Thank You for Helping Us Stage WordCamp Ottawa 2016!

You can’t stage an event like WordCamp Ottawa 2016 without help—and your event Organizers have quite a few people to thank.

Our attendees

First of all, we must thank the many people who came out to listen, ask questions, offer opinions, make friends and explore business opportunities during the last couple of days. An event like this one needs an understanding and appreciative audience—and we certainly had one this year!

Our volunteers

We’d like to add a special thanks to our volunteers who worked tirelessly for the benefit of all. Our volunteers included:

  • Rick Alexanderson
  • Albert Chan
  • William Dear
  • Andree Dionne
  • Lisa Foley
  • Karen Fox
  • Steve Puddick
  • Alex Robinson
  • Jane Qin
  • Chris Studholme
  • Christina Wall
  • Christie Witt

Our speakers and presenters

A great group of speakers shared their knowledge and insights at WordCamp Ottawa 2016. In doing so they helped make the Ottawa WordPress community stronger and better at using WordPress web software. Our speakers included:

  • Michelle Ames
  • Richard Archambault
  • Jonathan Bardo
  • David Bird
  • Michal Bluma
  • Stéphane Boisvert
  • Mike Dickson
  • Ryan Erwin
  • Miriam Goldman
  • Meagan Hanes
  • Brian Hogg
  • Shawn Hooper
  • Hector Jarquin
  • Alison Knott
  • Shanta R. Nathwani
  • Jamie Oastler
  • Anthony D Paul
  • Shelly Peacock
  • Jonathan Perlman
  • Kathryn Presner
  • Rick Radko
  • Christopher Ross
  • Brian Rotsztein
  • Sébastien Sanche
  • Jai Sangha
  • Toufic Sbeiti
  • Jordan St Jacques
  • T-Rave
  • Jasmine Vesque
  • Ting Yang

Our sponsors

We couldn’t have held our WordCamp without sponsors. Their contributions meet about three-quarters of the cost of holding the event. That makes them quite literally essential—and on behalf of the organizers and all involved in WordPress in Ottawa I’d like to thank every one of them. Our sponsors included:

  • Hover — Platinum Sponsor
  • WooCommerce — Platinum Sponsor
  • Jetpack — Platinum Sponsor
  • Bluehost — Platinum Sponsor
  • Flywheel — Gold Sponsor
  • Pantheon — Gold Sponsor
  • GoDaddy Pro — Gold Sponsor
  • BackupBuddy — Silver Sponsor
  • Plesk — Silver Sponsor
  • WPML — Silver Sponsor
  • DreamHost — Silver Sponsor
  • The WP Crowd — Bronze Sponsor
  • Carleton University — Venue Sponsor
  • Funkdawg Films — Small Biz Sponsor
  • Live Composer — Small Biz Sponsor
  • Impeka — Small Biz Sponsor
  • TuCuatro — Small Biz Sponsor
  • Gravity Flow — Small Biz Sponsor
  • Real Estate News Exchange — Small Biz Sponsor
  • WP Blog Support — Small Biz Sponsor
  • Jeremy Clarke — Small Biz Sponsor
  • LimousineReleaseDate.com — Small Biz Sponsor
  • StickerGiant — In Kind Sponsor
  • Ottawa Print Services — In Kind Sponsor

We’d like to add special appreciation for Carleton University, for allowing us to hold WordCamp Ottawa 2016 there. It was a fine venue.

And we’d like to thank Patty Boland’s, a great place with a friendly and inviting atmosphere, for offering us an excellent venue for our Networking Get-together on Saturday night.

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Thank You, WordCamp Ottawa 2016 Sponsors

The Organizers couldn’t have staged WordCamp Ottawa 2016 without the generous support of our Sponsors.

Thank you.

Hover — Platinum  Sponsor

With hundreds of domain extensions, no heavy-handed upselling and best-in-class support, Hover makes it easy to spend less time on your domains and more time on your big idea.

WooCommerce — Platinum Sponsor

WooCommerce is the fastest growing eCommerce software/platform, powering over 30% of all eCommerce stores with over 1 million active installations. It is is built to integrate seamlessly with WordPress, making it the obvious eCommerce choice for existing WordPress users and connects you to the fast-growing WordPress ecosystem which now powers over 25% of all websites on the internet.

With WooCommerce you can start with all the basic tools that any small business would need to start selling online, including product setup, payments, shipping options, and sales reports and as your business grows choose from over 300 premium add-ons available including additional payment processors, shipping methods, inventory systems and marketing tools anyone to sell anything, anywhere from real products and digital downloads to subscriptions, content and even your time.

