Adam W. Warner
Topic and Time:
WordPress as a Catalyst for Any Passion: My Story, Your Story – Sunday, October 1 at 10:00 am
Adam left college with a degree in Advertising Design and went straight to work on the factory floor making office furniture. It wasn’t the life he’d imagined but having been raised in a blue-collar family, he was taught that a strong work ethic would make you invaluable to “the company” and “they” would provide the financial security and stability needed to raise a family and enjoy life. In other words, this meant working in the same stark metal building for 30 years with 20-minute lunch breaks and two weeks vacation in the summer. In this session, Adam will detail how he discovered WordPress and the open source community, the many businesses that he’s started and failed at, and how he’s utilized these experiences to continually fuel his entrepreneurial spirit and create his own path to a work/life balance and how you can too. No matter what your passion, WordPress can be an integral tool to helping you achieve your dreams and success in your own business.
Bio:
Adam W. Warner discovered WordPress in 2005 and has been working within the community ever since. To feed his entrepreneurial spirit, he founded several WordPress-focused businesses that provide education, plugins and consulting services for online business owners. He is a true WordPress Evangelist in spirit and personality, and that also happens to be his job title with SiteLock.com. Adam is also passionate about his family, robots, and of course Life, the Universe and Everything.
Clay Mosley
Topic and Time:
Grow Your Business with Video Storytelling – Sunday, October 1 at 11:00 am
My agency, Rock City Digital, is two years old. And it’s producing over half million dollars in revenue a year now. I did it with video marketing via social media. I want to show people the exact strategies I used on video marketing to increase branding and authority to grow a freelance business or agency.
Bio:
Clay Mosley was fired from every job he ever held. His first job out of college was working as an insurance fraud investigator. It didn’t take long to realize that job wasn’t for him. For the next 10 years, Clay hopped from job to job, getting fired from each one. But he didn’t get fired because he was lazy or not good at his job. He worked for traditional people and figured out how to do the work in half the time. Clay wasn’t traditional so the traditional jobs didn’t work for him. In January 2014, a year before Clay would be fired from his last job, he set out to build websites part-time. After realizing he was unemployable, Clay convinced his wife to give him 1 year to make a go out of freelancing. In February 2015, he started Rock City Digital – and it’s worked out ever since. But that doesn’t mean Clay has been making money the entire time. It wasn’t until about 8 months in that Clay took a more disciplined approach to his business, created some processes, and started to treat the business like a business. Clay takes an unorthodox approach to his business, but what he’s done has worked for him and the team that works along side him. Clay allows his employees to work in the creative environment that best suits them. They are given flexibility, whether that be from home, a coffee shop, or late into the night. He now employs a team of 13 people. All in just a span of less than two years. He says, “It’s important to find your stride to be as productive as you can.”
Daniel Espinoza
Topic and Time:
Discovering WP CLI – Saturday, September 30 at 10:00 am
Developers who work smarter are always on the lookout for tools to help them do routine tasks faster. WP CLI is a command-line interface for WordPress that allows you to do numerous tasks on a WordPress site without using a browser! In this talk I’ll explain what WP CLI is and how to install it. I’ll cover the commands and how to use the tool. And I’ll also explain how to integrate WP CLI into your development workflow.
Bio:
Daniel has been a professional developer for 20 years and been running Grow Development for the past 9 years. He focuses on WooCommerce development building commercial plugins and custom eCommerce sites. Daniel also runs Shop Plugins which is a WooCommerce plugin marketplace. Daniel and his wife Amanda live in San Antonio with their three kids when not traveling the world as a family.
David Garcia
Garrett Heath
Topic and Time:
Content Ideas For When You’re Stuck – Saturday, September 30 at 3:00 pm
Everyone experiences writers block. This session will help you get out of that slump, because as Dr. Seuss says, “When you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.”
