Thank you to our Outstanding sponsor WPengine

WordCamps wouldn’t be possible without the sponsorship of companies who care about WordPress, and we are lucky to be supported by some great firms.

WP Engine powers amazing digital experiences for websites or applications built on WordPress. The company’s premium managed hosting platform provides the performance, reliability and security required by the biggest brands in the world, while remaining affordable and intuitive enough for smaller businesses and individuals. Companies large and small rely on WP Engine’s award-winning customer service team that specializes in quickly solving technical problems, and creating a world-class customer experience. Founded in 2010, WP Engine is headquartered in Austin, Texas and has offices in San Francisco, California, San Antonio, Texas, and London, England.

Website: https://wpengine.com/
Twitter: @wpengine
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wpengine/

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 Volunteers – Get Involved!

WordCamp Tampa is coming up in just a few short weeks and we are looking for some interested individuals, willing to give just a couple of hours to make sure our event this year is a success.

Why Should You Volunteer?

You may not know but WordCamp Tampa is staffed entirely by volunteers; even our Core Team of Organizers are volunteers. We host this event as an annual grassroots movement dedicated to learning and using WordPress. We make no money on the event; it all goes back into the budget for next year.

When you volunteer, you are giving back to the Tampa community and contributing to our effort. We need your help!

Don’t Worry — You Still Get to Enjoy the Camp

Your commitment to volunteer won’t take away from your time enjoying the Camp and you’ll get to see it from a different perspective as you see what goes on behind the scenes. We only need a couple of hours from each volunteer and we have plenty of opportunities to fit your experience and personality.

Check out the list below to see some examples of what we need:

Registration Volunteers

Arrive an hour early and help us get the camp going. You’ll be helping at the registration tables with such things like: checking off registrations, handing out badges, getting folks their t-shirts, and saying “Welcome!” with your best early morning smile. And point them to the Coffee 😉

Setup and Tear Down Teams

We’ve got tables, we’ve got signs, we’ve got boxes, we’ve got equipment and more stuff! We need help getting everything in place before hand and tearing it back down afterwards.

Help Table

Where’s the next session? What time is lunch? Where’s the bathroom?Whatever questions our attendees have, we need helpful volunteers to man the table and help direct them to answers.

Happiness Bar/WP Help Desk Support

You know a thing or two about WordPress! Why not spend some time giving back and helping those coming along behind you. We need people of all levels in the WordPress community to hang out in the Happiness Bar and help answer How-To questions from other attendees.

Speaker Host

We’ve got some amazing speakers lined up for all our sessions. Let’s treat them right! Help us get them in the right spot at the right time. You’ll be communicating with them a few minutes before their session, helping them with their equipment if needed, providing a bottle of water, and making sure they have what they need. Read their short bio by way of introduction and be their timekeeper to help the sessions run on time.

Food and Beverage

Help with setup and cleanup of the food areas. You know we’re gonna have coffee and snacks, right? Help us make sure things stay stocked and the area clean. We also need help setting up and tearing down lunch.

All-Hands-on-Deck Help

Whether its help running messages, covering last minute details, or just answering questions, we need volunteers, ready and willing to help wherever needed!

Sign Up to Volunteer

We are only looking for two things in our volunteers: Reliability and Friendliness. Easy, right? Use the form below to let us know you are interested and our Volunteer Coordinator will get back in touch with you.

Your exact duties will be explained closer to the event – but if something listed here sounds especially interesting to you, please let us know on the form. We want the right people in the right spots!

We want this WordCamp to be for the community and by the community. For this to happen, we need you. Please consider joining the Volunteer Team.

Areas I can help with (Check all that apply)

Tickets Now Available!

Wahoo! Tickets are on sale for WordCamp Tampa, if you haven’t already heard on Twitter. There are only 400 available tickets, so please purchase your ticket while you still can as there is limited space.

There are two types of tickets. One is the regular ticket, the other is a micro sponsorship which is going towards sending students to the camp for free + a bit of help on our expenses. Please consider helping the community and purchasing a micro sponsorship. For other sponsorship opportunities, please see our sponsorship page.

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.

Become a Sponsor

The conference will be 2 fun, full days! Saturday is the main conference day with 3 tracks, featuring Publishing & Marketing, Design, and Development. Sunday will include three tracks, for Business & Entrepreneurship, as well as a general Publishing track. We’ll have all-day workshops for developers on Sunday as well.

WordCamp Tampa will be limited to 425 tickets and we expect to have a waiting list again this year.

WordCamp Tampa is an informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other.

WordCamps are educational events and would not be possible without the funding from businesses and local volunteers.

  • 425 attendees including developers, designers, users, volunteers and speakers over the three days
  • Two days of learning including two days of speakers and a day of workshops
  • Thousands of WordPress users visiting the website
  • Tampa WordPress Meetup group of over 1300
  • You will reach WordPress users of all levels, from beginners to the advanced
  • Reach hundreds of WordPress users from multiple levels of proficiency and industries

WHERE YOUR CONTRIBUTION IS GOING?

A majority of the projected budget pays for the venue rental, the USF Marshall Student Center. Food costs are the next biggest expense, as lunch, snacks and coffee are included in the ticket price for the two main conference days. Rest assured that any left over food and drink will be donated to a local food bank, continuing last year’s tradition

Sponsor Submission Form

Sponsorship Level(required)

Welcome to WordCamp Tampa 2016

We’re happy to announce that WordCamp Tampa 2016 is officially on the calendar!

WordCamp Tampa will be September 10-11 at the USF Marshall Student Center.

Subscribe to our Mailing List using the form in the Sidebar to stay up to date on the most recent news. We’ll be keeping you posted on all the details over the coming months, including speaker submissions, ticket sales and more!