I got this press release today about WordCamp Fayetteville and wanted to pass it along…
WordCamp Fayetteville 2011 Speaker Lineup Announced
Jane Wells of the nonprofit WordPress Foundation will deliver the July 30th noon keynote address “The Future of WordPress” at WordCamp Fayetteville on the University of Arkansas campus. A slate of additional speakers – mostly from Northwest Arkansas – will speak on a range of topics, including the power of WordPress for nonprofit entities, how educational institutions use the software and the formation of the student-run and WordPress-powered magazine, The Arkansas Angle.
A moderated forum will address the topic “Finding A Niche Online: Success Stories” that features representatives from several companies, including Fort Smith’s The City Wire, on how they were commercially successful in finding an online voice. Additional speakers are geared toward technically advanced applications of WordPress, enriching Northwest Arkansas’ web developer and designer community.
WordCamp Fayetteville (http://2011.fayetteville.wordcamp.org) is Northwest Arkansas’ premier technology conference scheduled for July 30 – 31, 2011 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus. Sunday’s events will be at The Belford Group in Fayetteville. WordCamps are held throughout the world and are organized on the local level by enthusiasts of WordPress. There will be a similar event in Chicago on the same day. WordCamp Fayetteville is sponsored by the nonprofit WordPress Foundation. Donations are tax-deductible. The philosophy behind WordCamps is that they break even financially and sponsors step up to subsidize a $30 ticket that would otherwise be much more expensive. WordCamp Fayetteville is prohibited from advertising. Tickets are available at http://2011.fayetteville.wordcamp.org/register.
At WordCamp Fayetteville, up to 300 people will spend the day learning about the free, open-source software called WordPress and how to better communicate and do business online.
“This is our second year and we think it’s putting Northwest Arkansas on the map among web developers,” said event founder Christopher Spencer, publisher of Ozarks Unbound. There are three content tracks that attendees can move between this year. They include: the Blogger track with its emphasis on writing, the Developer tack for those designing for WordPress and the Business track which focuses on making money with the software. A $30 ticket to WordCamp Fayetteville includes a day’s worth of programming, a t-shirt, a swag bag, Saturday lunch, an after party at Teatro Scarpino and an informal meet Sunday with presenters called the Guru Gallery.
“It’s the best $30 you can spend,” Spencer said.
WordCamp Fayetteville is generously supported this year by the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission, Paze Interactive and VaultPress. For more information, please contact Christopher Spencer at 479.530.4943 or [email protected]. Also check out http://wordcampfayetteville.com.
As far as the schedule goes, this is what was listed in today’s email. I am sure that this is subject to some re-arrangement between now and the actual conference…
Blogger Track –
- 9 a.m. – Writing for the Web (Sara White. Serrabellum Digital Design)
- 10 a.m. – Guest Blogging: How to find the best and avoid the pests (Andy Crofford)
- 11 a.m. – The Arkansas Angle student-run multimedia magazine (Tom Hapgood and Bret Schulte, University of Arkansas)
- 2 p.m. – Numbers & Graphs & Keywords, Oh My! (Analytics for the blogger) (Angela Belford, The Belford Group )
- 3 p.m. – The DIY Website: Using WordPress for Nonprofit Organizations’ Website (Angie Albright, Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter; Jody Dilday, Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Northwest Arkansas)
- 4 p.m. – WordPress and Education (Jane Wells, WordPress Foundation)
Business Track –
- 9 a.m. – Monetizing Your Blog Beyond the Banner Ads (Syed Balkhi, WP Beginner)
- 10 a.m. – Target Practice: Using Analytics To Improve Your Aim (Angela Belford, The Belford Group )
- 11 a.m. – Texture, Rhythm and Scale: The Elements of Design (Sonia Davis Gutierrez, New Design School)
- 2 p.m. – Social Media Consistency: Skip the Overwhelm and Create a Schedule That Works (Lela Davidson, Media Consultant)
- 3 p.m. – Making WordPress Profitable for Agencies / Design Firms (Cotton Rohrscheib, Pleth LLC)
- 4 p.m. – How to Harness the Power of Facebook to Build a More Interactive Community for Your Blog (Syed Balkhi, WP Beginner)
Developer Track –
- 9 a.m. – The Ultimate WordPress Experience – WordPress as a CMS (Mitch Canter, Studio Nashvegas)
- 10 a.m. – Win friends and influence people with BuddyPress (Shelley Keith, Southern Arkansas University)
- 11 a.m. – Custom Post Types and You (Mitch Canter, Studio Nashvegas)
- 2 p.m. – Bare-Bones WordPress: Starting Your Theme With Starkers, HTML5 Boilerplate, and 960 Grid System (Tom Black, University of Arkansas School of Law)
- 3 p.m. – Embrace the Mullet: CSS is the Party in the Back (a CSS ‘how-to’) (Tom Hapgood, University of Arkansas)
- 4 p.m. – Theme Building and Security (A representative from iThemes)
Questions or Comments?