THANK YOU! to everyone who participated at 2016 Joburg WordCamp

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2016 Johannesburg WordCamp has come and gone…

I for one, am proud to have been associated with the successful launch of South / Southern Africa’s second WordCamp with and together with my colleagues from WordPress Gauteng, WordPress Joburg, WordPress Pretoria and WordPress East Rand, I applaud your efforts, participation and support and as many delegates and speakers have tweeted – “You guys rock!”

From here, we can only grow as WordPress enthusiasts from 2016 WordCamp network and support each other and with great strides in innovation and entrepreneurship blossoming here in Africa, we should see increasing numbers of WordPress users from township and urban areas eventually follow some of the paths of the large media houses who presented their case studies and reasoning of why they chose WordPress to power their brands to millions of Southern Africans.

All of this made me feel good – knowing that I’m part of a movement of providing meaningful content that hopefully, benefits the people of this land.

Thank you again to everyone that participated in 2016 Johannesburg WordCamp – the organising committee, the volunteers, the speakers and all of the delegates who spent a couple of days with us to share their knowledge and experience.

2017 Johannesburg WordCamp… here we come!

For and Behalf of 2016 Johannesburg WordCamp

Al Karaki

Preparation For Wordcamp Workshops

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Here is some homework, preparation or resources to download to make things easier on the day of the workshop.

It will help safe time and let you get the most out of the workshop.

Needed for Most Workshops. 

  • Pen and paper or note-taking software
  • Laptop

Needed for specific workshops:

Want to setup an online store?

There will be a flash stick with WordPress, WooCommerce and other files if needed but if you can be prepared it means we can get through a lot more.

Developing Child Themes

Resources for Content Strategies for Blogging and Social Media

You can download the checklist and 2 infographics over here

 

WordPress and WordCamp Radio Show – Monday, Nov 14th 8-9 PM on Mix 93.8 FM

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Reminder for tonight’s WordPress and WordCamp radio show:

Monday, Nov 14th from 8-9 pm on Mix 93.8 FM, Prof Gary and Al Karaki will be hosting www – Wild, Wonderful WordPress where we invite listeners to send us in their websites for accolades or onions.

WordCamp Joburg 2016 starts on Friday at the BON Hotel and Conference Centre and we talk to some of the sponsors about their perspectives on WordCamp and WordPress in South Africa.

Besides streaming audio – Mixfm.co.za, we are available on DSTV Channel 923 and please interact with us by sms with your questions and comments directly to the studio at 41348.

 

The State of eCommerce in South Africa

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South Africa is hovering around the 1% e-commerce tipping point (this is the world wide trend where 1% of a country’s total retail spend is made online). The significance of the tipping point is that once the 1% thresh hold is passed, online retail purchases grow exponentially.

The South African e-commerce sphere represents a new opportunity. We invite you to submit questions about the e-commerce sector to:

  • Roslyn Lavery, business development manager at PayFast, a South African payment gateway.
  • Mechiel Couvaras, business development manager for WooCommerce, a WordPress plugin that allows you to sell anything and gives both store owners and developers complete control of their online store.
  • Naeem Mayet, a digital strategist who is both the head of online at Autostyle.co.za and a freelancer at DigitalBoutique.co.za where he helps small to medium businesses get their foot in the online space.
  • Brett Magill, a serial entrepreneur and founder of joburgbrew.com.

These four experts have generously agreed to share their knowledge and experiences that they have encountered as pioneers in the South African e-commerce space.
We invite you to join them at WordCamp Johannesburg on Friday 18 November from 3:30 p.m.

If you would like a particular question/s answered please submit them below: [Submissions closed after the event]

Call for Sponsors

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Sponsoring WordCamp is a great opportunity to support the community that has evolved around the content management system that we all love and use. Our attendees and presenters include small business owners, bloggers, designers, developers, entrepreneurs and educators from the local region, and across the country. We want to keep the event as accessible as possible by keeping the costs down for our attendees. This is where you can help!

To view our sponsorship packages, click here.

We’ve also introduced a Meerkat package for those freelancers or small companies that want to contribute, even if it’s just a little. To sign up as a Meerkat sponsor, you can just purchase the special ticket we’ve created for it.

[Sponsor applications are closed]

WordPress and WordCamp Radio Show – Monday, Oct 17th 8-9 PM on Mix 93.8 FM

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Reminder: This Monday, Oct 17th from 8-9 pm on Mix 93.8 FM, Prof Gary and Al Karaki will be hosting www – Wild, Wonderful WordPress where we invite listeners to send us in their websites for accolades or onions. We will also discuss WordCamp Joburg 2016 as well as field questions regarding the use and applications of WordPress software. Two spaces at the studio in Midrand if anyone wants to join us. info@wpsouthafrica.org.za

WordCamp Joburg 2016, Nov 18-19, 2016 at the BON Conference Centre, Midrand

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This WordCamp Joburg 2016 site is in now in update mode. Please check back here for updates or subscribe to our WordCamp Joburg 2016 newsletter.

You can buy tickets over here

WordPress
WordPress is the world’s most popular open source software for creating any kind of website, from a simple blog to a full-featured business or online store website. With WordPress it’s easy to build your website without writing a single line of code or knowing anything about HTML or design skills to create a professional looking site.

Every day, more than 50,000 WordPress.com websites are launched and WordPress is used to power over 59% of all websites using a Content Management System on the internet.

WordCamps
A WordCamp is a non-profit conference focused on all things WordPress and is relevant to everyone from new users to experienced developers, designers and everyone in between. It is not only a great place to learn from some of the most influential people in the WordPress community, but also to meet plenty of new and interesting people who share similar passions.

Aside from the huge learning opportunity, one of the primary benefits of attending WordCamp is the opportunity to mingle with industry professionals from all walks of life. The conference will be a lot of fun with plenty of time to hang out, get to know each other, and make valuable connections that will boost your business.

WordCamp Joburg 2016 is organised by members of the Gauteng WordPress community, the largest WordPress group in Africa and has received approval for the hosting of Johannesburg WordCamp 2016 on Nov 18-19, 2016 at the BON Hotel and Conference Centre in Midrand.

Second and Final Call from WordCamp Joburg

This is the Second and Final call from WordCamp Joburg 2016 for support of the event and we welcome volunteers to assist us with this prestigious event as well as speakers and companies who would like to be involved in the South African WordPress community.

WordCamp Joburg 2016 is part of the global WordCamp event calendar. Johannesburg is considered to be the top financial and business capital in Africa and on average, WordCamps attract 200-400 delegates over the WordCamp weekend. The venue  has a main room as well as breakaway rooms for presentations and workshops.

Sponsors and Exhibitors  – expose your products and services to one of the fastest growing tech and innovation sectors. A range of sponsorship options are available.

Speakers – calling all South/Southern African WordPress users – got an interesting WordPress website, launching a startup or an interesting case study on why you used WordPress for your website, blog or online store? Tell us your story..

Volunteers – interested in learning how to organise a global event and meet interesting people? considering a career in webdesign or web solutions? We also require volunteer assistance for event management, logistics, accounting and IT skills.. please join us for WordCamp Joburg 2016 – we’d love to have you on board!

Go and buy your tickets now before the early bird tickets run out

Contact us

·         Email: johannesburg@wordcamp.org

·         Website: https://2016.johannesburg.wordcamp.org 

·         Facebook: facebook.com/WordCampJoburg

      Twitter: @wordcampjoburg