Author: Trisha Cornelius

WordCamp JHB After Party

Posted on by Trisha Cornelius

WordCamps literally feel like family reunions  – Andrew Lima

The WordPress community of Joburg is a welcoming bunch to everyone – regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, programming ability etc, and the afterparty gives us the time and space to kick back and relax, catch up with old friends and make some new ones.  It allows us to continue the chats that were started over the course of the two days, or to start some new ones.

The WordCamp JHB after-party will take place at the Focus Rooms (the same place where we are having our conference) on Friday night. There will be a limited quantity of finger foods and drinks available free of charge as we continue to build the relationships that make the WordPress community such a fantastic group to be a part of.

The after-party will start at 6 pm on Friday and continue until 9 pm. Admission to the after-party is included in your ticket to WordCamp JHB.

We hope to see you there,
The WordCamp JHB

Thank you! to all our generous sponsors

Posted on by Trisha Cornelius

One of the many cool things about WordCamp is that it is one of the most affordable technology conferences. It’s not unusual for conferences to charge over R1,000. With WordCamp, we keep our ticket prices to be less than 20USD per day. The reason that we can do this is because of our amazing sponsors who step up and help us.

Without their continued support, there is no way that we would be able to make WordCamp as affordable and accessible as it is. There financial support means that we are able to deliver   for two days, including all meals.

So, without any further ado, please join me in thanking:

WooCommerce – built on WordPress, WooCommerce is a fully customizable, open-source eCommerce solution

JetPack – powered by WordPress.com JetPack connects your site to the global services, community and support provided by WordPress.com so that you can focus on the stuff that matters.

GoDaddy Pro – Offering a robust suite of products for designers and developers to save time and improve the management of all their clients. The GoDaddy Pro’s time-saving tools let you update WordPress core, plugins and themes with one click, as well as automate WordPress backups, cloning and migrations

bluehost – a WordPress partner since 2005 that powers over 1 million WordPress websites worldwide. Bluehost helps their customers (novice or pro) to create a thriving online presence at an affordable price.

uAfrica.com – offers eCommerce tools to help businesses streamline their fulfillment and shipping processes.

Hetzner –  focuses on delivering web hosting service that is reliable and consistent, focusing on infrastructure stability, performance value and good service deliver in order to live up to its brand promise: “Trusted in Hosting”

PayFast – the go-to South African payment gateway that allows you to start selling online with the least amount of effort possible. PayFast offers a wide range of payment methods through a single integration.

Trisha Cornelius – is a freelance WordPress developer who helps people get their business, cause or personal site online with a minimum amount of stress and fuss on time and on budget.

Paid Memberships Pro – is a 100% GPL compliant WordPress membership plugin with over 60,000 active installs and 6 top payment integration. It’s flexible enough to fit the needs of almost all membership-based companies and organizations and includes extensive hooks, filters, and recipes allowing developers to tailor it to your specific needs.

Servebolt provides high performance managed hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce, applying its speed to both the front-end, the backend and the databases . Servebolt opened a South African data center in October 2018.

Flicker Leap is a web development, marketing and problem-solving agency.  They provide digital solutions (development, marketing, eCommerce and server/email infrastructure) to companies with a focus on achieving growth through partnership, actionable metrics and quick iterations (hey agile!)

Thank you again to all our generous sponsors. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you 🙂

Practical Information about our Venue

Posted on by Trisha Cornelius

WordCamp Joburg is 2 weeks away, and we are getting super excited. Our venue, the Focus Rooms, is amazing. Here’s some things that you need to know:

Where to find the Focus Rooms

The Focus Rooms is at the Core Shopping Centre, on the corner of Leeukop and Kikuyu Roads in Sunninghill, Fourways, Johannesburg. If you are coming by car there is free open-air parking. If you want to use the underground parking it will be R25 per day.

If you are coming via the Gautrain take the train to the Midrand Station. After that take the Midrand-Sunninghill bus route to the Square Centre bus stop and walk approximately 500 metres to the Core Shopping Centre and The Focus Rooms. Alternatively you can get off at the Eskom bus stop.You can download a PDF with directions here.

If you are taking the Metrobus use the Gandhi Square to Sunninghill route and get off at the corner of Rivonia and Witkoppen Roads (stop 5D). From there you can easily walk to the Core Shopping center.

What you need to bring

Day one is Workshop day and you will get the most value if you bring a laptop and work along with the presentations. Cabling is provided but please remember to bring chargers and adapters.

Day two consists of a variety of talks and panels. You are welcome to bring your laptop again and we recommend something to take notes.

Special requirements

If you have any specific requirements regarding accessibility, please let us know so we can do our best to work out how to accommodate your needs.

We will be sending out an email to attendees next week asking about special dietary requests.

We are looking forward to seeing you in two weeks at WordCamp Joburg.

 

Where’s WordCamp JHB – The Focus Rooms

Posted on by Trisha Cornelius

What can you expect from our hosts, the Focus Rooms, this year?

  • We have organized 100mbs Wi-Fi*
  • There will be “brain-juice smoothies” available on request – freshly made, just for you
  • You can sneak in a 5-minute mini massage (I had one, and it was delightful)
  • Bottomless tea, coffee and snacks
  • Some mid-afternoon popcorn
  • A goodie bag (over and above the WordCamp Joburg swag) with fun little surprises
  • There is free open-air parking (and reasonably priced underground parking as well)

If you are one of the people who like to plan in advance, you can look for accommodation around Sunninghill. A few of the folks from Cape Town have already booked their Airbnb.

If you want to take a bus the Gautrain bus has a nearby stop on its Midrand-Sunninghill route at the nearby “The Square” shopping centre (stop M3-17). The Johannesburg Metrobus also has a convenient stop at the corner of Witkoppen and Rivonia Roads (stop 5D).

We look forward to seeing you at WordCamp Joburg!

*(but please remember that you are sharing it with the other 119 delegates) and it is subject to the technical goblins who sometimes interfere with the lines not making mischief.

Johannesburg: City of Contrast

Posted on by Trisha Cornelius

Johannesburg is a city of vast contrasts. In today’s post, I am going to highlight the contrast between some of Jozi’s trendy urban areas that have been the subject of some inner city rejuvenation with some of the tranquil outdoor areas found in and around Joburg.

The Johannesburg CBD (central business district) did suffer a decline during the nineties and the first half of the naughties, it has been undergoing a revival, including the mixed-use urban precincts, Maboneng (One of the twelve coolest urban areas in the World according to Forbes) and the Grove in Braamfontein. Both of these areas offer you the chance to get some delicious coffee, sample some amazing food and explore parts of Joburg on foot in a safe, vibrant area. Close by is Newtown, Jozi’s cultural hub, it is home to theatres (including the Market Theatre, which was dubbed the “Theatre of the Struggle” ), more art galleries, as well as the Museum Africa. From the second half of the nineties, a large number of corporates have moved their business headquarters out of the Johannesburg CBD and into Sandton, including the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and it is regarded to be the financial hub of Africa.  Joburg is also home of Soweto, an important historical part of South Africa. If you visit the area you can walk along Vilakazi street, which was home to Nobel Laureates President Nelson Mandela and Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu. Soweto also houses a number of museums.

The Witpoortjie Falls at the Walter Sisulu Botanical GardensIf you are looking to escape from the business of the city, Jozi is the home of two botanical gardens: The Johannesburg Botanical Gardens and the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens. The centrepiece of the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens is the Witpoortjie Falls which is also the nesting site for a pair of urban Verreaux’s eagles.

Outside the city limits, you can visit the UNESCO World Heritage site the Cradle of Humankind, the world’s richest hominin site where around 40% of the world’s human ancestor fossils have been found, including homo Naledi. The Cradle of Humankind complex features over 40 sites the majority of which are not open two the public, but the Cradle features two main tourist attractions, Maropeng and the Sterkfontein Caves. Maropeng offers a beautifully designed paleoanthropological visitor’s centre which features a series of interactive exhibits about the history of the planet, the beginnings of life and the story of humanity’s origins. Visitors two the Sterkfontein Caves can take guided walks through the caves and see some older excavation sites.

We hope that you will get the opportunity to explore our beautiful city when you come to WordCamp JHB 18.

Places to visit around Johannesburg

Posted on by Trisha Cornelius

This is the first of a series of posts where we are going to boast a bit about our lovely city of Johannesburg and hopefully convince you to join us in our summer towards the end of October. If you are a WordPress user, designer or developer coming from outside of South Africa, this is an excellent opportunity because there is WordCamp Johannesburg on 25 – 26 October and WordCamp Cape Town a week later.

