Sessions

WordCamp Ottawa 2013 will feature 17 sessions in 3 tracks:

“Content Creators” with presentations that will help users that create content in WordPress sites.
“Site Creators” with content for those who are more experienced users, but not necessarily designers or developers.
“Code Creators” will include presentations for designers or developers about site set-up, theme design, plugin development, best practices for development, and more.

We will also have an unconference session on “The Role of Women in the WordPress Community”, a panel discussing “Building Your Business, Cause, or Brand using WordPress” as well as a pre-camp “Introduction to WordPress”.

Add in the “Happiness Bar” where you can get one on one help with your WordPress questions, and all together we’ll have about 30 talented people, many from our own WordPress community, and others from as far away as Vancouver, presenting to you the latest and greatest for WordPress.

Don’t miss this great event! Register now.

Tracks: Content Creators | Site Creators | Code Creators
Panels: Panels
Pre-Camp: Pre-Camp

See Sessions, Tracks, and Schedule Explained for more about the tracks and attending sessions.

See A User Guide for WordCamp Ottawa for general information about attending a WordCamp.

See the schedule.

We’ve provided the level the speaker is expecting as the intended audience and the speaker’s suggested prerequisites only as guidance. You can sit in on any session(s) in any track(s) you wish, even hopping between tracks, there are no restrictions as to which sessions you attend.

Introduction to WordPress

Presented by Rick Radko • Pre-camp Track

This session is an introduction to WordPress intended to help those who are beginners/new to WordPress become acquainted with WordPress, it’s concepts and vocabulary before the main sessions.

We will: learn about what WordPress is, see who uses it, get acquainted with the WordPress dashboard, and learn about the different content types and how to add content, including images and video. We will also see how to add and manage menus, sidebar widgets, themes and plugins.

Level: Beginner user

Prerequisites: None

This session is Thursday, April 25th, 7-9:30pm, at the University of Ottawa, Montpetit Hall, Room 202.

Wifi will not be enabled during this session, sorry.

Separate registration is required for this session, please select the pre-camp ticket if you wish to attend the “Introduction to WordPress” session.

You can attend this session on it’s own, it does not need to be combined with the rest of WordCamp.

After the Install

Presented by Al Davis • Content Creators Track

I am going to walk you through 10 things you should do to improve your WordPress install while it’s still got that new website smell going for it. There will be some security tips to keep you safe, as well as some SEO and productivity suggestions to help you get the most bang for your buck.

Level: Beginner User

Prerequisites: None

An Introduction to Custom Post Types

Presented by Troy Chaplin • Code Creators Track

Have you ever used a theme or a plugin that offers an additional content area outside of the standard Posts or Pages? These are called Custom Post Types, a great feature in WordPress that allows you to break out into specific areas of content that can be used for anything the mind can imagine.

Whether you are learning about theme development and want to add separate content sections of your own or simply new to using WordPress to manage your content, it is to your advantage to know and understand what custom post types are, and what they can do to simplify your publishing or development life.

Level: Beginner/Intermediate user, Beginner/Intermediate developer

Prerequisites: Basic / intermediate use of WordPress or theme development

Become a better WordPress developer by contributing and giving back to the community.

Presented by Christine Rondeau • Code Creators Track

Becoming a fantastic WordPress developer can be daunting. Once you start working with the CMS, you soon realize that there are lots of different directions one can take. During this presentation, I’ll show you how there’s a whole community ready to help and how you can be part of it. Contributing by helping on the forums, submitting themes and patches is a great way to expand your network, your knowledge and join an amazing community of like-minded folks.

Level: All

Prerequisites: Having used WordPress at least once would help.

Building Multilingual WordPress Themes

Presented by Shannon Smith • Code Creators Track

You’ve just built a great theme, but how can you get more people to use it? Why not turn it into a multilingual theme? All the steps you’ll need to follow to get your brand new theme internationalized and localized. You’ll learn about gettext, Poedit, POT files glotpress, and more.

Level: Intermediate/Advanced designer, Beginner developer

Prerequisites: Good knowledge of WordPress themes.

