Thank You!

That’s a wrap!

Another weekend of WordPress is behind us and we want to thank all our speakers, sponsors, volunteers, organizers & attendees for another awesome WordCamp Toronto. This year we managed to connect several IT communities in Toronto by having speakers from a11y community (Billy Gregory), devto community (Henri-R Brisard) & Ember community (Taras Mankovski). Also, besides having speakers coming from all over Canada & US, we had 2 speakers from Europe, too – Florian Gottschall from Germany & Daniel Kanchev from Bulgaria. We are very proud we have achieved this as we wanted to show that WordPress connects people from all over the world & across IT communities. Another first this year for WordCamp Toronto was having several workshops (without purchasing an additional ticket) where people had the opportunity to learn WordPress hands-on.

How did we do?

Because we want to continue improving our WordCamp we are very interested in what you have to say about WordCamp Toronto 2016. We have created a short, 5 minutes survey where you can tell us about your experience with WCTO16 and help us improve it in the future. The results will be posted on our website.

What’s next?

Thanks to Ted Rogers School Of Management, Ryerson University

This was our first year at TRSM and we want to thank them for being the marvelous host.

Thanks to our Sponsors

A huge thanks to all our wonderful sponsors:

A Special Thanks to:

See you all next year and don’t forget

The Final Round of Speakers

We are pleased to announce the final round of confirmed speakers for WordCamp Toronto 2016:

Brian Rotsztein

BrianRotsztein image

As an experienced Internet marketing entrepreneur, content creator, consultant, speaker, and author, Brian has spent much of the past two decades helping companies excel on the Internet. His latest book, Content Marketing Ideas, is a complete guide to content creation, has been highly praised by critics and is rated five stars on Amazon. His love affair with WordPress began in 2005 when he started with version 1.6! https://twitter.com/brianrotsztein

Jai Sangha

Jai Sangha image

I write weekly posts for two eCommerce blogs – sellwithwp.com (focused on WordPress eCommerce), and shopstorm.com/blog (focused on Shopify). This includes plugin reviews, marketing and shop tips, how-to articles, and other eCommerce topics. I also work in the digital strategy team at TD Bank, and do freelance web strategy. Outside of work, I like to try new things – tried snowmobiling and drove a NASCAR so far this year. https://twitter.com/jaisangha

Charm Fernandez

charmfernandez image

I am a Web Strategist & Developer helping business owners be seen online at the same time have a full functioning online systems. I am a Google Analytics Certified Individual, AmbitionAlly Certified Partner and an ITIL Certified Expert.

https://twitter.com/charmfernandez_

Seth Alling

Seth Alling image

Seth Alling is a Detroit-based developer turned designer turned developer, who has been working with WordPress since 2009 and currently works as the Lead Developer for Ranch House Designs. When he’s not developing (or designing), you can find him running, playing soccer or spending time with his wife and sons. https://twitter.com/sethalling

David Mackey

David Mackey image

David is a Digital Marketing Consultant based in Ottawa. He has 25+ years experience of building and supporting multi-tiered server applications and telecommunication systems. His recent programming experience includes four years of working with WordPress. He is excited to share what he knows about the Yoast SEO Plugin, and how you can use it to attract more traffic to your website. https://twitter.com/dbmackey

Tom Auger

Tom Auger image

I’m actively involved in the WordPress community – both at a local level through co-organizing WordCamp Toronto, and monthly core hackfests through the Toronto WordPress Meetup Group, and at the global level by speaking at WordCamps, contributing to the Codex, and through my involvement with the core development process. I continue to try to find opportunities to contribute whenever my busy project schedule (and family life) allow! https://twitter.com/TomAuger

