to creating wireframes using client requirements to customizing WordPress themes.
All of their hard work will culminate on March 15th when we have a full day scheduled for working with the participants, local small businesses, and community organizations they’ve been working with to finish and launch their WordPress sites. We’re hoping you’ll join us to help put some of the finishing touches on their sites as well as showing these young, new WordPressers that they are part of a huge community of volunteers worldwide.
Hackathon
We’re excited to announce that we are partnering with the Roy Clay Sr. Web Development and Entrepreneurship Workshop, a Hands Up United initiative, for our Hackathon during WordCamp St. Louis’ Community Day on March 15th.
Students learning HTML, CSS, and WordPress at T-REX
The 6-week workshop (named for North St. Louis County native and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Roy Clay) consists of teaching Ferguson/St. Louis youth HTML, CSS, JavaScript, UX, entrepreneurship, and small business management with the goal of participants learning the complete set of web development skills needed to help build sites for others in their community. Funds raised using the group’s GoFundMe campaign provide participants that complete the program with a $500 stipend and a personal laptop to continue using the skills they learned.
To develop these skills, participants have been meeting for 12 hours per week since early February doing everything from creating static HTML pages to creating wireframes using client requirements to customizing WordPress themes.
All of their hard work will culminate on March 15th when we have a full day scheduled for working with the participants, local small businesses, and community organizations they’ve been working with to finish and launch their WordPress sites. We’re hoping you’ll join us to help put some of the finishing touches on their sites as well as showing these young, new WordPressers that they are part of a huge community of volunteers worldwide.
Kids Camp
Hey, do you have young people in your life that would like to learn about how to create websites? Come to our Kid Camp!
It’s from 9am to noon on Sunday, March 15th. We’ll cover the basics of setting up a site and talk about what it means to publish something publicly on the web. We’ll also have pizza from Pi for lunch!
The class is geared towards 8-13 year olds, however, any age is welcome to attend (space permitting). Parents or legal guardians must be present for children under 12. All attendees must bring a laptop.
Only one adult ticket is needed if you’re bringing multiple kids.
- Presenters: Russell Fair, Chris Koerner, Lucas Lima, Eric Juden
Topics we’ll cover:
- What is WordPress?
- How is it being used?
- Let’s create our blog! (using a free account on wordpress.com)
- How to add new posts and pages
- How to add multimedia (photos, video)
- Talk about privacy and security
- Copyright and fair use
- Free and open source software (like WordPress!)
- Talk about the public nature of the web.
What to bring:
- A laptop
- An email address (for younger kids, you can use your adult’s email address)
Happiness Bar
Have a question? Get an answer.
This open session/hackathon will allow all WordPress users to come together to troubleshoot, teach, and learn about the great big ecosystem around WordPress. The happiness bar is a great opportunity to get one-on-one help and advice from WordPress professionals.
Give back to Core
This open workshop/hackathon will be all about how to give back to WordPress. Helping the WordPress community could be updating documentation, helping with theme review, answering questions, providing new designs, hosting a local WordPress-related event, or even contributing code to the software itself.
Join us as we share and learn more on how to get involved.
Be True to You, Not Me (Keynote)
The question most people ask me is how to be me. But that isn’t really what you want to know. Your power to give back to WordPress is unique, and I can help show you the way. Don’t be me. Be you.
Mika’s presentation slides can be found on her site.
WordPress SEO (Advanced)
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s Slideshare.
What to Do When you Don’t Know What to Do (Intermediate)
We all love WordPress but know that things can go wrong from time to time. What if you knew exactly what to do whenever a WordPress issue arises? This can include anything from a theme or plugin issue all the way to those really bizarre things that can happen, leaving you clueless how to troubleshoot them. No high-level amount of technical experience needed with the tricks we will show you.
Being equipped to handle WordPress issues can really help you keep things running smoothly on your site and focus on the fun stuff, rather than hair-pulling and other madness.
Closing Remarks
Phew, we made it to the end of the first day of WordCamp St. Louis! We’d like to highlight a few superstars and remind folks of what the heck is happening on Sunday.
Then, on to the afterparty with a few pointers on travel/parking and where to go once you reach the City Museum.
