For Immediate Release
May 15, 2012
WordCamp Fayetteville 2012 to Offer Free ‘on ramp’ For Beginners: Free Friday Program Dedicated to Novice WordPress Users
Fayetteville, Ark.—This year’s WordCamp Fayetteville will be bigger and better than ever with the addition of a beginner’s track that caters to WordPress newcomers. The three-day event will be held from July 27-29 at various locations in Fayetteville, Ark. Tickets are on sale now for $30 and can be purchased online at https://2012.fayetteville.wordcamp.org/tickets/.
“We are working hard to provide a broad range of valuable content for all types of WordPress users,” said Christopher Spencer, founder of WordCamp Fayetteville. “This year’s WordCamp Fayetteville brings several new features as we expand our programming.”
Founded in 2010, WordCamp Fayetteville joins similar conferences held all over the world each year that provide valuable resources and information about utilizing WordPress, which is open source web software that allows users of all skill levels to create blogs or fully developed websites. WordCamp Fayetteville is Arkansas’ only conference dedicated to WordPress and web fluency.
This year’s conference will feature four tracks:
- WordPress 101: for those who are completely new to WordPress and want to learn about how it works.
- Content Creator: for those whose product is their content, such as those who use WordPress for a blog. (This was formerly known as the blogger track).
- Entrepreneur: for those who use WordPress as a utility or content management system for selling and promoting goods or services.
- Developer: for people who create themes, write code or are interested in other “behind the scenes” aspects of developing WordPress.
Megan Perez of Sharp Hue Web Design will head up the WordPress 101 track. He realized it was necessary to add a beginner’s track after speaking to several people at the 2011 conference.
“Many people from last year’s WordCamp simply wanted to know how to get started,” he said. “They wanted to know the difference between a page and a post, how to upload an image, how to change the name of their site, add new user accounts and so on. That’s when I knew we needed a different track; a track dedicated to beginners.”
WordPress 101 will cover all of the basic mechanics from start to finish: managing user accounts; navigating the dashboard; writing, editing and publishing posts; creating pages; managing the media library; working with links, menus, themes and widgets; using plugins; security precautions; and backup strategies. The track will also cover front-end aesthetics and marketing strategies: choosing color palettes; finding free images, logos, and icons; RSS feeds and social media integration.
WordCamp Fayetteville will also feature a Friday night (July 27) session for beginners to give them a primary introduction to the web software. This session will be held at The Iceberg CoWorking Space in Fayetteville from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. There will also be a meetup for all WordCamp participants at a Fayetteville restaurant, which will be announced at a later date.
The primary conference day is Saturday, July 28 at the Don Reynolds Center on the University of Arkansas campus. The four tracks will have sessions throughout the day from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The individual workshop sessions were shortened this year to allow more time in between for people to ask questions and help each other.
“That’s one of the best parts of WordCamp, the collaboration between participants and people learning from each other,” Spencer said. “It can be a bit like a job fair with all the local tech companies scouting for new talent.”
The Iceberg will also host an after conference party on Saturday the 28th from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The weekend activities will conclude on Sunday the 29th with one-on-one consultations with the WordPress Wizards at The Belford Group in Fayetteville.
For more information about WordCamp Fayetteville-related activities, visit wordcampfayetteville.com or contact one of our volunteer staff members:
Christopher Spencer
Founder, WordCamp Fayetteville
Christopher@ozarksunbound.com
Megan Perez
Beginner’s Track Coordinator, WordCamp Fayetteville
megan@sharphue.com
Angie Albright
Marketing Committee Chair, WordCamp Fayetteville, angiealbright@thebelfordgroup.com
