Author: Jim True

Support Engineer at Gravity Forms (https://gravityforms.com) and Former Community Support Lead at the Pods Framework (http://pods.io). WordPress Tampa Bay Meetup Organizer (https://www.meetup.com/WordPress-Tampa-Bay/) and contact point for Tampa Bay WordPress (https://tampabaywp.org), a network of Meetups in the Tampa Bay Area organized to help each other out and build community.

Announcing our 3rd Round of Speakers – The User/Blogger Track

Are you new to WordPress or looking get started with WordPress? Maybe you’re a blogger and looking for new ideas to generate better content? We’ve got a good lineup of folks with talks that are right up your alley and there’s still time to get a ticket to this weekend’s event.

We’ve also got a special treat this year with the new Kid’s Camp: a great place to get your kids started in learning and using WordPress. Learn more about the Kid’s Camp and it’s organizer below (along with the rest of our User & Beginner Talk speakers):

Kid’s Camp: Sandy Edwards

Sandy Edwards has been working in the online marketing space for over 5 years. She started at a niche firm that utilized WordPress to create sites quickly utilizing several options frameworks. Today, she runs CESquared a project management, WordPress Development and Maintenance Company. She loves to give back by teaching kids about coding, WordPress, and other technical skills. Sandy is very active in the Orlando WordPress community and is excited to see what 2016 will bring to the tech space in Florida!

Sandy has handled everything to do with our Kid’s Camp; she’s awesome!

Aaron Reimann

Aaron is a designer, turned developer, turned an agency starter. He has been working with WordPress since 2008. He has worked on WordPress projects with many Fortune 100 companies and many other businesses. He regularly speaks at Meetups and Wordcamps and currently helps lead the Atlanta WordPress Meetup.

Aaron is speaking on Page Builders Showdown.

Jean Perpillant

Jean is the co-founder of Design Theory, and has been creating and managing websites for individuals and small businesses for over 8 years. Customer service has been a focus of his since his first job when he turned 16, and it is what Jean believes has kept him in business to this day. You can find Jean on most social media channels to get a glimpse of his hobbies, interests, and tips on web design and photography.

Jean is speaking on Managed Hosting: What You Don’t Know, and What You Need to Know

Adam Warner

Adam W. Warner discovered the world of WordPress in 2005 and has been working within the community ever since. To feed his entrepreneurial spirit, he founded several WordPress-focused businesses that provide education, plugins and consulting services for online business owners. He is a true product evangelist for WordPress in spirit and personality, and that also happens to be his job title at SiteLock. In addition to WordPress, Adam is passionate about his family, robots and of course, life, the universe and everything.

Adam is speaking on A Contact Form is Boring – Five Creative Ways to Use Forms in WordPress

Jessica Garbarino

Jessica Garbarino is the founder and owner of Every Single Dollar, a company dedicated to helping single women navigate the world of personal finance. She realized that she was experiencing a financial hangover in her early 30s after the lifestyle choices in her 20s caused her to rack up debt. After paying off $56,000 of debt, she felt called to teach other single women how to manage their money, pay off debt, and instill financial confidence. She offers individual financial coaching, speaks on personal finance, and writes and produces video on various financial topics with the single woman in mind. Jessica lives the debt free life in sunny South Florida.

Jessica is speaking on So You Think You Can’t Video?

Patrick Alexander

Patrick Alexander is the CEO and founder of WPBICO, an all in one WordPress platform which provides every tool (domain,email,theme,hosting, plugins & training) required for a WP website at one affordable price. An avid WordPress enthusiast and lover of all things tech, Patrick has devoted himself to the tech industry for over 15 years gaining extensive experience in Programming, Web Development, System Administration and Technician; and a resume with related positions in the U.S military, Universities and several Internet Start Ups. He is also the founder of several startups www.balambico.co, www.wpbico.com and www.collegepaperreview.com.

Patrick is speaking on Your Ultimate Checklist After Launching Your WP Site

David Laietta

Organizer WordPress and WordCamp Orlando. Developer of Webs. Reader of Books. Writer of Words. Destroyer of Sentence Structure.

David is speaking on How Technology is Changing the Role of Newsmakers.

