As a Floridian weather wimp, I prefer to stay in Florida for the Winter. As much as I would enjoy meeting fellow WordPress evangelists, developers and educators and geek-out over Rest API or the Customizer at WordCamp US in Philadelphia, I prefer to be an armchair WordCamper, armed with my Chromecast and a Livestream ticket. WordCamp US Livestream tickets are available for free this year. So tune on in!
Here are my picks of WordCamp US sessions for nonprofit users, who are not technologists.
Friday 11:30 EST Five Newsroom Tips for Better Website Content w/ Andrea Zoellner
Zoellner describes his WordCamp talk like this: “Clear and compelling writing can improve any website, from hobby blogs to academic resource centers. If you think your web content needs a little love, take a cue from the professionals who make a living writing every day: Journalists! In this talk, I’ll use examples from the newsroom that apply to anyone writing for the web.” – Good session for anyone writing for the internet, Yes that’s us.
Friday 3:15 EST WordPress is for Blogs: CMS Diversity in Museums
Courtney O’Callahan returns to WordCamp US. She is the Chief Digital Officer at Freer and Sackler Galleries and migrated with the help of Automattic its entire collection of artifacts into an online repository built on WordPress. This year, she will talk about the current state of technology in museums with the focus on open-source Content Management Systems, discuss the perceived lack of software competition and offers ways how the open-source community can get involved in the world of Cultural Institutions.
Friday 4:15 pm EST Josepha Haden: Care and Feeding of your Passion
Josepha, Deputy of the Community Team, covers mental and physical health and how we can avoid burnout. It doesn’t matter if we are paid passion workers at nonprofits, or open-source volunteers, we all have to face our demons. Once in a while, we need to listen to the smart people in our communities and learn to take care of our own mental and physical health.
On a side note: Beth Kanter & Aliza Sherman just published the book: The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact Without Burnout
Friday 4:15 pm EST Libraries <3 WordPress w/ Lauren Comito
“Public libraries have become hubs for digital literacy training, but did you know that we also teach more advanced computer skills? The Queens Library Job & Business Academy has implemented a WordPress course aimed at turning library patrons with basic computer skills into WordPress power users.” Says the WordCamp website. And I would love to replicate a similar program, as volunteers are needed at all kind of nonprofits to create content and feed the beast of a steady stream of updates in a world of social networks.
Friday 4:45 pm EST Online Education Communities with WordPress w/ TroyDean
In this talk, Dean will present a detailed case study on how WordPress can be used to deliver online education courses and build highly engaged communities of students. Another use case for an online education community would lead to instead of students, to create an online learning community around volunteers of an organization, with onboarding of new volunteers to cross-skills training and update of new processes and procedures. It can be used in a botanical garden, a community theater or volunteer caseworkers of a homeless shelter.
Friday 5:15 pm EST Influence is Not Only About Likes: How I used WordPress to change laws and (maybe) save lives. W/ Elise Desaulniers
The story of how a group of friends built a website, gathered enough signatures in 24 hours to make headlines news and within two years changed the law around animal rights in the provinces of Quebec.
Saturday 3:45pm:Matt Mullenweg’s State of the Word
Saturday’s presentation are about Internationalization, Accessibility, and inclusion as well as the next big thing around REST API, Encryption, SEO and other special cases. I have yet to decide which session, I will tune in. Let me know what grabs your attention and let me know in the comments. There is one must-see event; you should put on your list, though. That’s Matt Mullenweg’s State of the Word at 3:45 pm
There is, however, one must-see event: Matt Mullenweg’s State of the Word at 3:45 pm. Matt Mullenweg is a co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Jetpack, and other WordPress services. His talk will provide insight into the WordPress community, the roadmap for WordPress Core as well as the stats of this year’s WordPress Survey. Even if you are not able to watch it live, make sure you catch it on WordPress.tv afterward.
Right after WordCamp US, a new release of WordPress will come out. Don’t forget to sign-up for our free webinar here on NPTechProjects on What’s New in WordPress 4.7 on December 13 at 2 pm. We’ll talk about the change to the Admin screens, the Customizer, look at the new default theme, which for the first time is more business-oriented. We also take the opportunity to touch on a few tips & tricks for content production; I learned over the last few years. The last 15 minutes we do Q & A around WordPress in general. We will record the webinar, and make it available to all who register. So even if the date and time aren’t quite right for you, we will send the link to the recording to all those who register for the event. Register here now.
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