Author Archives: Dion Hulse

Thank you to our Silver sponsors of WCBNE19!

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WordCamp Brisbane would like to thank all of our amazing Silver Sponsors, with out their support we would not be able to have all the cool things at our WordCamp!

WP Hosting

WP Hosting is a specialist WordPress hosting servicing Australian businesses, developers and agencies since 2008.

Our hosting is optimised for WordPress, security and scalability – we have plans for start-ups as well as high traffic websites requiring a dedicated server solution, and everything in between.

We are 100% Australian owned and operated, our support team are located in our office in Melbourne and our tech resides in Australian data centres.

Bluehost

Did you know that Bluehost powers over one million WordPress sites? And did you know they sponsor every WordCamp in the whole entire world? Bluehost was the first company to sign on as multi-event sponsor when we debuted the program in March of 2013, and we’re so very grateful for their continuing support of this and every other WordCamp.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy Pro offers a robust suite of free tools to web developers & designers to help them save time managing all their clients and sites. With GoDaddy Pro, you can easily shop for your client, monitor their sites, and manage all their WordPress websites from one place. Exclusive time-saving tools let you update WordPress core, plugins and themes with one click, as well as automate WordPress backups, cloning and migrations. Get real-time performance, security and uptime monitoring across all your websites. Additionally, your free membership includes advanced 24/7 technical support.

When you pair GoDaddy Pro with GoDaddy hosting products, the benefits are even greater.

Hubspot

HubSpot is a leading growth platform. Since 2006, HubSpot has been on a mission to make the world more inbound. Today, over 56,500 customers in more than 100 countries use HubSpot’s award-winning software, services, and support to transform the way they attract, engage, and delight customers. Comprised of Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, and a powerful free CRM, HubSpot gives companies the tools they need to Grow Better. Learn more about HubSpot for WordPress.

Get your Tickets ASAP, We’ve got Deadlines!

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WordCamp Brisbane is fast approaching – We’ll see you in just 9 sleeps!
That means there’s certain things we need to lock in with our suppliers yesterday, so if you’ve not yet got yourself a ticket, get it ASAP! We’re fast running out of tickets, and while we may increase the number available we’ll be forced to limit sales if we exceed catering capacity!

tl;dr: Get your ticket by August 20th – Next Tuesday to ensure you’re properly catered for an have a nice printed badge.

Many things happen behind the scenes of WordCamp organising, Speaker selection, Venue selection, Vendor choices, talking with sponsors, and many many other things that you know happens, but you don’t actually see.

This year, we’ve locked in a lot of things based on our personal experiences running the event in the past years, but we’re fast approaching two very important deadlines for us, Badge Printing and Final Catering Numbers!

Catering Numbers

Next Tuesday, we’ll be confirming our final numbers with our catering vendor, giving them a heads up on all the dietary needs of attendees and verifying we’ll have enough food to feed everyone.

We generally do order for a few extra people, just to account for those who don’t get their ticket in time, but to avoid wasting good food we only order so much.

If you’ve already purchased a ticket, and have dietary requirements that need to be met (Vegetarian? Vegan? Gluten Free? Dairy Free? Allergic to something? We’ve got you, just make sure your ticket specifies it!), please ensure your ticket is updated with your preferences – You can check by going back to your ticket purchase confirmation email where there’s an edit link or just keep an eye out for an email later today.

Badge Printing

Next Tuesday, we’ll also be finalising and submitting our print order for our Badges – Those things upon the end of the lanyards everyone wears at WordCamp – Check out last years photos to see what they look like.

If you don’t have a ticket by sometime on Tuesday when we do our final export, we’ll have to hand-write you a badge – and trust us, no-one wants that!

Volunteers: If you’ve volunteered and don’t yet have a ticket, we’ll be in touch very soon with details – Don’t worry, we’ve not forgotten about you and will make sure you have a ticket.

Are you running out of tickets?

Strange you should ask that! As of this post our tickets page says we have 36 27 of 360 still tickets available for purchase. We’ve still got some tickets set aside for special people (Sponsors who haven’t yet got their tickets sorted, and our Volunteers) which will be made available for everyone else to purchase as soon as we’re sure they’re all accounted for.

We may also increase the total capacity numbers from 360 to something higher if possible, but we only have so much money for extra Food and Coffee!

What happens if you run out of tickets?

Unfortunately, once we hit our ticket limits, we’ll be forced to close ticket sales and you’ll have to take part in the event remotely, following us on Twitter, Facebook, and keeping an eye out of the Videos afterwards or if you’re lucky, there may even be a #live-stream of some presentations.

So what are you waiting for?
With only a few days until we finalise those orders, get yourself a ticket today.