SaaS CMS to WordPress for 70+ schools sites (Begginer/Intermediate)
I recently replaced a proprietary SaaS CMS for the largest school district in the state (Newark, NJ). We launched our 70+ schools sites on Aug 29, 2014 on top of WordPress. Our district site is 30,000 pages and 300,000+ media assets. In the end, we cut our annual web site management budget in half and have beautiful new web sites powered by WordPress that ease the pain points our content owners, administrators and technology coordinators have when managing their school web sites.
This presentation will cover how this was achieved using WordPress, how it has solved many of the problems we were facing with our vendor-controlled proprietary system, and how we have embraced the concept of WordPress as an Application Framework, allowing us to create all kinds of sites, applications, and mobile apps directly from WordPress.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s Dropbox.
Grow your Non-profit Using WordPress (Intermediate)
WordPress, with it’s easy to maintain platform, strong community focus, and widespread adoption makes it the premier tool to reach an internet audience promoting your non-profit. Spend your time growing your non-profit and less time managing your web presence by utilizing WordPress.
With numerous plugins to extend the functionality of WordPress, your website becomes more than information. We’ll discuss some of the top plugins to use, and how get the most from WordPress.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s site.
Leveraging WordPress to grow your small startup (Intermediate)
Join St. Louis raconteur and man-about-town Bob Barker as he shows us all the ways WordPress can help you run a small startup (is there any other kind?) – for building an audience, handling receipts, managing customer service on social media and more.
WordPress Rest API (Advanced)
Find out what the upcoming WordPress REST API is and why you should be using it. Come and be convinced that when this is added to core it will expand WordPress’ mission of democratizing publishing by democratizing content. Perhaps most importantly learn what JRR Tolkien had to say about using REST over XML-RPC.
Presentation slides can be found on the Speaker’s Google Drive.
Understanding and applying security to your WordPress installation (Intermediate)
Be prepared! Whether you are responsible only for running a single site for yourself, or maintaining dozens for your clients, you should know how to take reasonable precautions to secure WordPress against common attacks. We will review the types of active threats that WordPress sites face, how and why a site gets targeted, and then look at a variety of techniques for improving security.
- Some areas we will cover:
- Access controls
- Htaccess recipes to block specific attack types
- Moving key WordPress files to spoil scripting
- Obfuscation methods
- File permissions
- Coordinating with a web host system administrator
- Responding to an apparent hack
The overall goal will be to make your site(s) less attractive to opportunistic exploits, and give you a better sense of how to respond before (and, if necessary, after) a security breach.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s site. Notes can be found there as well.
Taking backwards compatibility seriously (Advanced)
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s Slideshare.
An Elegant WordPress Workflow with Git (Advanced)
In this talk, I would be discussing version control. But more specifically, I would be outlining a version control workflow called git flow. I would also be outlining how we use git flow in conjunction with services like beanstalk and bitbucket to auto deploy commits to staging and production environments.
I think this would be a great talk for various attendees. Beginners could begin to understand the power of version control, and advanced users could see how using git flow can be a benefit when working on larger projects, with multiple developers. As WordPress continues to make inroads into the enterprise marketplace, it is becoming more important for WordPress developers to implement safe and organized development processes.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s site.
Advanced Custom Fields’ Flexible Content Field (Advanced)
Hi, my name is Jason Yingling. I’m a lead developer at Red8 Interactive. We’re a small local web development firm specializing in WordPress. In this presentation I’ll cover Advanced Custom Fields and more specifically the Flexible Content Fields feature to create templates with, well, flexible content.
We’ll walk through the basics of how Advanced Custom Fields works and show how it could be implemented in a theme. I’ll show how to set up the the fields in the backend. Then show how to set up the if-while loop in the template to pull in the flexible content through WordPress. We’ll do it live to show how quick and powerful it can be.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s Slideshare.
Content Marketing on WordPress (Intermediate)
As one of the most versatile and user-friendly CMSes out there, WordPress offers a wealth of possibilities for content marketing.
It doesn’t matter who you want to reach – consumers or businesses – or what your experience is – from occasional blogger to Pulitzer-winning journalist – WordPress works.
Come join me for a look at how you can leverage the platform for your own content – to build your audience and reach your goals.
