Michelle Gower

Michelle Gower believes that anyone can change the world through WordPress.  By the time you walk out of her session, From A to Published (in less than 24 hours), you’ll believe it too.

Michele says her favorite thing about WordPress is “The empowerment factor. People are starting small and side businesses for much needed extra income, and they need it fast and frugally. I’ve watched students save their homes and communities from being taken over, because they were able to get a site up in less than a day and put their message where it could be found. That said, I like any plugin that helps to automate things. Display Widgets was also a game changer for me a few years ago. That plugin really makes a site dynamic by giving you virtually unlimited sidebars and footers without having to code anything. It’s probably the most common function (outside of a newsletter plugin) that my students ask about.

While Michelle’s session will help you see the possibilities that WordPress can provide, the most important thing you’ll get from her session is confidence to get started. “I specialize at breaking down the information in such as way that students see WordPress as a helpful friend, rather than a software to learn. You really don’t have to be a geek like me to “get it.” said Michelle.

Attend this session and get even more WordPress awesomeness at WordCamp Raleigh 2012 on Nov 3-4. Tickets are only $40 and you can register online now!

In Drew Poland’s session Freelance Like A Rockstar, you’ll learn how to take your freelancing business to new heights. By being a superstar where a lot of freelancers fail– customer service and transparency — you’ll increase your rate and client retention.

Drew is a WordPress Developer and Consultant, lover of Argyle, and connoisseur of Coffee. When asked what he likes the most about WordPress he answered, “The community! There is such a large and helpful community at all our fingertips that is ready to teach, learn and help WordPress continue to grow at rapid speeds.”

Find out what Drew means when he says “Stop being a restaurant” and learn how to Freelance Like A Rockstar!

Attend this session and get even more WordPress awesomeness at WordCamp Raleigh 2012 on Nov 3-4. Tickets are only $40 and you can register online now!

Bringing together the art and the science of web design, Les James’ session Responsive Design with the Breakpoint Framework will will give you an alternative perspective on responsive design that you won’t get anywhere else. “My approach may not be the best for everyone but can serve as inspiration on how creative problem solving can be used to make responsive web design easier.”

Having begun his career in photography and print design, Les takes a visual perspective to web design. When asked why he thinks about WordPress as a web design platform, Les reponded “WordPress is great for a certain type of site but not everything. If the project is simple I like using a static site generator like Jekyll. If the site requires any kind of user authentication then I’m turning to Django. WordPress does fill a nice middle ground though because it’s easy to get up and running and is quick to add custom post types and fields. Templating isn’t as elegant as Django but WordPress’ documentation and community support is excellent.”

If you plan to attend Les’ session you can check out the framework early by downloading it from Github  https://github.com/lesjames/Breakpoint.

Attend this session and get even more WordPress awesomeness at WordCamp Raleigh 2012 on Nov 3-4. Tickets are only $40 and you can register online now!

Amy Hendrix has become a WordPress core contributor and developer specializing in custom theme and plugin development. In her free time, she enjoys “fencing and searching for the perfect beer/cheese pairing”. She believes that if she can do WordPress, then so can you. Her presentation at the WordCamp Raleigh event is for anyone who loves WordPress, but who does not realize how much they can contribute and how involved they can be in building the community of WordPress – no matter their background or interest.

“The WP community isn’t just about developers; designers, writers, event organizers, support volunteers, and testers are every bit important to making WP as good as it is,” says Amy. She says that WordPress has a ton of resources for those who want to learn more or build other skills, unlike closed platforms. At the same time, the tools are easy to use and distraction-free for others who do not wish to get involved in the functionality.

During her session, you can ask Amy more about her favorite plugin, which she says has made her look at what she could do with sites differently than she did before. She explains that this plugin “makes it incredibly easy to build any kind of relationships you want between different kinds of data.”

Amy wants to empower everyone to take a more active role in the WordPress world. Anyone who comes to WordCamp is already taking the first step in becoming a community member exclaims Amy. “A lot of people are afraid to even get started because they think they aren’t good enough to try, including some people who are way, way better at this stuff than I am! But just by taking the very first step, whether it’s helping someone in the support forums, learning to improve on some sample code instead of just copying it – and then sharing that as your own first plugin, or learning to fix something as small as a typo in core, can improve your own skills just as much as it improves WordPress.”

Attend this session and get even more WordPress awesomeness at WordCamp Raleigh 2012 on Nov 3-4. Tickets are only $40 and you can register online now!