Geeks Unite!

We’re proud to share the news that local WordPress developer and community organizer, Kenneth White, has joined forces with Nashville Geek, expanding the company’s expertise in theme, plugin and application development via the new WP REST API.

“I’m excited to have an opportunity to sharpen my skills as a developer,” Kenneth White, now lead developer at Nashville Geek, says about melding his company, sprclldr, into the geek team. “Running my own business was a great experience, but now I get the chance to focus on application problem solving and the quality of finished product.”

Nashville Geek is growing, building a team of experienced design and development professionals who are dedicated to staying on the forefront of WordPress as it matures from single-site publishing to more complex business needs. The addition of Kenneth to the team brings another level to our ability to create better-organized & accessible content management for our clients.

With a fifteen-year history as a graphic designer before diving headlong into web development, Kenneth has a unique perspective on coding. “I’ve always been adamant about using design thinking to make information engaging and clear, so that technology isn’t a barrier. From application planning to conversion of the brand experience into a positive user-experience, we develop tailored solutions for each of our clients. My greatest joy is hearing from our clients that their site is easy to manage or that we’ve simplified some previously clunky process, giving them time for more important things like managing their business or helping their clients.

“WP REST API is exciting because it allows us to customize those solutions even further with custom admins, front-ends and network data distribution. We’re only seeing the beginning of what it will allow us to do.”

Scott Farr, co-owner and senior developer at Nashville Geek says, “Kenneth has been a friend and colleague for many years. He’s the perfect fit for our small Geek family, and we’re proud to have him aboard. His diverse experience in all aspects of the web development game helps to raise the bar for the whole team. I look forward to seeing how our team evolves from here.”

nashville-geek-logo

Learn more about Nashville Geek and their WordPress capabilities at www.nashvillegeek.com.

 

Thank you to our Bronze & Community sponsors

We couldn’t have made camp happen this year without our faithful Bronze & Community level sponsors.

Kanban for WordPress was born right here in Nashville, TN. Corey and his team have been working hard on it for a year, and we’re looking forward to hearing him describe the journey in his talk at Wordcamp Nashville this year. Thanks, Kanban!

Forward Push is a marketing and adverting agency with a brand new office in Nashville. At Forward Push they help businesses navigate the ever changing internet by designing and developing WordPress websites that help their client’s businesses’ grow through content creation, email newsletters, SEO, and video marketing. Thanks, Forward Push!

NashvilleGeek has been a regular sponsor for WordCamp and a passionate advocate for the WordPress community. Look for them at WordCamp or catch them flipping pancakes at the monthly WordPress developer breakfast. Thanks, NashvilleGeek!

GreenGeeks hails all the way from Augora Hills, CA. They love WordPress and want to give back to the community. There’s no better way to do that than sponsoring WordCamp, if we do say so ourselves! GreenGeeks is an independently owned and operated green web hosting provider. Thanks, GreenGeeks!

ClickHost, from Atlanta, is no stranger to the world of WordCamp sponsorship. They’ve sponsored WCATL many times. They love WordPress and want to support the local community; we’re so happy to have their support in Nashville this year! ClickHOST is a Atlanta web hosting provider with customers all over the world, specializing in WordPress hosting and website security. Thanks, ClickHost!

Not only is Germantown our gracious host for this year’s camp (repdpepper & Deavor are located blocks from all the fantastic neighborhood hotspots!), but the Historic Germantown Neighborhood Association was gracious enough to sponsor us! The growth that Germantown has seen over the past few years is marvelous, and we’re super excited to be relocating to such a welcoming part of town. When you’re out and about, make a point to patronize the local businesses that make this neighborhood so awesome. Thanks, Historic Germantown Neighborhood Association!

Berry Interesting, Beaver Builder, WordFence, Kinsta, Resounding Echoes, Virtual Collective, Pokayoke Design & No Sleep for Sheep are our Community level sponsors this year. The Community level sponsors might be our favorites. They’re often individuals working with tight budgets, but they find room in there to go above and beyond just purchasing a ticket for the weekend. They are invested in continuing the tradition of a growing, thriving WordCamp Nashville community, so we give them a little extra attention for being there for us.

It is thanks to our Bronze & Community level sponsors that we are able to keep dreaming up bigger and better ideas for future camps.