PS. Really not sure if you’ll be able to make it? Only just found out about WordCamp? That’s okay, like I said, we can hand-write you a badge and we’ll do our best to ensure that there’s enough food to go around, but once Tickets run out, they’ll be gone.

Introducing the.. Hallway Track!

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Hallway Track? What’s that you might ask? At every conference and event I’ve ever been I’ve always found myself enjoying the conversations I have with old friends (and new friends alike!) about a topic that just isn’t on the schedule – or just wouldn’t be suitable for a scheduled session. While these conversations are awesome, you still need to know who to talk to!

Today we’re kicking off something we call the Hallway Track, the Hallway track is the 3rd stream of “sessions” running all day, with much less structured content. It’s a time to bring people with similar interests and to connect like minded people, and to give the newcomers a chance to connect with others.

What “Hallway” talks are there? Well, that’s where you come in – we want to hear what topics and groups of people you want to connect with!
We’ve thought up a few topics, but we’d like to get as many up on the board before the weekend!

Here’s just a few ideas we came up with: (These aren’t yet scheduled – if they look interesting and you’d like to lead it, make sure to lock it in!)

  • eCommerce Do you run an store? Sell online using WooCommerce, or even Magento? Why not connect with others who are in a similar situation to you?
  • Developing with Gutenberg Are you plugin author? A curious user? Maybe you’re not sure where to start? Wouldn’t it be good to chat with others who have been there, done that?
  • Do you use a Page Builder? Is it Divi? Elementor? Would you like to meet others who also use it? Learn something new, find out about an extra extension that you’ve missed!
  • How do I run a successful WordPress meetup? We’ve all been along to a meetup before and thought I could do this! but have you ever pondered the questions of How do I do that? How do I help? Let’s get together and talk it out!
  • Do you use Joomla!, Drupal, or another CMS? Do you want to meet other people who use your favourite tool of choice? Why not find out if there’s others to learn from!

Sessions are to be organised by you, we won’t be providing you with a projector, room, microphone, or be recording it. We’ll just advertise it to everyone else at what time and what place to find each other.

We’ll be treating this as a separate track, running all day 10am to 4.30pm, maximum of 1 topic at any given time.
The Schedule has been updated with the extra track, if there isn’t something showing in the Hallway Track slot you can claim that!

We expect that the popular topics will be during the Breaks, and request that if a topic is during sessions, that the time align with the presentation schedule and not overlap or compete against a presented topic.

If this sounds like something you’d like, comment below with your preferred topic and timeslot!

Call for Volunteers

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WordCamp Brisbane is less than 30 days away (tickets here if you need an extra reminder), and we need your help! Not only do we need you to tell your friends about how awesome WordCamp is, but we need a bunch of you to help us make everything run smoothly on the weekend!

I know I want to apply, I don’t need convincing!

You’ve heard it all before I’m sure, but as we like to remind you at every WordPress Meetup – We’re all volunteers, the organisers and even the speakers!
We all do it because we care about WordPress and love the community that we call home.

So here’s your chance to give back! By volunteering you ensure that WordCamp Brisbane is an event that no-one will forget as it’ll run smoothly and everything will just “work”!

What do we need help with I hear you ask? Well, in short, everything!

  • Registration Desk – You know those happy friendly faces you see every time you get to an event? They’re volunteers, and they help register you, get your lanyard, give you any swag, and many other small tasks
  • Directions – No-one quite knows where to go, and that includes us! (only kidding.. maybe..). We’ll need people who can scour the venue (we’ll give you a rough tour) and can direct everyone else on the important details like; Where is the Coffee?! (and then where the Toilets are!).
  • Room Managers, Time keepers, Door Guards, AV staff – We’ll need a bunch of people to help make both of our session rooms run smoothly. We’ll need someone who can make sure everyone knows what’s happening, that the Speakers have been mic’d up correctly, and that no-one makes a loud entrance half way through the session!
  • Emcees – Are you good at public speaking? How would you like to run a room for a few sessions? We’re talking things like introducing speakers, letting everyone know what’s up next (or what amazing thing they just missed in the previous talk!) and letting everyone know about any important notices from the WordCamp organisers.
  • Photography – Are you good with a camera? We sure aren’t! (I mean, We’re probably busy elsewhere!). We’ll need people who love taking photos to roam around all day taking photos to share with future Attendees. Things like large attendee crowds & action shots of speakers.
  • Did we forget something? Of course we have. We need volunteers for all sorts of things, many of which we may not have even realised yet. If you think there’s something you can do to make the weekend run smoother, we want your help! just let us know!

