Author Archives: Daniel Bachhuber

About Daniel Bachhuber

wrangling code around the globe

But wait, even more speakers! Introducing our lightning talks

Just when you thought WordCamp Portland couldn’t get any better… we have more speakers to announce!

These speakers represent our lightning talks. Each lightning talk will be five minutes a piece with twenty auto-advancing slides. They’ll also be fast-paced, highly-engaging, and not to be missed.

Here’s the lineup:

Corey Freeman: Stop Tweaking (Setting Up a Blog Now for Success Later)
Eric Mann: The Future of WordPress Lies in the Past
Leah Olson: From the Mountains to the Operating Room: A WordPress Story
Mika Ariela Epstein: Rolling your WordPress Support Character (Without Any Code)
Paul Clark: How WordPress Saves Lives & Moves Governments

And that’s all in addition to our previously announced set of speakers. It’s going to be an awesome day of learning!

Haven’t bought a ticket to WordCamp Portland yet? Register today!

This Year’s WordCamp Portland Speaker Lineup: Part One

We tried something new this year for speaker applications, and we weren’t sure how it would go. The experiment was two-fold: requesting video submissions around a central theme: permanence.

I’m excited to announce the experiment paid off. We received a ton of great applications and have a fantastic lineup of speakers for this year’s WordCamp Portland, and we’re ready to reveal the primary lineup. You can look forward to:

Grant Landram: Creating a Better WordPress Admin Experience for Clients
Matthew Boynes: Rewrite Recipes, Exploring Advanced Permalink Structures
Bob Dunn: Making Your WordPress Knowledge Stick
Christina Elmore: From URL to ISBN: Making Books from Blogs
Andy Hayes: Website Critiques, How to Decide What Works and What to Ditch
Austin Gunter: Lean Product Development – 4 Steps to Build Something Your Customers Want to Buy
Maria Erb: How WordPressCan Save Higher Education
John Lee: The eBook and Gutenberg’s Dilemma
Matthew Eppelsheimer: Checklists: A path to mistake-free development and publishing

But wait, there’s more. Once we tie up a few more details we’ll have even more speakers to announce. We also have two amazing keynote speakers to announce in the near future. No teasers yet, though I can tell you the organizing team is really excited. 🙂

In addition to the pre-planned sessions and the keynotes, we’ll have time for unconference sessions and a round or two of Ignite-style talks.

Ticket information is coming in the next few days. We’re also still looking for volunteers and sponsors. Here’s to a fantastic WordCamp Portland!

About those video applications…

Dear prospective applicants,

First of all, we want to say we love you. It’s you, dear speakers, who make WordCamps great. And, sadly, I think I’ve thrown a curveball in our relationship. It’s time we make up.

Here’s what we want in the video applications: up to two minutes of you speaking into a web cam, iPhone cam, or some other simple video recording device. You’ll want to include:

  • What your proposed talk, structured discussion, or interpretive dance is.
  • Who your topic is intended for (e.g. super developer studs, writers who only want to write, etc.)
  • Why you’re the best person to talk about it.

If you’re spending more than 10 minutes recording it, or hours on post-production, you’re doing too much. All we want out of the video application is proof you can perform in front of an audience (just us for now), and an indication you’ve spent more than five minutes thinking about your idea.

You might be asking “wait, but what about the ‘permanence’ theme?” We’re open to creative interpretations of what permanence means to your topic. For that matter, we’re open to creative interpretations of how WordPress relates to your topic. We embrace creativity, and want to learn from those outside the close-knit WordPress community — if your topic isn’t directly about WordPress, just communicate how it relates.

My personal goal is to get each of us at BeachPress to submit a video tomorrow. I hope to see yours soon too — please don’t hesitate to email me ideas, questions, etc.

Sincerely,

Daniel

d@danielbachhuber.com

Call for Speakers

Update: Read this post, then read our second clarifying the application process.

Want to present at WordCamp Portland this coming August? Sweet — we’d love to consider your application. With five successful years under the belt, we want to shake things up a bit. Read the details carefully, should you choose to accept the assignment.

Your theme: permanence. WordPress has been around for over a decade now. Many sites have hundreds or thousands of posts. Consider one such post published in 2006. If the site has been tended to with love and affection, odds are the content has remained the same and the presentation has changed with each redesign.

What does permanence mean to you? Are you a developer who still has to deal with that API decision made three years ago? Are you a daily blogger who’s been writing since the days of b2?

Your format: to be determined. We loved how WCSF 2012’s twenty minute presentations encouraged focusing on a single point. We also love our fair share of keynotes, workshops, unconferences, and music gigs.

As avid WordPress customizers, we know form matters as much as content — sell us on yours. Plan to see some editing as we fit your content into a compelling package.

Your application: a two-minute video. You can rehearse as many times as you’d like, but we’ll only consider your best. Your video needs to include what your topic is, who it’s directed towards, and why you’re the one to speak on it. You’re welcome to upload it anywhere you’d like on the internet, but we need to be able to watch it.

Have too many ideas? Try to pick the unique gem. We’re also happy to provide feedback. Send an email to Daniel Bachhuber to start the conversation.

Your deadline: Sunday, June 9th at 9 pm Pacific. Cook up something tasty. When it’s ready, send it to us the deadline has passed! We look forward to announcing speakers soon.