Bob Dunn is a WordPress coach and trainer who’s spoken at everything from BlogWorld and New Media Expo in New York to various WordCamps. He’s coming to WordCamp Portland this year to talk about how to make your WordPress knowledge stick. Whether you are learning WordPress yourself or teaching others, Bob will have something that will help you.

We chatted with Bob about his talk, blogging workflow, and more.

As someone who wants to learn how to use WordPress, how can I come best prepared to maximize what I learn from your talk?
Of course you should bring your laptop, iPad, or even a pen and paper to jot down a few notes. But more than that, be ready to focus on the content and give some thought to how it applies to you. The best preparation is to come with an open mind and a degree of flexibility. We each have our own unique way of learning and the takeaways will be different for each person. If you stay open to new ideas, you may discover additional ways of learning WordPress that you have never considered before.

What’s typically the hardest topic for a new WordPress user to pick up?
There are quite a few, depending on at what point you drop into WordPress. One of the most confusing to someone starting to explore WordPress is understanding the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Most of us in the community use that terminology, but it might make more sense to say WordPress.com vs. A Self-Hosted WordPress site and go from there. I cannot tell you how many people have asked me where they can start their blog on WordPress.org, or even tell me that someone is setting up their new site on WordPress.org.

What does your blogging workflow look like these days?
A bit neurotic, at least in some people’s minds. Some bloggers use an editorial calendar to plan and schedule their content. Since I try to post 4-5 times a week, often I spend part of my Sunday writing them all. But I tend to get distracted by shiny objects and new WordPress stuff, so often I readjust what I’m publishing to fit into a last-minute post. I do all my posts by directly typing them into the editor window. Also, if I am doing videos, I need to work those in as well. Often, depending on my time, a post with screenshots will win out over a video, as the video takes longer to produce, edit and get ready for the public. I think every blogger has to find what works best for them.

What’s your favorite tool to archive all of your knowledge, and how do you use it?
One word. Evernote. There are so many reasons this works for me. It makes organizing all the resources I find and my own thoughts easy, which saves me a ton of time I used to spend bookmarking pages in my browser. Make sure to come to my session to learn exactly how I use it.