Upcoming and previous talks

Stars in the sky, as seen from looking up on the edge of a forest

Keynoting WordCamp Kent 2020

May 30 – 31, 2020 @ WordCamp Kent 2020

I'm not shy when it comes to talking about my love for WordCamp Kent (formerly WordCamp NEO, WordCamp North Canton), which has become one of my can't-miss WordCamps over the past few years. You can imagine my excitement, then, when Lead Organizer David Brattoli reached out and asked if I'd be interested in keynoting WordCamp Kent 2020.

This year, I'll be changing up my usual “give a couple tech-heavy presentations” approach and instead be giving a brand new keynote, The World Beyond WordPress, focusing on how we in the WordPress community can learn from other communities.

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A row of old, brick buildings in Nashville, TN

Two Talks at php[tek] 2020 in Nashville, TN

May 18 – 21, 2020 @ php[tek] 2020

Update: Unfortunately, php[tek] 2020 has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After a break during the first quarter of this year, I'm proud to announce my first talks have been scheduled for 2020. Even better, it's one of my favorite conferences, in a city I can't seem to get enough of: I'll be giving two talks at php[tek] 2020 in Nashville, TN.

Yes, that's right: php[tek] has moved to Music City itself, Nashville, Tennessee. I've been fortunate enough to visit Nashville several times in the past few years, and I'm thrilled to plan my return.

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Protecting Yourself Online & IRL @ CodeMash

January 7 – 10, 2020 @ CodeMash 2020

CodeMash 2013 was my first big tech conference, and since then I’ve only missed two years of the conference. I’ve also been privileged enough to speak at CodeMash 2017 and again last year. Those are just a few of the reasons I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be speaking again this year at CodeMash 2020!

This year is especially exciting, as I’ll be giving my first KidzMash talk!

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Continuous Integration & Delivery @ Ohio Laravel

November 6, 2019 @ Ohio Laravel Meetup

My local Laravel usergroup, Ohio Laravel, is a monthly opportunity to talk tech with some of the brightest PHP developers in Columbus.

At a recent meeting, somebody boasted how easy it is to “just zip up a PHP application and drop it on a server.”

“Better yet, SSH into the server, do a git pull , then run composer install!”, someone else chimed in.

As the resident testing advocate and pipeline geek, I was quick to chime in: “wait, what? Are you really still doing an SSH + git pull combo in 2019?”.

Long story short, I’ve been invited to talk about Continuous Integration and Delivery at the November Ohio Laravel meetup.

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Confidently Testing WordPress @ WordCamp US 2019

November 1 – 3, 2019 @ WordCamp US 2019

The term “WordCamp” can encompass a number of types of conferences. Some are friendly homecomings, groups of a couple hundred people, a few tracks, and a small group of volunteers working tirelessly to spread the love of WordPress to their local communities. These are the camps where I spend most of my time: Dayton, Detroit, Kent, Grand Rapids, and Ann Arbor are all a fairly short drive away, and hotels are typically affordable.

There are other WordCamps, though: the destination camps. The WordCamps that people will travel from all over the country for. WordCamps Miami, Chicago, Phoenix, Orange County — places where people will flock from all over the country to attend and rub elbows with some of the biggest names in WordPress.

The biggest of these whale-sized WordCamps, however, is WordCamp US. Like it’s European counterpart, WordCamp US is meant to be the country’s premiere WordCamp. That’s why I’m pleased to announce that this year, I’ll be speaking at WordCamp US 2019!

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Looking out from the Smithsonian Natural Science museum on a foggy day

My First Workshop @ php[world] 2019!

October 22 – 24, 2019 @ php[world] 2019

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of php[world]: php[world] 2014 was my first big speaking engagement, and I’ve spoken at the 2016 and 2018 editions of the conference (and attended in 2017). That’s why I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be returning to Washington, D.C. this October for php[world] 2019!

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WooCommerce Custom Orders Table @ WooSesh 2019

October 9 – 10, 2019 @ WooSesh 2019

As you may or may not be aware, one of the many projects I maintain at work is the WooCommerce Custom Orders Table plugin. The plugin takes all of the individual post meta entries that come along with most every order — billing and shipping addresses, order totals, and way more — and stores them in a flat database table, optimized for performance.

The WooCommerce Custom Orders Table plugin has been crucial on some of our bigger stores at Liquid Web, but one does not simply change how WooCommerce stores order data without being very careful and deliberate. That’s why I’m pleased that Brian and Patrick at WooSesh reached out and asked if I could talk all about it!

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A stylized, neon "Portland, Oregon" Old Town sign

Testing WordPress & Code Review @ Cascadia PHP 2019

September 19 – 21, 2019 @ Cascadia PHP 2019

Last year, I was fortunate enough to spend a week and a half on the West Coast, splitting time between Portland, OR and San Diego, CA for the first installments of two new community PHP conferences: Cascadia PHP and WavePHP.

Sadly, WavePHP isn’t happening this year, but I’m thrilled to announce I’ll be returning to Portland for Cascadia PHP 2019!

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The Huron River, flowing through Ann Arbor, MI

Software: For The People @ WordCamp Ann Arbor 2019

August 24 – 25, 2019 @ WordCamp Ann Arbor 2019

WordCamp Ann Arbor is a fantastic camp, run by some amazing people. The only downside to the camp is that it has a nasty habit of falling on my wedding anniversary, so it’s typically a hard-sell to drive the family up to Ann Arbor (we did it once with a one year old and yikes!).

Fortunately for me, WordCamp Ann Arbor 2019 has been moved up to August, so I’m free to travel. As such, I’m excited to announce that I’ll be giving my talk, Software: For the People, at WordCamp Ann Arbor 2019!

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"Free Delivery" written in a script font on a restaurant window

Continuous Integration and Delivery @ Cincy Deliver

July 26, 2019 @ Cincy Deliver 2019

I recently subscribed to Karl Hughes’ excellent CFP Land newsletter, which has exposed me to a ton of new conference speaking opportunities. Among them, Cincy Deliver (previously Cincy.Develop() and Cincinnati Day of Agile) just a couple hours south!

On a whim, I submitted a few talks, and I’m proud to announce that I’ll be giving a brand new talk, Build and Release Confidently with Continuous Integration and Delivery, at Cincy Deliver 2019!

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