Lisa Melegari

Working as a professional web content writer and social media manager at We Do Web Content, Inc. pays Lisa’s bills. Volunteering her time as an organizer of WordPress Orlando Meetups and WordCamp Orlando 2016 keeps Lisa sane. When she’s not writing, managing, or organizing, she’s cooking tasty treats to bring to meetups and Orlando’s best co-working space, Canvs. Video chat with her and there’s a good chance you’ll see at least one of her 11 cats.

Lisa is speaking on Get the Most Out of Your Blogs: Repurposing Your Content.

Announcing our Next Round of Speakers – The Business Track

Are you looking to see how you can do more with WordPress to increase your business? Are you a freelancer looking for tips to close more deals or make your work more efficient? Are you a business owner who uses WordPress in their business and would like some insight to leverage this valuable tool to increase your revenue stream? Our Business Track Sessions and Sunday Morning Keynote will be just what you may need to help your business.

You still have time to get your ticket purchased, but they are going fast!

Sunday Keynote: Bill Gadless

President and Co-Founder of emagine, a 50+-person WordPress-based Digital Agency.

As a non-developer and a quasi-designer at best, Bill has always focused on being on the forefront of the business side of the web industry. Observing a lack of content and thought leadership for web entrepreneurs, Bill has dedicated a significant portion of his time to speaking on issues of entrepreneurship, sales, marketing and business strategy for freelancers and small web agency owners. Obsessed with everything sales and marketing, Bill’s insights have appeared on various occasions in MarketingSherpa, dozens of industry sites and publications and on the national speaking circuit. Prior to emagine, he developed his marketing expertise while building a highly successful direct marketing venture at 20 years old.

With a focus on emagine’s core industries and national expansion, Bill has focused obsessively on building emagine’s brand within the B2B, High-Tech and Healthcare sectors. Starting in the Boston region, Bill has successfully taken emagine from a regional player to a national leader in emagine’s target industries.

Bill is laser-focused on evangelizing WordPress as more than a “blogging tool” or “mom-and-pop website platform”. He and emagine have been instrumental in the adoption of WordPress by companies that previously would have resisted, from large hospitals to pharmaceutical companies to multi-billion dollar B2B enterprises.

Bill tours the WordCamp circuit nationally speaking on issues related to growth strategy for WordPress entrepreneurs. He resides in Boca Raton, Florida with his wife Krystal and regularly travels back and forth between emagine’s Florida and Massachusetts offices.

Bill will be speaking on Crank Up the Volume on Your WordPress Business

Amit Ramani

My background is embedded software programming. I have worked on a diverse range of mobile operating systems, including embedded Linux, Android and Windows Mobile.

What I enjoy most is working with WordPress in close conjunction with Google Analytics. It is exciting to discover gems of data in GA and then implementing the fixes and/or enhancements on the site. Most of the time, the results are phenomenal! For example, a small tweak helped reduce my average bounce rate.

Amit is speaking on How to Measure & Improve the Performance of Your WordPress Site (Using Google Analytics).

Nathan Ingram

Nathan specializes in building easy-to-use web sites that help small businesses, professional firms, and nonprofit organizations look great on the web.

He is a regular instructor at iThemes Training where he teaches WordPress, Web Design, and Freelance Business Development via live webinar. He also works with web developers individually and in groups to help them become more successful in their freelance businesses.

You can learn more about Nathan at his website at https://nathaningram.com.

Nathan is speaking on The Problem Client Protection Plan.

Raymmar Tirado

Raymmar is a writer, artist, entrepreneur, and WordPress evangelist.

He’s the Chief Disruption Officer at Clear Idea Labs and founder of the Sarasota Underground. His work is featured regularly on the Huffington Post, Elite Daily, and Medium.com.

Learn more about Raymmar and follow along with his online (ad)ventures at Raymmar.com.

Raymmar is speaking on The Death of Advertising — Why a Good Story is More Important Than a Sales Pitch.

Scott Mann

Scott’s been managing amazing teams of creatives and makers since 2001 with his company, Highforge. They switched from Movable Type to WordPress in 2009 for commercial projects. These days they use Genesis and Shopify for a lot of their projects.

He’s a certified Google Adwords Partner (has been since 2002) and a community advocate in Orlando. For a few summers, he worked as a tour guide at Disney. His driving passion is to empower others to grow their businesses and improve their communities.

He’s a gamer, backpacker and he plays racquetball recklessly in his free time. He’d also like you to know about www.BeTheMatch.org, a non-profit organization that saves lives (like his wife’s).

