Author Archives: Andy McIlwain

About Andy McIlwain

Andy wrangles content at GoDaddy and co-organizes WordPress meetups & WordCamps in Toronto. Find him on Twitter and his personal site.

Featured Speaker: Mike DeWitt

Mike DeWitt is currently a front end developer at Buildium, a Boston-based SaaS company specializing in software for property managers. As a member of the marketing team, he works with WordPress daily on various marketing campaigns for buildium.com, in addition to contributing to the company’s core application. Originally from Chicago, Mike has two degrees in music performance and lives just south of Boston in Quincy with his girlfriend, ugly cat and twin yorkies, Wilbur and Wendy.

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Featured Speaker: Brendan Sera-Shriar

Brendan Sera-Shriar has been an interactive designer, developer, college and university professor, community manager, author, consultant, and professional speaker at some of the largest corporations and festivals in the world, including Microsoft, Mozilla Firefox, Sun Microsystems, WordCamp, BlogWorld, SXSW and more. His work has also appeared in TechCrunch, TechVibes, WordPress TV, and a host of other blogs. He was also featured in the October 2012 issue of Marketing Magazine.

Despite being known best for his work as a WordPress designer, developer, and WordCamp speaker and organizer, Brendan’s best communications skills lie in his ability to help organizations understand how they can build communities around their products and services. Continue reading

Featured Speaker: Ryan Welcher

Seeking change from a career as an audio engineer, Ryan graduated from the International Academy of Design and Technology and began working as a web developer. From 2004 to 2011, he ran an independent agency, where he had the pleasure of working with clients such as Denny’s Canada, Veritas Canada, and Canadian music icons Rush.

In 2009, Ryan discovered WordPress while working for Les Stroud – T.V’s Survivorman – and was immediately hooked. Not long after, he released his first plugin for the WordPress community. He began working with WordPress full-time in 2010 when he joined an agency in Ottawa, Ontario; within a year, Ryan became a Senior Web Developer. During his time there, Ryan used WordPress to power large sites, online games, and mobile applications.

Ryan is active in the WordPress community and contributes as often as possible. He loves helping new WordPress developers by giving presentations and answering questions at his local Meetup group.

When he’s not writing code, Ryan is typically found hanging out with his amazing wife, two hilarious kids, and big, shaggy golden-doodle named Blue.

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Featured Speaker: Dara Skolnick

“Hi, I’m Dara and I’m an independent web designer and front-end developer from Toronto. I’ve worked at a number of places from large organizations to small agencies, and now I run my own one-person shop where I design and code websites for entrepreneurs, creatives, and big-hearted small businesses. I’ve been creating websites professionally for many years, and these days the majority of them are in WordPress!”

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Say hello to our first wave of confirmed speakers!

We’re happy to announce our first wave of confirmed speakers! It’s the beginning of an excellent roster that includes a mix of local talent, visitors from abroad, familiar faces, and first-timer guests. In alphabetical order:

  • Al Davis
  • Alycia Mitchell
  • Andrew Wikel
  • Brendan Sera-Shriar
  • Brian Hogg
  • Carl Alexander
  • Chrissie Pollock
  • Dara Skolnick
  • Dustin Meza
  • Meagan Hanes
  • Mike DeWitt
  • Ryan Welcher
  • Shanta R. Nathwani
  • Taylor McCaslin

Over the next few weeks you’ll learn more about all of our speakers, and the sessions that they’re presenting, in our Featured Speaker series. Be sure to subscribe for updates in the sidebar so you don’t miss any posts!

Tickets now on sale!

Attention all WordCamp Toronto keeners: Registration is open early this year!

It’s $40 for the whole weekend, including two days of catered breakfast & lunch, plus the Saturday night after-party.

Head over to our Register page and grab your ticket.

P.S. Want to step up your involvement with the event? Awesome! We’re looking for speakers, volunteers, and sponsors. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase your WordPress expertise, share knowledge, support the local WordPress community, and get a bit of recognition in the process.

Call for Speakers

Call for Speakers

WordCamp Toronto 2015’s call for speakers is now open!

Do you have something to share about WordPress that will benefit the community? Are you a confident presenter who can gel with an audience and deliver something awesome? If so, we’d like to hear your idea for a 50 minute presentation.

Submit Your Speaker Application

Our general categories are making a return for 2015:

  • Accessibility (a11y)
  • Coding / Development (Beginner & Advanced)
  • Content
  • Design
  • Business
  • Meta (Getting involved with the WordPress community)

There’s no specific agenda this year, so feel free to submit whatever topics you’re interested in presenting. Here are some tips for standing out from the rest of the crowd:

  • Put a new spin on old talks.
    WordPress 101, Choosing Plugins & Themes, Posts vs. Pages – they’re all great, but they’ve been done to death. Do you have a fresh approach for covering these beginner topics? We’d love to hear it.
  • Introduce us to the cutting-edge.
    What’s on the horizon for WordPress users and developers?
  • Tell us a story.
    Case studies & success stories with actionable takeaways make for a compelling presentation. We love hearing about the different ways WordPress is being used.
  • Teach us something new.
    Get hands-on with practical sessions that give your audience something they can use immediately.

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