{"id":1325,"date":"2017-04-17T06:00:39","date_gmt":"2017-04-17T10:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2017.jacksonville.wordcamp.org\/?p=1325"},"modified":"2017-04-15T21:54:08","modified_gmt":"2017-04-16T01:54:08","slug":"speaker-blitz-round-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jacksonville.wordcamp.org\/2017\/speaker-blitz-round-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaker Blitz – Round 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Speaker<\/p>\n

We’re super excited to finally share with you some of our speakers. But this isn’t all of them, so stay tuned for Round 2!<\/p>\n

\n

Adam Warner<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Adam W. Warner first discovered WordPress in 2005 and has since founded several\u00a0WordPress-focused businesses that provide education, plugins and consulting services for online business owners.\u00a0In 2016 he brought his passion for WordPress to join SiteLock as it\u2019s Product Evangelist. Adam has since delivered his zeal for WordPress to 20 different WordCamps all over the world and presented talks at 13. In addition to WordPress, Adam is passionate about his family, robots and of course, life, the universe and everything.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Allie Nimmons<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Allie is a self-taught freelance web designer and internet marketer. After attending WCMIA in 2015 and being blown away, she vowed that she would attend and speak at as many conferences as she could. She designs and builds sites using WordPress and focuses on SEO rich sites for small businesses and brands who may not be able to afford a custom site from an agency. When she isn\u2019t designing and learning, she\u2019s hanging out with her boyfriend in South Florida and listening to podcasts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Chris Cano<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Chris Cano is a social entrepreneur who has been creating and marketing videos online for more than 10 years. His company Betterme Productions works with businesses and nonprofits to help them leverage the power of their story in their Internet marketing. He is currently working on an ebook called Video Storytelling for Social Media, a guidebook to help organizations make an impact online.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Chris Edwards<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Chris is co-owner of CE Squared<\/a>, a WordPress Maintenance and Marketing agency. He is a 16-year Internet marketing veteran with experience in web design & development, search engine optimization, online marketing, social media marketing and mobile development. He specializes in WordPress custom development utilizing either Genesis Framework or underscores and is very active in the WordPress Orlando community. Chris has held development and Internet marketing positions in some of Orlando\u2019s top technology companies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

David Laietta<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"David Laietta is an organizer of WordPress Orlando and WordCamp Orlando. He has been using WordPress for nine years and builds custom themes and plugins for clients. In addition to WordPress, David is passionate about open source software, online freedoms, internet culture, and constantly learning about the world. He looks forward to chatting with you at WordCamp Jacksonville or on Twitter @davidlaietta<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Dwayne McDaniel<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"I have been working in tech and open source sales since 2005.<\/p>\n

I knew as soon as I started working with Java middleware developers I never wanted to work outside of open source ever again. I first started building in Drupal and WordPress when I needed to build projects for the San Francisco Improv scene. I fell in the love the community of developers and then found my position at Pantheon at the end of 2013.<\/p>\n

Outside of tech I love producing and performing improv theater. I also love comic books and karaoke!!! Reach out at http:\/\/mcdwayne.com<\/a> or on twitter @mcdwayne<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Jay Owen<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Jay started design extensions when he was still a student in high school at the age of 17. Over 17 years later, design extensions has lasted the test of time by growing every year since 1999. When Jay\u2019s not busy working on the business, he is usually spending time with his wife, Claire, and five children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Jeff Bowen<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Jeff is an engineer at Automattic currently working on making publishing flows on WordPress.com as smooth as can be. He\u2019s a usability nerd and is always looking for ways to make the web a better place!<\/p>\n

His heart is in the western North Carolina mountains, but the rest of him usually lives in north Florida.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

John Tucker<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"John Tucker has worn multiple hats (network manager, project manager, etc.) in multiple organizations (university, cable company, hospital, etc.) over the years and recently has \u201cretired\u201d to become a software developer. Working as a software developer at a digital product and marketing agency, John picked up the skills to start his own consulting and training company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Kenny Harper<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Inspired Visionary Driven to Empower 100K entrepreneurs to Thrive as Rockstar Professionals in their industry.<\/p>\n

