WordCamp 2014 Tracks

We’re a month away and it’s time to reveal the great content we have lined up for you at WordCamp Toronto 2014! With 10 content tracks and over 65 speakers, it’s going to be a packed weekend with something for absolutely everyone who might be in contact with WordPress: from bloggers with a simple WordPress-powered website, to agencies, to seasoned WordPress developers, there’s tons of content pitched directly at your level!

Here are the tracks we have lined up for you:

  • User / Admin: this is the perfect track for WordPress users and small site administrators, whether you’re completely new to WordPress, or have been maintaining a site for some time. The track kicks off with an awesome session on getting the most out of WordCamp! A real “must” if you’re new to the WordCamp scene.

  • A11y: “a11y” is the accepted short form for “Accessibility” and refers to ensuring access to people of all levels of ability. Learn why accessibility best practices on your (or your client’s) websites benefit everyone, not just people with disabilities, and discover tools and techniques for accessibility testing, accessibility audits and accessible theme development.

  • Designer: Graphic designers, web designers and visual artists will all benefit from this track that talks about the creative side of WordPress without digging into the nitty-gritty of coding. Compelling and effective WordPress site designs require a different approach than conventional “static” HTML website design. Discover User Experience tricks, wireframing best practices, web typography, content design strategies and more in this engaging track.

  • Developer: If you’re new to code, learning to code, or an experienced coder, we have tracks for you. The “Beginner Dev” track will introduce you to WordPress development best practices, including powerful tools and workflows to increase your learning curve; the “Advanced Dev” has well-known core contributors and big names in the WordPress developer community presenting latest WordPress APIs and technologies, and killer tips. We’re also dedicating an entire morning to JavaScript and Backbone.js so you can get up to speed with the new way of working with JS within WordPress.

  • Agency: If you’re making a living developing and deploying WordPress sites for client, then this track will have great business-focused topics to help you improve your business practices, workflows and project management. We’re also pleased to be hosting a stimulating, 2-hour business panel, where we’ve invited a carefully selected group of professionals from across the entire spectrum from freelancers to small-to-mid sized agency owners, to big agencies, who will be there to answer your questions in a moderated and interactive forum.

  • Content and Business: sessions in this track are targeted toward a non-technical audience who want to learn how WordPress can help them grow their business and reach a wider, more targeted audience. Topics include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content creation, monetization and analytics, and includes a 2-hour website “clinic” that invites you to submit your live site to a duo of experts to provide feedback and advice on how they can become more effective.

  • Community: We’re really excited about this new track, which is specifically crafted to help those who wish to get more involved with the WordPress open source movement and community. There are so many ways to get involved, from participating, volunteering, and organizing events, to answering support questions, to helping with theme reviews and accessibility, to contributing code and patching bugs. This track should not be missed by anyone who has been benefiting from this free software and its fantastic community and wants to start giving back in whatever capacity they can.

  • Contrib2Core: Are you a WordPress developer who has always wanted to contribute a patch and get their name up in the WordPress credits page? Are you a technical speaker in-between sessions and want to hack out a bug with Automatticians and core contributors? This is where we’ll be hanging out, to help new contributors find patches and tests they can do in the time they have available. We ran this last year and 6 of the attendees’ names appeared in the credits of the next WordPress release!

  • Happiness Bar: This is a staple of every WordCamp: an open, casual zone where you can come with your WordPress-related questions, problems or challenges, and find an expert volunteer to steer you in the right direction. We’ve got a great venue for the Happiness Bar this year (and it will be right next to the coffee and snacks) so come on over, hang out and snag a “Wizard” for a few minutes. You’ll be glad you did!

Am I restricted to just 1 track?

No! By no means. The tracks are just ways for us to organize sessions that seem to have a similar focus. We’re organizers, that’s what we like to do. You are free to mix and match and attend sessions from any and all tracks. For the convenience of attendees, we tend to keep all the talks for a track in the same room, so you don’t have to be constantly switching rooms. But folk will switch rooms to attend talks across any of the sessions according to their interest.

You can see why we are so excited to offer this WordCamp to you this year. There’s just so much great stuff to learn and so many awesome speakers who will be presenting.

Stay tuned over the next week as we reveal the full schedule, but don’t wait until then to buy your ticket if you haven’t already done so.