Jesse Emmanuel Rosario

Jem Rosario image

Jem is User Experience designer who specializes in building insightful, creative and usable digital experiences. A journalist in a previous life, he came to digital media after discovering its innovative storytelling techniques and how it delivers immersive experiences across platforms, languages, and devices. He is a User Experience Specialist with Analytical Engine Interactive, a Toronto-based UX and Content Strategy consultancy, where he solves unique UX puzzles to deliver digital experiences that users love. https://twitter.com/jemrosario

William M. Riley

Wiliam M Riley image

I’m Will! I have about 3 years coding WordPress sites at a couple different design agencies, and now I’m working on improving the tool I’ve used during that time – Flywheel. I’m a full-stack developer and I love making user experiences that just completely rock. https://twitter.com/splitinfinities

Florian Gottschall

Florian Gottschall image

 

I am in video business more than 15 years and my team is developing a video editor plugin for WordPress these days.

https://twitter.com/wpvideoeditor

Daniel Kanchev

Daniel Kanchev image

 

WordPress Expert @SiteGround web hosting, VIP/Enterprise clients manager, WordPress security/performance specialist.

https://twitter.com/dvkanchev

Rick Radko

Rick Radko image

Rick is a php coder, WordPress guru, website and app developer/designer and tech trainer. He is as comfortable talking to beginners in plain English as he is talking geek speak to developers. At <a href=”http://r3df.com/”>R-Cubed Design Forge</a>, Rick develops custom plugins, themes, multilingual websites and mobile apps. Rick is a WordCamp Ottawa organizer and Ottawa WordPress Meetup organizer. https://twitter.com/r3designforge

Bryan Cady

Bryan Cady image

Ex-CNNer who left news after 18 years and moved into WordPress web design and created the company, Listen to the Wind Media. I’m happiest when I am riding my motorcycle and working on websites while on the road.

https://twitter.com/bobcatou

Mendel Kurland

Mendel Kurland image

 

Hey there, I’m Mendel, an intrapreneurial change-maker, developer, speaker, and teacher. More here https://ifyouwillit.com/about-mendel-kurland/.

https://twitter.com/ifyouwillit

Ian Edington

Ian Edington image

Dev and BizDev building a startup in medical education.

https://twitter.com/IanEdington

 

Last Minute to Book Your Room

In case you like to wait until the last minute to purchase your ticket for WordCamp Toronto 2016 and book your room, we have you covered.

Bond Place Hotel agreed to reserve few rooms for us with their preferred rates for our attendees, but only until July 20th.

The following is a link that can be used for attendees of WordCamp to book at the Bond Place Hotel:

http://bookings.ihotelier.com/bookings.jsp?groupID=1667235&hotelID=12522

You can also call their reservations department at 1-800-268-9390 and request the WordCamp group rate.

So, what are you waiting for?

Register & book your room for a weekend full of WordPress fun!

Meet Our Second Round of Speakers

The following people agreed to donate their valuable time to share their knowledge & expertise with us at WordCamp Toronto 2016. Our organizing team want to thank them all for helping us make this WCTO16 the best conference ever!

Without further ado & with no particular order meet our second round of confirmed speakers:

Rebecca Gill

Rebecca Gill imageRebecca is founder and president of Web Savvy Marketing. She has as a well-rounded business background within SMB and enterprise organizations, as well as over fifteen years of experience in sales and online marketing. She provides one-on-one SEO coaching, teaches group on-site boot camps, and speaks at various WordCamps throughout the country. https://twitter.com/rebeccagill

Billy Gregory

Billy Gregory imageBilly Gregory is an accessibility professional and Sr. Accessibility Engineer with The Paciello Group. As a former front-end developer, Billy can relate to many of the challenges and the apprehension faced by developers who are new to accessibility. He enjoys working with developers of all levels of experience to strengthen their skills and understanding of accessibility. Based out of Toronto, Canada, Billy is active in the Accessibility Community as an advocate, practitioner, and public speaker. He is co-organizer of both Accessibility Camp Toronto and it’s monthly meet-up group. https://twitter.com/thebillygregory

Cory Miller

Cory Miller image

 