In July 2015, WooCommerce was acquired by Automattic, the creators of WordPress.com which serves more than 15.8 billion pages a month and also the creators of other popular WordPress services including Akismet, Jetpack, and VaultPress. We look forward to growing WooCommerce to achieve even greater things together with Automattic.

Jetpack — Platinum Sponsor

Jetpack is a free WordPress plugin that simplifies managing your sites. This single plugin enables Photon (a global CDN for images), uptime monitoring, brute force protection, traffic-boosting tools, single sign on, multiple-site management, and automatic or bulk plugin updates. Additionally Jetpack includes several features that help you customize the look and feel of your site without installing other tools. More information can be found at jetpack.com.

Bluehost — Platinum Sponsor

Bluehost has been a WordPress partner since 2005 and powers over 1 million WordPress sites worldwide. Their objective is to help customers, whether novice or pro, create a thriving online presence at an affordable price. With a team of in-house tech experts available 24/7, Bluehost dedicates time and resources to providing the best support and services in the industry. Join millions of other site owners and see what Bluehost can do for you and your online presence.

Flywheel — Gold Sponsor

Flywheel is a delightful platform that empowers designers, developers, and digital agencies to focus on what they do best — building beautiful, functional sites for their clients. We make it a breeze to create and develop WordPress sites, handle hosting, manage projects, and ultimately scale your business.

Pantheon — Gold Sponsor

The website management platform for Drupal & WordPress, Pantheon provides web teams with the hosting, cloud-based developer tools, and scalable infrastructure needed to run awesome websites. Serving billions of pageviews a month for over 100,000 websites, Pantheon’s container-based infrastructure allows you to launch websites faster, without worrying about traffic spikes, security or performance. It’s free in development. Create your free account now!

GoDaddy Pro — Gold Sponsor

GoDaddy’s mission is to radically shift the global economy toward small businesses by empowering people to easily start, confidently grow and successfully run their own ventures. With more than 12 million customers worldwide and 57 million domain names under management, GoDaddy gives small business owners the tools to name their idea, build a beautiful online presence, attract customers and manage their business.

BackupBuddy — Silver Sponsor

The original WordPress backup plugin to backup, restore & move WordPress.

Plesk — Silver Sponsor

Plesk simplifies web management activities to align with the way infrastructure is used today for hosting websites and web applications. A widely used web management solution, Plesk provides everything a web professional needs to set up a website quickly and securely – including a WordPress Toolkit, an easy-to-navigate control panel, server level automation, supportability tools, and complete protection with our server-to-site security core.

WPML — Silver Sponsor

WPML turns WordPress websites multilingual. It works with caching, SEO and E-Commerce plugins, and allows the building of complete multilingual sites. WPML powers simple blogs as well as corporate and enterprise sites.

WPML allows users to translate everything in the site, including content, menus, widgets and even theme and plugin texts. WPML powers over 500,000 commercial websites from all over the world.

More information about going multilingual can be found at WPML.org

We are looking for talent. If you are a smart programmer you are welcome to contact us here: http://wpml.org/home/were-hiring/.

DreamHost — Silver Sponsor

DreamHost is a global Web hosting and cloud services provider with over 350,000 customers and 1.2 million blogs, websites and apps hosted. The company offers a wide spectrum of Web hosting and cloud services including Shared Hosting, Virtual Private Servers (VPS), Dedicated Server Hosting, Domain Name Registration, the cloud storage service, DreamObjects, and the cloud computing service DreamCompute. More information can be found at  http://dreamhost.com.

The WP Crowd — Bronze Sponsor

The WP Crowd leverages top experts in a variety of specialties to create unique content for the WordPress Community. We have a podcast that airs most Tuesday mornings and a blog that gets post to regularly. Our podcast is a mix of panel discussions and open forum discussions. It is all about community. Most of The WP Crowd members are regular speakers at WordCamps and other tech conferences around the world. You may also recognize some of them from popular plugins you have seen in the WordPress plugin repository, or at your local Meetups. The WP Crowd has one focus in mind, and it all goes back to our mission, to better serve and contribute to the WordPress community. Podcast guests on The WP Crowd are usually selected because they are experts on the topic for the week, but also because they are also community advocates. www.thewpcrowd.com

Carleton University — Venue Sponsor

Situated on a beautiful campus bordered by the sparkling Rideau River and Canal, Carleton is just minutes from the heart of our nation’s government and enjoys easy access to the many organizations, associations and businesses which thrive in Ottawa. Many of Ontario’s leading high tech companies surround our campus where cutting-edge research joins with highly innovative teaching to solve real-life problems. Members of a dynamic, research-intensive university, Carleton’s faculty and staff provide a superior learning experience for our fine students who hail from every province and from over 100 countries around the world.

