Martin - BraveNewCode

Speak

Strut your stuff! Speaking at WordCamp Toronto is a wonderful opportunity to share your ideas, demonstrate your expertise and increase your exposure within the WordPress community. Your session will be shared with the world on WordPress.tv, and you’ll get free admission to WordCamp Toronto 2013.

Update (August 27, 2013): We’re currently sending out notices to our accepted speakers in an effort to finalize the schedule this week. If you’re still interested in speaking, feel free to submit an application. Just keep in mind that you may not fit into the schedule.

Speaker Guidelines

  • GPL Compliance: The WordPress Foundation requires that all WordCamp speakers to be 100% GPL compliant. (In a nutshell, this means that if you’re a theme or plugin developer, your products must be 100% compliant with GPL licensing.)
  • Local Talent: WordPress Toronto 2013 is an opportunity to showcase the great work that’s happening in the city of Toronto & the GTA. If you’re running a business, non-profit organization, or a pet project with WordPress at the core, we want to hear from you!
  • Knowledgeable: Know what you’re talking about. You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room, but you should be able to confidently answer questions.
  • Passionate: Be enthusiastic about the content that you’re presenting. It’s infectious.
  • Diversity: Designers, bloggers, businesses, developers, professionals and WordPress nuts of all shapes and sizes are welcome to speak. We want a nice mix of presentation styles and personalities!
  • Real-World Examples: Show us what you’ve made with WordPress and explain how you did it, or what you learned in the process. Provide something concrete: code snippets, 10 important lessons you learned, specific advice, etc.
  • Respect the time limit. You’ll have 45 minutes to work with. In the past, we’ve recommended speakers take 30 minutes to present and 10-15 minutes for Q&A or discussion.

Topic Ideas

Keep in mind that these topics are suggestions and should not be restrictive. Build up the topic and put your own personal spin on it! Want to do a talk that isn’t on the list? No problem – you can submit that, too. 🙂

Beginners

  • What is WordPress?
  • Introduction to the Administration Panels
  • Choosing A Theme
  • Choosing Plugins
  • WordPress for Small Business
  • Finding a WordPress Developer
  • Learning Basic WordPress Development

Beginners II

  • WordPress.com versus WordPress.org
  • Posts versus Pages
  • Why Pay For A Theme?
  • Why Pay For A Plugin?
  • WordPress eCommerce
  • Is This A DIY Project
  • Making a Living with WordPress

Intermediate

  • WordPress.com Services versus Self-Hosted Services
  • Child-Themes / How-To and Why
  • How to Make a Basic Plugin
  • Getting Involved With the Local Community
  • Improving Your WordPress Skill Sets
  • Getting Involved with WordPress (Core / Make / etc.)

Advanced

  • How To Start Developing For WordPress
  • Using Version Control (Git / SVN / etc.)
  • Developing a New Theme
  • How to Make an Extensible Plugin
  • Contributing to Core / Other Author Works
  • WordPress Part-Time Freelance

As a speaker, you must agree to the Involvement Guidelines that apply to all speakers, volunteers, sponsors, and organizers of WordCamp Toronto.

Interested in speaking? Fill out the application form!

Deadline for submissions is Saturday, August 31st, 2013.