WordCamp Kent 2019

We’re thrilled to announce our lineup of speakers for WordCamp Kent 2019! Our speakers have volunteered their time to share their knowledge and expertise to the WordPress community.

Learn more about them in our Meet the Speakers series and meet them in person by joining us at WordCamp Kent, June 15-16, 2019.

Abby Buzon

Abby (Armstrong-Lehman) Buzon is the owner of The Helpful Marketer.

She helps small business owners improve their online presence and local visibility with marketing and web design services aimed at drawing new business and increasing customer retention.

Based in Medina County, Ohio, she loves working with local businesses but also work with small businesses across the U.S. She believes that honesty, communication, transparency, and hard work are vital in all relationships, business or personal.

She worked in marketing and website administration for 7 years before starting my own company in 2017. She and her husband have a baby boy who’s in preschool already. Abby is also a dogless dog-lover, love being in the woods, coffee, gardening, painting, and talking sociology…. over coffee of course (or beer or wine).

John Aron

Aronetics prefers preemptive hack analysis versus the hacked rescue of WordPress sites.

David Jackson

Dave Jackson is an award-winning Hall of Fame podcaster who has been podcasting since 2005.

He is a featured and keynote speaker at many events but is best known for founding the School of Podcasting and help hundreds of podcasters launch successful podcasts

His School of Podcasting show has over 2 Million downloads. His position at Libsyn.com (a podcast hosting companies) enables him to help more podcasters than any other human on the planet. For more information visit schoolofpodcasting.com

Rory Heaney

Rory Heaney has led and created successful, tailored application and website solutions for top brands, including Betsy Farms and PetAction Plus as well as for celebrity personalities such as Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Emily Henderson.

As the Senior Front End Developer for Cie Digital Labs, Rory steers the ideation/execution of web applications as well as mobile and portal development for clients across industries, including Pilot Flying J and Nitto Tire.

He’s proficient in CSS, CSS3, HTML, HTML5, JavaScript, jQeury, Vue, and PHP languages, and has successfully built more than 500 websites over the past eight years.

Josh Gellock

Josh is the SEO and Content Strategist at Expander Digital, an SEO studio he founded in 2014. He helps other businesses drive website traffic from organic search. When he’s not meeting with clients, you can find Josh fishing, hiking, or biking on trails.

Tim McKenna

Tim McKenna is a design professional with 13 years of experience creating meaningful products and services. He is the Director of Experience Design at Pennsylvania Interactive, part of NIC Inc, where he leads a team of designers and developers to creating products and services for State Government.

Please Note: The speakers are listed in no particular order.

We’re thrilled to announce our lineup of speakers for WordCamp Kent 2019! Our speakers have volunteered their time to share their knowledge and expertise to the WordPress community.

Learn more about them in our Meet the Speakers series and meet them in person by joining us at WordCamp Kent, June 15-16, 2019.

Eric Malcolm

Eric develops object-oriented clean front-end code and lead accessibility efforts on agile development teams.

As a front-end developer, he helps architect solutions while creating usable, human-friendly and accessible websites, interfaces, and apps.

Lee Drozak

Lee Drozak is a web strategist who knows WordPress design and development, and she loves to share her knowledge with other savvy creative and service providers. Because of her knowledge of design, development, and marketing, she can give her clients a different perspective on creating a web experience and find solutions that work for their business goals.

As a digital adventure guide, Lee applies out of the box thinking to find answers and tools for the individual business owner, not a cookie cutter roadmap that doesn’t apply to them. You can find more about Lee in her digital space at leedrozak.com.

Michael Temple

Michael has been a full-time digital marketing consultant, web designer, copywriter, and professional speaker for 15 years. He works with a variety of different companies and industries from medical to manufacturing. In his free time, he enjoy reading and outdoor activities such as hiking and kayaking.

Joe Querin

Joe has been a web designer/developer since 1998.

Joe blends his creative side and knowledge of Graphic Design with his problem-solving skills and self-taught programming skills to build and support websites. Joe also has designed, implemented and maintained a variety of server platforms for websites over the years.