Founder of iThemes.com / 10+ years in WordPress / Co-Author of WordPress All-in-One for Dummies. https://twitter.com/corymiller303

 

Christina Varro

Christina Varro imageChristina owns and operates a creative design and commercial photography studio called Varro Creative based in Calgary. She has over 15 years of experience in graphic and web design, and has primarily focused on WordPress based projects for her web clients for the past 6 years. She is new to speaking at WordCamp, and recently gave her first talk at WordCamp Calgary. She is excited to collaborate and share knowledge with others in the WordPress community. https://twitter.com/varrocreative

Dustin Meza

Dustin Meza imageDustin Meza is the Director of Customer Experience Operations at WP Engine. He has been in the hosting industry for 7 years and has been with WP Engine for 3 years. At WP Engine, Dustin oversees many aspects of the WordPress platform including WordPress upgrades for over 100,000 WordPress installs. Outside of WordPress, Dustin loves being outdoors in Nashville with his wife Megan, and black lab, Maddy. He enjoys all kinds of sports, both watching and playing, and has been known to play some video games when time allows. https://twitter.com/DustinMeza

Tamara MacDuff

Tamara MacDuff imageI am the owner of Web Moxie Media, where I assist business owners in social media strategies and content strategies to grow their business and increase their online influence. My tactics revolve around SEO as a strategy, Social Media & Blogging, and Content Creation and Curation for their specific business, market and buyers. I use Yoast SEO and All In One SEO plugins on WordPress.  https://twitter.com/webmoxiemktng

Paul Bearne
Paul Bearne imagePaul Bearne is a freelance senior WordPress full stack developer. He discovered WordPress in 2006 when asked to explore the use of collaborative tools internally for a multinational corporation, setting up a 200+ multi-blog site using WPMU on IIS7. As part of this project, he created his first plugin, Author Avatars, (https://wordpress.org/plugins/author-avatars/ ), which now has 10,000+ active installs. Paul has made core commits in 3.9, 4.0, 4.2, 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6, leads the virtual bi-weekly meetup, Contrib2Core & is a WordCamp Toronto 2016 Co-Organizer.  https://twitter.com/pbearne

Lauren Jeffcoat

Lauren Jeffcoat imageI have been building WordPress websites for over seven years and currently am part of the OnTheGoSystems WPML Customer Support team. I love building WordPress websites and have worn many hats in the world of web development including Project Manager, Customer Service Representative, Account Strategist, and Web Designer. Originally from Massachusetts USA, I now live in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, USA. I enjoy sharing my knowledge along with tips and tricks that I have learned either through furthering my education or personal experience.

Anthony D Paul

Anthony D Paul imageI help build great digital experiences and software through usability research, IA concepts, and prototypes. Outside the office, you’ll find me spread across regional meetups and conferences—evangelizing IA/UX, accessibility, and a variety of open source dev projects. When I’m not doing responsible adult things, I grow the world’s hottest chili peppers and bottle my own hot sauce. I’d divulge something funny from my past, but these days the Internet does a better job of surfacing our embarrassing moments; find me anywhere by Googling “anthonydpaul”.  https://twitter.com/anthonydpaul

Mikel King

Mikel King image20+yr Technology Leader, Public Speaker, Columnist, USCG Veteran, Brewer of beer, Coffee Evangelist – Director of WordPress Development at Reader’s Digest.  https://twitter.com/mikelking
 
 

Shawn Hooper

Shawn Hooper imageShawn Hooper is the CTO at Actionable Books, where he enjoys combining code and data to build intelligent tools for teams and leaders. Hailing from Ottawa, Canada, Shawn has been building web applications since the late 90s, with a focus on WordPress since 2011. As a freelance developer, he has built sites for clients in the public and private sectors in both Canada and United States. He loves making use of great 3rd party APIs, promoting web accessibility and secure coding practices.  https://twitter.com/shawnhooper