Bio:
Garrett has blogged about San Antonio food and culture on SA Flavor [http://saflavor.com] since 2009 and believes the best cheese enchiladas in town are found at Oscar’s Taco House. He currently works at Rackspace as a social media marketer and has held roles as an operations analyst, cloud project manager and content marketer. You can read his blog about digital marketing at MarketingBytes.io [http://marketingbytes.io].
Isaac Castillo
Topic and Time:
Send Your Theme Packing – Webpack and Theme setup – Saturday, September 30 at 3:00 pm
I created a base theme with an asset pipeline for WordPress and use it on all my projects. Best thing is it’s open source, and you can learn how to use it too.
Bio:
I have been doing design and web application development work for over 15 years. I enjoy solving hard problems with code and have worked with various frameworks/libraries and languages; Kohana framework, PHP, MySQL, CSS, Sass, Capistrano, Git, Jquery, Emberjs and WordPress just to name a few. My current framework development is Laravel, Reactjs and WordPress. I am also in the process of releasing my first iOS application for a client written solely in React Native.
J. Bruce Hughes
Topic and Time:
Value your intangibles/IP components, leveraging for capital – Saturday, September 30 at 3:00 pm
When you look at and present your business using only the lens of cash-based accounting, you can miss important sources of value and competitive advantage. When you know more about the intangible assets of your business, you are better able to forecast the future of your business and to use that forecast to make smarter decisions today. This workshop will give you knowledge and techniques to understand and present the value of your technology and other intangible assets of your business in a way that enhances the attractiveness of your business as an investment.
Bio:
Bruce was a biological researcher at Rice University, Temple University School of Medicine, and Baylor College of Medicine. Later, he entered the field of software development, eventually leading a multi-site team that created the first successful 802.11b (WiFi) semiconductor chipset. He has been successful in startup management at every level from engineering management to CEO. Bruce is certified by the national Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC) as a Technology Counselor. He has a Masters in Business Administration from The University of Texas at San Antonio (2003), with a concentration in Leadership. Since 2008, he has served as a Project Manager in Technology Commercialization at UTSA’s Institute for Economic Development. He has counseled numerous companies in securing equity investments.
Jennifer Navarrete
Topic and Time:
Start Your Podcast Now: 3 Steps to Launch – Saturday, September 30 at 10:00 am
Podcasting is hotter than ever! You’re ready to jump on board…..but how? WordPress is the perfect platform for podcasts. Join 12-year Podcast Professional and creator of National Podcast Post Month, Jennifer Navarrete as she shares the basics of podcasting and how you can get started in three easy steps using WordPress as the foundation of your show.
Bio:
Jennifer Navarrete is a long-time WordPress fan and has been podcasting since 2005. The fun kicked off when she and co-host Jackie Adame launched Morning BrewCast. The show featured two of her favorite pastimes, drinking coffee and talking…..about coffee. Since then she has co-hosted other podcasts most notably Tech in Twenty. In 2007 she created National Podcast Post Month aka NaPodPoMo which is an annual 30-day podcasting event. She loves the serendipitous nature of podcasting today. If you hang out with her for any length of time you are likely to become an unknowing co-host when a phone or iPad is stuck in your face while she broadcasts her thoughts and yours on any given subject.
Kori Ashton
Workshop and Time:
Get Google to Love Your WordPress Website – Saturday, September 30 at 1:30 pm (Beginners Room)
There are many steps required to complete in order to have Google fall in love with you website and reward you with ranking. Learn the basics for Search Engine Optimization that can be done on each of your websites for maximum organic ranking.
Keynote Topic and Time:
From Couch to Crew – growing your WordPress Dream – Sunday, October 1 at 9:00 am
Kori Ashton will share how she grew her team from couch to crew. In just 5 years The SA Business Journal has ranked her company #6 in San Antonio for Web Development. She will share specific strategies like pricing structure and growth models.
Whether your dream is to start up to a boutique agency or to build a full digital marketing firm – you’ll hear some key concepts to apply to your entrepreneurial plan.
