Lew has been a Server Administrator and PHP developer for over a decade. In May of 2013, he joined the iThemes team as a plugin developer working on iThemes Exchange and related add-ons. He lives on a small farm in a small town in Georgia with his Wife, three kids, and a growing number of animals (24 and counting). Apart from coding, he enjoys hanging out with his family, eating delicious foods, tending to his farm, and listening to podcasts. He dislikes illogical arguments, laugh tracks, and corporatocracies.

WCATL 2015 Session – Content Access in iThemes Exchange

In this session I will discuss the pro’s and con’s of using both PayPal and Stripe. We will use PayPal and Stripe’s APIs to create basic payment buttons, charge for our products, and deal with webhooks/IPNs from both gateways.

Since 2005 Erick Arbé has been starting his own businesses and following his passion of being his own boss. After traveling for a year in Southeast Asia in 2007, Erick started using WordPress to build websites for his businesses. A year later his business partner and himself started a web development company called Golf Web Design. They have been building websites, apps, and other digital pieces for the golf industry ever since. Today Golf Web Design is one of the most respected companies in the golf industry.

Erick loves to break things down, make them better, and see what makes them tick – whether it be with software, hardware, or life in general – it’s always fun for him to reverse engineer something. He’s always using WordPress for something. He also enjoys photography and lately, screen printing. You can find Erick on Twitter and Instagram occasionally posting about his latest hobby.

WCATL 2015 Session – Hacking WordPress: Making WP Work for You

We all know that WordPress just isn’t a blogging platform, right? In this session, we’ll cover how powerful WordPress really is – and some interesting things you can do with WordPress. Maybe you’re a startup and need a MVP? Or you’re a freelancer and need a Basecamp style project management system. Well, WordPress has you covered. No code will be harmed in this talk – but remember to bring your notebooks.

Cindy Reed is a writer, speaker, and teacher blogging at the award-winning site The Reedster Speaks, where she writes with humor and clarity about family life, mental illness, progressive politics, and her underwear. Her work has appeared on The Huffington Post, In the Powder Room, Yeah Write, I Just Want to Pee Alone, and WhatToExpect.com. She is a two time recipient of BlogHer’s Voices of the Year award, in the humor and op-ed categories, and has spoken on nonfiction storytelling at WordCamp Asheville and the Boarding Area Conference for travel bloggers. Cindy is a master online teacher and currently teaches the popular online course Storytelling for Bloggers. Now on life’s third chapter, she previously has worked as an academic and an attorney. She lives with her family in Asheville, North Carolina.

Connect with Cindy on Twitter (The Reedster Speaks), Twitter (Storytelling for Bloggers), and Facebook so you won’t miss a pearl of wisdom that drops from her lips.

WCATL 2015 Session – What’s Your Story? Harnessing the Power of Story to Engage Your Readers

Whether you’re starting a personal blog to share your thoughts and ideas, or blogging to promote your business, storytelling is the most effective way to engage your audience. Recitations of facts or personal journal entries might convey meaning, but stories provide your audience with a relatable entry point into your subject matter. Story inspires, teaches, and stimulates discussion. The well-told story is memorable and unique, positioning you as a trusted voice.

In this presentation, we’ll look at all the elements of creative nonfiction storytelling so you can create the most compelling content for your blog, one 400-600 word post at a time. Using examples from published blog posts, you’ll learn to:

• Identify the Central Conflict in each post:  What is your one reason for writing this piece?
•  Use Narrative Structure:  Begin like a boss, stick a fork in it when it’s over, and conquer the muddle in the middle.
• Make it interesting:  Employ the storyteller’s toolkit:  Develop setting, character, plot, and dialogue. Use literary devices to make your true stories as readable as fiction.
• Show, Don’t Tell:  Avoid telling your readers what to think and feel and illustrating instead, using sensory descriptions and imagery.
• Hone Your Authentic Voice:  Discover and trust who you are as a writer.
• Edit and Polish Your Work:  Create a checklist to catch errors in grammar, spelling, and proofing.

Nic is a web developer in Atlanta, GA. He works at 352 Inc as a developer, and is an active member of the Atlanta web community. He regularly speaks at events and meet-up groups, organizes workshops and volunteers his time to a number of tech community initiatives.

Before becoming a web developer, Nic worked as a Network and Systems Administrator, Security Analyst, and even Operations Manager; all of which give him a unique perspective on creating for the web.

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Nic has been living in Atlanta for 15 years.

WCATL 2015 Session – Battle of the Stacks

When you first start as a developer all you care about is the code. As you progress and become more concerned with performance you begin to realize that there’s a whole world of possibilities and no clear indication of what works best.

In this presentation we’ll look at different combinations of web server technologies including Apache, NGINX, HHVM, PHP-FPM, and more, then we’ll run load tests on each one of them (all running a WordPress site) in a head to head competition to find out which one is the Last Stack Standing.