Category Archives: Announcements

Feedback Survey Results

Announcements

Family Feud ImageResults are in for WordCamp Toronto 2014’s feedback survey!

We received a total of 63 feedback submissions. It’s the most we’ve had in the last four years by a wide margin.

Our key takeaways (first pass, list will be updated):

  • Humber College: Great venue, if only it was closer to transit and the city.
  • There’s too much crowding in the popular sessions. Need bigger rooms.
  • Lunch was too long – shorten it to 1.5 hours, max.
  • Vegetarian options need to be balanced with traditional fare.
  • More coffee and water.
  • Finalize and publish the schedule sooner.
  • Start later, end earlier, have the afterparty close by.
  • Live music at the afterparty shouldn’t be so darn loud.

Continue reading Feedback Survey Results →

Wrapping Up #WCTO 2014

Announcements

WordCamp Session

That’s a wrap! WordCamp Toronto 2014 was a smashing success, bringing together over 450 WordPress enthusiasts from around the Toronto area and far beyond.

Update: Our lynda.com premium membership winners have been contacted! A big thanks to lynda.com for the giveaway, plus a shoutout to RANDOM.ORG for providing the RNG.

Thank You to…

Flywheel TeamOur sponsors. We wouldn’t have been able to pull this off without your support: Bluehost, WiredTree, PlanetHoster, Code Poet, DreamHost, WPML, Carbon60 Networks, WP Engine, Lingotek, SIDEKICK, Flywheel, Muut, WP Rocket, The Genius Web Media, Trew Knowledge, WooThemes, Lynda.com, easyPress, ManageWP, Kobayashi Online, Zeitguys, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario, 3.7 Designs, Project Panorama, Enterprise Intelligence, artifakt, WPCore.com, Camp Tech, NYTO Group, Lakaye, Bentley Hoke, theNETnow, Wealthsimple, and MailPoet.

Humber College’s School of Media Studies & IT. It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with you for these last two years. The level of support you’ve given us has been incredible, and we know how lucky we are to have you as a venue partner.

Our speakers. Without you, there’d be no reason for anyone to attend.

WordCamp VolunteersOur volunteers. You worked your butt off throughout the entire weekend. Registration, A/V, room hosts & runners: Thank you so much for your commitment and all your hard work.

Our attendees. What good is a WordCamp without WordCampers?

Our caterers and hosts. Abokichi, for providing breakfast, lunch, coffee, refreshments, and snacks for the entire weekend; Gladstone Hotel, for being such accommodating hosts of our afterparty; and Mandarin (Queensway & Kipling) for hosting our speakers’ dinner.

Caroline Lebel, for stepping up to help with last-minute tasks, pouring hours into pulling things together with tight deadlines. (Follow Caroline on Twitter!)

You’re all awesome!

What Can We Do Better?

This year was an improvement over last year, and we want next year to be even better. Please take a few minutes to complete our feedback survey. Results will be published afterwards.

Presentation Slides

Presentations are being published to the site as we receive them from our speakers. You’ll find them linked from individual session pages and on the Presentations page.

Brian on CameraSession Videos

Videos were a big push for us this year; we’ve doubled our efforts to make sure everything is recorded properly. Videos will be published to WordPress.tv and shared on our Videos page.

What Next?

Craving more WordPress community goodness? Check out the Toronto WordPress meetup group! Pub socials, working sessions, presentations, workshops… there’s a bit of something for everyone.

See you in 2015!

Your Organizers,

Brent Kobayashi, Tom Auger, Andy McIlwain,
Dejan Markovic, Jordan Quintal

WordCamp Toronto 2014 Organizers

Photo credits:

Miroslav Glavic on Twitter
Shanta Nathwani on Twitter
Brett on Twitter

WordCamp Speaker Workshop

Announcements

Photo of Kathryn PresnerPhoto of Tammie ListerOn Sunday, November 16, from 9:30 am-noon, Tammie Lister and Kathryn Presner – both part of the Theme Division at Automattic – will run a session called So You Want to Be a WordCamp Speaker: A practical workshop for beginners.