Bio:
Kori Ashton has been listed as one of seven women who run tech startups in San Antonio to watch. She started her first company at the age of 12, and has had an entrepreneur’s heart ever since. She built her first HTML website in 1998, and was instantly hooked on Web design. Together with her family she runs WebTegrity – a WordPress Digital Marketing Agency in San Antonio. Kori has a passion to teach as well. Since 2005, Kori has taught HTML, CSS, Web design, WordPress, SEO and other topics to hundreds of students at schools, colleges, and community classes across Texas. In 2014 she spoke at TEDx San Antonio, and is a regular speaker at local Meetup Groups. She’s spoken at WordCamp San Antonio & Dallas / Fort Worth. You can also join over 20,000 subscribers who watch her every Wednesday on her YouTube channel (WebTegrity) giving away little nuggets of “How To’s” on all things WordPress.
Marc Gratch
Topic and Time:
Form Builders are Amazing! / A Mayoral Campaign Using WordPress. A case study. – Saturday, September 30 at 11:00 am
Forms are an often overlooked topic which despite being one of the most crucial features on a site. Many don’t consider that forms are essentially how most two way communication with users occur. Discover how you can impact and mobilize your community, build a fundraising form to accept online donations and build an email list.
Bio:
I am a WordPress Consultant, a life long student, a husband and father. I have been developing themes and plugins for WordPress since 2.8 (give or take a point release,) with a strong focus on simple, specific, niche functionality. Most everything I know about code comes from the WordPress community which is why I try to give back as much as I can. I love the WordPress platform and the community!
Mike Reid
Topic and Time:
Sites with Bounce: Animation in WordPress – Sunday, October 1 at 10:00 am
Learn how to animate elements and photos on your WordPress sites to create things that really engage your users. A review of popular tools and methods for easily adding animation to your WordPress site, specifically CSS and JavaScript based animations. Open source tools and frameworks will be used for easy integration.
Bio:
I have been using WordPress professionally for 4 years. Currently, I am a BoldGrid Product Manager. I have 3 years of experience with WordPress support, both as a tech and as a supervisor. Born and raised in Texas with a love of BBQ, College Football, and strategy games.
Rachel Whitton
Topic and Time:
Agile Workflow with Multiple Environments, Git, WP-CLI, and WP-CFM – Saturday, September 30 at 11:00 am
Session Topic: Agile Workflow with Multiple Environments, Git, WP-CLI, and WP-CFM
Websites are never done; they’re ongoing iterative projects; a journey of learning and improvement, not just a launch date. As developers, how do we safely and efficiently work on a live running site with new features and designs? The era of cowboy coding and Jenga-tower builds is rapidly drawing to a close, but what should replace it is still an open question. One compelling answer is the use of version control and virtual environments, along with tools for cloning content between environments and the capability to turn configuration changes as part of the codebase for a site. This workflow allows teams to separately address the live running website, new development, as well as accurately testing changes before they deploy. Learn how to leverage git, WP-CLI, and WP-CFM to start developing websites in this modern, agile way.
Workshop and Time:
Leveling up with Efficient Code Management – Sunday, October 1 at 1:30 pm
Workshop Topic:
If your way of reusing custom code across projects is to copy and paste, this one’s for you. Come learn how to streamline your development cycle so you can take on more work from more clients. Instead of adding or making changes to a custom function on a site, by site basis – develop custom code in a single location so it can be reused across projects efficiently.
We’ll explore advantages to separating functionality from design with custom plugins and discuss why a centralized distribution strategy is critical to scaling development services. After this brief discussion, we’ll spend the majority of our time implementing such a strategy for a simple custom plugin.
Walk away with:
– Dedicated location for the development and maintenance of a custom plugin (GitHub)
– Scalable distribution and update strategy for custom plugins and themes
– Basic Git skills
Bio:
Rachel Whitton currently manages the docs at Pantheon. She began her WordPress journey as a support representative at HostGator. After joining Pantheon in 2014, she began focusing on simplified workflows for creating and delivering documentation in an effort to encourage collaboration, automate repetitive build and deploy tasks, and free up resources. She works remotely out of Austin.
S. David Ramirez
Workshop and Time:
Facebook Pixel: Deploy and Conquer – Sunday, October 1 at 1:30 pm
As the Facebook algorithm continuously changes, proper pixel deployment becomes increasingly important. Users, marketers, and developers alike must consider placement, triggering events, and what to ultimately do with the data. This talk will consider some best practices, choosing events, and how to leverage custom audiences using pixel data. It will also review inherent flaws in pixel deployment and how to incorporate data trends into a cohesive marketing plan.
Bio:
S. David has been a marketing-communications consultant for over a decade. He specializes in organizational communications, multicultural awareness, digital marketing tactics, and business modeling. As a member of the San Antonio Small Business Development Center, he has trained local entrepreneurs in Facebook Advertising, Special Event Management, and other business topics. He is a long-time staffer and board member of San Japan, San Antonio’s Japanese Culture and anime convention. He is also a field organizing instructor for various grassroots organizations across Texas: specializing in voter activation and capacity building. Mostly, he is just a nerd. Talk to him about anime.
Sam Morgan
Workshop and Time:
Freelancer to Entrepreneur: From Side Hustle to Business – Saturday, September 30 at 1:30 pm
Make the leap from hustler to small business owner. Learn about formation, taxes, legal requirements, and hiring employees. Discover free and low-cost resources available for start-ups. Save money and bootstrap your business to maximize your potential.
Bio:
Sam joined the UTSA Small Business Development Center in 2016. He has worked with hundreds of clients to start, grow, and support their small business endeavors. His background includes service in the U.S. Army, government contracting, and restaurant management. He is part of the Small Business Technology Commercialization team for the Southwest Texas Border SBDC Network, which serves 79 counties across over 400,000 square miles of Texas. . Sam holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a BS in Business Administration from Franklin University.
Sarah Douglas
Topic and Time:
Facebook 101 for Business – Saturday, September 30 at 10:00 am
Do you know how to maximize Facebook to grow your Business? Here are a few things you will take away from this class: How to develop your brand on Facebook Learn how to easily schedule post to save you time How to find great content to post on a regular basis How to advertise on a budget Learn about all the new features including, Facebook Live, Job Postings & more!
Bio:
I’m a Small Business Owner on a mission to make the world more positive, purposeful and full of grace through the use of modern technology and digital marketing. With more than 13 years of marketing experience, I specialize in Social Media Marketing and Consulting, and have worked with a number of companies in Texas across various industries, including home builders, non-profits and small business owners. Throughout my career, I grew a passion for helping non-profits and small business owners reach their full potential, and saw a greater need to educate them about the value of using Social Media in addition to traditional marketing. With a vision to help companies with a positive purpose spread their message and further their mission, I began a consulting and marketing company, Full of Grace Marketing, in 2013. My work has allowed me to assist numerous churches, youth groups, non-profits, enthusiastic entrepreneurs, and other community organizations in reaching new heights and the best part is, I get to do what I love most – serve others.
Shazzner
Topic and Time:
What to consider when choosing a WordPress theme – Sunday, October 1 at 10:00 am
A WordPress theme is the soul of your website. Careful consideration must be had in: design, level of customization, familiarity, and cost. Chris Hardee hopes to help steer beginners on finding the sweet spot for all these metrics, including a solution of his own.
Bio:
Software developer for more than a decade, Chris Hardee has run the gamut of Php, Python, Rails, C, Asm, and that Emacs command that releases butterflies. In addition to breaking the internets, he founded 10BitWorks the first and largest makerspace in San Antonio, going on seven years now. He currently works at Heavy Heavy as Lead Developer.