Carleton offers 65 programs of study in areas as diverse as public affairs, journalism, film studies, engineering, high technology and international studies. More than 2,000 brilliant professors and staff members constitute a diverse and dedicated team serving 26,000 students. Carleton’s creative, interdisciplinary and international approach to research has led to many significant discoveries and creative works in science and technology, business, governance, public policy and the arts.

Funkdawg Films — Small Biz Sponsor

Funkdawg Films is a video production company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They’ve been in operation for 5 years and produce event, wedding and corporate videos for clients in Ottawa and across Canada. In addition, they produce independent films.

Funkdawg Films is owned and operated by Bob Johnson, an Ottawa resident with extensive experience in the local music and arts scene. Bob works both as a videographer for hire and as an indie film maker and can produce videos for clients as a one man crew or else draw in other colleagues for larger scale productions.

Networking for Nerds — Small Biz Sponsor

Networking For Nerds is a low stress, come-as-you-are networking community environment that allows you connect with others and celebrate your inner nerd. http://networkingfornerds.ca/

Live Composer — Small Biz Sponsor

Live Composer – Open Source WordPress Site Builder
Live Composer is the only 100% free and open source front-end WordPress page builder. There is no premium version of our plugin and it’s not limited in functionality. We use it ourself in the theme development business and can afford to share it for free. Use it to create unlimited number of custom designed websites for of your clients. Developers can create any theme for resale with Live Composer included. In our site builder, you can create custom headers, footers or archive page designs using drag and drop interface.

Impeka — Small Biz Sponsor

Impeka was born from the conviction that true success comes from a positive environment and being surrounded with like-minded people who share a vision. A vision created by a capable team with experience, skill, dedication, ambition, and most importantly — chemistry.

At Impeka, we pride ourselves in having streamlined the hierarchy of our organization. When clients attend that initial meeting to discuss a project, they’re also meeting with the people responsible for creating their vision. There is no loss of important information through management translating the clients’ needs and wants. When you call Impeka answers.

TuCuatro — Small Biz Sponsor

TuCuatro is a portal where interested students can learn how to play Folkloric and Exotic Instruments (Venezuelan Cuatro, Ukulele, Bandola Llanera, Cavaquinho, etc). Starting as an initiative by Venezuelan Cuatristas, we have dedicated ourselves to assisting and facilitating persons from all nationalities with a means to learn to play the music instrument they love. As a team, we are made up of musicians, innovators and e-learning specialists who are dedicated the teachings of all aspects of these exotic instruments. Learn more at http://tucuatro.com/about-us/

Gravity Flow — Small Biz Sponsor

Gravity Flow allows you to build business workflow applications on WordPress that automate form-based processes such as approval and feedback & review loops.

There’s built-in support for conditional branching, step scheduling & expiration, reporting and audit trails.

It integrates both internal collaboration and customers on the front-end; an easy to use, flexible and extensible way to reduce turnaround times and increase transparency.

If you’re familiar with Gravity Forms you’ll feel right at home – add any number of steps to the workflow and drag & drop them into the right order. No code required.

Real Estate News Exchange — Small Biz Sponsor

The Real Estate News Exchange (RENX.ca) is an online service that provides news and information about the Canadian built environment.

RENX is free to its readers and supported primarily by advertising. News is published on the RENX website and it is also delivered to the desktop of industry professionals in electronic newsletters.

RENX and its recently launched sister site Sustainable Biz Canada are hosted on multi-site. We are opening two more news services in 2016.

In 2017 we are planning development of state of the art news publishing technology to facilitate growth of our business.

WP Blog Support — Small Biz Sponsor

Struggling With WordPress?

WPBlogSupport.com Makes WordPress – Hassle Free!  Relax With 24/7 Unlimited WordPress Small Jobs, Fixes, Tweaks and Support – Designed specifically for entrepreneurs who are pressed for time or don’t want do it all themselves!

If you often find your WordPress Website leaves yourself frustrated, confused and overwhelmed this is your chance to get hands on help.