Laurie M. Rauch

Laurie M. Rauch imageI run Code Diva, which specializes in WordPress theme development and coaching, and I teach Advanced Web Design at Sheridan College. https://twitter.com/lauriemrauch
 
 
 

Andy McIlwain

Andy McIlwain imageAndy is a longtime WordPress advocate and former organizer of the Toronto WordPress meetup group and WordCamp Toronto. He’s passionate about content marketing, community management, and most importantly, helping small businesses succeed online. https://twitter.com/andymci

Thiago Loureiro

Thiago Loureiro imageDo-it all developer working at Art & Science Toronto.
 
 
 
 
 

Vova Feldman

Vova Feldman imageI’m a serial entrepreneur and full-stack developer who loves to turn dreams into reality. Passionate about helping fellow plugin developers to become more data-driven and making a living working on plugins with Freemius. I co-founded @Freemius, @RatingWidget and @SenexxInc.  https://twitter.com/vovafeldman

Jeseph Meyers

Jeseph Meyers imageI am a digital marketing professional from Buffalo, NY – specializing in WordPress and SEO. https://twitter.com/jesephm

Say Hello To Our First Round of Speakers

The deadline to send us your speaker application ended yesterday, June 30th and we want to thank all of you who took the time and submitted the application.

Because an overwhelming number of talks has been submitted, we are still reviewing it, but you might expect the schedule published on our website very soon.

Until then, without further ado & with no particular order we are pleased to announce the first round of accepted speakers who will share their extensive knowledge and experience with us at WordCamp Toronto 2016:

Meagan Hanes

Megan Hanes imageCoder, speaker, teacher – Meagan does it all! Lead-Organizer of WordCamp Ottawa 2016 and the Ottawa + Arnprior WordPress Meetups. Providing freelance solutions for businesses of all sizes since 2000.
https://twitter.com/mhanes

David Vogelpohl

David Vogelpohl imageDavid Vogelpohl is the Vice President of Web Strategy at WP Engine, a premium managed WordPress host designed for speed and reliability. Since 1996, David has been managing web development and online marketing efforts in support of a wide range of business and billing models. David is an avid contributor to the WordPress business community. https://twitter.com/davidvmc

Tracy Apps

Tracy Apps image

I solve creative problems with the great folks at Cornershop Creative. As the designer for a small distributed team I get to not only do design but be a part of strategy, user testing and even coding things out in custom WordPress solutions.
https://twitter.com/tapps

John Eckman

John Eckman imageI am CEO at 10up and one of the founding organizers of WordCamp Boston. I’ve developed a number of miscellaneous things including some Drupal modules and WordPress plugins, the most visible of which is probably WPBook.
https://twitter.com/jeckman

Alan Lok

Alan Lok imageAlan Lok is the owner of WirelessLinx Inc., a consulting company in the GTA area that helps with website development (WordPress, Joomla, Liferay) and stack performance tuning/analysis. He also manages the DevOps team at Mercatus Technologies and have been in most development roles in the past.
https://twitter.com/alan_lok

Michelle Ames

Michelle Ames imageMichelle is the owner and marketing diva at Marketed by Michelle, where her primary goal is to reach success by helping her clients achieve their highest success. Michelle is the organizer of the Rochester area WordPress user group, organizer of WordCamp Buffalo 2016, and Lead Organizer of WordCamp Rochester 2016.
https://twitter.com/michelleames

Brian Messenlehner

Brian Messenlehner imageBrian Messenlehner is a Co-Founder & CTO of WebDevStudios. Brian enjoys learning about new technology and believes open source software like WordPress is the key to successful cost effective web solutions in any situation.
https://twitter.com/bmess

Michelle Arbore

Michelle Arbore image

I am the owner of Savvy Social Media where my company offers social media creation, management and coaching to entrepreneurs and small businesses. On a personal note, I have been married for 10 years and have a 5 year old boy.
https://twitter.com/michellearbore

