Get To Know Luke Woodward

Luke Woodward is an engineering manager with 10up, a freaking amazing web agency. He has been working in the WordPress space for 4 years. While he enjoys code and difficult software engineering problems, his real passion is continuous learning. If he has some down time, you’ll likely find Luke listening to podcasts, reading, or writing about a variety of topics ranging from leadership and business to software and graphic design. This passion for learning has pushed Luke to share his knowledge. It’s absolutely true that the best way to learn something is by teaching it. Working through problems with others is the hallmark of a good day for him. Luke can sometimes be a little shy, but he works hard to make everyone know they matter.

We’re thrilled Luke will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on documentation.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Luke Woodward →

Get To Know Greg Taylor

After working in marketing and business development for over ten years, Greg decided to pursue his passion for WordPress development and content marketing by starting his own company. Tired of seeing sites that look great but don’t achieve results, he founded Marketing Press to help business owners find the best of both worlds.

We’re thrilled Greg will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 about the new age of content marketing.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Greg Taylor →

Get To Know John Locke

John Locke is an independent WordPress developer from Sacramento, CA doing business as Lockedown Design.

We’re thrilled John will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 about the iThemes Security plugin.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: John Locke →

As not-for-profit, locally-organized, volunteer-run events, WordCamps wouldn’t be possible without community support — and WordCamp Sacramento 2015 happening on November 7, 2015 is no different. Our volunteer organizers, speakers, and of course, our amazing sponsors are not only what makes WordCamp go ’round, but what makes it possible for us to create such a fantastic day of learning for only $20!

Today we’re excited to announce several new sponsors — businesses that have stepped up to support WordCamp and our greater Sacramento WordPress community.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Welcomes Seven New Sponsors →

Get To Know Zack Tollman

Zack Tollman is Application Architect on the WIRED tech team. Before joining WIRED, Zack worked as Technical Lead at the Theme Foundry and Senior Web Engineer at 10up. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Lawrence University and PhD from Washington State University. He currently lives in the Bay Area with his wife and dog.

We’re thrilled Zack will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on the topic of understanding TLS and HTTPs.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Zack Tollman →

That’s It folks! We told you it was coming — our special WordCamp Sacramento sponsor ticket giveaway. We published the call for entries Tuesday evening and at 6:00 pm Wednesday night (last night), the contest ended.

Seven Sponsors Stepped Up

Seven of our WordCamp Sacramento sponsors stepped up in a big way. Instead of using all of the tickets included in their sponsorship packages, they donated some/all of their tickets back in a giveaway to those who didn’t snag a ticket before we sold out.

Please extend a HUGE THANK YOU to the following sponsors who made it possible for us to give away 22 tickets to WordCamp Sacramento:

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Sponsor Ticket Giveaway Winners →

Get To Know Jason Cosper

Jason Cosper is currently employed as the Developer Advocate for WP Engine. Honestly, that’s just a fancy way of saying “he gets paid to talk to people about WordPress development.” Nice work if you can get it.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In his spare time Jason hangs out with his wife Sarah, divides his attention between two very tiny dogs, maintains the Force Strong Passwords plugin, organizes the Bakersfield WordPress Meetup, grills various meats, scours the internet for vinyl, samples assorted craft beers & whiskeys, and writes cranky tweets about the Lakers.

We’re thrilled Jason will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on the way of the future — with the performance gains promised by HHVM and PHP 7, WordPress site admins are living in pretty exciting times.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Jason Cosper →

To say we’re excited about WordCamp Sacramento 2015, is putting it mildly. We’re simply ecstatic! We knew tickets would sell out fast, but clearly, with all 150 gone in just over two hours, we’re going to have a great day — and we’re giving away 20 tickets!

Network Pre-WordCamp

We’ve published the speaker page, and created a Twitter list of speakers if you’re a Twitter lover. We also published an attendees page, where you can check out what other smarty-pants WordPressers will be at WordCamp with you. And if you want a master Twitter list, of attendees, sponsors, speakers, and organizers, we’ve got that for you too.

Sponsor Ticket Giveaway

I know we said that tickets would go on sale and that that there wouldn’t be another wave of tickets available — and we weren’t kidding.

But here’s what’s amazing: We had some sponsors step up to support WordCamp Sacramento and they won’t be using all of their sponsor tickets. So… they are GIVING THEM AWAY!

Continue reading Need A WordCamp Sacramento Ticket? Wish Granted! →

Get To Know Suzette Franck

Suzette Franck has been in web development for over twenty years; she started making hand-coded HTML websites on geocities with font tags and tables back in 1995. Since then, she has taught herself CSS, Sass, PHP, MySQL, and became a WordPress expert; evangelizing and presenting at over twenty-seven WordCamps across the US and Canada.