The team at WordPress Blog Support.com is here to help you Start Build & Grow Your WordPress Powered Business

Jeremy Clarke — Small Biz Sponsor

Jeremy Clarke is an earthling developer from Montreal and he can write whatever he wants with his hundred words, like how being vegetarian just means you don’t eat dead bodies, how it’s possible to be an atheist about Yahweh but remain agnostic about Thor and most importantly how the only way we can improve this world is by loving each other and giving each other a chance. Be excellent to each other <3

LimousineReleaseDate.com — Small Biz Sponsor

If you are interested in finding out more about your favorite cars, then LimousineReleaseDate.com is the place to be. We present detailed reviews about the latest and future releases and discus the specs of the cars, their abilities, price rating and various sort of issues that are related to cars. We would also like to state that all of this would not be possible without WordPress, as we would like to help the development of our favorite CMS which has made all of this possible.

StickerGiant — In Kind Sponsor

StickerGiant prints high-quality stickers and labels. They have the best customer service, quick turnaround times and free custom shapes using state of the art laser cutting. Every sticker has a story. Want to share your story today? They’re waiting to hear from you. stickergiant.com

Ottawa Print Services — In Kind Sponsor

Ottawa Print Services (OPS) is a high quality, full-service printing company that uses state-of-the-art technology. OPS is a subdivision of SINIX Printing Canada, a leader in the print industry. Our team has over a decade experience in the industry offering a large variety of stock and print options with competitive pricing to suit your needs and budget. OPS is committed to producing exceptional printed products that do not come at the expense of quality.

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Joining Us After?

It’s a question you’re likely to hear, if you listen. And we hope you will.

Because we’d like to see you at Patty Boland’s Irish Pub and Eatery, 101 Clarence Street, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., on Saturday, June 18, at our WordCamp Ottawa 2016 Networking Get-together.

Join us there and you’ll find people you’ve spent the day with—WordCamp speakers, WordPress experts and some of the many whose attention and contributions have helped crown the event with success.

Good company, we believe, in an informal setting with appetizers and refreshments and an open invitation to introduce yourself, make new acquaintances, talk about WordPress and its applications, and discuss business.

It’s no secret that WordCamps can bring together people who become friends and business associates.

See you there!

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Speaker Spotlight – Jonathan Perlman

perlmanJonathan Perlman is an experienced web developer and teacher that works for Dawson College in Montreal, Quebec. He builds custom web solutions for students, faculty and staff. Recently he’s been  focusing on the needs of the institution with the creation of custom themes and plugins that help WordPress do the heavy lifting. Some of his sites have been built for a select few whereas others are visited by 12,000+ applicants.

Jonathan will be giving a talk entitled “WP-CLI – Super Admin Level Tips and Tricks“.

What’s been your best experience with WordPress?

Aside from my development work, I teach web technologies.  Teaching WordPress has been more enjoyable to teach because the students get it much faster and have something more tangible in a shorter amount of time.  I love to hear the success stories come back on topics I’ve brought up in class.

Tell us a bit about your WordCamp Ottawa talk.

This talk is for the developer who uses WP-CLI, I’m showing out of the box applications, in real life situations.

What’s your favourite thing about attending WordCamps?

I love talking to people doing WordPress.  I love to catch up with friends and meet the people behind their online profiles.  Sometimes, I just stay in the hallway track for a few hours.

What’s exciting you about WordPress in 2016?

Using it more and more as an application framework to deliver results in a quicker timeframe.

Recommend one to three people in the WordPress world to follow on social media!

Thinking hard on this one, David bisset @dimensionmedia, Shawn Hooper @shawnhooper, Rachel Carden @bamadesigner

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So, What’s a WordCamp?

A WordCamp is an informal, affordable event that focuses on how to use WordPress web software. It’s organized by a local WordPress community for the people who use WordPress or who want to learn more about it.

Who attends

Attendees range from new or casual users to core developers. That’s because a WordCamp usually offers something for just about everyone. It’s about learning, sharing and getting to know others.

Who you’ll find

At a WordCamp you’ll likely find new bloggers, learners looking for help, WordPress development experts, consultants, first-rate presenters, Happiness Bar specialists and employees of Automattic, the company behind WordPress. You’ll also likely find graphic designers, writers, editors and social media professionals—including a few who are looking for some extra work.

What happens

You attend sessions to listen, learn and occasionally contribute. You find answers to your WordPress-related questions. You make new acquaintances if you are so inclined. And you can take part in our Networking Get-together if, like most people, you enjoy that sort of thing. It’s no secret that WordCamps can bring together individuals who become friends and business associates.

