Sponsor Spotlight: Chris Lema

January 21, 2015SponsorsTania Ginoza

In late 2013 Chris Lema tweeted he had a dream, a dream that WordCamp Maui was announced and calling for speakers. Dreams do come true! Not only is Chris Lema on our speaker roster but he’s also a Nene sponsor.

Chris Lema is the CTO and Chief Strategist at Crowd Favorite. He is also a public speaker and product strategist. He helps companies leverage WordPress, and helps WordPress companies find leverage.For twenty years Chris has developed and managed high performing engineers to build software products – particularly SaaS products in a variety of B2B vertical markets. He’s also spent the last ten years coaching startups on product development & marketing strategies. He also shares his knowledge through his blog on topics

We’re looking forward to seeing you on Maui Chris and thanking you in person.

Sponsor Spotlight: WPML

January 19, 2015SponsorsTania Ginoza

Thank you WPML for your Accomplice sponsorship of WordCamp Maui!

WPML, the WordPress Multilingual Plugin, makes it easy to build and run multilingual sites. Powerful enough for corporate sites, yet simple enough for blogs, the default install comes with over 40 languages. You can also add your own language variants using WPML’s languages editor. Choose languages for your site and start translating your content with one domain, sub-domains or multiple domains.

Created by OnTheGoSystems, WPML is a complete solution. With WPML you can translate pages, posts, custom types, taxonomy, menus and even the theme’s texts.

We appreciate your support WPML. Mahalo!

Speaker Spotlight: Ben Howard

January 15, 2015Speakersspeaker spotlightElenaRego

Ben Howard has been building websites longer than most people have surfed the Internet. He was working with business websites back in 1995, and was one of the tester/developers for the original edition of Adobe Flash. He has worked with many WordPress sites over the years, even building custom plug-ins and themes. He has taught Internet Development at UHMaui for more than fifteen years, and has spent the last seventeen years building a reputation as an experienced teacher and programmer on Maui. He would much rather be painting and sculpting, but its easier to make a living with code.

Company: Q and A, Inc

Company Site: http://www.q-a.net

What do I love about WordPress? Being able to build a sophisticated and feature-rich website, then turning it over to non-programmers to maintain, thus allowing me to move on to building the next site!

Talk Title: Sell Your Stuff with WordPress

Talk Summary: Getting online is the first part, and getting money is the best part! Whether you are selling a few hand-made products, or want to become a retail giant, WordPress has features and plug-ins to get your merchandise out to the world.

Speaker Spotlight: Adelle Lennox

January 15, 2015Speakersspeaker spotlightElenaRego

Adelle loves media, publications, and technology. She fell in love with computers as a teenager and began building websites in 1999. Her love affair with WordPress began in the spring of 2008. Adelle is a trained journalist and small business owner who enjoys helping others navigate websites and online technology. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising and “actually uses it.” Her skills include: graphic design, writing, research, website building, SEO, content development, photography, and social media marketing.

Company: Amazing and Helpful

Website: http://amazingandhelpful.com/

Talk Title: Longterm Benefits of Using WordPress

Talk Summary

Free/low cost investment (How to save time & money longterm using WP)
Fast & Flexible – content, design/template, user roles…
SEO happy – use the database structure to support your keyword strategy
Super powerful – plugins, oh my! (tips, ideas, my favorites)
Gorgeous – Themes & Design (how to pick a good one, css)

Bonus topics:
Is it really free? (Minimum time & cost to setup & maintain vs. realistic time & financial investment)
It’s Fun! (Recruit a passionate WP helper)

What do you love most about WordPress?

What I love most about WP is that it gets me excited and it gets me talking. I’m passionate about solutions and I love helping others feel successful and satisfied. WordPress is a tool that I find very useful for helping people. I find it to be the best tool for my needs, because I can use it with a large and diverse group of clients, all in different industries. It’s base cost is free and I can help people build highly customized, yet affordable websites and teach them how to make updates. I have confidence using and sharing WP with others. That is a relief for me as a small business owner, because trust and reputation are critical. From its flexibility to its community of resources and developers, WP satisfies my needs for a complete CMS. Love it!