Some lucky attendee of WordCamp Fayetteville next week will win a white iPad 2 to help bolster their blogging and web development skills.
“Our goal continues to be the democratization of publishing. We want everyone to have their own digital Gutenberg press,” said event founder Christopher Spencer, publisher of Ozarks Unbound.
“While we can’t give everyone an iPad 2, we can give them the skills to communicate online in the most effective way possible, whatever their message or mission.”
WordCamp Fayetteville is a nonprofit event scheduled for Saturday, July 30 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development. It is dedicated to giving people basic web literacy and an understanding of the open-source and free WordPress software.
An “Unconference day” will be held Sunday, July 31 at The Belford Group, a Fayetteville web design/software development company. On the second day, participants can connect with expert users to learn more one-on-one.
“We encourage students to come. We’ve set aside around 20 scholarships for students so that they can attend free of cost,” Spencer said. Those scholarships are available by contacting WordCamp Fayetteville at christopher@ozarksunbound.com. Hardship scholarships are also available.
WordCamps are held throughout the world and are organized on the local level by enthusiasts of WordPress. There will be a similar event in Chicago on the same day. WordCamp Fayetteville is sponsored by the nonprofit WordPress Foundation. Donations are tax-deductible.
The philosophy behind WordCamps is that they break even financially and sponsors step up to subsidize a ticket that would otherwise be much more expensive. Tickets are currently $35, but rise to $40 after Friday.
A ticket to WordCamp Fayetteville includes a day’s worth of programming, a t-shirt, a swag bag, Saturday lunch, an after party at Teatro Scarpino and an informal meet Sunday with presenters.
WordCamp Fayetteville is prohibited from advertising.
Tickets are available at https://2011.fayetteville.wordcamp.org/register.
WordCamp Fayetteville is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Southern Hospitality Event Production and Catering, Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission, Paze Interactive, VaultPress and iThemes.
The Final Schedule
Blogger
9 a.m. – Writing for the Web (Sara White. Serrabellum Digital Design)
10 a.m. – Guest Blogging: How to find the best and avoid the pests (Andy Crofford)
11 a.m. – The Arkansas Angle student-run multimedia magazine (Tom Hapgood and Bret Schulte, University of Arkansas)
2 p.m. – Numbers & Graphs & Keywords, Oh My! (Analytics for the blogger) (Angela Belford, The Belford Group )
3 p.m. – The DIY Website: Using WordPress for Nonprofit Organizations’ Website (Angie Albright, Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter; Jody Dilday, Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Northwest Arkansas)
4 p.m. – WordPress and Education (Jane Wells, WordPress Foundation)
Business
9 a.m. – Yin and Yang of WordPress Site (Blue Zoo Creative)
10 a.m. – Target Practice: Using Analytics To Improve Your Aim (Angela Belford, The Belford Group )
11 a.m. – Texture, Rhythm and Scale: The Elements of Design (Sonia Davis Gutierrez, New Design School)
2 p.m. – Social Media Consistency: Skip the Overwhelm and Create a Schedule That Works (Lela Davidson, Media Consultant)
3 p.m. – Making WordPress Profitable for Agencies / Design Firms (Cotton Rohrscheib, Pleth LLC)
4 p.m. – Getting Things Done and Published (Keith Crawford)
Developer
9 a.m. – The Ultimate WordPress Experience – WordPress as a CMS (Mitch Canter, Studio Nashvegas)
10 a.m. – Win friends and influence people with BuddyPress (Shelley Keith, Southern Arkansas University)
11 a.m. – Custom Post Types and You (Mitch Canter, Studio Nashvegas)
2 p.m. – Beginning Plugin Development: It’s Not As Hard As It Looks (Johnathon Williams, Odd Jar)
3 p.m. – Embrace the Mullet: CSS is the Party in the Back (a CSS ‘how-to’) (Tom Hapgood, University of Arkansas)
4 p.m. – CSS, WordPress and Salsa Dancing (Justin Kopepasah, iThemes)