When Joe is not manipulating pixels into works of art, or stringing variables and methods together to bend WordPress or any other website technology to his will, he enjoys spending time with his two daughters and wife of 19 years. In his free time, Joe enjoys cooking/grilling, woodworking, video games and 3D modeling.

Seth Alling

Seth Alling is a Detroit-based developer turned designer turned developer, who has been working with WordPress since 2009 and currently works as a Senior Software Engineer for Mediavine. When he’s not developing (or designing), you can find him playing soccer, running, or spending time with his wife and kids.

George Mount

George is a freelance data analyst, getting his start in WordPress while blogging away his triumphs and frustrations with Microsoft Excel. While the blog has been quieter as of late at georgejmount.com, he continues to write there about business analytics and innovation. George is passionate about helping people manage their data so they can think more creatively.

Please Note: The speakers are listed in no particular order.

A common question we’ve gotten since opening ticket sales has been if the conference is geared more towards beginners or advanced WordPress users. We are actually planning on a few different tracks which include marketing and business-related topics, WordPress development topics, and a WordPress 101 track on Saturday with Joe Querin.

To make sure we are covering the topics you want to hear, please fill out the survey below if you are new to WordPress or are interested in attending our WordPress 101 sessions:

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us on Twitter or fill out the contact form.

Our awesome and generous sponsors make WordCamp Kent possible, and they also make it an accessible, affordable event to attend. Our sponsors have made the General Admission ticket cost possible ($40 for a two-day conference), but we also offer Microsponsorship Tickets if you’d like to give back to the WordPress community.

The costs to host WordCamp Kent include everything from the venue and catering to swag and signage. A Microsponsorship Ticket covers the full cost of your attendance, which is $87.56 (or $43.78/day) and includes all the sessions, swag, lunches, and access to the after-party. As our thanks to you, you will also be listed among the other Microsponsors on our site, and we will also give you a shout-out on our social media pages.

If you have benefited from the open source WordPress project or community in some way, please consider purchasing a Microsponsorship Ticket.

We are excited to announce our keynote speaker for WordCamp Kent 2019, Michelle Ames. Michelle returns to Wordcamp Kent this year to present her keynote session, “The Care and Feeding of the WordPress Community: Me, You, & Us.”

“Last year was my first year attending and speaking at WordCamp Kent,” says Michelle. “I met wonderful people and engaged in rich conversations. I made friends and enjoyed learning from others. I’m honored to be back.”

Michelle knows firsthand the power that giving has on communities. She has 20 years of experience in higher education, 10 years of owning a web design and marketing company, and now serves as the Head of Customer Success for GiveWP.com and WPBusinessReviews.com.

In her years working with WordPress, she’s also set aside time to mentor, create WordPress classes, and organize Meetups, Hackathons and WordCamps.

She has a variety of experience teaching and speaking about topics including Using Quantitative Data Analysis Software, Meditative Drawing, Intro to WordPress, and Marketing for Massage Therapy. You can find many of them recorded on WordPress.tv including “Little Things That Make a Big Difference,” “Hidden Features of WordPress Revealed,” and “Use Your WordPress Powers for Good,” as well as panel discussions on WordPress, marketing, and women in technology.

As important as teaching is to Michelle, she says learning is just as essential to embracing the WordPress community.

“I love the WordPress/WordCamp audience because everyone is there to learn from one another. Every person (from beginner to advanced developer) has something to share and something to learn. I am constantly inspired by how encouraging the community is to one another.”

Michelle is the author of “A Good Firm Handshake and Other Essential Business Tips” available on Amazon.com. She holds a BA in Religion and Philosophy (Roberts Wesleyan College) and an MBA in Marketing, E-Commerce, and Information Technology Management (Simon School, University of Rochester).

Michelle loves attending conferences, exploring photography, serving on non-profit boards, and mentoring people in her local community. Follow Michelle on Twitter and Instagram at @michelleames and check out her thoughts about life on thedailybedhead.com.

We look forward to welcoming Michelle to WordCamp Kent 2019 and hearing her keynote presentation! Check back soon as we announce more speakers and release the schedule.

Are you interested in sharing your expertise with others at WordCamp Kent? Apply to be a speaker! The deadline for applications is Monday, April 15.