Stefanie Young
Workshop and Time:
Workshop: Getting your WordPress Site off the ground – Saturday, September 30 at 1:30 pm
Session/Talk: Responsive Theme Design: Getting Designers and Developers on the Same Page – Sunday, October 1 at 11:00 am
Workshop: Getting your WordPress Site off the ground
What you need to know to get your WordPress website off the ground and operating. You will learn how to find, pick and rate a theme for WP, how to prepare and build out your very own business/personal website, and learn the basics of customizing your content and branding (while adding SEO via plugins). If you already have a WordPress site, join us to find out some of the better practices when adding content, new keywords, or additional media. This could be an opportunity to de-clutter your site or add a new reason for users to visit.
Session (Talk): Responsive Theme Design: Getting Designers and Developers on the Same Page
The design, the UI/UX, and the building process are all three important parts of producing or rebranding a site. A lot of times, these concepts or tasks are assigned to a specific job title without much overlap before moving onto someone else’s desk. Without that overlap, a lot can end up lost or assumed when the site’s status moves from one process to the next. This talk would bring together the forces to start standardizing communication about our designs and building options.
Bio:
I am currently the CEO of a startup named iNNOV8 Place where we create custom and CMS based websites. I am a front-end developer who focuses on responsive design for mobile and tablet and CMS templating. I work first-hand with our clients and their users to create fantastic UI/UX through interactive and responsive designs. I have taught and spoke on the subject of responsive design monthly at local venues, coding schools, and conferences across the US. I have a serious passion for user experiences and the ability to access products and information via mobile devices. I love educating business owners on responsive design’s importance and its ability to help profit, user retention, and SEO. Previously I worked with Grok Interactive as the Front-End Director.
Stephanie Scheller
Topic and Time:
Marketing: Simplified – Saturday, September 30 at 11:00 am
It’s time to stop flushing dollars down the drain and flinging spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks when it comes to your marketing dollars! Learn from Stephanie Scheller the tools she discovered after working on over 350 different marketing campaigns in three years to figure out what works for you, and what you should avoid!
Bio:
Stephanie Scheller may be young but she has worked with more than 600 businesses and thousands of individuals in the past five years! At 25 years old, and using the same systems she teaches, she built a business from scratch in less than five months to replace her full-time income and walked away from her corporate job to run her own company dedicated to disrupting the way the world goes into business through sales, marketing & systems. At 26 years old, she published her first book, Friend Power: How the Friends You Choose Can Change Your Life and began co-hosting the BlogTalkRadio phenomenon Black Belt Selling along-side her business-partner and mother Anna Scheller. One year later she published her second book, Getting Past the Gatekeeper, which was also immediately a best-selling publication. She’s an incredible speaker, a phenomenal coach & trainer, and here today to talk about (insert title of event) so please join me in a warm welcome of Ms. Stephanie Scheller.
Wolf Bishop
Workshop and Time:
Painless iThemes Security – Sunday, October 1 at 1:30 pm
Workshop idea: iThemes Security is one of the best security plugins available today to quickly and easily secure a WordPress website. However, if it is not set up correctly it can also cause your site to break or overload shared server resources. In this workshop, I will teach students how to use the iThemes Security plugin to secure websites, with minimal pain. We will install the plugin and discuss the pros and cons of each feature and why each should or should not be used. By the end of this workshop, students will be able to install iThemes Security on any site without negative results.
Bio:
I have been involved in WordPress since 2005. I have devoted my professional life to WordPress as a freelancer and in my career at Pressable, one of the leading managed WordPress hosts. I am married to an amazing woman and together we have 3 beautiful children. When I am not working in WordPress, I am with my family, riding my 4-wheeler, or airgun hunting on my Ozark mountain paradise.
Zachary Charo
Topic and Time:
WordPress Worst Practices – Sunday, October 1 at 11:00 am
Managing and building your site can be a headache if you hit a snag. I’ll be discussing some of the more common pitfalls you may encounter (and how to avoid them)
Bio:
Zach does customer support for Pressable. He is an attentive and creative problem solver who is quick with a smile or a funny joke to brighten up your day. When he’s not busy neutralizing script kiddies, shutting down spam bots or optimizing stores, Zach enjoys long walks on the beach, playing guitar, fixing cars, HAM radio, watching old movies, and hanging out with his amazing wife.