- George Woodard will be representing the BlackPress Tech Community at WordCamp US 2023. He, along with other BlackPress members, will host a panel to discuss the significance of amplifying black voices in the WordPress ecosystem.
- Danielle Zarcaro of Kinetic Iris emphasizes the importance of accessible website designs without compromising creativity and invites attendees to her session on this topic.
- Hari Shanker, an open source program manager at Automattic, will lead a panel discussion on contributions to WordPress and the Five for the Future program, joined by veteran contributors.
- Aida Correa-Jackson will speak about empowering creativity and building a welcoming WordPress community for beginners and creators at WordCamp US 2023.
- Ryan Smith, a WordPress developer at The Motley Fool, will share insights on the relevance and importance of multisite to the WordPress project and present a case study on using it to power free and premium member experiences.
- Shambi Broome emphasizes teaching WordPress as a way to make a positive change in the community and advises building relationships with potential learners.
Episode Transcript
George Woodard
Hey everybody. This is George Woodard, marketing consultant and WordPress developer at eLsqrd Media Group. I’m back again this year, but this time I’m representing the BlackPress Tech Community. BlackPress is a place for those from the Black diaspora to feel supported, connected, and informed along their WordPress journey.
I, along with three other awesome BlackPress members, Ray Mitchell, Maestro Stevens, and Destiny Kanno, will form an insightful panel to talk more about BlackPress. I want you to come learn about our origins, the group’s objectives, and our impact. We will explore the significance of amplifying Black voices within the WordPress ecosystem, address the underrepresentation and limited opportunities experienced by Black individuals in the digital space, and help others gain insights on how you can actively engage and contribute to this flourishing community.
Whether you’re from the Black diaspora or you’re an ally, we invite you to participate, collaborate, and uplift Black voices through mentorship, open source projects, networking, and showcasing achievements. We can’t wait to see you all there. Safe travels to everyone who is coming, and we hope to have a great and awesome weekend during WordCamp US. Take care.
Danielle Zarcaro
Hey, this is Danielle Zarcaro with Kinetic Iris, which provides quality, accessibility-focused WordPress development. I’m here to tell you that nothing about accessibility means you have to be boring. It’s just giving you guidelines on how to make sure people can actually use the delightful websites you design.
There are ways you can learn what it takes to make accessible website designs and still be totally free to be creative. The fundamentals of design, like color theory and font pairings, shapes, textures, and balance, white space, all combine to give you a place to start. Accessible design provides you with additional fundamentals, like color contrast, readability, and user experience.
These are all things you can learn, add to your knowledge bank, and practice so that your current experience as a designer is enriched by these new ways you can provide people with an experience they’ll love. I’d love it if you join me at my session, Accessibility Without Compromising Creativity, where we’ll go over some amazingly creative ways to make fun and accessible websites. Hope to see you there.
Hari Shanker
Hi, I’m Hari Shanker, an open-source program manager at Automattic and a full-time WordPress contributor. As you all know, WordPress, the open-source software that powers over 40% of the internet, is built by contributors from all over the world. WordPress needs sustained ongoing contributions to survive and grow.
To help foster the growth of WordPress, a program called Five for the Future was created to encourage organizations and individuals to contribute up to 5% of their time towards supporting the software. Did you know that contributing to WordPress could be a great way to learn some exciting skills?
Did you know that contributing to WordPress as an organization could offer tangible benefits that make actual business sense? Have you ever thought about the fact that contributing to WordPress is a great way for individuals and organizations to grow along with WordPress? At WordCamp US 2023, long-time WordPress contributors Jonathan Desrosiers, Femi Praseeth, and Emily Clarke will join me, Hari Shanker, on a panel discussion on this very topic, titled, So You Pledged to Contribute to WordPress? What Next?
In this exciting panel discussion, we will talk about the Five for the Future program and WordPress contributions in detail. From how companies can set up, run, and succeed by creating internal contribution teams, to how individual contributors can build a contribution plan and succeed as ongoing contributors.
We will cover a wide range of topics on WordPress contributions at our session. Come join us at 1:30 p.m. in the Woodrow Wilson track on August 25th, Friday, to learn all about WordPress contributions and interact with all these exciting veteran contributors. I look forward to seeing many of you at WordCamp US. Thank you.
Aida Correa-Jackson
Hi, this is Aida Correa-Jackson. I’m the owner of Love Built Life, and I will be speaking at WordCamp US 2023. My talk will be Empowering Creativity: Building a Welcoming WordPress Community for Beginners and Creators.
My tip to you today is if you’re an organizer or part of a local meetup, think outside the box. Who do you know or who are you in contact with that you have never thought of inviting to a meetup or WordCamp before? Is it your local barista, your yoga instructor, that sweet artist up the road that owns that cute little studio? Invite them! You never know, they may already be into technology. Or maybe they’re struggling with their website, or maybe they would just be a great addition to your local tribe.
And if you’re new to the WordPress community, I welcome you. This is a wonderful community to be a part of. If you’re coming to WordCamp US for the first time, my advice to you is don’t be afraid to ask questions. This is one of the friendliest, most helpful communities I know, and we would love to help you feel more welcome and included. So while you’re there, both organizers and new and old participants, come and find me at WordCamp US. I’ll be the lady with the flower in my hair. I would love to say hi and hear if you tried out one of these tips and how it worked out for you. Hopefully, I’ll see you there. Thank you.
Ryan Smith
Hey, I’m Ryan Smith, WordPress developer at The Motley Fool. I’m really looking forward to engaging with all the amazing sessions and, of course, the attendees at the upcoming WordCamp US at National Harbor in the coming weeks. Come join me as I share my thoughts on the relevance and importance of multisite to the WordPress project and present a case study on how we at The Fool use it to power our free and premium member experiences.
Did you know you can share custom taxonomies across multiple sites with just a few lines of code? Come check out Powering a Global Ecommerce Platform with Multisite with yours truly on Friday, August 25 at 2:30. Cheers!