Johannesburg was established as a mining rush town in 1886 (and while the first government believed that the city would be short-lived as gold ran out) Jozi is now home to over 7 million people within the vast metropolis. Joburg has grown to become the country’s economic capital; it is a vibrant city influenced by a large number of cultures. If you have a limited amount of time in Jozi, one of the best ways to experience some of the sights is using the Johannesburg City Sightseeing bus which allows you to hop on and off a number of stops:

  • Constitution Hill: Is a living museum that tells the story of South Africa’s journey to democracy. The seat of South Africa’s Constitutional Court and the home to the Constitutional Court art collection.
  • Johannesburg Zoo: Founded in 1904 the zoo covers 55 hectares of land and is divided into thematic exhibits.
  • South African Military Museum: Our gracious hosts for WordCamp Johannesburg last year the South African military museum showcases the history of all military conflict in which South African’s have played a part.
  • Mining district outdoor mining museum: As you walk through this open-air museum you will be able to see some statues and sculptures, as well as a mining stamp mill and mine’s headgear.
  • Carlton Centre: Africa’s tallest building boasts spectacular views of the city.
  • James Hall Transport Museum: South Africa’s largest land transport museum boasts an extensive collection of vehicles including animal-drawn vehicles from the earliest days of Johannesburg, bicycles, fire-engines, cars, steam-driven vehicles, trams and trolley buses.
  • Gold Reef City Casino and Theme park: The hotel and theme park offers rides as well as a historical tour and an underground mine tour.
  • The Apartheid Museum: Built to resemble the prison-like conditions of Robben Island the museum offers interactive displays, film footage and historic photos depicting Apartheid South Africa and the country’s transition to democracy.
  • SAB World of Beer: An interactive tour that allows you to explore the history of beer and gives one access to the Sci-Bono Museum: A science centre featuring over 400 exhibits, and the Workers’ Museum:  This museum is housed in an old renovated building and is one of the original compounds built by the city for migrant workers.
  • The Origins Centre at Wits: The Origins Centre forms part of the University of the Witwatersrand’s Faculty of Science and is the world’s only museum dedicated to exploring the history of humankind.
  • The Grove, Braamfontein: The Grove is one of the precincts in the Joburg Central Business District that provides evidence of the city’s rejuvenation. This contemporary space offers excellent coffee shops, street art and the latest fashions.

This is a tiny taste of the many attractions that Jozi has to offer, and there are more posts to come to entice you to visit us in sunny South Africa.

 

Last Call for Early Bird Tickets

Posted on by Trisha Cornelius

Our Early Bird Tickets for WordCamp Joburg are selling out fast. These tickets amazingly priced at R200 and limited to only 20 tickets are nearly gone. As I’m writing this.. there’re only 3 left!

Early-bird tickets give you the exact same benefits as full conference tickets but are specially priced to reward you for your enthusiasm. As a #WCJHB ticket holder you get access to two-days of WordCamp Johannesburg where you will meet amazing people. Day one is filled with practical workshops and day two follows a more traditional conference style approach with specific talks aimed at anyone who uses WordPress. You will be treated to some amazing food (morning and afternoon snacks, lunch), complimentary coffee and tea and fruit juice. You will be able to network with fellow WordPress users, designers and developers. You also get some exclusive WordCamp JHB 18 swag as well as an invitation to the After Party!

So hurry to get one of the last Early Bird tickets for WordCamp Johannesburg 2018 before they are all sold out! 3….2….1

WordCamp JHB 2018 Tickets are live

Posted on by Trisha Cornelius

Tickets for #WCJHB are on sale. The first twenty tickets are available for R200. Your WordCamp Joburg ticket gives you:

  • 2 days of the WordCamp conference at the Focus Rooms in Fourways, Johannesburg.
  • A delicious lunch on both days as well as morning and afternoon snacks
  • Snazzy swag
  • Access to the WordCamp JHB 18 after-party
  • An amazing opportunity to network with and learn from other WordPress users, designers and developers.

Early bird tickets are limited to 20 people and only available for a limited time, afterwards tickets go up. So get yours now!

WordCamp Johannesburg is a go for launch

Posted on by Trisha Cornelius

The WordCamp Johannesburg team is thrilled to announce our 3rd WordCamp is on the schedule. #WCJHB will take place on 25 – 26 October at the Focus Rooms in Sandton, Johannesburg.

WordCamps are locally organised conferences about all things WordPress. Anyone who uses WordPress (or is interested in learning more about WordPress) is welcome to attend. WordCamp Joburg is a two day event with day one being filled with practical workshops aimed at both WordPress users like bloggers and media managers. Day two is filled with great talks. Both days are filled with people and fun and people sharing their knowledge and insight about WordPress.

Tickets will be on sale soon for R250 which includes access to all sessions, lunch on both days, entrance to the after-party.

If you haven’t already, please use the subscribe form at the bottom of this post to keep up to date with latest news and updates before the event.

We look forward to welcoming you at WordCamp JHB 2018