WordCamp Vegas 2012

Brandon is half of the dynamic duo that make up Pixel Jar, a WordPress development team based out of Orange County, CA. They are some of my closest friends in the WP community and I’m thrilled to have at least one of them on stage. Even if the other is boycotting WCLV. But that’s another story all together.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you use WordPress
Hi! I’m Brandon and I’m a WordPress-aholic. I own more WordPress related t-shirts than I’m comfortable admitting to. I eat, sleep and breathe WordPress. I’m a WordPress developer & core contributor. I mainly build plugins for WordPress, but I’ve been known to kick out a theme when the need arises. I don’t even see the code anymore, I just see sidebars, nav menus, widgets…but I digress.

What will you be speaking about?
I will be challenging the misconception that “WordPress is easy to use.” I plan to highlight pitfalls that the uninitiated WordPress user will often fall into. I will instill confidence and breed a spirit of adventure – one that is so common in our community – in those who choose to attend my talk. When you leave, you will have a solid understanding of what WordPress can do (hint: N-E-Thang), and why the masses flock to it as their CMS of choice.

Who is your target audience?
The totally uninitiated. If you just set up your first blog or someone just told you – to your dismay – that you’ll now be managing the company’s web site and you’ve never touched WordPress before, this is definitely the session for you.

What do you hope the WordCampers will get out of your session?
You’re not alone. I can guarantee you that there is someone out there who has the “deer in headlights” look just like you do. I think the WordPress community helps bring a little warmth and humanity to the bits and bytes of the Internet. I hope that folks who attend my session will leave with the confidence to navigate their way around the WordPress dashboard as well as a basic understanding about the WordPress project and why it’s awesome.

What is your favorite WordPress Plugin?
WordPress SEO. I’ve seen my clients web sites gain visibility faster, when utilizing this plugin effectively, than any other plugin out there. Yoast, the plugin’s author, constantly updates the plugin with the latest search engine optimization techniques. It’s like having an SEO expert in your back pocket.

Do you have a WP hero?
I have many. There are some amazing folks in the WordPress community. If I were to point to one person that I look up to most it would be Mark Jaquith. For a long time, he was just a famous name to me. Unseen, unheard, untouchable. At WordCamp NYC 2009, I had a question about something that came up in a presentation and saw that he was sitting across the row from me. I leaned over after the session and asked him my question. He stopped what he was working on to have a conversation with me about my question. The following day, he ripped a plugin I had built a new one on stage in front of hundreds of people. He might be a nice guy, but he keeps it real. That moment was a turning point in my WordPress career. It cemented in my mind the responsibility I accept as a WordPress plugin developer.

Do you have a “Stays in Vegas” story to tell?
Yes, many of them. Unfortunately the Internet is not located solely in Vegas so I can’t put them in print here. Find me at the after party and I’ll tell them all to you…especially the ones about John Hawkins.

Tell your favorite WordCamp story!
See previous answer…

Tony is part of the amazing group behind the Sucuri security service, who also happen to be a sponsor for this year’s WordCamp. These guys live and breath web security. If you get a chance to talk with Tony about any subject at all, you’ll be amazed at how quickly the conversation turns to security. I think our last conversation went like this: Me: “Hey Tony, how you doing today?” Tony: “Did you know the best way to block malware is…” 20 minutes later he told me he was doing fine.

Here’s a bit more about Tony in his own words.

What will you be speaking about?
Everyone’s favorite subject, WordPress security. But unlike others I’ll be focusing on what I consider to be the most prevalent hacks impacting WordPress users and giving guidance how to detect and remove and apply hardening that matters.

Who is your target audience?
Any one that manages their own website. Developers are end-uses the same as every day end-users, so I would say that if you own a website you’d be interested. More if I had to define a target, it’d be someone that has been infected with some malware, has faced Google’s wrath via the RED screen of death or just plain ole paranoid about infections.

What do hope WordCampers will get out of your session?
Respect. I don’t plan to scare, but I do plan to place emphasis on the importance of security and its impacts to the site owner. So in turn, a little respect for security won’t kill anyone.

What is your favorite plugin?
Sucuri Premium plugin ofcourse.

Do you have a WP hero?
Isn’t Nacin everyone’s hero? Or, oh my F*$@ing god, it’s “Lisa Sabin Wilson”…

Do you have a “Stays in Vegas” story to tell?
It never happened.. but this one time I was in a limo.. next thing I know I was in this club as a Mexican producer… hours later I was making it rain… just saying

Tell your favorite WordCamp story!
This one time at a camp I was on a Pirate ship. : O

In February I had the opportunity to impersonate Lisa when I stepped in to take over her presentation at WordCamp Phoenix. Contrary to stories you may have heard, I did not distract the audience by wearing a blonde wig on stage.

Here’s a bit about Lisa.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you use WordPress:
I use WordPress to run my business and promote my work. My work primarily revolves around using WordPress to build client sites and help clients obtain a level of autonomy in the management of their internet presence that they’ve not had before. I also write books on WordPress – lots of them.

