Whether you’re a first time camp attendee or a veteran, here is some useful information on how the weekend will be laid out so you can start to plan what tracks, sessions, panels and bootcamps you’d like to sit in on.
Saturday: Sessions and Panels
Saturday will feature four “Tracks” (Beginner, Admin, Designer & Developer) – each are made up of seven sessions and one panel. You are more than welcome to bounce back and forth between tracks! We just broke them up so it’s clear what the sessions in the tracks will be focused on.
Track 1: Beginners Track
Compared with most others in the community, everyone is a beginner at some level in the WordPress eco system whether it’s a developer being new to the business side or a designer getting their hands into code.
When we started planning WCSD for 2015 one of the things we felt was most important to make sure that the real newbies had a track they could attend where even the simplest of questions could be answered.
Plenty of other Camps have focused on beginners before, but we are also doing something a little different this year, the team has come up with the topics for each track ahead of time and we will match speakers to topics instead of the other way around.
This is done so that from the start of the day to the end, attendees to the Beginner Track will get everything they need to hit the ground running.
So anyone and everyone’s invited, if you have a family member that you want to teach about WordPress, or a coworker that would like to create a website for the first time, this track is for them.
Track 2: Admin Track
Power users or Admins in WordPress aren’t really beginners, they know enough to run their own sites but they may not necessarily want to design a theme or build a plugin.
A lot of folks use WordPress at work and need to learn lessons on caching and optimization, on dealing with having a site that was hacked or migrating and updating sites between services.
We know this is probably one of the larger segments of the community and understand how diverse this group is so we are also doing something a little different this year.
Aside from us coming up with the topics for each track ahead of time and matching speakers to topics, we are putting together some of the best teachers in this area to answer any and all questions you may have.
This is done so that from the start of the day to the end, attendees to the Admin Track will get everything they need to better improve their use of WordPress in their day to day.
So if you have an Admin that runs your WordPress site, or a employee that needs to sharpen his WordPress skills, this track is for them.
Track 3: Designer Track
WordPress Design isn’t just a huge business, it’s a growing and thriving industry as more and more people focus on User Experience and Mobile Responsiveness over beautification. One of our main focuses for this track is to push designers out of their comfort zone and teach them a bit about what it means to be a “unicorn” – a rare mix of designer AND developer!
Design covers more than just modifying or building a theme (Although keep an eye out for our Theme Bootcamp on Sunday), our goal is give you an enormous amount of help whether you’re just getting into design or do it for a living.
As you know we are doing things a little differently this year, the team is putting together some great design topics ahead of time which we will then match with some great Design speakers.
This is done so that from the start of the day to the end, attendees to the Designer Track will get everything they need to hit the ground running.
So if you or anyone you know has ever wanted to get into WordPress Design, or you are already a designer looking to sharpen your skills, this track is for all of you.
Track 4: Developer Track
WordPress Development has grown larger than anyone ever anticipated, it’s at the forefront of a soon to be billion dollar industry as more designers, power users and beginners learn to code.
Development is more than just building plugins (Although keep an eye out for our Plugin Bootcamp on Sunday), it’s about understanding the full WordPress stack and using the known best practices across the entire software engineering industry to better the community.
We’ve been doing things a little bit differently this year, the team is putting together some amazing developer talks ahead of schedule which we will then try to match with some of the best Developers and Speakers.
This is done so that from the start of the day to the end, attendees to the Developer Track will get everything they need to hit the ground running.
So if you or anyone you know is an Advanced WordPress user, or you are already a pretty good developer looking to sharpen your skills, this track is for all of you.
Sunday: Business Tracks and Bootcamps
Sunday will feature two “Bootcamps” (one focused on theme development and another on plugin development) and two business tracks (Service and Prodcuts). Where you are welcome to bounce around on Saturday, we recommend choosing wither tracks or one bootcamp on Sunday. With the business tracks you can go between Product or Service sessions with no issue, however, the bootcamps will be a hands-on, progressive lesson on a single topic and it’s recommended you attend the whole class from start to finish.
Theme Development Bootcamp
We believe that one of the best ways to learn is by giving hands-on training and examples that people can then take and use in real world experiences.
The goal of the Theme Bootcamp is to do just that. The team will guide you from start to finish on how to take a static, HTML website and integrate it into WordPress. If you have background in HTML and CSS but haven’t yet figured out how to use a solid CMS (content management system) to create dynamic and easily editable websites, this is the Bootcamp for you!
When this 4 hour Bootcamp wraps up, it’s our hope that you will have a solid foundation to move forward as a true WordPress theme developer.
Plugin Development Bootcamp
The most anticipated and truly unique thing that the WordPress community can provide to people looking to invest in WordPress is to spend some time sharing hands on real world experiences and examples that they can then take and use.
The goal of the Plugin Bootcamp is to do just that, the team will take you through start to finish how to build and release a brand new plugin from scratch.
So if you’re looking to get into WordPress Development and need some real world hands on plugin building experience, this is the track for you.
Service Business Track
In 2013, WCSD saw the introduction of the Business Track which was so utterly successful that it had to be broken down into two rotating Sunday sessions so that everyone could sit in and listen.
With the advent of other non WordCamp events like Presenomics and others, we felt it was time to build out the business track in a massive way.
The team this year has split the business track into two segments, a track for those trying to build a Service Business and those trying to build a Product Company.
With the Service Business Track we put together the best topics to teach those working on a Service and are matching the best speakers to those topics, everything from Pricing to Service planning is on the menu.
So if you’re putting together a software as a service (SAAS) business for WordPress or inside of WordPress then this is the talk for you and your colleagues.
Product Business Track
In 2013, WCSD saw the introduction of the Business Track which was so utterly successful that it had to be broken down into two rotating Sunday sessions so that everyone could sit in and listen.
With the advent of other non WordCamp events like Presenomics and others, we felt it was time to build out the business track in a massive way.
The team this year has split the business track into two segments, a track for those trying to build a Product Business and those trying to build a Service Company.
With the Product Business Track we put together the best topics to teach those working on a Product and are matching the best speakers to those topics, everything from Pricing to Product planning is on the menu.
So if you’re putting together a plugin, theme and or a more general product business for WordPress or inside of WordPress then this is the talk for you and your colleagues.