Between them, Tammie and Kathryn have spoken over twenty times at WordCamps and BuddyCamps around the world, including WordCamp Europe and WordCamp San Francisco. They’re excited to bring their workshop to Toronto for the first time, where their session is part of the Community track, featuring talks on getting involved in WordPress in other ways, from reviewing themes, to accessibility, to Core.

This Q&A with Kathryn will give you a better sense of the goals behind the workshop and what to expect. We hope to see you there!

Continue reading WordCamp Speaker Workshop →

We’re Sold Out!

Announcements

Update: Tickets for WordCamp Toronto 2014 are SOLD OUT!

Didn’t get yours in time? Keep checking our Registration page. Any tickets released by our sponsors or refunded by other attendees will be added back to the general registration pool.

Also keep tabs on the #WCTO hashtag on Twitter and Facebook. Sponsors may put their tickets up for grabs in contests or giveaways.

Continue reading We’re Sold Out! →

Afterparty @ The Gladstone

Announcements

Gladstone-Hotel-Exterior-Victorian-Toronto2-990x461

We’re really, REALLY pumped to announce that this year’s WordCamp Toronto afterparty will be taking place at The Gladstone Hotel in Toronto’s trendy West Queen West neighbourhood.

(If you’re coming in from out of town and haven’t booked a room yet, consider booking one at the Gladstone.)

Doors open at 8:00pm, and the party kicks off at 8:30pm on Saturday night (15th) in the Melody Bar.

Continue reading Afterparty @ The Gladstone →

Exclusive WordCamp Toronto discounts for AndroidTO

Announcements

AndroidTO 2014The 5th AndroidTO, Canada’s largest Android-focused conference, takes place this year on October 30th at MaRS.

Use coupon code WordCamp99 when you register. This saves you $26 on the registration price. Register before October 24th and you’ll be entered to win one of five Android Wear watches.

Click here to register for AndroidTO.

From the AndroidTO organizers:

“AndroidTO, Canada’s largest Android event, returns for its fifth  year on October 30, 2014 at the MaRS Discovery District. The conference features outstanding Android design and development speakers from LynxFit, Tumblr, Yahoo and more.

AndroidTO 2014 is a return to the conference’s developer roots: Helping programmers connect the growing number of devices that run the Android OS, including Android Wear, Android Auto and Android TV. AndroidTO will also continue to evangelize the best design and programming practices for phones and tablets.”

WordCamp 2014 Tracks

Announcements, Planning, Tracks

We’re a month away and it’s time to reveal the great content we have lined up for you at WordCamp Toronto 2014! With 10 content tracks and over 65 speakers, it’s going to be a packed weekend with something for absolutely everyone who might be in contact with WordPress: from bloggers with a simple WordPress-powered website, to agencies, to seasoned WordPress developers, there’s tons of content pitched directly at your level!

Here are the tracks we have lined up for you:

  • User / Admin: this is the perfect track for WordPress users and small site administrators, whether you’re completely new to WordPress, or have been maintaining a site for some time. The track kicks off with an awesome session on getting the most out of WordCamp! A real “must” if you’re new to the WordCamp scene.

  • A11y: “a11y” is the accepted short form for “Accessibility” and refers to ensuring access to people of all levels of ability. Learn why accessibility best practices on your (or your client’s) websites benefit everyone, not just people with disabilities, and discover tools and techniques for accessibility testing, accessibility audits and accessible theme development.

  • Designer: Graphic designers, web designers and visual artists will all benefit from this track that talks about the creative side of WordPress without digging into the nitty-gritty of coding. Compelling and effective WordPress site designs require a different approach than conventional “static” HTML website design. Discover User Experience tricks, wireframing best practices, web typography, content design strategies and more in this engaging track.