While we don’t expect you to work 24/7, a few people can make a large task small and painless. You’ll have our everlasting appreciation, and you’ll get to meet plenty of fellow attendees at the same time!

So what are you waiting for? Apply to Volunteer Today!

Get your Ticket!

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We’re happy to announce that tickets are officially available for WordCamp Brisbane 2019!

Get your ticket!

If you’re in Brisbane on the 24-25th of August, WordCamp is where you’ll want to be! (It’s not too late to change those plans!)

Tickets are available for the low-low price of $50, which covers the two days of presentations, morning tea, lunch, coffee, and so much more. You’d be right if you didn’t think $50 would buy all that – we rely upon our amazing sponsors to make it all possible. (It’s not too late to sponsor WordCamp Brisbane 2019 either!)

Tickets are not unlimited and will run out, get in early to secure yours and be first in line for any swag!

Every ticket sale helps us. Putting on such a large event requires a lot of planning and behind-the-scenes work that many never see – knowing how many people will be there helps us plan the amount of food and coffee to order, the amount of swag, and even the venue size!
We have to lock in all of these details weeks (or even months) in advance, so tickets will be limited and last-minute ticket purchases might be impossible!

If you’re not yet sure if WordCamp Brisbane is for you, check out the videos from last year (or 2017) for an idea of what to expect, and if you have any questions (or want to know more about sponsorship), please get in touch!

Get your ticket!

PS. Speaker submissions will be open for a few more days, don’t forget to submit your presentation ideas!

Call for Speakers

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Do you have knowledge that would benefit the WordPress community? WordCamp Brisbane is now accepting speaker applications for WordCamp Brisbane 2019.

WordCamp Brisbane speaker applications ARE CLOSED. Voting is complete and we are currently getting in touch with speakers to confirm. Final advice will come soon.

Speakers are the lifeblood of any WordCamp providing a chance to be involved, give back and shape the future of WordPress in Australia and around the world.  We’re looking for talks on a variety of topics to cover different stages of the WordPress journey from beginner to expert.

Once submissions close, the selection process will commence and we’ll contact everyone as soon as possible via email to confirm details once our voting has been finalised. Keep an eye on our social channels, and you might see an update on our voting progress.

Topics should be related to WordPress.  Past topics fell broadly into themes such as WordPress development, copywriting, blogging, design, business and workshops.  For some inspiration, take a look at past WordCamp talks over at WordPress TV.

  • Front end development
  • Back end development
  • Writing copy and content
  • WordPress business topics

We’re also specifically interested in any talks on the following topics

  • Site creation case-studies
  • WordPress & Javascript development (Gutenberg, etc)
  • Talks aimed at WordPress beginners
  • Talks covering a topic you wish you had heard before you started out in your own WordPress journey

Length of talks This year we’ve got two talk lengths, 30 minutes plus 10 min for Q&A or 15 minutes plus 5 minutes for Q&A. You should practice your talk to ensure you keep within these timeframes.

Both experts in their field and first time speakers are welcome.
Whilst the location can be a little daunting for first-timers, you won’t find a friendlier crowd for your first public speaking jaunt. We also have advanced speakers well known in the WordPress community who return to share their experience.  This balance is one of the aspects that makes WordCamp such an invaluable conference for the entire community.

Remember when you were a WordPress beginner at your first WordCamp?
Think about what you didn’t learn that you wished you had, Now submit that as a talk!

Tips for Replying to A Call for Papers or A Call for Speakers

Why Should I Present at a WordCamp?

There are so many good reasons to share your knowledge in the WordPress community but a quick poll of past speakers told us this:

As a WordCamp speaker you have an opportunity to give back to the community,  empower others and shape the future of WordPress in Australia. This alone is the greatest reason to share your knowledge –  step up, get out of your bubble, give back and be part of something bigger than yourself.

The learning and perspective that comes from teaching others and the reflection this requires when writing a talk is an invaluable experience for anyone using WordPress or making a living from WordPress related products or services.  It’s a great way to deepen your own knowledge and help others at the same time. Win.Win.

You will undoubtedly connect with others and extend your network in Brisbane and further afield. People come from all over Australia to attend WordCamp Brisbane and one of the great things about the conference is that it’s one of the most non-salesy, ego-free conferences you will ever find. This aspect breaks down the usual barriers of ‘networking’ and makes for a fun and friendly environment to connect with others.

Welcome to #WCBNE 2019

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We’re happy to announce that WordCamp Brisbane 2019 officially on the calendar!

WordCamp Brisbane will be 24th & 25th of August 2019 at QUT Gardens Point in the heart of our lovely city.

Subscribe 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!

For some inspiration, check out the WordCamp site from last year, rewatch some of the Presentations, or check out the Photos archive!