Calling All Speakers For WordCamp Miami 2013!

We opened up early speaker submissions before we announced our April 6-7, 2013 dates and response was excellent. Enough to run a WordCamp already. Although we desire for speakers to submit sessions focused on their passions and experience, we’ve been asked to “spitball” some possible topics to get the people who are on the fence on what to talk about… well, off the fence.

First off, if you are interested in speaking you should check out this informational page first. There aren’t many rules and guidelines, but there are some. It’s important to note that during this two day WordCamp we are planning on several different formats:

  • Standard Sessions – Approx. 30 minutes with some time for questions.
  • “Miami Lightning” – You get 5 minutes and a handfull of slides to talk in between other sessions. Unconference style and great for brief-but-fun-and-right-to-the-point topics.
  • Workshops – Several speakers give detailed and coordinated talks about a subject in a single block of time, or even a dedicated track.
  • Panel – We don’t have a panel session yet, but willing to consider it if several speakers want to get together.

Business And Front-End Development

Based on recent surveys, WordCamp Miami attendees are very interested in business/freelance topics and front-end development (including HTML, CSS, Javascript, UI/UX, design).

Ideas For Sessions

Again, just because we get submission on these doesn’t mean your submission will be approved. We are hungry for unique and interesting presentations from a variety of speakers, but hopefully these will inspire you:

  • Responsive Design – Unless you’ve been living under a rock, mobile and tablet devices are defining how people view sites. Many WordPress sites are responsive, but a great deal can be taught and discussed on this topic (I could talk about CSS frameworks for an hour alone). How to code responsive sites, how to test, pitfalls, etc.
  • UI/UX, Theme Design – Many designers attend WordCamp Miami – some code, some not so much – looking to learn about latest design trends. What works, what doesn’t. Etc.
  • Freelance / Business – There are so many possible topics in here, it’s possible to create a whole track on them. Best to read Chris Lema’s excellent post for inspiration. Each of these could be it’s own session:
    • Staffing
    • Client selection
    • Pricing
    • Contracts
    • Scheduling
    • Communication
    • Project Management
    • Execution
    • Relationships (post-deliverables)
    • Branding
  • WordPress Functions And Code – There is so much goodness in WordPress code that many people aren’t aware of. WP-Cron, WP_Query, Hooks (Filters and Actions), and the image manipulation functions of WordPress are just examples of things that experienced developers can share.
  • Source Control – Regardless if it’s SVN or Git or whatever, more developers should be doing this right?
  • General Blogging Topics – Don’t forget general bloggers come to WordCamps, especially in Miami. Non-coding topics that can cover how to write or legal areas of blogging might be a good area to start thinking about. WordCamp Miami does these every year, so the more unique and interesting the better.
  • Beginner’s Topics – This goes hand-in-hand with the general blogging topics, but every year we have workshops or tracks devoted to those just learning about WordPress for the first time. 101 topics, if you will. Finding great themes and plugins, or just even learning some great ways about the latest version of WordPress could be beneficial. Again, the more interesting and unique the presentation the better.
  • Using WordPress For [Fill In The Blank] – Using WordPress in an interesting way or a unique industry? Share what you’ve learned. The pros/cons, the decisions you made, mistakes learned, etc. Real Estate, Government, Education…
  • WordPress Frameworks – There are a number of these out there and questions come up in our meetups about what they are and what’s the pros/cons of each popular framework?
  • WordPress Multi-site – Those who already know this don’t need a reason to talk about it, the possibilites and uses of this are endless.
  • BuddyPress – We are VERY interested in those with experience in BuddyPress coding to talk it at WordCamp Miami this year.
  • Ecommerce – Always a favorite topic at many WordPress conference and events.
  • Scaling and Caching – Another development track topic favorite.

Need More Inspritation?

Check out wordpress.tv to see what others have spoken at previous WordCamps. Who knows? You could be on that site after WordCamp Miami this April!