Welcome to WordCamp Jo’burg

We’re happy to announce that WordCamp Jo’burg is officially on the calendar!

WordCamp Jo’burg will be on 9 – 10 November 2017 at the Museum of Military History in Saxonwold, Johannesburg.

Subscribe using the form in the sidebar to stay up to date on the most recent news. We’ll be keeping you posted on all the details over the coming months, including speaker submissions, ticket sales and more!

In the mean time, if you’d like to volunteer, submit your details here.

Resources and slides from WCJHB17#

On this page you can find all the resources and slides gathered from the different speakers

Day 1 Workshops

Using Composer in your WordPress Theme or Plugin

The formula for getting new clients, onboarding them and delivering an awesome website project to them

Bending WordPress to your Will – Building your first WordPress Plugin

How to set up and grow a Paid Membership Site

Accessibility for Developers: Lets Get Intimate with WCAG

Day 2 Talks

Scaling your WordPress site, scaling your business

People First Approach

Moving to page 1 of Google search results: A personal experience

Running and Maintaining a successful online store using WooCommerce

Am I wasting my time blogging?

#WCJHB17 Contributor Session

Thank you to everyone who participated in our WordCamp Johannesburg Contributor session. We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did.

The purpose of the contributor session was to introduce to people to how easy it is to give back to the awesomeness that is WordPress.

If you would like to continue contributing (and we really hope that you will), here are some helpful links for you.

We hope that this inspires you to help make WordPress.

#WCJHB17 Live stream

We are getting super excited about WordCamp Johannesburg that kicks off tomorrow. Sadly, not everyone who wants to come is able to make it. But for those unfortunate souls who are unable to soak up the awesomeness that is #WCJHB17 at the Museum of Military History in person, fear not. We  invite you to the live stream which can be viewed at http://www.wordcamp.epnetv.com/

How to get to WordCamp Johannesburg

#WCJHB17 is taking place at the South African Museum of Military History which is at 22 Erlswold Way, Saxonwold, Johannesburg.  The GPS coordinates are: 26°09′ 47″ S 28°02′ 30″ E

If you are coming from O R Tambo international airport you can take the Gautrain to Rosebank station. (You will need to swap trains at Sandton onto the Park line).  Once you are at the Rosebank station take an uber (or taxify or similar) to the Museum of Military History.

If you are coming by car you can park at the venue. There is parking on the tarmac in front of the museum or behind the museum where there is a lot of shade. You can ask for directions at the main boom.

We are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday and Friday. Don’t forget to prepare for the workshops!

Thank you to our Gold sponsors

We would like to say a very big thank you to our Gold sponsors who have graciously sponsored us and made WordCamp Jo’burg 2017 possible.

WPML

WPML turns WordPress websites multilingual. It works with caching, SEO and E-Commerce plugins, and allows the building of complete multilingual sites. WPML powers simple blogs as well as corporate and enterprise sites.

WPML allows users to translate everything in the site, including content, menus, widgets and even theme and plugin texts. WPML powers over 500,000 commercial websites from all over the world.

Hetzner

Hetzner is a leading player in the South African web hosting environment. Established in 1999, the company has grown in stature and expertise, currently servicing over 330 000 active domains.  It was founded with the vision of providing reliable web hosting solutions coupled with outstanding customer support to the SME and mid-corporate markets.

Flicker Leap

Brands move forward as they conquer each of the challenges set before them. Seeing our clients succeed is a passion of ours, so Flicker Leap specialises in creating and implementing solutions that work. The digital world is full of problems that require unassailable digital solutions.

Paid Memberships Pro

Paid Memberships Pro is 100% GPL and available for free from the WordPress repository or on our website. The plugin adds member management and subscription revenue to your WordPress-powered website with extensive features for level setup, pricing, restricting content and membership benefits. Your members can complete checkout and update their billing information directly on your site.

3 reasons why you should be attending WordCamp

I remember the first WordCamp that I went to after wanting to go for many years. I didn’t really know what to expect but I was pretty sure that there would be some really cool people there. What I ended up getting out of that first WordCamp is still felt today and I’m sure I will continue reap the benefits for many years to come. So what exactly did I get out of it? Let me share some of that with you.

 

Knowledge

 

I’ve heard that there are a couple of ways to get knowledge (and wisdom). You can learn it the hard way by learning something yourself; you can learn by reading which could take ages; or you could have someone else show you from their experiences and understanding which will accelerate what you know and how to apply it.

 

This is where WordCamp excels.

 

There are workshops and talks at almost every WordCamp which has something for everyone. The gems are the ones that you really didn’t expect to learn from but end up being the ones you enjoyed the most.

 

Tip: Have a look at the WordCamp Jo’burg 2017 schedule to what’s on the cards this year.

 

Food

 

Maybe it’s just my experience with WordCamps but there has always been food and a lot of it. It’s also a time where everyone is together and can chat about how good the food is or about the workshop or talk they just attended.

 

It’s also a good time to meet and network with people from all over the country.

 

Tip: Lunch is included on both days with every ticket you buy including access to the after party.

 

Community

 

What really makes WordPress great is the community that surrounds it. There are people extending it with plugins and themes, there are people helping people in the support forums, there are people making it better and there are even people translating it. This is even more apparent at WordCamps which brings out the best of the community.

