Lisa Ghisolf Speaker Interview

Lisa Ghisolf WordCamp Grand Rapids 2013Lisa Ghisolf is Gizmo Creative Factory, with 17+ years in print, web & email design, and 10 years in business. She’s worked with big and small agencies alike, creating print work and websites for Kraft, Allstate & many corporations & organizations. Instead of just putting out fires, she’s now building robust WordPress sites and training clients and giving workshops on how they can manage them on their own.

She’ll be presenting A House with No Walls: Creating a Site Structure for Tomorrow.

Interview

Why do you use WordPress?

Ease of use for clients, ease of building good sites with a lot of support.

When and how did you start using WordPress?

Back in 2008 on an association site…. BuddyPress and the like didn’t exist yet so it was a massive pain! But, it existed for 5 years.

What tips or resources would you recommend to a new WordPress user?

The WordPress.org forums and experimentation. The sooner you break it, the sooner you can learn to fix it!

What advice would you give someone who’s building a business around WordPress design or development?

Learn all you can and talk to other devs and designers so you’re knowledgeable.

How do you stay informed about WordPress (news, tips, etc.)?

A few blogs, WordCamps.

What do you like most about WordCamps?

Friendliness, and learning new stuff. And sometimes just learning you’re not doing the wrong thing.

Where can we find you online?

gizmo-design.com
twitter.com/gizmodesign

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Christoph Trappe Speaker Interview

Christoph Trappe WordCamp Grand Rapids 2013Christoph has lived in Eastern Iowa since 1995 after moving to Iowa City from Germany.

He’s currently United Way of East Central Iowa’s VP of Communications and Innovation.

Before that he was United Way’s marketing manager, worked as a newspaper reporter, produced training videos for banks and credit unions throughout the United States, conducted staff training and developed new products for The Gazette Company in Cedar Rapids.

He lives in Marion with his wife and their daughter.

He’ll be presenting How Businesses, Non-profits, and Bloggers Can Use WordPress.

Interview

Why do you use WordPress?

The ease of use. It’s fairly easy to teach others to update and file content.

When and how did you start using WordPress?

2009 when I launched EasternIowaNews.com.

The idea was to start a local news startup and WordPress made that relatively easy.

It was easy to use and it’s easy to add more functions (for example through plugins) and update designs.

Perhaps, most importantly, it’s very easy for people to file stories and upload other content.

What tips or resources would you recommend to a new WordPress user?

Attend a WordCamp near you. See who else is using WordPress around you and reach out to them.

Just get started. Somebody called this phased functionality. Get your site going, then update as things come up.

What advice would you give someone who’s building a business around WordPress design or development?

See above. Get started.

Try what works. Measure. Do more of what works. Less of what doesn’t.

Define some goals up front, too.

How do you stay informed about WordPress (news, tips, etc.)?

Google Alerts and Twitter.

What’s a cool WordPress-based site you’ve seen recently?

Of course, I’m biased and like UnitedWayofEastCentralIowa.org.

United Way of LA and The Gazette here in Eastern Iowa also run on WordPress and work great.

What do you like most about WordCamps?

The exchange of ideas!

Where can we find you online?

ChristophTrappe.com
ChristophsBlog.com
Twitter.com/Ctrappe

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Ross Johnson Speaker Interview

Ross Johnson has been designing websites professionally for over fifteen years. He brings a unique and comprehensive view to design, shaped by a lifelong love for fine arts and his education in technology, business and social science. This diverse background brings insight to all aspects of design including practicality, business implications and psychology of how people interact with computers.

He’ll be presenting Using WordPress’ Built-in Theme Capabilities for Better UX.

Interview

Why do you use WordPress?

Its flexibility and simplicity. The sites my firm builds are eventually handed over to their owners for management. If managing the site is difficult we have to spend more time training and less time designing, which is a lose-lose for both us and our clients. We’ve found that we can build just about anything using WordPress and still make it maintainable for our clients.

When and how did you start using WordPress?

I started using WordPress in 2006 for a personal blog. The blog originally lived on Blogger, but I didn’t like the clunky method of posting content to your own server. There was buzz around WordPress so I figured it would be a better solution and gave it a shot.

What tips or resources would you recommend to a new WordPress user?

Setup a development server so you can test plugins, theme changes, etc… The fear of “breaking” something often prevents people from learning by experimentation. If breaking the site is of no consequence you can install and play around as much as you like.

What advice would you give someone who’s building a business around WordPress design or development?

Value your time and your expertise. It’s easy to fall into the trap of accepting low budget projects or letting the scope increase in an effort to keep the client happy. In the end, neither party will be happy however. You’re work quality will eventually slip when you’re working more and getting paid less and the client will get frustrated even if it was free work.

How do you stay informed about WordPress (news, tips, etc.)?

WordCamps, WordPress meetups, WpCandy.com, Podcasts, Twitter.

What do you like most about WordCamps?

The community. I always find someone who is passionate about something similar or something I haven’t considered. This community is so willing to share and teach, it seems to attract people who care more about building great things than making a quick buck.

Where can we find you online?

3.7designs.co
3.7designs.co/blog
@3pointRoss

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Topher DeRosia Speaker Interview

Topher DeRosia WordCamp Grand Rapids 2013Topher says about himself, “I’m an old school php/mysql dev that came back to WordPress around 2009. I’ve been making my living on it ever since.”

He’ll be presenting Caching: Absolute Beginner to Wizard.

Interview

Why do you use WordPress?

It gets me the greatest bang for the smallest coding buck. With minimal effort I can twist it to be anything I want.

When and how did you start using WordPress?

