Planning for WordCamp US 2015

November 23, 2015 Guest

By Melanie Chongolola-Nestor

Hello, Melanie here. If you’ve been keeping up with YIKES’ weekly blog posts, then you should know that I am a neophyte when it comes to Web Development and Design. Thus far I have attended WordCamp Philadelphia in June 2015, and a Girl Develop It Class (Intro to Web Concepts) in September. I feel like they both have been getting me ready for WordCamp US – the biggest WordPress conference in the World, which will be hosted in YIKES’ home town and the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia.

Hopefully you already have your tickets, and are eagerly awaiting for the fourth of December to roll around. I recommend taking a look at the schedule before you show up for registration because there are a lot of classes and lecture offerings. You could just wing it and pop in and out of sessions, but with so many experts and professionals on-hand to answer your questions, you should maximize this opportunity.

The first thing one should note is that the schedule is broken up into tracks and lightening talks. Tracks A and B are full-length talks, and Track C, 10-minute Lightening Talks. You should attend the classes that speak most to the direction you want your learning to take, not which one will allow you to sit next to a friend.

As a novice, these are the courses I am looking forward to taking:

Friday, December 4^th

11:05am – Communities and The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense

Because everyone should know how to shut down internet trolls without losing their cool

11:50am – Themes are for Users

Learn how to choose the right theme to increase the user experience for the visitors to your site

3:25pm – Get It Right The First Time: WordPress Launching Checklist

Self-explanatory, amirite?

5:05pm – Designing For Those Who Matter – Your Users

Another talk about user experience

5:50pm – Publish in 10 Minutes Per Day

Keep your creative juices flowing and your ideas moving forward

6:00pm – What I Learned When My Blog Post Went Viral

Be prepared for big things, even if your site is one of obscure nature.

Saturday, December 5^th

9:00am – You can learn a lot from WordPress: Learning by building the Web

Turning your WordPress practice into learning experiences

9:45am – 10 Tips for Clean Code

Clean code is easier to de-bug. Start off right and save time on future fixes.

11:00am – Things you always wanted to know about WordPress (but were afraid to ask)

Self-explanatory, amirite?

2:45pm – Take Care of Each Other: How to Contribute to WordPress Without Writing Code

As a code novice I don’t know the best way to contribute to WordPress, this will tell me how

4:15pm – Explaining Hard Things to Humans: The Principles of Effective Technical Communication

I’m attending this to learn how to best translate tech terms to layman’s terms

The best thing about this schedule is that I will still have time to explore the other offerings of WordCamp US 2015. Opportunity maximized.

Post link

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

YIKES took our website from a hacked mess to a beautiful, stable display of what Kimberton Whole Foods is really all about.
Kelly Ragen
Kimberton Whole Foods

YIKES’ commitment to social responsibility makes them great partners for any non-profit trying to improve their social impact through their online presence.
Mark Sandblade
Library System of Lancaster County

This is our 2nd generation website created and built by YIKES and choosing to work with them again was one of the easiest and best decisions I have recently made. I highly recommend YIKES for anyone in need of a smart, creative and user friendly website.
Peter Cohen
Baum's Dancewear, Inc.

YIKES did a great job overhauling, rebuilding & improving our website, particularly given the extremely short timeframe we had. They were very professional, helpful, and informative; they are definitely leaders in their field. They offered training to make sure we were self-sufficient, and have answered any question we’ve had since the site went live. The site functions well and we are thrilled with their design, execution, and the plug-ins they developed & implemented on the site. Highly recommended.
Mica Denise McCullough
The Alliance for Watershed Education of the Delaware River

Very important to us was the friendly, collaborative spirit of their team. They were receptive and flexible, direct and helpful. There was no question or request too small to consider and work through. They were always reachable by phone or by email.

We all worked together well. Everything promised was delivered fully. I am very happy with my website.
Linda Lee Alter

YIKES, Inc. has helped us strengthen our web presence and ensure that our website stays responsive during peak usage. They continually seek ways to improve our site’s performance, and they make dealing with complex issues a breeze.
Brett Klein
Dining Out For Life International Association, Inc.

Not only does the team at YIKES have a keen eye for design, I am pretty sure they are magicians. Magic is real, and YIKES proves it. We came to the folks at YIKES with a project others said was impossible. Not only did they make it happen on time; everyone at YIKES was respectful, fun to work with, and pros at making the technical aspects easy to understand for everyone on our team. If you’re lucky enough to have found YIKES, look no further, you’re in good hands.
Alan Chelak
PAT @ Giovanni's Room

As part of our role as watchdog of Philadelphia City government, the Controller’s Office and its work must be accessible to the public. One of our first priorities upon City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart taking office was an overhaul and relaunch of the Controller’s Office website, including infrastructure to support interactive reports and data releases. The YIKES team rose to the challenge. They were easy to work with and very responsive. Best of all, their creative thinking helped turn our vision for the website, including more functionality and a user-friendly feel, into a reality.
Kellan White
City Of Philadelphia Office Of The Controller

We could not be more excited about our new website, from how it looks and feels to how intuitive it is. Yikes helped create something that will provide a major benefit to our existing clients and potential customers, as well as our marketing and sales teams. The Yikes team was a pleasure to work with and committed to service at every step, making for an efficient and enjoyable project all around.
Kevin Stanley
Golf Channel

I’m a huge fan of Yikes. They reliably deliver great work and are a fantastic group of people to collaborate with. We’ve turned to them to develop sales sponsorship executions, a brand-new product and a publishing site redesign – all for Penske Media’s highest-profile entertainment brands. Each was a success with our creative, business and technical teams thrilled with the results. As the Director of Product Management, I appreciate how easy their team is to communicate with and how they can adapt their development process to serve goals of the project. And, of course, their technical excellence.
Derek Ramsay
Penske Media Corporation