Building Your Business, Cause, or Brand using WordPress

Presented by Richard Martin, Julie Harrison, Jasmine Vesque, Mary Kathryn Roberts, Charles Jaimet, Angèle Lafond • Panels Track

Do you have a business and want to get more online visitors (and customers!). Are you a member of an organization (or an individual blogger) and want more people to learn about your cause and interests? Do you have a brand and want to increase awareness? WordPress is the perfect platform.

This panel session will include business owners, bloggers and organizations who will discuss their real-life experiences building their business, cause, or brand with WordPress.

Level: All

Prerequisites: None

Coding a theme from scratch

Presented by Scott Gallant • Code Creators Track

In this presentation we’re going to create a WordPress theme from scratch. We’ll begin with a photoshop mockup of a website, and a blank starter theme. We’ll slice and dice the design, and build it into a functioning WordPress website right before your eyes. We’ll also touch on some foundational stuff along the way, like, using a CSS grid, making a site mobile friendly and the anatomy of a WP theme.

Level: Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced designer, Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced developer

Prerequisites: HTML, Some CSS, Some PHP (not super necessary), Some (barely any) Photoshop

Debugging Bugs with a Debugger

Presented by Stéphane Boisvert • Code Creators Track

In this Presentation I will go over how to setup your local system to have debugging installed with a debugger and how to go thru and debug code using a debugger built into an IDE.

Level: Advanced designer, Intermediate/Advanced developer

Prerequisites: The attendees should have a good degree of familiarity with writing code.

Enhanced Social Media Marketing with WordPress

Presented by Brian Rotsztein • Content Creators Track

The interplay between WordPress and social media lies far beyond a Facebook plugin. Rapidly expanding social media platform options and increased smartphone/mobile device adoption have enabled marketers to reach out in ways that were literally impossible just a few years ago. As these communication networks continue their expansion into the daily lives of consumers, both businesses and bloggers are struggling to keep up with ways to reach their target market. WordPress combined with social media platforms can be used creatively to interact with existing clients, connect with prospective customers, and attract fresh audiences. This session will introduce some important concepts and explore various WordPress features and plugins that take advantage of social media networks as well as mobile technology.

Level: All

Prerequisites: Basic plugin management skills would be helpful.

Getting WordPress to Speak Your Language

Presented by Rick Radko • Content Creators Track

WordPress is available in 77 languages or variants, but how do you get it to show something other than English? This session will show you how to create sites in a language other than English, and sites with multiple languages.

We will set up a WordPress site that is not English and learn what to look for in themes and plugins to be able to use them with other languages. We will review the different strategies and options for creating multilingual sites, from simple sites with custom themes, to multilingual plugins and multi-site installs, and the issues related to each approach.

Level: All

Prerequisites: To get the most from the talk, some experience with changing settings, installing plugins, FTP/uploading files to your WordPress install, and editing configuration files would be an asset, but it is not required.

Help Me Help You: The art and science of getting good WordPresss support

Presented by Kathryn Presner • Site Creators Track

Visual Editor stopped working? Plugin update gone awry? Getting useful help when you’re stuck on a WordPress problem is not always as straightforward as it seems. This session will be packed with tips on how to ask for assistance in the WordPress support forums and other arenas – in a way that will let others help you more easily and effectively. We’ll also cover some handy techniques for basic troubleshooting on your own – before contacting tech support.

Level: Beginner/Intermediate user, Beginner/Intermediate designer, Beginner developer

Prerequisites: None

How to make a living with WordPress

Presented by Christopher Ross • Content Creators Track

A look at how to make a living working with a free product like WordPress. The presentation looks at how bloggers, designers and developers can build authority, revenue and opportunities by supporting open source development.

Level: All

Prerequisites: None

How to think and work like a VIP Developer

Presented by Mohammad Jangda • Code Creators Track

At WordPress.com VIP, we set high standards for the developers we work with. I’ll walk through some of these requirements and how you can adopt them to ultimately become a better WordPress developer.

Level: Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced developer

Prerequisites: General knowledge of WordPress development.

How to Write a Blog Post

Presented by David Hamilton • Content Creators Track

Many things go into making a successful blog, but the quality of posts is something that keeps people coming back.