Not about money

WordCamps operate under planning guidelines set out by WordCamp.org, and each WordCamp is approved by WordCamp Central.

They’re not about money. As WordCamp Central points out, “WordPress-based conferences organized as money-making opportunities are not approved to use the WordCamp name.”

Yes, you pay to attend a WordCamp. But most of the event’s costs are covered by sponsors. Without sponsors we couldn’t hold a WordCamp.

And any surplus isn’t treated as profit for the organizers who, like the speakers, are volunteers. Any surplus is used to benefit the WordPress community—to fund meetups or next year’s WordCamp, or it’s contributed to the WordPress Foundation to fund other community events.

Then and now

The first WordCamp took place in San Francisco in 2006. Since then some 583 WordCamps have taken place in 67 cities in 48 countries on six continents. Today, WordPress powers more than 75 million sites on the web.

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Introducing WordPress on an Evening in June

If you’d like answers to some basic but essential questions about WordPress, set aside the evening of June 16.

That evening—if you’ve registered and paid your $15—you can sit in on your choice of sessions led by accomplished experts:

Will your questions be answered?

Are you a beginner who wants to know:

  • What WordPress is and who uses it
  • What the WordPress dashboard is
  • How to add content to a WordPress site and manage menus, sidebar widgets, themes and plugins

Or are you a developer who wants to learn about:

  • The template hierarchy
  • The loop
  • Hooks

Why attend?

Because if you have questions like these you’ll get answers—and be better prepared to get more from the WordCamp Ottawa 2016 sessions to be held June 18 – 19.

Of course, attendance at the introductory sessions isn’t mandatory. You can attend them only, the weekend sessions only, or both.

It’s just that if you want some background to help get more out of the WordCamp weekend, the Introduction to WordPress sessions may prove a good investment.

The details

The Introduction to WordPress sessions will be held on Thursday, June 16, 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., at the River Building at Carleton University. The session for Beginners will be held in RB3201. The session for Developers will be held in RB3202.

Think about your questions and what you may learn—and then take just a moment to register.

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Speaker Spotlight – Jamie Oastler

jamieJamie has a wide range of experiences across the WordPress solution stack and is currently the lead WordPress developer at Innovapost supporting 20+ internal domains / external microsites for the Canada Post Group of Companies. Whether working as front-end designer, plugin developer, DevOps resource or solution architect, he is equally capable / comfortable helping clients deliver small projects that might convert legacy applications into highly-engaging user experiences as he is launching enterprise-scale initiatives that integrate complex workflows to APIs and other infrastructure.

Jamie will be giving a talk entitled “You can write 30 features in 30 lines of code today and other WordPress Enhancements“.

What’s been your best experience with WordPress?

Showing people the power of the platform in fun ways like helping employees fundraising for United Way through online auctions and photo scavenger hunts.

Tell us a bit about your WordCamp Ottawa talk.

People who have an interest in customizing WordPress but are unsure how will see how easy it is to extend in iterative ways. People who already do this will come away with more methods and examples to inspire their own efforts in the future.

What’s your favourite thing about attending WordCamps?

Finding answers to questions I didn’t even know I had until I connect with others sharing their experiences.

What’s exciting you about WordPress in 2016?

Fields API featured project and the Rest API

Recommend one to three people in the WordPress world to follow on social media!

@dimensionmedia @TheTorqueMag @JJJ

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Speaker Spotlight – Michal Bluma

michal

Michal Bluma is a Montreal freelance developer who loves WordPress, code, cats and metaphors.

Passionate about trying to help make developers’, designers’ and users’ lives easier; he love helping people have “Aha!” moments.

You can find him on Twitter as @isotrope (https://twitter.com/isotrope/), on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/isotrope.net/ or at his site https://isotrope.net/ (He swears he’ll update it at some point! editor’s note: sure you will Michal, sure you will! 😀).

Come say Hi!

Michal will be giving a talk entitled “The Chop-up Diaries“.

What’s been your best experience with WordPress?

Discovering the wonderful community of people. From complete beginners to advanced developers, everyone is always so friendly and helpful. I feel like everyone wants the others to succeed.

Tell us a bit about your WordCamp Ottawa talk.

One of the pain points in the usual “Design/Chop-up/Developer” flow can be communicating the needs of the design as well as preparing easy-to-use mockups. The easier it is to chop-up the PSD, the easier it will be for the developer to do her or his job.

I’ve been doing this for a while and would like to give the designers a few tips and tricks that I’ve picked up along the way that will help the developer down the line be able to accomplish their tasks.

At the same time, the person doing the chop-up might be very technical but not as familiar with the designer’s tools. I’d like to give them a few methods that could help them as well.

What’s your favourite thing about attending WordCamps?

The people! I love meeting new people in our small corner of the web. It’s also a great opportunity to catch with fellow colleagues and friends.

What’s exciting you about WordPress in 2016?

The REST API is definitely on my radar. I really need to get on that ASAP. I have a feeling that using ‘wp_ajax_nopriv_add_[function]’ for day-to-day needs on the front-end will soon be as old school as listening to Run-DMC on a boombox.

Recommend one to three people in the WordPress world to follow on social media!

You should definitely check out Carl Alexander ( https://twitter.com/twigpress ). He’s been trying to elevate everyone’s PHP game with passion and fervor. We need more genii like him to help us move forward in our practices. Follow him or sign up for his newsletter ( https://carlalexander.ca/newsletter/ ) and I guarantee that you will be leveling up your skills!

Total disclosure: They’re sort of my extended family. But I really love that I get to be part of The WP Crowd ( http://www.thewpcrowd.com/ ). I know I’m cheating by offering a whole group of people, but.. well… They deserve it!

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Speaker Spotlight – Brian Rotsztein

As an experienced entrepreneur, Internet marketer, consultant, speaker, and author, Brian has spent much of the past two decades helping companies excel. His latest book, Content Marketing Ideas, is a trusted guide to online marketing, has been highly praised by critics and is rated five stars on Amazon. He’s the head of well-established brands such asUniseo (a boutique online marketing company) and Redstone Online Communications (a web design and Internet marketing specialty shop), where he brings a hype-free, seasoned approach to working with clients. You may have caught his appearances on CTV News, or various radio shows and podcasts. He writes about content marketing, SEO, social media, business, and entrepreneurship, among other topics. His work has been used by USA Today, ABC News, Social Media Today, Search Engine Journal, and other prominent sources. He’s a Senior Editor at The WP Crowd and President of the Canadian Internet Marketing Association. Brian holds two Master’s degrees, has taught university courses, and provides training services on Internet marketing. He’s been using WordPress since 2005 (version 1.6!) Connect with him on Twitter (@brianrotsztein) and Instagram (@brianrotsztein).

Brian will be giving a talk entitled “Monetizing Your Blog: Emerging Trends“.

What’s been your best experience with WordPress?

There are too many to list but socializing at WordCamps and meetup events is among the best parts of the WordPress community.

Tell us a bit about your WordCamp Ottawa talk.

People who blog on their own and are struggling to figure out how to make money with it should attend. This is a “lighting talk” so it will be a short introduction to some of the newer trends in monetization.

What’s your favourite thing about attending WordCamps?

Getting to know so many great people and learning useful tactics.

What’s exciting you about WordPress in 2016?

The continual expansion of possibilities.

Recommend one to three people in the WordPress world to follow on social media!

Roy Sivan, Carl Alexander, The WP Crowd

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Speaker Spotlight – Sébastien Sanche

sebastienCo-founder of Impeka, software engineering graduate, and website development fanatic; Seb was born for the Information Age. Composed of 20% engineer and 80% cowboy, he is a true Code Slinger. When it comes to high noon in the Wild Wild Web, you want him and his spurs on your side.

Sébastien will be giving a talk entitled “Widgets Within Widgets. A Widgetception Story“.

What’s been your best experience with WordPress?

Any time you can use WordPress as a jump off point to solve a business problem. I get a serious buzz from people saying that they’ll save a ton of time using my tools.

Tell us a bit about your WordCamp Ottawa talk.

The talk will go over how many sites, as they age, suffer from sidebar-itis and how WordPress doesn’t offer a way to place widgets on a page by page basis. Developers who have had to deal with legacy websites with a ton of content could benefit from this solution. Attendees should be comfortable in PHP and should have some knowledge on WordPress plugin development.

What’s your favourite thing about attending WordCamps?

Seeing different angles taken on common problems. How other developers in the community deal with problems is interesting.

What’s exciting you about WordPress in 2016?

This would be the first time I ever give a talk on any subject (if you ignore elementary/secondary school oral presentation haha!)

Recommend one to three people in the WordPress world to follow on social media!

Not necessarily individuals but /r/webdev and /r/prowordpress should be part of anyone’s arsenal.

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