I first tried it in 2004, hated it, and built my own system. I tried it again in 2009 when a client needed it, and thought it was pretty cool. Then 3.0 came out and I haven’t really used anything else since.

What tips or resources would you recommend to a new WordPress user?

Get to know the standard processes for making content. Learn how to make a Post, and then you’ll know generally how to make any other custom post type. Learn how to place widgets, and what they can do.

Browse the plugin directory at WordPress.org, it’ll give you wonderful ideas for things you can do.

What advice would you give someone who’s building a business around WordPress design or development?

Work hard to become awesome at something in particular. Then other devs will come to you when they have questions about that thing, and refer you to clients that need that sort of thing.

If you’re starting out, get good at making and using custom content types. There’s a lot of wow factor there for clients.

If you’re already an accomplished developer, look at learning how to implement Node.js in WP properly. It’s built in, but if you don’t use it properly why have it built in at all?

There are many of those sorts of things.

How do you stay informed about WordPress (news, tips, etc.)?

I follow a lot of people on Twitter and read Post Status.

What’s a cool WordPress-based site you’ve seen recently?

Aren’t all sites built with WordPress?

What do you like most about WordCamps?

Talking with people. I can’t get enough. The knowledge exchange is HUGE. I learn tons, I teach tons.

Where can we find you online?

derosia.com
@topher1kenobe
codeventure.net

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Check Out Our Beautiful Schedule!

In case you hadn’t noticed, earlier this week we updated the site menu and have now convenienetly shared our event schedule, speaker list, attendee list, and sponsor list.

You can click through each session in the schedule for details about that session, or click through each presenter’s name for details about that presenter.

Finally, the schedule is subject to change any time between now and Aug 24. It is unlikely that it will, but that possibility does of course exist. You will get a printed schedule with your name badge so you can conveniently keep track of everything.

Don’t have a ticket yet?

Get your ticket today!

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Meet Our Third, And Final, Group of Speakers

Now that you’ve said hello to our second round of speakers, and you’ve you’re fully acquainted with the first 10, it is my pleasure to introduce our final group of presenters.

We’re pulling out all the stops here. This bunch isn’t last because they’re any less good than the first two groups, they’re last because we wanted to save some sizzle for just the right moment!

Without any further ado, I present to you the magnificent seven:

AJ Morris – “Building Awesome in WordPress”
Brennen Byrne – “Employing Best Security Practices For WordPress Sites”
Doug Smith – “Putting the Content in Content Management System”
John James Jacoby – “Q&A with JJJ: Anything and Everything you Wanted to know about bbPress and BuddyPress”
Kurt Hansen – “Are You Nuts? You Want People to Pay You to Create WordPress Websites?”
Lisa Sabin-Wilson – “Scoping Projects – A Therapy Session For Those Who Do Client Work”
Monte Martin – “Optimizing for Business Performance”

Mind blown? Tell a friend and get your tickets!

Register for WCGR Today!

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Say Hello to our Second Round of Speakers!

You’ve already met the first 10, and we still have another group we’re announcing next week, but for today we really want you to focus on these 10 amazing individuals:

Adam Pickering — “The Business of Selling Code in Today’s Crowded Marketplace”
Matt Christensen – “User friendly admin: custom fields, meta boxes, and queries”
Christoph Trappe – “How businesses, nonprofits, bloggers can use WordPress”
Lisa Ghisolf – “A house with no walls: Creating a site structure for tomorrow”
Jake Caputo – “Q&A Panel: Commercial Themes and Plugins”
Chris Klosowski – “Honey, I Shrunk the Logs”
David Veldt — “Making A Living Through A WordPress-Based Business”
Patrick Rauland – “Evaluating E-Commerce Solutions”
Topher DeRosia – “Caching: Absolute Beginner to Wizard”
Gloria Antonelli – “Road Map to Great User Documentation”

Are you getting excited yet?

Register for WCGR Today!

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Activities and Attractions in Grand Rapids

Whether you’re coming to WordCamp Grand Rapids from near or from far, there are plenty of things to do in Grand Rapids. Our friends at Experience Grand Rapids have created a special page just for WordCamp Grand Rapids attendees, which includes directions, parking, accommodations, parking, dining, attractions, and activities.

Did we miss any? Please add your recommendations to the comments below.

Experience Grand Rapids

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Meet our first group of speakers!

We’re pretty excited about the event this year, and we want to share with you the first 10 speakers who have been approved for WCGR2013:

Michelle Schulp – “Stop Making Things Pretty And Start Designing”
Pippin Williamson – “Going Beyond Just Plugin Development”
Ross Johnson – “Using WordPress’ Built in Theme Capabilities for Better UX”
Daniel Espinoza – “Creating and Selling Premium WordPress Plugins”
Chad Warner – “Q&A Panel: WordPress for Small Business Websites”
Brad Parbs – “Getting SASSy, Fun w/ CSS Preprocessors”
Dustin Hartzler – “13 WordPress Mistakes to Avoid”
Kyle Unzicker – “My First 414 Days As A Freelancer: A Retrospective”
Jeff Bowen – “Learning to Love JavaScript”
Joe Rozsa – “You want to stick that where?”

We’ve also published our second round of speakers. Are you excited yet?

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Tickets on Sale for WordCamp Grand Rapids 2013

Tickets are now on sale for WordCamp Grand Rapids 2013! Tickets are only $20 so that all WordPress enthusiasts can afford to attend.

Note that most sponsorship levels include a ticket, so you can support WordCamp Grand Rapids and grab your ticket in one motion.

We’re still accepting applications to speak and volunteer, so don’t miss your chance to get involved in some way!

Tickets

Photo courtesy of GavinLi

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