  • Developer: If you’re new to code, learning to code, or an experienced coder, we have tracks for you. The “Beginner Dev” track will introduce you to WordPress development best practices, including powerful tools and workflows to increase your learning curve; the “Advanced Dev” has well-known core contributors and big names in the WordPress developer community presenting latest WordPress APIs and technologies, and killer tips. We’re also dedicating an entire morning to JavaScript and Backbone.js so you can get up to speed with the new way of working with JS within WordPress.

  • Agency: If you’re making a living developing and deploying WordPress sites for client, then this track will have great business-focused topics to help you improve your business practices, workflows and project management. We’re also pleased to be hosting a stimulating, 2-hour business panel, where we’ve invited a carefully selected group of professionals from across the entire spectrum from freelancers to small-to-mid sized agency owners, to big agencies, who will be there to answer your questions in a moderated and interactive forum.

  • Content and Business: sessions in this track are targeted toward a non-technical audience who want to learn how WordPress can help them grow their business and reach a wider, more targeted audience. Topics include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content creation, monetization and analytics, and includes a 2-hour website “clinic” that invites you to submit your live site to a duo of experts to provide feedback and advice on how they can become more effective.

  • Community: We’re really excited about this new track, which is specifically crafted to help those who wish to get more involved with the WordPress open source movement and community. There are so many ways to get involved, from participating, volunteering, and organizing events, to answering support questions, to helping with theme reviews and accessibility, to contributing code and patching bugs. This track should not be missed by anyone who has been benefiting from this free software and its fantastic community and wants to start giving back in whatever capacity they can.

  • Contrib2Core: Are you a WordPress developer who has always wanted to contribute a patch and get their name up in the WordPress credits page? Are you a technical speaker in-between sessions and want to hack out a bug with Automatticians and core contributors? This is where we’ll be hanging out, to help new contributors find patches and tests they can do in the time they have available. We ran this last year and 6 of the attendees’ names appeared in the credits of the next WordPress release!

  • Happiness Bar: This is a staple of every WordCamp: an open, casual zone where you can come with your WordPress-related questions, problems or challenges, and find an expert volunteer to steer you in the right direction. We’ve got a great venue for the Happiness Bar this year (and it will be right next to the coffee and snacks) so come on over, hang out and snag a “Wizard” for a few minutes. You’ll be glad you did!

Am I restricted to just 1 track?

No! By no means. The tracks are just ways for us to organize sessions that seem to have a similar focus. We’re organizers, that’s what we like to do. You are free to mix and match and attend sessions from any and all tracks. For the convenience of attendees, we tend to keep all the talks for a track in the same room, so you don’t have to be constantly switching rooms. But folk will switch rooms to attend talks across any of the sessions according to their interest.

You can see why we are so excited to offer this WordCamp to you this year. There’s just so much great stuff to learn and so many awesome speakers who will be presenting.

Stay tuned over the next week as we reveal the full schedule, but don’t wait until then to buy your ticket if you haven’t already done so.

Local Developers Showcase submissions are open!

Announcements, Contribution

Update: Showcase submissions are now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted!

One of the objectives of WordCamps is to promote local activity within the WordPress sphere. One way in which we would like to do this this year is to offer the opportunity for members of the local WordPress development community to show our attendees a new theme, plugin or tool that they have built that could be useful to other WordPress users, admins or developers.

Have you created a Plugin, Theme or Tool you would like to share?

If you are local (interpretations here vary somewhat) and would like the opportunity to stand on a soapbox at some point during the event and show attendees how this plugin, theme or tool could help them, please consider filling out our application form online.

Local Developers Showcase Application Form

Please note that at the moment we are just gathering applications to see if there’s a critical mass of developers to make this happen. We also want to avoid making this an opportunity for “free” promotion of services or products. If you want to promote your product or service, please consider being a sponsor

Calling All Sponsors: Let’s Make WCTO 2014 Awesome!

Announcements

WordCamp Toronto 2014’s Call for Sponsors is open! This is your chance to give back to the WordPress community by supporting WordCamp Toronto 2014.