Thank you to our Silver sponsors

We couldn’t have made camp happen this year without our fantastic Silver level sponsors.

We solve word problems for WordPress users. Explaining what you do and why it matters is what we do best.Content Connects, led by the intrepid Pamela Coyle, has been a WordCamp Nashville supporter for years. As the former Publicity Lead, she set us up for success this year with an amazing content infrastructure that we could build on to bring you fantastic pieces like our Faces of WordPress posts. Content Connects is her brainchild: a content strategy agency that creates content for web, social media, email, white papers and more. Thanks, Content Connects!

Easily transform your WordPress site into a powerful learning management system using LearnDash.LearnDash, out of Ann Arbor, MI (hey! That’s where the brains behind WordCrash are located!), give back to the WordPress community by supporting WordCamps around the country. LearnDash is a Learning Management System for WordPress that allows users to create and sell online courses quickly. Thanks, LearnDash!

upthemes-logo-250x74UpThemes, headed up by President Andy Wilkerson, is coming to us from Huntsville, AL. WordCamp Nashville is pretty special for Wilkerson – not only was #wcnash the first camp he ever attended, it was also the first camp he spoke at… and now it is the first camp he’s sponsored! UpThemes makes simple WordPress themes and offers speedy customer service & helpful website-building tips. Thanks, UpThemes!

kurate-logo250x75Kurate.it is the brainchild of Ah So Designs and brings the Nashville-native Emma email marketing platform into our favorite place – the WordPress dashboard! Talk about a perfect match! John Housholder, the Ah So head squirrel, has been supporting WordCamp Nashville since the very beginning as a sponsor and volunteer. Thanks, Kurate.it!

And many thanks to our Global Silver sponsors – WPML, DreamHost and plesk – Global Sponsors make it possible for us to confidently begin planning WordCamp. Knowing that they’ve got our back before we even secure a venue makes it possible to organize a planning team and set the scope for the kind of camp we can plan. Thanks, Global Platinum sponsors!

It is thanks to our Silver sponsors that we are able to provide snacks during the day and coffee on both days! When you grab a cup of coffee in the Wonderland Cafe, thank a Silver sponsor!

Thank you to our Gold sponsors

We couldn’t have made camp happen this year without our wonderful Gold level sponsors.

iThemes provides professional WordPress software, including themes, training and pluginsiThemes just finished up WordCamp Oklahoma City but still found time to support WordCamp Nashville, and we’re so thankful! They provide a whole suite of tools to make the life of a ‘Presser easier. From Backup Buddy to Exchange, their tools and support are exceptional Thanks, iThemes!

And many thanks to our Global Gold sponsors – GoDaddy Pro and Pantheon – Global Sponsors make it possible for us to confidently begin planning WordCamp. Knowing that they’ve got our back before we even secure a venue makes it possible to organize a planning team and set the scope for the kind of camp we can plan. Thanks, Global Gold sponsors!

It is thanks to our Gold sponsors that we were able to change up our camp swag this year and bring in enough chairs for everyone to have a seat!

Thank you to our Platinum Sponsors

We couldn’t have made camp happen this year without our amazing Platinum level sponsors.

The easiest and most flexible WordPress form builder!WP Ninjas, especially, deserves our deepest thanks. Not only did they sponsor us at the Platinum level, they also are sponsoring the after party AND they’re teaching an in-depth class on Sunday. We’re so lucky to have them as a part of the middle Tennessee WordPress community and to have their support for this year’s camp. Thanks, ninjas!

WP Engine powers amazing digital experiences for websites or applications built on WordPress.WP Engine came on board this year thanks to Dustin Meza. Dustin is the Director of Customer Experience Operations at WP Engine. Not only did he join the organizing team as the Budget Lead, he enthusiastically brought with him the support of WP Engine. Not only do they provide excellent hosting services that are highly recommended by many people in our community, but they’re also committed to making good things happen in non-online spaces as well. Thanks, WP Engine!

Flywheel-300x300Also on the Platinum team this year is Flywheel. They provide managed WordPress hosting for designers and creative agencies. They’ve been to WordCamps all over the country, but this will be their first year in Nashville! We’re so excited to welcome them to Music City and can’t wait to see them at camp. Thanks, Flywheel!

