WordCamp Miami Presents: (Micro) MBA Course

For a number of years, WordCamp Miami has hosted a business track on Sundays. During those year some of the brightest and most successful industry leaders have shared their wisdom and ideas on the Miami stage within the traditional WordCamp format. For our 10th anniversary event, we wanted to do something different.

What’s Different

Put simply, the format. We’ve seen some incredible talks over the years, we’ve even seen events where talks are curated in a particular order. But in most events, the audience is left on their own to how to tie the different presentations together and integrate them in a meaningful way. So this year after a conversation with Karim Marucchi on some of the ways he is trying to give back to the founder community, the WordCamp Miami organizers have asked Karim and Rian Kinney to host a format that Karim has been working on based on concepts that have been successfully executed at other leadership in technology events such as SXSW and LeWeb.

“There is a larger value in the total combined event that is greater than the sum of its parts; when the individual speakers’ story arcs are knit together as a whole.”

On Sunday March 18th, we are proud to offer a comprehensive course, featuring tech industry experts and WordPress community leaders. They will show expertise in a full range of topics that are essential to the entrepreneurial puzzle. The format will give participants big-picture business insight, long-term motivation, and practical takeaways to implement the minute they get back to their desk.

The Lineup

Come join us from 9 AM to 12:30 PM on Sunday March 18th as Karim Marucchi and Rian Kinney introduce, moderate, and tie together a great lineup content from leaders in the business community:

Advanced Topics in Businessing

Christie Chirinos

Christie will start off the morning with how someone should think when starting a business and in it’s opening steps. Christie will be able to help you think through a framework of how to plan as well as some tactical steps on what to do to set things up and manage correctly. She will also cover questions like: How do you read and act on an income statement? What’s the three sentence summary of theoretical frameworks for marketing? What do organizational behaviorists say about building good teams? How does price elasticity of demand affect your pricing strategy?

Helping Freelancers Manage Clients, Increase Lifetime Total Value, and Sustain Successful Long-Term Delivery.

Pat Ramsey

After Christie has on our way to starting and marketing the business, Pat Ramsey, is going to share some of the best tips for how to successfully work with clients and increase Lifetime Total Value in executing your service or product. Today he oversees all aspects of the technology group at Crowd Favorite as Director of Technology. He has worked with WordPress since 2004, using it as a publishing platform, marketing tool, and content management system in higher education, small-businesses, publishing, and enterprise businesses. Active in the Web and WordPress communities since 2005, Pat is one of the original organizers of the WordPress meetup in Austin; a tech community that has grown from a little over 200 members meeting once a month, to over 1700 members and three or four events a month. He’s also a core member of the web tech networking community, Refresh Austin and has been a trainer and advisor for Knowbility’s Accessible Internet Rallies and AccessU. He has seen what fails and what works, come gain insight from his vast experience.

Don’t Become Your Own Worst Enemy: How to Avoid the Five Psychological Landmines that Will Kill Your Business

Sherry Walling

Okay, so you started a business. You have a least one customer and they give you money for your service or product. Yipee! It’s all straightforward from here, right? Unfortunately, no. Dr. Walling will highlight five toxic beliefs that have the power to seriously disrupt the health of your business and the well-being of your life. These beliefs include: 1) My business is my baby. 2) I love my customers and my customers love me. 3) The hustle makes the money. 4) I got this! 5) No time for feelings- this is business. She’ll explain how founders adapt these ideas and the serious consequence they can have. And of course, she’ll walk you through how to avoid embracing these dangers so that you can do your work and enjoy your life.

Overnight Success, 15 Years In The Making

Josh Strebel

Josh is the CEO of Pagely, one of the most widely known (and one of the oldest) WordPress managed hosting companies. Josh has extensive business experience in running Pagely for more than a decade and will anchor the business track that morning with some words of wisdom for the secrets of how to become a success – no matter how long it takes you.

The Panel

Wow, that was a lot! Have you ever seen a great talk, and then said, ok, but how do I apply that? We’ve got you covered. As part of our event, after the four speakers present, the final panel will be a mix of prepared questions, and moderated audience questions, to turn some of the aspirational and motivational points back into tactical practical takeaways. Speakers will guide the attendees through how the pieces fit together, while inspiring and highlighting practical takeaways where attendees gain long-term motivation, and are able to implement immediate tactical changes when they get back to their desk.

Host, Business Panel

Rian Kinney

Rian Kinney, founder of The Kinney Firm, is a licensed Florida attorney, legal consultant and author; with experience in market and business strategy. In the spirit of the open source community, she wants to take the mystery and FUD out of CYA’ing your site and contracts. Today her firm represents and advises founders and businesses of every size, across industries in the areas of corporate formation, copyright, trademark, e-commerce, as well as strategy and long-term planning.

Host, Business Panel

Karim Marucchi

Karim Marucchi is the CEO of Crowd Favorite and Chairman of The VeloMedia Group. In the past 20 years, his career path has encompassed a variety of opportunities including founding startups, working for large web agencies and taking companies public. This wealth of experience in taking digital teams across the globe has provided Karim with the necessary foundation and institutional knowledge in leading Crowd Favorite into the growing multinational organization it has become today.

Get Your Tickets!

In order to attend, you need to purchase a weekend ticket. These are current on sale – act now, they will go quickly!