You can read all the details on our Sponsor page.

WordCamp Toronto (#WCTO) is an annual, not-for-profit, volunteer-run event dedicated to all things WordPress. Each year we bring together over 400 WordPress enthusiasts for a weekend of learning, sharing, socializing, and – of course – contributing to the development of WordPress.

What are the sponsorship levels for 2014?

We have five sponsorship levels this year. Four are geared towards organizations, while the fifth — a new addition for 2014 — is geared towards individuals and freelancers.

They are:

  • King Street ($2000): Sponsors contributing at the King Street level get the most recognition online and offline. Contribute a blog post, get first dibs on sponsor table placement, and drop some goodies in the swag bag.
  • Queen Street ($1000): This is a great opportunity to give back to the WordPress community, chat with attendees at your own sponsor table, and get recognized for your support.
  • Yonge Street ($500): Ideal for any organization that would like to contribute to the WordPress community and support WordCamp Toronto.
  • Annex ($200): Good for small businesses, startups, or organizations that would like to make a small contribution to WordCamp Toronto and the broader WordPress community.
  • Kensington ($75): An opportunity for individuals and freelancers to contribute and be recognized for their support of WordCamp Toronto.

You can find more details on our Sponsor page.

If you have any questions or comments about sponsorships, just give us a shout.

Calling all Speakers for WordCamp Toronto 2014

Announcements, Planning, Speakers

An energetic speaker points to a projection on a large screenWordCamp Toronto 2014’s call for speakers is now open! #WCTO is November 15-16, but we intend to lock our speaker schedule in early!

Do you have something to share about WordPress that will benefit the community? Are you a dynamic and organized speaker who can engage an audience and deliver great value? We’d like to hear your idea for a 50 minute talk to be delivered as part of this two-day event.

Submit a Speaker Application

This Year’s Focus

While we will be offering the usual diverse range of topics for a wide range of audiences, this year we are hoping the community will rally around accessibility to help raise awareness, compliance and the level of accessibility across all WordPress related projects. If you have expertise around web accessibility, AODA and WCAG compliance, assistive technologies or accessible WordPress projects, and are willing to share, we would definitely like to hear from you!

But if you don’t have an a11y related topic that’s OK! We’re looking for a wide range of interesting and informative content for diverse audience with a lot of converging WordPress related interests. So fill out a speaker application!

Topic suggestions

The topics, tracks and schedule this year will be entirely dictated by you, the Speakers, based on what you are offering to present. That being said, if you are eager to present, but are looking for inspiration, here are some ideas to get you started:

A11y

  • AODA Accessibility compliance
  • Building accessible WordPress themes
  • How to perform an accessibility audit
  • Finding an accessible WordPress theme
  • Accessible web forms
  • WAI-ARIA and JavaScript best practices
  • A11y issues from the disabled perspective

Coding

  • Theme development best practices
  • Leveraging the WordPress plugin architecture
  • WordPress Multisite best practices
  • Leveraging the Transients API
  • Development environment set-up and best practices
  • How to code with unit testing
  • Introduction to Backbone.js and WordPress

Content

  • Blog writing 101
  • Using the new Media Galleries introduced in 3.8
  • Working with video
  • Creating and maintaining a bilingual website with WordPress
  • Enhanced comments with third party services
  • SEO best practices and plugins
  • WordPress basics

Community

  • Women in WordPress / Girl Geeks
  • WordPress-related Open Source projects looking for contributors
  • Getting involved and contributing to WordPress
  • Toronto WordPress resources

Business

  • Pricing WordPress-based projects
  • WordPress project lifecycle
  • The business of WordPress plugin/theme development

See something you’d like to talk about? AWESOME!

Don’t see your topic on this list? AWESOME!

Either way, if you’ve got an idea, please fill in the Speaker Submission Form, and we’ll be reviewing them on a FIFO (first-in first-out) basis.

Submit a Speaker Application

** We’ll be accepting submissions until late August. Get yours in soon! **