Scott is speaking on What Disney Can Teach Us About Winning with WordPress.

Mason James

Mason James is the Founder & CEO of Valet and wearer of a great many hats, including overseeing business development and fostering agency and team growth.

He started Valet, originally known as the WP Valet, in 2011 as the original WordPress support company, because he couldn’t find high-end help for clients who needed it. Since no one was offering the caliber of support he envisioned, he decided it was time to hang his sign out-becoming a trailblazer in the digital realm.

Mason is speaking on Software Support: For Fun & For Profit!

Chris Bernard

Over the last 17 years, Chris Bernard has handled online and offline marketing campaigns for some of the best known brands on the planet including: HSN (various brands), GM, Caterpillar, ditech.com, GM Goodwrench, Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Sears, DeVry University, Keller Graduate School, Budget Rent-A-Car, US Cellular, Motorola, Cintas, USBank, Ryder Truck Rental, Edward Jones, Sherwin Williams, Michelin, and Midas.

As one of the best digital marketing consultants in america and founder/chief digital, officer of dock29 marketing, a digital advertising agency, he is tasked with bringing the same elite strategic thought, technologies and processes of big agencies serving global brands to the small and medium sized business market.

Mr. Bernard couples his big agency talent, with an in-depth understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities associated with small and medium sized business marketing, to score exponential business growth.

For more on Chris Bernard and dock29 marketing please visit the websitehttp://www.dock29i.com

Chris is speaking on Local SEO Strategy and Critical Tactics.

Lain Livingston

Lain’s passion for branding stems from a deep rooted interest in creative expression. He has built and led the creative team at a Fortune 500 company with $1.7 billion in annual sales and was also the Senior Marketing Manager at a start-up that hit $1.7 billion in annual sales just five years after launching. Lain has also served clients such as Mohawk Flooring, Susan G. Komen Foundation, and Oldcastle as well as many smaller start-ups. Lain’s work has been published in multiple international industry-related books and national ad campaigns.

Lain currently resides in Tampa, Florida with his wife and two kids. He is employed full-time at SureCrete, where he is responsible for overseeing a complete overhaul of the company’s brand. Lain is currently writing his first book, which will outline the essential components every company needs to build a strong and effective brand.

Lain is speaking on Remarkable Branding: How to Attract Your Dream Clients in a Crowded Market.

Nathan Reimnitz

Nathan is a certified expert WordPress developer from Scottsdale, AZ. He’s a full-time freelancer for Codeable.io, Clarity.fm, LinkedIn Profinder & GoDaddy Pro Connect.

You can get to know more about Nathan on his website or connect with him via twitter.

Nathan is speaking on Five Figure Freelancing.

Dawn-Marie Mutell

Dawn-Marie Mutell, Founder and CEO of Life’s Necessities and Luxuries – Home, Body, Soul and Life-Styling business.  She is a versatile wardrobe stylist, makeup artist, event planner, personal shopper, professional organizer, life coach and travel consultant who has over 20 years experience in the fashion, beauty, & music entertainment industries.

Dawn-Marie has been a guest speaker at The Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, The Art Institute of Tampa, the Dress for Success organization and many more.  She is a certified Image Consultant and Personal Shopper through The Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC. Learn more at http://www.lifesnecessitiesandluxuries.com

Dawn is speaking on Turn on Your Star Power, Rock Your Head Shots and Get the Gig.

Announcing our First Round of Speakers – eCommerce Track

Are you looking to do more with your WordPress eCommerce website or thinking about creating your own store? This series of sessions & speakers may be right up your alley!

There’s still time to get your ticket purchased, but they are going quickly so don’t wait too long!

Saturday Keynote: Syed Balkhi

Syed Balkhi is an award winning young entrepreneur with several 7 figure online businesses. He was recognized as the top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by United Nations. His work has been featured in Forbes, Inc, Washington Post, FoxBusiness, Entrepreneur, Wired, and many top publications.

In 2009, he created WPBeginner which is now one of the largest free WordPress resource site on the web. In 2011, he created a site called List25, which has over 1.8 million subscribers and 380 Million video views on Youtube.

In 2013, he launched OptinMonster, the best lead generation software that helps businesses convert website visitors into subscribers. Every month, OptinMonster forms are viewed billions of times and help convert millions of abandoning visitors into subscribers.

Aside from these, Syed is also the founder of WPForms, Soliloquy, and Envira Gallery.