Plus: A few of my favorite plugins and WordPress tricks, to help you navigate the CMS like an expert and bend WordPress to your will.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s site.
Re-Imagine Blogging as Authentic Storytelling … (Intermediate)
… And watch your organization reap the rewards.
Search algorithms change. Social networks evolve – and sometimes fizzle away.
One thing that isn’t going anywhere is the consumer’s need for relevant, educational, compelling and helpful information. The brands that feed this need – in the most relevant manner – will have the most customers, advocates and will make the most money!
This interactive session – led by Internet Marketing Association Master Storyteller and Executive Council Member Christoph Trappe – shares how you’ll steer your marketing projects toward digital excellence by sharing authentic stories that align consumers with your business goals. And help your organization stay relevant with today’s and tomorrow’s connected consumers.
Come discover new, more effective ways to:
- Define content goals that will drive consumer action
- Get buy-in from the people in your organization who can drive the process forward – or stop it cold
- Shape your message authentically – to ring true with today’s ever-more-jaded customers
- Measure the results that matter most to your organization’s top performance priorities
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s site.
Blogging and Content Creation for WordPress (Beginner)
Blogging seems to be the best way to get recognition for a nifty talent, share your experience with the world, or even leverage your business. Content creation aside from social engagement is truly one of the life bloods building an authority in your niche. In this session we’ll go over:
- Basic blogging tips
- A little about SEO and how to keep it in mind when creating content
- Some syndication and social sharing tips
- How to avoid that dreaded bloggers block
I’ll even give you plenty of resources to topic ideas to take away so you never have a problem creating content ever again!
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s Slideshare.
WordPress eCommerce with WooCommmerce (Intermediate)
WooCommerce is now the world’s most popular open source eCommerce platform. With over 5 million downloads, WooCommerce powers over 380k websites and over 17% of all eCommerce websites.
Michael Cremean is the Founder and CEO of Quadshot Software has deployed many WordPress eCommerce websites using WooCommerce. Quadshot also developed an open source online ticket sales platform built on WooCommerce called OpenTickets, which is one example of how customizable the platform is.
This presentation will cover:
- WooCommerce Overview
- Installation, Setup and Configuration
- Setting up Products – Physical, Digital Downloads and Virtual
- Products with Variations
- Orders and Reports
- WooCommerce Extensions – how to use them
- Extending WooCommerce
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s site.
Planning Your Site (Beginner)
WordPress has revolutionized the web by letting anyone with a spare evening and an internet connection to launch a website and reach the world. With thousands of plugins offering an endless buffet of features, and every host promoting their one-click WordPress install, building a website has never been easier.
But building a site worth visiting is a whole ‘nother animal.
It may not be as much fun as perusing your favorite theme shop, but planning is the key to any great website. A great site pulls off a cool trick: it meets your business objectives by reaching your users’ goals (and delivering a delightful experience in the process).
The good news: you don’t have to have an MBA or be a sociologist to understand the two. If you start with a clear plan that shows how your site strategically fits into your business and develops a deeper understanding and empathy for your users is easier than ever.
And it’s the path to a truly great website.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s Slideshare.
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Update Button (Beginner)
The best WordPress site is an updated WordPress site. Learn about why you should update your site without the headache. I’ll talk about ways to prevent problems when updating and share some best practices on site updates.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s Slideshare.
Steps to Finding and Hiring a Web Designer (Beginner)
Are you a blogger or a business owner?
Want to get up and running fast with a WordPress website? Want a pro to help you do it?
Come see how to hire the right web designer for your project:
- How do you evaluate a web designer’s portfolio?
- Who do you ask for recommendations?
- What’s the ‘the coffee test’ – and what can you learn from it?
Are you a web designer or the owner of an agency?
Discover what’s important to potential clients – and start figuring out how you stack up.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s site.
Jetpack (Beginner)
What’s the first step you take when setting up a new WordPress site?
You should grab a Jetpack!
Jetpack is a suite of tools designed to enhance WordPress with some of the features and power of WordPress.com, all delivered for the price of absolutely free.
This session will discuss the Jetpack plugin for WordPress, what it does, and why Jetpack should be in your default plugin arsenal when configuring new WordPress sites.