And many thanks to our Global Platinum sponsors – Bluehost, WooCommerce, JetPack and BoldGridGlobal Sponsors make it possible for us to confidently begin planning WordCamp. Knowing that they’ve got our back before we even secure a venue makes it possible to organize a planning team and set the scope for the kind of camp we can plan. Thanks, Global Platinum sponsors!


It is thanks to all of these sponsors that we were able to confidently upgrade to a better venue this year without worrying about going over budget.

An introduction to GreenGeeks

and why it’s important to go green with your WordPress website

So who is GreenGeeks?

GreenGeeks is an independently owned and operated web hosting provider that was founded in 2008 by industry veteran Trey Gardner and is headquartered in sunny Santa Monica, California. GreenGeeks is the leading green energy web hosting provider replacing 3 times the energy in renewable energy for every kilowatt that it draws to power websites.

What does GreenGeeks provide?

GreenGeeks powers over 300,000 websites and provides managed WordPress hosting that features 1-click install, automatic core/plugin updates, enhanced real-time security scanning to protect against hacking/defacement, WordPress tools (Git, WP-CLI, SSH, Custom PHP.INI), performance optimizations for super fast page loads and rock solid reliability that you can count on.

Why is it important to go green?

Many users of web hosting are shocked when we tell them that their websites are a polluter of the environment. A study in 2005 showed that the web hosting industry used energy equivalent to 14 power plants to power and cool servers. In addition to that, a subsequent study showed that by 2020 the web hosting industry will be as big a polluter as the airline industry.

It’s important that when selecting the right hosting provider for your WordPress-powered website that it is an environmentally responsible provider. You can learn more about this in an infographic that we made to educate our industry on the issue.

Being environmentally friendly is part of our DNA. We replace 3 times the energy in renewable energy for every kilowatt that is consumed by our operation, that includes work desks, servers, and anything else that draws power. We also select data centers & server hardware that are energy efficient and have eco-friendly policies/procedures in place. In addition to this, our entire workforce is virtual, this means that we save on carbon emissions commuting to and from to the office.

So remember to go green when selecting a web hosting provider for your WordPress website.

OnTheGoSystems: a multicultural company for WordPress Multilingual

OnTheGosystems is the company behind WPML, we started in 2007 and now have more than 80 staff members. We come from all over the the world and that cultural diversity has been the inspiration to transform our differences into one goal:

“We love WordPress and love to make the lives of the WordPress community easier.”

We believe that happy people make great products. We care about our team members, and we encourage them to continue improving their skills, leading individual initiatives, assigning scholarships to enjoy freely any activity of interest and, of course, helping to attend to any WordCamp around.

WPML — The WordPress Multilingual Plugin

Every time you think about WordPress multilingual, you associate it immediately to WPML. Why? Because WPML make it possible to have your WordPress site ready to provide content in different languages quickly and easily.

Back in 2007, the WPML project, in its early beginnings, was actually intended as a vehicle for the translation work for our service, ICanLocalize. Then, we realized that 99% of the people just wanted to use WPML without our translation services and were more than happy to pay for a commercial-grade plugin. So our focus shifted to there.

From that time to today, WPML has evolved until becoming the most complete tool to translate your WordPress site. Nowadays, you not only are able to have a site completely translatable, but also you can count on local or external translators to provide the best content for your users. If you are thinking about running a multilingual e-commerce site, WooCommerce Multilingual along with WPML will make your life sweet.

Toolset — The easiest way to add custom types to WordPress sites

With all this experience and the great team built around WPML, we decided to create Toolset. Idea was to leverage on Custom Types to build websites that were easy to manage and maintain. That’s precisely what Toolset does, you can add custom types to the WordPress admin and front-end, using any theme and without writing PHP.

For making this possible we have created:

Types

Create your custom post types, taxonomies, and custom fields. All from within the WordPress GUI and with no coding!

Views

Easily display custom post types and fields. Display and sort your content for listings and inventory. Add custom searches to allow visitor to filter your contents and find exactly what they are looking for.

Layouts

Design entire WordPress sites using a drag-and-drop interface.

CRED

Allow others to edit and add full scale WordPress content using front-end forms. No need to force clients to edit content from the WordPress admin – allow them to use your customized CRED form right from the site. Additionally, allow user registration from the front-end.

Visit our Toolset site for more details