Syed will be speaking on eCommerce Growth Hacks to Skyrocket Your Sales for our Saturday Keynote.

Erik Kuna

Erik Kuna is the Vice President of Operations and Technology for KelbyOne, an educational training company driven by a passion to provide incredible training to their members while making it affordable to everyone. Over the last fifteen years he has been leading teams of people to bring award-winning training to the world.

From producing industry leading training conferences, workshops, seminars, classes, books, magazines, apps, videos, blogs, websites and webcasts as well as entire online e-learning libraries filled with thousands of videos, he’s been involved in all aspects of training. He’s also worked with partners such as Adobe, Google, Canon, B&H Photo and more to produce online training and events to help their customers and clients unlock their full potential via education.

Erik is speaking on Using WordPress and WooCommerce to Drive an eLearning Membership Site.

Chris Flannagan

Chris is an Alabama native who’s travelled and lived all over this country and world. He ended up in Sarasota, Florida after grad school and has been there for 7 years. Chris began building websites in Junior High and never looked back. WordPress has been his passion for close to three years now.

Chris is part of The WP Crowd and blogs regularly there and on his own website. He’s the Director of Digital Technology for Quasar Bio-Tech which fortunately involves a lot of work on WooCommerce and WordPress.

Chris is speaking on Hooking into WooCommerce & Theme Integration.

Chris Edwards

Chris is currently the Director of Technology at Effin Amazing, an analytics and growth consultancy. He is a 16-year Internet marketing veteran with experience in web design & development, search engine optimization, online marketing, social media marketing and mobile development. He specializes in WordPress custom development utilizing either Genesis Framework or underscores and is very active in the WordPress Orlando community. Chris has held development and Internet marketing positions in some of Orlando’s top technology companies.

Chris is speaking on eCommerce Analytics & Conversions.

Gary Kovar

A Mad-Lib Bio (fill in the blanks to play along!):

In 1999 Gary discovered [a web technology] and the web was never the same (for him anyway). By day, an E-Commerce Ninja involved in all facets of product sourcing, marketing, sales, [noun], and fulfillment. By night, a Freelance Plugin [animal] with a penchant for making data sit down and [verb]. By hobby, perched atop a multi-[noun] network of small restaurant advocacy sites.

Proud father of 2, happily married for 15 years, and always excited and [adjective] to see how others use WordPress to achieve their goals. Check him out at binarygary.com or @binargary.

Gary is speaking on Get “Ship” Done! Best Practices for eCommerce Shipping.

Lauren Jeffcoat

I have been building WordPress websites for over seven years and currently am part of the WPML Customer Support team. I love building WordPress websites and have worn many hats in the world of web development including Project Manager, Customer Service Representative, Account Strategist, and Web Designer.

Originally from New England, I now live in Surfside Beach, South Carolina. I enjoy sharing my knowledge along with tips and tricks that I have learned either through furthering my education or personal experience.

I have successfully implemented video library strategies on a number of websites and believe this is an untapped marketing channel that is quickly growing. Thinking outside the box can lead to creative ways of utilizing Video Libraries on almost any site.

Lauren is speaking on The Power of a Video Library

 

Our Full Schedule is LIVE!

You folks have been waiting patiently for it and we’re happy to post our Full Two Day Schedule for WordCamp Tampa. Check out our amazing lineup of Speakers and if you’re looking to volunteer a couple of hours during the event, our Call for Volunteers is open and we could use your help. Most importantly, don’t forget to Buy Your Ticket; our event sells out every year and we’d hate for you to miss out.

Call for Speakers

We want to hear from you! WordCamp Tampa 2016 will focus on topics about WordPress for users of all skill levels including blogging, marketing, small businesses, eCommerce, design and development.

If you’d like to speak, we’ve extended the speaker deadline so folks can get in to the end of July. We’ll be announcing our full schedule in August. Please be sure to check out our speaking guidelines and the WordCamp A/V Release.

If you’re looking for potential topics, WordCamp Tampa tends to draw a significant business-oriented audience: entrepreneurs and local business people who use WordPress to enhance and develop their business. In 2016, we’re looking to do an entire eCommerce track, specifically focusing on WooCommerce; if this is an area you’ve got experience in and would love to talk about or lead a panel of experts, let us know!

If you’d like to propose multiple topics, please submit the form below multiple times, once for each topic.

Call for Speakers is now closed.