Jacques Surveyer

Jacques Surveyer imageA full stack WordPress designer and developer with a mean mentoring streak. I really enjoy learning myself and helping others to understand how WordPress has become the Web Tool for the Rest of Us. I lead the Toronto WordPress Group Meetup | West Edition.
https://twitter.com/jbsurveyer

Adam W. Warner

Adam W. Warner imageAdam W. Warner discovered WordPress in 2005 and has been working within the community ever since. To feed his entrepreneurial spirit, he founded several WordPress-focused businesses that provide education, plugins and consulting services for online business owners. He is a true WordPress Evangelist in spirit and personality, and that also happens to be his job title with SiteLock.com. https://twitter.com/SiteLock

Taras Mankovski

Taras Mankovski image

I am a developer at NewClarity LLC & Founder of WRKTG Inc & I’m known in the Ember.js community as the EmberSherpa.
https://twitter.com/EmberSherpa

 

Cesar Abeid

Cesar Abeid image

Happiness Engineer at Automattic, Project Management Professional®, Podcaster
https://twitter.com/cesarabeid

 

Ting Yang

Ting Yang image

A girl who is addicted to programming. She is a software developer that spends most of her time fueling APIs with IPAs and avid contributor to open source projects. Ting is a WordCamp Toronto 2016 Co-Organizer.
https://twitter.com/username_ting

Hector Jarquin

Hector Jarquin image As front-end developer Hector ensures that the projects that he is involved follow accessibility and web standards. At work… communication (content, graphics and interfaces) accessed via multiple devices and channels. When free… travel, food, adventure and vintage stuff. Hector is a WordCamp Toronto 2016 Co-Organizer.
https://twitter.com/hectorjarquin

 

 

Only 2 Weeks Left to Apply to Speak at WordCamp Toronto 2016

Matt M at 2015WordCampUS

Just a friendly remainder that it’s only 2 weeks left to apply to speak at WordCamp Toronto 2016!

So far we have received a large number of applications from amazing people from within the WordPress community!

We want to thank everybody that have sent us their applications-YOU ARE ALL AWESOME!

If you still haven’t heard back from us, don’t worry, we are still reviewing the applications, but we will reply to each and every one of you!

For the rest of the great folks, what are you waiting for? Apply now, teach somebody something new & help us make this the best event ever!

Third hotel reserved for WCTO16!

Just when you thought it can’t get any better than having 2 hotels reserved the rooms for WordCamp Toronto 2016 and giving us their awesome rates the WCTO16 team managed to surprise you yet again. We saved the best for last!

Our team worked hard and succeed in securing a 3rd hotel in downtown Toronto, within 2 minutes walking distance from the WCTO16 venue, the Marriott hotel.

If you decide to book a room at the Marriott, you should click here! The cut-off date is July, 5th 2016, so book your room early to enjoy all the benefits that Marriott is providing to WordCamp Toronto 2016 attendees!

Marriott is also a great option for all of you that are coming in before the event and staying after to enjoy our Toronto, as they are saving a limited number of rooms from August 4th until August 8th, 2016.

Don’t wait, book your room now!

Book Your Room!

We have worked hard and managed to get awesome rates & room reservations not for one, but for 2 of Toronto downtown hotels. Both hotels are within 10 minutes walking distance from the venue where WordCamp Toronto 2016 will be held!

As we have limited number of rooms secured, please book your room early to enjoy the benefits of our preferred rate.

You can reserve your room online at the Chelsea hotel by clicking here or you can call toll free # 1-800-CHELSEA (243-5732) or 416-595-1975.  If you decide to call you must also identify yourself as part of Word Camp 2016. The cut-off date is July 4, 2016, so please book your room prior to this date to take advantage of this discounted group rate. If you plan to come earlier you can book the room at this hotel. We’ve managed to secure the rooms from August 4th until August 8th with the preferred rates.

