Speaker Spotlight: Tracy Needham

Posted on April 25, 2010 by Steve M

Announcing another great Speaker for WordCamp Raleigh, Tracy Needham, who is the founder of Compelling Communications, LLC, where she helps businesses improve their marketing and sales, and also a member of our Raleigh WordPress Meetup group.

Session:

“It’s Easy to Create Killer Content for Your Blog”

Sure, there are plenty of places you can get free or nearly free content. But if you’re using your blog to market yourself or your business, crappy articles and a constant parade of guest posts are going to hurt far more than they help.

So join us to discover how to quickly and easily create compelling, quality content that keeps visitors coming back for more. We’ll cover how to write titles that “had them at hello,” painless ways to write posts that highlight your expertise, and even a few secrets from the copywriting world for building more rapport with your readers.

Bio:

For the last six years, Tracy has been helping small businesses around the country get more clients and more sales with marketing content that does the selling for them and marketing strategies that make better use of their time and money.

Tracy dishes the dirt on copywriting and small business marketing at Compelling Marketing Blog, which is an Alltop top blog for Marketing and was also named one of the top 100 marketing blogs in the world by The Daily Reviewer in 2009.

Tracy’s past presentations include the Raleigh Internet Marketing Mastermind Seminar, NC Assn of Professional Organizers, Triangle Business Leaders, and others.

Follow Tracy:

Website: CompellingComm.com
Twitter: @tracyneedham

Speaker Spotlight: Cory Miller

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Steve M

Our latest addition to the Speaker roundup for WordCamp Raleigh is Cory Miller, founder of iThemes.com, PluginBuddy.com, and WebDesign.com.

Session:

“5 Tips for Building a WP Web Design Business”

Cory will share his expertise and experience as a small business owner and former freelance designer, including tips on finding your passion, making a profit, managing the finances, and building a team.

Bio:

Cory is the founder of iThemes.com, PluginBuddy.com and WebDesign.com, all focused on providing high-quality WordPress products and training.

Based in Oklahoma City, he started the company in January 2008 and now has a team of over 14.

He got his start with WordPress working for a professional blog and started dabbling in WordPress theme design before starting his current business.

Follow Cory:

Blog: CoryMiller.com
Website: WebDesign.com
Twitter: @CoryMiller303

Speaker Spotlight: Aaron Brodney

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Steve M

We have another great addtion to our Speaker lineup for WordCamp Raleigh … Aaron Brodney, of Penguin Militia Networks and G&A Research, his business ventures. He is also on assignment at IBM for The Select Group.

Session:

“Linux Tips for WordPress Users”
WordPress is most frequently hosted on Linux. Learn to harness the power of Linux so that you can better leverage WordPress. We’ll discuss some simple and some not so simple techniques that you can implement for your WordPress-powered site to get more out of your hosting environment.

Bio:

Aaron is a LAMP stack expert, Systems Engineer, consultant and developer. He has used his skills at a number of organizations including North Carolina State University, McClatchy, and at Red Hat as Sr. Technical Support Engineer in charge of LAMP.

Aaron currently applies his Linux skill-set at The Select Group on assignment at IBM, and for his businesses, Penguin Militia Networks and G&A Research. He is an avid fan of WordPress and Penguin Militia Networks specializes in high-performance, secure WordPress hosting.

Follow Aaron:

Blog: Aaron.Brodney.net
Twitter: @linuxvirtuoso

WordCamp Raleigh schedule is announced

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Steve M

WordCamp Raleigh is just over one month away and today we are pleased to announce that the schedule for the two day conference is now available. If you haven’t seen the list of great speakers that are coming to WordCamp Raleigh then check out the schedule posted at wordcampraleigh.com/schedule.

We think we’ve lined up one of the best programs for a WordCamp with something for every level, from beginner to developer, blogger to business owner. We have three tracks – Users, Power Users, and Developers. And we still have more to add with some exciting announcements coming soon!

So if you haven’t bought your ticket yet then visit the Registration page and sign up! Watch for some exciting announcements and news coming soon. Follow us on Twitter, hashtag #WCRaleigh.

Speaker Spotlight: Dave Moyer

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Steve M

Here’s another great addition to our Speaker line-up for WordCamp Raleigh, Dave Moyer, founding President of Bitwire Media, parent company of the popular WordCast network, a leading destination for WordPress, blogging and social media shows.

Session:

“Breaking the Trust Barrier: Establishing Personal and Professional Brand Reliability”

Dave has worked in tech and media since age twelve and experienced firsthand the stigma that comes along with being the “kid with a blog”.

Just like nearly all bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, and even twitterers, he started at square one: from scratch with no audience. Moving beyond square one and connecting with an audience takes time, effort, and careful control, especially when your age is considered a detractor.

Many of the barriers Dave has overcome and the experiences he had whilst growing and establishing both a personal and corporate identity in social media are universal, and can be applied to any individual or group.

This session is designed to share the lessons learned through Dave’s own experiences, and explain crucial points in breaking past notions of unreliability to establish one’s personal and professional presence as something that an audience can trust in, depend on, and turn to.

Bio:

Dave has more web experience than people twice his age (17) and he is a vlogger, blogger, podcaster and producer of WordCast, along with being a traditional media personality in the Denver, Colorado area.

He keeps very busy as the president of the Bitwire Media network and multimedia production company, and he writes for his personal site, Dave Moyer, and guest blogs on many sites around the web.

His recent speaking credits include WordCamp Phoenix, San Francisco, Denver, and Dallas 2009, CSIA DEMOGala 2009 and the National Trust for Historic Preservation Summit 2009.

Follow Dave: