WordCamp Johannesburg

We are very excited to announce the first round of speakers selected for WordCamp Johannesburg 2018

These speakers will be presenting  Workshops on the first day of this year’s WordCamp

Gear up to learn more about this fabulous lineup and discover details on our Day 1 Workshop tracks , which are sure to set the pace for your WordCamp Johannesburg 2018

Jonathan Bossenger

Jonathan Bossenger is an open source advocate who believes in sustainable business building by equipping his clients with tools that work for their business goals. As a lifelong learner, Jonathan is always finding new projects and skills to refine. Jonathan has spoken about several topics at WordCamps, Meetups, and podcasting including how to contribute to open source and understand GPL. He’s the organizer of WordPress Cape Town, works on the Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin, and is an expert at Codeable. When he’s not performing code reviews, you can find him spending time with his children, training Gracie Jiu Jitsu, and mentoring those in the WordPress community. Say hi to him on Twitter at @jon_bossenger and check out his site at jonathanbossenger.com.

tasabrahams

Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, I have a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy, practicing in the field of mental health, neuro-rehabilitation and community development. I am one of the Directors of a non-profit company called Jozi 4 Autism that raises awareness about Autism in the City of Johannesburg and promotes equal access to services for families from underprivileged areas. I am also the founder and Director of a Website Consulting Business called Digital Engage.

When I was in my early 30’s and with 4 kids under the age of 10 in tow, I took a complete detour, up skilled myself in the art and practice of WordPress web design and online marketing and started my own business. I now refer to myself as a ‘multi-passionate entrepreneur’ and firmly believe that it is never too late to learn something new or follow a completely different career path.

Having children, particularly for women, changes everything. I wanted to be at home with my kids, but at the same time I craved the intellectual stimulation that repeat episodes of Barney and cleaning tops and bottoms of kids tends to suck from your life. So, with my health sciences knowledge and academic writing experience behind me I started freelancing as a health/wellness content writer.

It was also around 2011 that I had an idea to create a website that made it easier for people with disabilities in South Africa, to find equipment, services and information pertaining to the condition they or their loved ones experienced. This stemmed from my own difficulties as a therapist looking for resources for my patients. My cousin set me up with hosting, installed WordPress and told me to learn. After hours of learning code, themes, customization and the hard lessons a hacked site teaches you, I am now a proficient WordPress website creator. My first website was so very ugly, but at the time I thought was the most beautiful website I ever laid eyes on!

As I am always hungry to learn, I found myself in this digital world, learning about digital marketing, social media and content marketing. I decided to formalize all this knowledge and experience by doing a certification in Digital Marketing through UCT Get Smarter and formalized my business in October 2015 when I joined the Awethu Project Business Incubator.

My personal philosophy in life is:

“Let brave be the partner of fear. Fear helps you prepare, Brave helps you act”

Jedidja Snyman

Bio – Jedidja Snyman – WordCamp
She is not: Glamorous, Famous or Interesting in her own mind.
She is a down to earth person and an entrepreneur.
Her passion is to be creative and to see people around her happy – there is enough heartache in this world – So Smile!
She has studied at the Technikon of Pretoria.
She got a diploma in Graphic Design
She has 20 years of Graphic Design experience
She worked for various design and printer companies
She started her business in 2016
She can’t believe it is already 2 years down the line and still going strong
Her interest in web design started only 3 years ago when she started with a new company
At the company she didn’t do any web design but it started to grow on her and she started to do designs for the web pages
She started her own company. On her journey, she met a lot of new people.
Someone invited her to a web design course and she grab it with both her hands
Her first web page was her own
There after she made a web page for a client.
It was definitely not the easiest client, but it was a nice learning curve
It gave her the confidence to ask clients if she can make web pages for them
2 years ago she did her first WordCamp
When she came She didn’t knew very much, but she come anyway she really enjoyed it
She learned a lot off new things at WordCamp.
she applied it into her own webpage, and there after she applied it into her clients web pages as well
Her motto is: You first apply it to your own webpage and then to others, so if you make a mistake on your own webpage, it prevents you from making a mistake on others.

Matthew Datlon

I’m a full stack developer at Flicker Leap during the day and a game developer at Mattador Starfish at night. I mainly build web apps at Flicker Leap but I’m game to build anything (pun intended). I use WordPress both for large websites for clients and for my own websites. I’m obsessed with building systems and frameworks to make my life easier and make development quicker (especially in WordPress).

I also love playing the drums, video games and interior design.

charlesmackenzie

Charles qualified with a Bachelor of Business Science, majoring in Accounting with Honours in Finance through UCT before co-founding Flicker Leap. He is Google Adwords certified and is currently studying his Masters in Digital Marketing through the Digital Marketing Institute (Ireland). Charles has over ten years of digital strategy, marketing, development and project management experience. During this time he has assisted a number of entrepreneurs and businesses to launch and grow their brands online.

dianapm

I am a lecturer and PhD student at the Tshwane University of Technology.
I discovered WordPress in 2012, when a WordPress enthusiast asked me to help with the PHP code behind his website.
That is how I taught myself WordPress and discovered how amazing it is.
I have since been developing websites for various people and organisations.

Karel Marais

Experienced Business Owner skilled in Web Design, Web Content Writing, Sales & Marketing, and WordPress since 2007. Graduated from Vaal University of Technology.

seagyn

Seagyn has been using WordPress since 1.5 when he knew nothing about development. Many years down the road, he now writes code in both PHP and Javascript. Outside of code, Seagyn is a competitive touch rugby player. Most of all, he is a husband and father.

Hanna Partridge

I am part Entrepreneur, part executive,part content manager and part designer and editor and part amateur coder, and a keen WooCommerce and WordPress supporter and challenger. I love implementing and working on new features and doing the impossible on these platforms! I have a personal brand NeoHanna and I am also the Managing Director of Horze(International Equestrian Brand in South-Africa)- www.horze.co.za which is an amazing WordPress/Woocommerce website with interesting features.

The deadline to apply as a speaker at WordCamp Johannesburg is approaching! Only 2 more days left.  We will close speaker application on the 21 st  of September at midnight SA time.

As a reminder please find the details below:

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

Don’t submit a talk on what you think we want to hear; offer to speak on something that you are passionate about. Everybody has a unique WordPress story to tell, and we want to hear yours.

• What are you uniquely qualified to speak about?
• Have you used WordPress in an interesting or innovative way?
• Was WordPress the foundation for creating something meaningful in your community?
• How has WordPress helped you grow your business?
• What was your experience updating your code for the latest WordPress release?

TOPIC IDEAS

These topics are not meant to be prescriptive — they’re rather there as a guide to help you think of something you want to talk about.

• Workshops for beginners
• Workshops for designers (or for developers wanting to learn more about design principles)
• Plugin/theme development
• Setting up an online store (particularly with WooCommerce)
• Gutenberg (for developers and content writers)
• Workshops for running a WordPress business (remote work, managing an agency, scaling your business etc)
• Lessons from the Open Source Communities
• Marketing
• Security
• Building with the WordPress REST API
• Coding and Development Best Practices
• And any other WordPress topic you’re passionate about

We are still short on a few Workshops so if your topic can be presented as a workshop please submit as such or indicate on application.

All candidates will be informed as to whether or not their talk was accepted from the 25th of September.

If you’d like to propose multiple topics, please submit the form multiple times, once for each topic.

If you have any other questions regarding being a speaker, please see this post

To apply please go here and fill in the application form!

To encourage more applicants we’ve brainstormed (and borrowed from other WordCamps) the most popular questions you as a potential Speaker might have.

If we’ve missed anything, do not hesitate to contact us or leave a comment below.

Q: Can you submit more than one talk?

Yes! This will significantly increase your chances of being accepted and give us a wider variety of talks to select from.

We will however most likely only select one of your submitted talks.

Q: Are all types of talks welcome?

YES! The stage is set for a wonderful variety of speakers. We are open to the full spectrum of session formats and encourage you to submit anything from standard slide presentations to panels, demonstrations, and more.

Whatever your idea, we’d love to hear it.

Q: How long do sessions have to be?

We encourage a variety of session formats, which include, but are not limited to;

• Lightning talks: (maximum of 10 mins with a group Q&A)
• Long form talks: (maximum of 40 mins inclusive of Q&A)
• Workshop: (maximum of 90 mins but can be shorter)

Don’t hesitate to get creative and submit a session format you think might be interesting!

Q: Is there a speaker’s package?

All speakers will receive a complimentary ticket to the entire event, including the After Party and the VIP Dinner

Q: Who will be in charge of wrangling speakers?

We are thrilled to have our organisers, Anchen le Roux and Andrew Lima, taking care of our speakers. Anchen will be the speakers’ main contact to the entire WordCamp Johannesburg organising team and any questions should be directed to the Speakers team by email.

Q: Does it matter if you haven’t spoken at a conference before?

No not at all! If you have a topic that is interesting, then we would love to hear from you.

We are committed to helping you share your experience, idea or knowledge; we hope that everything we’ve put in place will serve to support our speakers in contributing to an incredible WordCamp.

Q: What should people talk about?

Anything you like! The WordPress ecosystem and community do such a variety of different things with WordPress – whether that’s designing, writing content, building businesses or adding features and functionality – we want to hear it all!

Tell us your stories of success and growth, but don’t be afraid to also tell us of your worst experiences and how you turned them around. We can all learn from each other!

That said all the talks we’ve picked in the past – and will be picking this year – are all about helping the WordPress community be the best they can be. As a diverse community, we share a range of interests, skills, knowledge and experiences.

Similarly, if your talk has some connection to WordPress, or is directly about WordPress itself, we would love to hear from you!

Q: How do I submit my application?

You can submit your application by going to this page, logging into your WordPress.org account and submitting the form.

Hope to see you on stage!