What will you be speaking about?
I will be speaking at WordCamp Las Vegas on the WordPress Multisite feature

Who is your target audience?
Users level beginner to intermediate.

What do you hope the WordCampers will get out of your session?
I hope they gain good feel for the Multisite feature and walk away from the session fully informed on whether or not the Multisite feature is something they should implement for their web site.

What is your favorite WordPress Plugin?
Regenerate thumbnails from ViperBond
I install this plugin on virtually every site I develop for clients because it makes resizing existing thumbnails a snap.

Do you have a WP hero?
Not a single hero, no – – but pretty much all the core devs, core comitters, bug squashers and testers of the WordPress platform – the community, as a whole, who make it what it is today.

Do you have a “Stays in Vegas” story to tell?
If I do, I wouldn’t tell – isn’t that the point?

Tell your favorite WordCamp story!
WordCamp Chicago 2009, a gal who had never used WordPress before stood up and told everyone that with the help of the community, she would be installing WordPress and start blogging for the first time.

WordCamp Chicago 2012, that same gal came to WordCamp and told everyone how she had built a business around WordPress and was now making a living consulting others on the use of WordPress on their own web sites.

While chatting with Grant at WordCamp Portland he mentioned that had attended WordCamp Vegas last year but “sat quietly in the back.” Well, this time around, we’re throwing him on stage. Here’s a little bit more about Grant.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you use WordPress:
I’m a 25 y/o designer/developer living in Seattle, WA running a WordPress design and development shop called freshmuse, where we craft highly custom WordPress based solutions for medium to enterprise level companies around the world.

What will you be speaking about?
I’ll be addressing some of the topics around how to start and grow a successful WordPress design or development business, whether you’re just getting started or running a small-medium sized operation.

Who is your target audience?
I would attend if you are using WordPress to service clients, or wanting to get started in a professional capacity. I’ll cover some of the underlying concepts that we’ve learned in our 3 year journey at freshmuse.

What do you hope the WordCampers will get out of your session?
More than anything I think my session challenges business owners to look critically at their businesses and ask better questions, evaluate better metrics, and make some changes to move their businesses forward.

What is your favorite WordPress Plugin?
Usually, it’s the one that solves my current problem. It’s tough with so many that help me in so many different ways. One that time and time again has been so fundamental to our success is debug bar, and the various extensions that developers in the community have built from it. A big shout to Automattic and all the devs who keep those projects going.

Do you have a WP hero?
Anyone who runs a successful business AND contributes to the WordPress core. At freshmuse we’ve just started on our journey of core contribution, and we hold in high regard those companies who take time out of their normal dev schedules to make contributions.

Do you have a “Stays in Vegas” story to tell?
Too many… Most relevant to WordCamp would definitely be the fact that at 2011 WordCamp Vegas I showed up late due to a few too many adult beverages being consumed the evening before. Vegas can be a little tough to handle sometimes 🙂

In the first of our speaker spotlights, I’d like to introduce you to Ben Lobaugh. I had the pleasure of hanging out with Ben at WordCamp Portland a few weeks back, and I’m excited to have him speaking at WordCamp Vegas!

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you use WordPress:
I started creating static HTML websites back in 1996 and slowly graduated up to PHP and MySQL sites over the years as the internet evolved. Back in the day I built fully customized PHP content management systems for wide range of clients, from mom and pop shops to large international corporations. In the early 2000s I tentatively put a client who needed some pages and a newsletter on WordPress instead of building my own solution. Since then WordPress has only continued to mature and for the past several years I have almost exclusively used WordPress for all my client site. I am currently working at the premier WordPress shop in Seattle, freshmuse, where I am head of development and have the pleasure of overseeing great projects with a great team.

What will you be speaking about?
Interacting with external APIs to bring together resources far beyond what is normally possible is the wave of the future. In my talk I will show developers how to tap into several powerful libraries that already exist inside WordPress for interacting with external sources.

Who is your target audience?
Developers, developers, developers, and anyone interested in learning some WordPress internals. This talk will be technical and for those of you with a weaker constitution I warn you ahead of time that some code will be shown on slides.

What do you hope the WordCampers will get out of your session?
A greater respect for the existing WordPress libraries and a thirst to seek out and implement new libraries in the core wherever they may exist

What is your favorite WordPress Plugin?
I do not know that I have a particular favorite. I know that I install WP Slimstat on nearly ever client site thought. I am currently tickled with the Ship’s Log plugin (that I am developing ). It will keep track of vital stats surrounding all the boats you own, as well as provide a log entry form to track every voyage.

Do you have a WP hero?
There is no single hero that I have in the WordPress world. Anyone who freely gives of their extra time to contribute to WordPress, be it through plugins, documentation, core update, whatever, is a hero in my eyes.

Do you have a “Stays in Vegas” story to tell?
Honestly, this is my first time in Vegas! Ask me again after the WordCamp 😛