Building responsible WordPress Sites (Intermediate)
Responsible sites.
Responsible site owners and builders.
What do those ideas even mean?
Let’s take a look at:
Devs’ role in the process.
- Ethics
- Performance
- Accessibility.
WP-specific:
- Tricks
- techniques
- considerations
Finally, we’ll explore some ways we work to stay responsible on projects for our Collective.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s site.
Atomic design principles in WordPress themes (Intermediate)
If you spend your days designing and developing WordPress themes, you probably find yourself building the same elements over and over. Preprocessors like Sass and Less can speed things up inside a given site, but still – every site needs menus, buttons, headers, footers, form elements … you get the idea.
Well. What if you could craft your HTML and CSS (and your preprocessor variables, mixins and so on) into isolated patterns that:
- live at a single URL, so you can share it with whoever needs access, no matter where they are in the world;
- you can use over and over again, in project after project?
- yet still rewrite and restyle as a system, such that every single implementation can look wildly different?
That’s the essence of atomic design.
If you’re like me, you’ll discover the pattern libraries you build with atomic design give you a common starting point for new projects and a consistent process for your design system. The libraries themselves are simple to maintain, simple to expand.
And once you’re up and running, you can also use the WordPress template functions to organize your theme files the same way you’ve organized your pattern library.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s Speaker Deck.
Managing WordPress Projects (Intermediate)
Managing WordPress Projects – Let’s get better on this!
Developers and Designers love to use their creativity to build amazing things for their clients with WordPress , however it’s not always that they are able to delivery those on time. WordPress is a wonderful tool that allow us to have a powerful website up and running in a couple of hours, so why do we need to be worried on how we manage our projects? I’m pretty sure you have tons of reasons to be worried about it…
We all know how hard it is to keep the expectations of our clients in a proper level over the course of the project. How difficult it is to maintain the scope, and if it changes, how to identify the impact before the “go live” date? I would like to present some basic concepts of Project Management applied specific to WordPress projects, using the experience I got managing projects for my company.
Intended Audience: WordPress Freelancers and Startups
Presentation slides are available on the speaker’s Slideshare.
WordPress and User Experience (Beginner)
WordPress has a long standing history of providing a good user experience. Publishers, site owners, content editors, all have been able to benefit from the ease of use of the admin. In this talk, we’re going to take a deeper look into the experience of the WordPress admin – how we can extend WordPress to make publishing content a breeze, and how a few changes to the way we approach the admin, plugins, and themes can help make the experience even better.
Financial Business Planning for Freelancers (Beginner)
The number one reason businesses in the US fail is profitability. After freelancing for 5 years and having solid revenue while “winging it” financially, I decided to firm up my financial processes and planning so that my business didn’t become one of the statistics.
I will share with other aspiring and established freelancers a financial model they can follow to help plan and predict sales, profit, salary, and more….so that they can keep doing what they love.
Presentation slides can be found on the speaker’s site.
CSS Specificity is a Rat-Hole (Intermediate)
Decouple from the cascade and free your styles.
Speaker’s presentation can be found at http://sadness.dance
Lessons From the 314 Team (Beginner)
“Having toddlers as coworkers” and other life lessons from the 314 team.
Cain & Obenland in the Morning!
Cain & Obenland in the morning! – a morning show-style WordCamp talk with three segments: two that will cover any number of WordPress topics – current WP happenings, theming, design, development, best practices, worst practices, future trends, you name it – and a special guest interview with a big name from the WordPress world.
Structure, style, story: what goes where? (Beginner)
A WP site brings together three different kinds of pixie dust to make its magic:
Structure –
What happens on your site and where? How does the system build the layouts?
Style –
What does your site look like – from typefaces to colors to icons to layout grids?
Story –
I hate the word content. And I couldn’t think of three things with hard Cs for alliteration.
But anyway. What’s the story you want to tell?
- How?
- Text?
- Graphics?
- Audio?
- Video?
Does it matter where you put them?
Your visitors may not care. Your clients may not care.
But, yes, it matters. Let’s talk about why: the good things that happen when everything’s where it belongs – and the consequences of mixing things up.