Partner at Rock My Image. Marketing Expert. Award winning Speaker. Author of Amplify Your business. WordPress Designer. BFA in Multimedia & Graphic Design.
\nAdditional info at http:\/\/kennyharper.rocks<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Lauren Jeffcoat<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Lauren has been building WordPress websites for almost a decade and is currently part of the OnTheGoSystems WPML Customer Support team. She enjoys creating WordPress websites and has worn many hats in the world of web development including Project Manager, Customer Service Representative, Account Strategist, and Web Designer.<\/p>\n

Originally from New England, she now lives in Surfside Beach, South Carolina. Lauren enjoys sharing her knowledge along with tips and tricks that she has learned either through furthering her education or personal experience.<\/p>\n

Lauren is the organizer of WordPress Meetup Myrtle Beach, a co-organizer of WordCamp Wilmington, a WordCamp Speaker and a lover of all things WordPress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Laurie Marion<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Laurie Marion has produced WordPress sites since 2010. In designing sites, she uses an analytical framework developed at Georgia Tech to discover a range of possible ways to achieve a client\u2019s goals. She has found that this form of analysis also helps decide what tools to use in her design practice. Laurie earned a M.S. in Digital Media at Georgia Tech in 2013, produced a WordPress site in 2014 that persuaded a county government to spend $10 million to preserve a forest, and is currently managing a WordPress site for a private school in Atlanta.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Lisa Melegari<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Lisa\u2019s internet career began with a web content company, which pushed her to learn more about the wonderful world of WordPress. After becoming a member and organizer of the WordPress Orlando meetups and WordCamp, she became enamored of the power of WordPress and the amazing community around it. She just recently formed her own content company, Calico Content, and when she\u2019s not writing, she\u2019s playing video games, cooking, or wrangling her 9 cats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Nathan Ingram<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Nathan works with web developers individually and in groups to help them become more successful in their freelance businesses. He is the creator of Advance Coaching and The Advance Course. He is also a regular instructor at iThemes Training where he teaches WordPress and freelance business development topics via live webinar. Nathan has been a freelance web developer since 1995, and is based in Birmingham, Alabama where he is the co-lead organizer of the Birmingham WordPress Meetup and WordCamp Birmingham. You can learn more about Nathan on his website at https:\/\/nathaningram.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Sandy Edwards<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Sandy Edwards has been working in the online marketing space for over 5 years. She started at a niche firm that utilized WordPress to create sites quickly utilizing several options frameworks. Today, she owns CE Squared<\/a> who specializes in Online Marketing, SEO, SEM, WordPress Maintenance and Full Scale WordPress Websites. She loves to give back by teaching kids about coding, WordPress, and other technical skills. Sandy is very active in the Orlando WordPress community and is excited to see what 2017 will bring to the tech space!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Scott Mann<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"Scott is the Creative Director and Founder of Highforge, a digital marketing agency founded in 2001 to build exceptional businesses online. These days they use WordPress, Drupal, and Shopify to help professional services, technology, ecommerce, construction and medical companies lead and succeed online.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s an Emmy-winning creative director, an executive board member for a number of organizations in Orlando, an SEO specialist, a certified Google Adwords Partner (has been since 2002) and a community advocate in Orlando.<\/p>\n

In high school he worked as a tour guide at Disney where he learned deeply about creating customer-driven experiences.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a gamer, travel backpacker, chess player and he enjoys racquetball recklessly in his free time. He\u2019d also like you to check out www.BeTheMatch.org<\/a>, a non-profit organization that can help you save a life and maybe meet the person who\u2019s life you saved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Steve Burge<\/h2>\n
\n

\"\"I run several businesses in the Open Source space:<\/p>\n