To book the room at the Sheraton hotel, click here! You may also call their toll free number at 1-888-627-7175 and state that you are part of the WordCamp Toronto Room Block or simply quote the group code WH05AA to make your reservations. Also a friendly reminder that the cut-off date to make reservations under the group block with the negotiated group rate is Tuesday, July 5th. The reserved rooms at Sheraton are from August 5th until August 7th, but if you want to come earlier and/or stay later you can always contact them and ask for the same rate (valid only if there are rooms available for the dates you requested).

Call for Volunteers for WordCamp Toronto 2016

Volunteer at WordCamp Toronto 2016 & help us make it the best event ever. You can even get a free ticket if you agree to donate 4hrs of your time by ensuring that everything runs smoothly.

Our volunteers are the first people that attendees see when coming to WordCamp. They are the vital part of our conference, setting the friendly & inviting tone and a positive & engaging vibe for the event.

Volunteer activities:

Setup & cleanup – You role is to setup desks, signs, etc on Saturday morning and to clean all that on Sunday afternoon.
• Registration desk – You will greet the attendees, help with the registration & answer some general questions.
• Room Host – Your role is to help out the speakers and to make sure that everything is properly connected and working. Besides helping out you will be able to watch the sessions, too.
• A/V – You will make sure that camera is recording at all times & that there are no problems with it. Besides helping out you will be able to watch the sessions, too.
• Happiness Bar – This is the place where WordPress experts help out and answer questions. As helping out is a rewarding activity by its own, volunteers at Happiness Bar do not get free attendance.

If you are interested in volunteering at WordCamp Toronto 2016 please complete the volunteers application form.

Call for Speakers for WordCamp Toronto 2016

Call for speakers for WCTO 2016 is officially open!

If you have a passion and knowledge about WordPress and you know how to engage the audience, we want you!

The agenda for this year will be focused on JavaScript, REST API & JSON. However, we will have several tracks, like always, so if you have a topic worth sharing for beginners, developers or designers, please submit the speaker application form.

Here are few tips to stand out from the crowd when submitting the talks:

Put a new spin on old talks.
Explain what you learned while solving a problem.
Take the form of a case study, or a live or scripted example.
Tell us what is new and exciting on the horizon for WordPress users & developers.
Teach us something new.

We strongly believe that WordPress connects people so whether you are a developer, designer, small business owner or owner/employee of a large company that rely on WordPress, if you feel that your story will benefit the community, we want to hear your ideas!

The deadline to submit the speaker application is June 30th @ midnight. Get yours in soon or check out our Become A Speaker page to learn more about it!

Call for Sponsors for WordCamp Toronto 2016

If your business runs on WordPress it makes sense to become our sponsor. Not only will you earn some good karma by giving back to the community, but you will also have the opportunity to mix, mingle and meet with WordPress developers, designers, users and business owners from all over the world.

In the past few years WordCamp Toronto attracted more than 400 people yearly. This year, we are hoping to have even more people attending as we have been working hard in securing the venue in downtown Toronto. Plus, the first year ever, WordCamp Toronto will be on August 6th & 7th and there is nothing better than spending a nice, summer weekend with your fellow WordPressers.

As we would like to keep the ticket prices low ($20 per person per day) and still offer great presentations and wonderful speakers, we need your help to cover the cost of the event.

If you decide to become WordCamp Toronto 2016 sponsor, you will support the WordPress community, gain great exposure for your business via our website & social media channels and have our unending gratitude.

You can find more information about our sponsorship levels here!

Please, feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Welcome to WordCamp Toronto 2016

We’re happy to announce that WordCamp Toronto 2016 is officially on the calendar!

WordCamp Toronto will be on August 6th & 7th at Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University. The venue address is:

55 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 2C3

Subscribe using the form in the sidebar to stay up to date on the most recent news. We’ll be keeping you posted on all the details over the coming months, including speaker submissions, ticket sales and more!