Rosie Warfield is the Manager of eGovernment services at eHawaii.gov. Starting with the company in October 2005 in tech support and working her way through the ranks, she has happily landed in the world of website building and design. You’ll never find Rosie indoors. She spends most of her free time in the mountains or traveling to as many corners of the world as she can fit in to her schedule. Her favorite thing to do is run 100 mile ultra-marathons.

Company:  Hawaii Information Consortium (HIC)

Website:  eHawaii.gov

Talk Title:  WordPress for Government!

Talk Summary:  A look at how Hawaii State Government has been using WordPress to launch over 450 cloud-based, open-source, mobile first websites. In the fall of 2012, we responded to an RFP by our 1st CIO Sonny Bhagowalia to build a common template for all state agencies. We had

What do you love most about WordPress?: There is a great feeling of sharing among the community. If you need help with a plugin, usually it’s the author that responds. Many WordPress users contribute to the forums just for the sake of helping someone else. It’s truly an open source Utopia.

Kevin is a traffic and conversion specialist, author of traffic courses, and marketer for WooThemes. After spending 5 years as a traffic consultant he’s now moved into the realm of paid advertising and sales funnel optimization, helping businesses acquire new customers and achieve positive ROI.

Company:  WooThemes

Website:  http://www.woothemes.com

Talk Title:  Your First Profitable Facebook Ad

Talk Summary:  In this talk, I’ll show you all of the elements of a successful Facebook Ads campaign that earns more money than it costs. By the end of this workshop you’ll have everything you need to launch your first profitable campaign on Facebook.

What do you love most about WordPress?  WordPress is the perfect platform for marketers because you can go from idea to live incredibly fast.

Prior to starting Tamara Olson Designs, Tamara spent several years at Google as a design lead. She has also crafted user experiences for Apple, numerous startups, media companies, and countless small business websites. A hybrid designer/developer, Tamara has been building websites for nearly 17 years and lives in New York City.

Website:  www.tamaraolsondesigns.com

Talk Title:  The power of outside-in thinking: Providing a better UX for both your clients and end users

Talk Summary:  Learn ways in which user-centered thinking and data can improve your process of creating WordPress websites for both end users and clients, including:

• How to conduct research and interviews to better understand your client’s target audiences and prioritize their needs alongside your client’s business objectives
• Ensure your clients’ user experience is also seamless and intuitive by customizing the WordPress back-end and creating easy to follow documentation

(Ideal for the solo designer/developer or small agency.)

What do you love most about WordPress?  Its flexibility, and the community (for its collective wisdom about how to put that flexibility to work).

Part designer, part aspiring astronaut reaching for the cosmos, part business owner at Westwerk. Travis is all about connections – with travel, with people and with design. What started out as a combination of all three – a trip to Hawaii, some good friends and brilliant design – has since become a thriving WordPress business known as Westwerk. Most recently, Travis led the acquisition of WordPress theme creative house, Press75 and now heads Westwerk’s product division of the same name.

Company:  Westwerk and Press75

Website:  http://westwerk.com/

Talk Title:  Working Off Grid and Remote

Talk Summary:  The world is full of amazing things, and if you’re like me you would like to see as much of this beautiful planet as possible. The existence of the Internet has made working off grid a real possibility for people. During my talk I will discuss my experience running a WordPress business while being “off-grid”, the types of products that make this lifestyle a possibility, and the challenges that come along with it.

What do you love most about WordPress? The community and the connections. A thriving eco-system has helped to grow our business and without the amazing people, pushing the boundaries of WordPress and open-source software, many of us would not have the opportunities we have today. So thank you all!

I am a theme wrangler at Automattic. This means I am lucky enough to spend my days arm deep in themes. I get to not only work on WordPress.com with themes, but also as part of the theme review team for WordPress.org. When I’m not themeing, I like to spend time with my husband and two dogs around the beach we live by. I like to balance the time spent online with offline crafts, yoga and photography.

Company work for:  Automattic

Website:  www.diaryofawebsite.com

Talk title:  Theme don’t be my everything

Talk summary:  It’s time to stop putting everything including the kitchen sink into themes. A theme shouldn’t be a bloated monster with an options panel that stretches out the horizon. This talk is a call to action, to stop making themes that do everything and start making themes that focus. Themes that are designed to meet a need, to fit a market. Themes that work out of the box and don’t require a manual you could use to hold up a table that’s missing a leg. Themes that don’t be my everything.

What do I love most about WordPress? I love most the community. The way we make each other feel welcomed and part of the WordPress tribe. The way we help each other and as a whole don’t judge but accept. The way we encourage new people and let them flourish in the community. The way we give anyone a chance to contribute and become part of the community. The way we are our own worst critiques and look at how we can improve our community to be the best we can.