 

Tip: We’re having a contributor session this year so everyone will be apart of making WordPress better.

 

So if you haven’t signed up to WordCamp Jo’burg 2017, what are you waiting for? Tickets are only R250 and that’s nothing considering what you will get out of it.

 

Thank you to our Platinum sponsors

We would like to say a very big thank you to our Platinum sponsors who have graciously sponsored us and made WordCamp Jo’burg 2017 possible.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy Pro is a free membership program for web developers, designers & agencies. It offers exclusive tools to help onboard, manage and maintain multiple clients and their sites fast and easy. With GoDaddy Pro tools, you can easily shop for your client, monitor their sites, and manage their products from a single dashboard. Additionally, your membership includes advanced 24/7 technical support and rewards for recommending GoDaddy to your clients.

Bluehost

Bluehost has been a WordPress partner since 2005 and powers over 1 million WordPress sites worldwide. Their objective is to help customers, whether novice or pro, create a thriving online presence at an affordable price. With a team of in-house tech experts available 24/7, Bluehost dedicates time and resources to providing the best support and services in the industry.

PayFast

PayFast is the go-to South African payment gateway that allows you to start selling online with the least amount of effort possible. Offering a wide range of payment methods through a single integration, South African businesses can immediately offer relevant products to their customers. Recurring billing and subscription services, at no extra fee, allow for many new business models to support progressive and growing SA SME’s.

Thank you to our Diamond sponsors

We would like to say a very big thank you to our Diamond sponsors who have graciously sponsored us and made WordCamp Jo’burg 2017 possible.

WooCommerce

Whether you’re selling a few handcrafted items to a niche market, taking an existing business online, or going global with an enterprise level eCommerce business – WooCommerce will get you set up and selling fast and scale securely as you grow. Plus your content will be forever yours and customizable down to the finest button color.

Jetpack

Jetpack is a free WordPress plugin that simplifies managing your sites. This single plugin enables Photon (a global CDN for images), uptime monitoring, brute force protection, traffic-boosting tools, single sign on, multiple-site management, and automatic or bulk plugin updates.

Code Cabin Academy

Code Cabin Academy provides live digital workshops to those seeking to learn how to code. Whether you’re wanting to become a Front End Developer, Back End Developer or a Full Stack Developer, we will give you the tools and experience to become a Jedi code master. Learn from developers that have built plugins such as WP Google Maps, themes, systems and APIs that are used by hundreds of thousands of users. Code you dream with Code Cabin Academy.

How to be prepared for the Workshops at WordCamp Joburg 2017

To make the most of the Workshops at WordCamp it is always good to come prepared. Being prepared for the workshops, save valuable time and resources.  You can just jump onto the training without worrying too much about what’s needed. It’s also much more fun knowing what you’re getting into.

Internet is also never guaranteed, so having everything downloaded and ready is the safer option.  Do not bargain to work on an online environment unless you have your own 3G access.

Here is a list of what’s need for most and specific workshops.

Needed for most workshops

  • Pen and paper, or a note taking app
  • Laptop
  • Local installation of WordPress – Here are some options, please choose one in line with your technical level. You will only need one of the simple ones for the User Track
    • Varying Vagrant Vagrants – an open source Vagrant configuration focused on WordPress development. It has everything you need to run WordPress locally (and submit patches to WordPress core if you like), but does require some technical know-how to use effectively.
    • DesktopServer – simple desktop app for running local WordPress sites. Easy enough to use. Only available on Windows and Mac.
    • Chassis – GUI for running a local WordPress install. Easy to use, but would also benefit from some technical knowledge.
    • Local by Flywheel – simple and good-looking GUI for running WordPress locally. Integrates with FlyWheel’s managed WordPress hosting service, so it’s useful if you end up hosting with them. Available on Windows & Mac.
    • XAMPP – classic PHP development environment, which needs no introduction I’m sure.
    • MAMP – similar XAMPP, but not available on Linux. The free version is somewhat limited compared to MAMP PRO.There are other options available, but this should be enough to cover everyone. Any environment that has PHP and MySQL will work, so if you already have something like that running, then you can just download and install WordPress directly.

Needed for specific workshops

User Track

The formula for getting new clients, onboarding them and delivering an awesome website project to them

Local environment as described above

  • Download all files from this Dropbox folder
  • Follow the instructions in the .docx file

How to set up and grow a Paid Membership Site

  • Fresh WordPress Installation on Local environment above (We’ll be using the standard Twenty Seventeen theme that comes with the latest WP installation, also included in the folder.)
  • Download all files from this Dropbox folder
  • Do not install any of the other plugins yet, we’ll do this together in the demo.

Developer Track

Using Composer in your WordPress Theme or Plugin

  • WordPress Installation on Local environment as above
  • A code editor/IDE (Sublime, Atom, VS Code or PHPSTORM)
  • A GitHub account
  • A command line tool (Unix based such as Ubuntu, Bash or Terminal)
  • Install Composer globally

Bending WordPress to your Will – Building your first WordPress Plugin

  • WordPress Installation on Local environment as above
  • We will be working through a WordPress plugin together that you can download from this GitHub repo.

Accessibility for Developers: Let’s Get Intimate with WCAG

  • A code editor/IDE (Sublime, Atom, VS Code or PHPSTORM)
  • A GitHub account

 

We hope that you find this helpful and can’t wait to see you on Thursday!