We’re thrilled Suzette will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on Using CSS3 in WordPress.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Suzette Franck →

Get To Know Chris Lema

Chris Lema is the CTO and Chief Strategist at Crowd Favorite. He’s also a daily blogger, a public speaker, and product strategist. He helps companies leverage WordPress, and helps WordPress companies find leverage. For twenty years Chris has developed and managed high performing engineers to build software products — particularly SaaS products in a variety of B2B vertical markets. He’s also spent the last ten years coaching startups on product development & marketing strategies.

We’re thrilled Chris will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on the lessons learned from reviewing 30 membership plugins.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Chris Lema →

Get To Know Sallie Goetsch

Sallie Goetsch has been online since 1985, hand-coded her first website in 1995, and discovered WordPress in 2005. She is the organizer of the East Bay WordPress Meetup in Oakland, California. She runs her WP Fangirl consulting and development business from her home in Oakley, which she shares with her husband and two cats. She has presented at academic and business events large and small and even at Assembly hearings, but this will be her first time speaking at a WordCamp.

We’re thrilled Sallie will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on the topic Not Everyone Is a WordPress Expert.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Sallie Goetsch →

Get To Know Vasken Hauri

Vasken’s 15 years of technology leadership and experience working in both the public and private sectors have brought him most recently to 10up, a leading WordPress engineering and design firm, where he mentors a team of 80+ engineers.

Before learning about WordPress in 2007, Vasken worked at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, in several roles ranging from desktop support to systems administration, and occasionally, adjunct faculty member.

In November of 2010, Vasken joined GigaOM, a leading technology news and research online publication, as a WordPress developer working remotely from New Hampshire. Upon moving to the Bay Area in mid-2012, he assumed the role of a team leader within GigaOM’s rapidly growing product development group, a position he held until joining the team at 10up in February of 2013.

Vasken enjoys creating natural, consistent user experiences that enhance and promote interactivity through simplicity. As a developer, one of Vasken’s strengths is his ability to communicate highly technical concepts in a clear, non-technical way in order to build understanding between various project stakeholders. This, along with significant experience across several technology sectors, has allowed him to lead teams and engineer successful projects within organizations ranging from small, independent businesses to public universities to online publications with millions of unique visitors each month.

A strong believer in open source technologies, Vasken has spoken and hosted panels at numerous WordCamp, NERCOMP, and EDUCAUSE events, on subjects ranging from Green Computing to WordPress-based centralized authentication systems. He currently holds a Bachelor of Arts in German Studies from Haverford College and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Plymouth State University, where he was also an adjunct faculty member in the Computer Science and Languages and Linguistics Departments.

When he’s not testing cache performance or planning projects, Vasken enjoys spending time with his wife, hiking with his dogs in the Bay Area’s many beautiful nature parks, and as a recent California transplant, is once again trying to find a good group of musicians to jam with in yet another new city.

We’re thrilled Vasken will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on better living through event-driven caching.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Vasken Hauri →

Get To Know Russell Aaron

Russell Aaron was born over the hill (literally less than an hour and a half away from WordCamp Sacramento) in Reno, NV. He is the Lead Organizer of WordCamp Vegas 2015 & WordCamp Nevada 2016! He is a User, Developer, Enthusiast and Designer of the WordPress CMS. First and foremost, he’s just a fan. This is not Russell’s first WordCamp presentation and it’s definitely not his last. Speaking at WordCamp Events and giving back to the local community is something that he loves to do. “The good ones sweat it. Because sweating it makes you one of the good ones.” — Merlin Mann.

We’re thrilled Russell will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on the top three contact form plugins.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Russell Aaron →

Get To Know Jonathan Trujillo

Jonathan Trujillo is the lead web designer and developer at Tytanium Ideas. He has been building WordPress sites for a few years. He has a BS in Web Design & Interactive Media from the Art Institute of California — Sacramento. He is a Believer, Husband, Dad, and Star Wars Fan.

We’re thrilled Jonathan will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on local development with VVV.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Jonathan Trujillo →

In Only Two Hours WordCamp Sacramento 2015 Tickets Sold Out!

As the only northern California WordCamp in 2015, we had a feeling that tickets would go fast — and we made sure everyone knew they would go fast.

• We emailed the Sacramento WordPress Meetup Group list a reminder yesterday and a notification today
• We posted on the WordCamp Sacramento blog, Twitter account, and Facebook page
• We talked about it and made reminders at the monthly meetup meetings
• We posted about it in the WordCamp Sacramento Slack team
• The individual organizers as well as many in our community shared the information across their social networks too.

It probably even felt a bit like we were nagging (sorry), but we’re really excited about the event and we wanted to make sure you didn’t miss out on snagging a ticket of your own!

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Is Sold Out →

Hey there from your WordCamp Sacramento 2015 organizing team! We are so excited to share with you that tickets are now on sale for Sacramento’s first WordCamp — a one day event completely centered around WordPress happening Saturday, November 7, 2015.

UPDATE: Tickets are going fast! We only have 30 left, averaging one ticket sale every 30 seconds for the first hour.

Tickets are only $20!

Now I know you may think that at that low of a price, the event must not be very good. But check this out. Included in your $20 ticket, you will receive:

• Two full tracks of learning sessions, one beginner/user, and one advanced/developer, to choose from
• Coffee and snacks (because we know you get hungry at times other than lunch)
• Opportunities to network with other business owners, designers, developers, agency owners, and site owners
• A fully catered lunch from Chipotle
• Access to the WordCamp after party at the River City Saloon
• A WordCamp Sacramento T-Shirt (choose men’s or fitted women’s sizes)
• The awesome event stickers donated from StickerGiant
• Opportunties to visit sponsor booths and learn more about tools and services that can help your business or improve your site
• And more

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Tickets On Sale →

Tomorrow is the big day! Tickets go on sale October 7, 2015 at 10:00 am Pacific

Tickets for WordCamp Sacramento 2015 go on sale tomorrow, October 7 — and if you want one, you need to be at your computer at 10:00 am Pacific.

• Bookmark the Tickets page
• Mark your calendars
• Set a reminder in your calendar
• If you’re one to ignore calendar reminders, set a reminder or an alarm on your phone
• Going to be in a meeting? Ask a friend to snag a ticket for you!

There will be only 150 tickets

Unlike some of the larger WordCamps, we’re not going to roll out another batch of tickets in a week or two. This is it. We have 150 tickets total — and we expect them to go fast!

After all, this is the only WordCamp happening in northern California this year.

Continue reading Tickets Go On Sale Tomorrow, October 7 →

This is the eighth and final post in our series to help you get to know our WordCamp Sacramento organizers a little better!

So far, we have introduced you to Bill Mead, Brian Bourn, Jake Goldman, Heather Hogan, Jennifer Bourn, Joe Boydston, and Emily Buonauro.

Today we’re introducing you to Jen Meyer. Be sure to give Jen at shout out on Twitter and don’t forget to use our hashtag #wcsac.

Get To Know Jen

Jen Meyer is a third year Graphic and Web Design student at The Art Institute of California, Sacramento. She is also the co-president of the Graphic and Web Design Club at AI. Jen has several years of experience in information technology and project management, and spent time living overseas while serving in the U.S. Air Force. When not working on homework, or various other projects, you can find her either camping at the beach, reading a good book, or re-watching old episodes of The X-Files. Jen is excited to be part of Sacramento’s first WordCamp, and looks forward to many more opportunities to get involved with the local design community.

WordPress Q&A With Jen

Why WordPress? Why do you use it?

I’m just learning WordPress, but I like that I can turn a website over to someone and that they will be able to manage the site on their own.

Continue reading Organizer Q&A: Jen Meyer →

This is the seventh post in a series to help you get to know our WordCamp Sacramento organizers a little better!

So far, we have introduced you to Bill Mead, Brian Bourn, Jake Goldman, Heather Hogan, Jennifer Bourn, and Joe Boydston. Today we’re introducing you to Emily Buonauro. Be sure to give Emily at shout out on Twitter and don’t forget to use our hashtag #wcsac.

Get To Know Emily

I am a full time student, a part time worker, and a full time cat mom. I love coffee, burritos, and bright colored highlighters. I am currently attending The Art Institute of California – Sacramento as a Graphic & Web Design major. Although I have only recently begun working with WordPress, I love it as a content management system. The interface is easy to use for both the developer and the client, and bridging that gap is really important.

WordPress Q&A With Emily

Why WordPress? Why do you use it?

WordPress is a great content management system, it’s easy to learn and easy to teach the client and it is highly customizable. I’ve found myself using it many times this quarter because I’ve been picking up more real clients and I’ve found most of them work with WordPress or want to switch to WordPress. Knowing how to use WordPress has been integral in reaching these new clients and networking with more people, as well as honing my own skills, as I get closer to graduating.

Continue reading Organizer Q&A: Emily Buonauro →

Party it up at the infamous River City Saloon!

The WordCamp Sacramento 2015 after party is happening right in the heart of Sacramento’s historic district at the infamous River City Saloon.

Your WordCamp day doesn’t end when the sessions end. No way! We’ve got a party for you too — and it is included with your ticket! Yes, you MUST have a WordCamp ticket to attend.

On November 7, 2015, when our day of learning and networking at the Art Institute of California — Sacramento ends, we’ll break for dinner. This is your chance to grab some old and new friends and grab a bite to eat. Then we’ll all meet up again at the River City Saloon for an after party.

The after party is a great way to unwind and relax in a more casual atmosphere with your WordPress peers. This is a great place to continue conversations from the day, meet some new people you haven’t yet connected with, and strengthen relationships.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Hits The River City Saloon →