I’m the Speaker Recruitment volunteer for WordCamp Seattle: Beginner Edition, coming up October 24-25. That’s a first-time role for me, and I joined with the express intent of broadening the speaker pool.

WordCamps are locally-focused WordPress conferences, and I’ve really enjoyed the ones I attended  over the last five years.

Use WordPress? You should consider speaking?

We’re looking for speakers—particularly those in the Greater Seattle area—who can teach WordPress best practices, open people’s eyes to what WordPress can be, and speak about all the other things that come up when running a WordPress site (social media, analytics, business, consulting, collaboration, and whatever else you can think of) at an introductory level. Here’s our expected audience:

We expect some attendees will know what WordPress is but have minimal experience using it. More advanced users are likely experienced bloggers and “power users” but probably have never modified a theme or manually moved a WordPress site.

I will stress that this is a conference intended for those getting started with WordPress or at least at the beginning of the learning curve. This means that anyone who has used WordPress for a while is potentially a great speaker. You don’t have to be the #1 super awesome WordPress developer ninja dudebro wizard to speak. In fact, we want a lot of people who aren’t that.

Besides the normal “how to” talks that you’d expect at a tech conference, we’d love to see:

• Personal WordPress stories (How’d you learn WordPress and what tips have you picked up?)
• Sector-specific talks (What’s different about using WordPress for nonprofits? Schools? The environment?)
• Whatever else you can think of! (We’ve put together a list of ideas that may help you brainstorm)

You can apply right now with a very short web form any time before September 16. No speaking experience is required and applications will be evaluated without any identifying information, and we’ll let selected speakers know by September 23.

Even if you don’t immediately have any idea for a topic or presentation, I hope you’ll still consider applying over the next two weeks! I’d be happy to talk by phone or email further if you’d like to brainstorm ideas for a talk.

Not for me…but I know a gal!

If you really don’t want to speak but know someone else who would fit the part, please let me know. I’ll write to them personally and invite them to speak.

Can’t I just come to WordCamp?

Of course! Tickets are only $20 and that includes lunch! You can sign up to get announcements at seattle.wordcamp.org. I expect tickets will go fast once available, so getting email announcements is the best way to make sure you snag a ticket. You can also volunteer if you’re interested in a free t-shirt and ticket in exchange for a bit of labor.

Questions encouraged! Hit me up in the comments or the contact form!