We should all know by now that a blog can help us stand out in an industry, get our opinion heard, and give us an outlet to think deeply about things and put our thoughts in words.

It should be simple to just put your thoughts into words, and then press “Post”. Right?

But when it comes down to actually writing a blog post, you might feel intimidated to begin (the dreaded blank-page syndrome). Or maybe you’re unable to capture exactly what you were meaning to say. Or maybe there are dozens of things keeping you from writing the way you want to.

If this sounds familiar to you – and if you’re human it should – then this presentation could help you start or continue your journey as a blogger.

In this presentation, I will share with you some ways to come up with interesting blog topics, write for your audience, use the right tone, and kick your storytelling up a notch.

I want attendees to come away from the presentation with some new ways to approach writing a blog post.

Level: Beginner/Intermediate user

Prerequisites: Attendees don’t have to have any technical or blogging experience, but I welcome them to share any tips or experience they may have.

Multisite for the Masses

Presented by Richard Archambault • Site Creators Track

An introduction to WordPress Multisite: domain mapping, user management, plugin management, etc.

Level: Advanced user, Beginner developer

Prerequisites: How to install WordPress, How to modify wp-config.php

Simple Theme Customization

Presented by Jordan Quintal • Site Creators Track

My presentation will cover the following:

Theme selection (where to find cool themes and the best way to figure out which theme to choose)
Theme installation (through wordpress or via ftp)
Basic css customization (using Google Chrome’s inspect element tool) – font, colour, padding, etc.
Image swapping (logos, header banner, etc.)

At the end of my presentation, novice users should have a good handle on how to use themes as well as some basic tips on how to customize them.

Level: Beginner user, Beginner developer

Prerequisites: Knowledge of WordPress and the admin section. Some knowledge of themes.

Typography in Web Design

Presented by Jasmine Vesque • Content Creators Track

Typography is an integral part of web design. No matter how fancy or minimalist your website design, the text on your site needs to get your message across. How the text appears is just as important as the words themselves. This talk will cover the basic best practises of typography in web design, trends for 2013, and an introduction to Google Fonts.

Level: Beginner/Intermediate user, Beginner/Intermediate designer

Prerequisites: None is required, although a basic knowledge of WordPress, HTML and CSS will be beneficial.

Using Responsive WordPress Themes

Presented by Clarissa Peterson • Code Creators Track

Your website needs to look good and work well on any size screen, all the way from mobile phones to widescreen monitors. Responsive web design is the best way to make sure that it does, but just choosing a WordPress theme with “responsive” in the name isn’t enough. In this session, you’ll find out how to pick a good responsive theme (and what makes some themes more responsive than others) by learning what’s in the CSS that makes a site responsive. You’ll learn how to make sure any plugins you add to the site are also responsive. You’ll find out what else you can customize to make your WordPress site work better on mobile devices, as well as how to make your site future-friendly to address devices that haven’t been invented yet.

Level: Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced designer, Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced developer

Prerequisites: Some experience with CSS.

Where are the women?

Presented by Shannon Smith • Panels Track

An informal unconference event which will look at the role of women in the WordPress community. We’ll look at why women make up more than half the bloggers, but usually about a quarter of WordCamp speakers, and an even smaller percentage of developers, coders and contributors. We will also examine ways of increasing other forms of diversity in the WordPress community. This isn’t a traditional presentation but a group brainstorming session. If you don’t like something, change it. Here’s your chance. Audience participation is expected. All are welcome (men too!). This session is for everyone.

Level: All

Prerequisites: None

WordPress Themes and Frameworks Explained

Presented by Richard Martin • Content Creators Track

Confused by the number of themes available in WordPress? Don’t know how to choose the right theme for your site? Can’t understand the difference between a framework and theme? This presentation will answer all of these questions and walk you through the major paid WordPress theme/framework suppliers including WooThemes and StudioPress (Genesis). It will identify what you should be looking for when evaluating a theme/framework – saving you significant time, money (and potential disappointment).

Level: Beginner/Intermediate user, Beginner/Intermediate designer

Prerequisites: An understanding of WordPress Dashboard. People who have tried different themes will benefit the most.