Call for Speakers

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The speaker submissions form will be open until
September 1st – so get to it!

You know what makes WordCamps so great? It’s the amazing presenters who give so much of their time to put together an awesome presentation, then show up to WordCamp and drop knowledge bombs on an unsuspecting audience.

This year’s theme for WordCamp Las Vegas is:

“Uniting the Developer and Business Communities with WordPress.”

If you would like to be a speaker at WordCamp Las Vegas, here’s what you’ve gotta do:

That’s about it. We like to keep it simple.

Each year WordCamp Las Vegas strives to offer a wide variety of talks and discussions about a variety of subjects relating to WordPress – whether you are a developer, designer, small business, content creator, internet marketer, or super-user, we’re looking for you! We’re looking for people who are excited about sharing their knowledge of using WordPress.

If you’re interested in speaking, please read the following guidelines and fill out the form below to submit your topic!

Why speak?

Presenting at WordCamp Las Vegas is a great way to show off how smart you are about your knowledge of WordPress, thereby making everyone else attending WordCamp Las Vegas smarter about how they use WordPress.

What we’re looking for:

The ideal speaker has a WordPress-related topic they are passionate and informed about that they can present with coherent slides and explanations. You don’t need to be a professional speaker – but you do need to be comfortable presenting. You could have two hundred people hanging on your every word, so make sure you’re comfortable speaking to a crowd, and make sure you know your stuff.

  • Speakers at WordCamps are not compensated in any way other than having a great weekend, making or renewing friendships and the knowledge of a job well done. You will get a free meal or two and enjoy a great after-party. Travel and/or hotel costs cannot be provided.
  • Being a professional speaker is not required, however you must know what you are talking about, and the subject must be related to WordPress in some way. Subjects like front-end development, how to manage freelancing, social media, internet marketing, etc., will be accepted as long as you can talk in light of how they relate to WordPress – make sure you note this in your proposal. WordCamps are not simply technology or internet marketing conferences. Every session must specifically deal with WordPress.
  • WordCamp presentations are not intended to be personal advertisements of products that you or your firm have for sale. It is permissible to make a presentation about a product that you may have that shows how to solve a specific problem in WordPress as a type of case study. But there is a fine line between educating the audience and producing an advertisement.
  • In order to be accepted as a Speaker at a WordCamp you must adhere to the policies and practices of the WordPress Foundation, especially as they apply to the use of the WordPress logo and adherence to WordPress GPL licensing requirements.
  • You will be required to submit the slide deck that you use in your presentation BEFORE the event date. This is an effort to prevent speakers from making up last-minute presentations and trading time for quality. This is especially important for first-time speakers.

How we choose speakers:

All proposed presentations will be reviewed by our speaker committee. The evaluation process looks at speaker qualification, uniqueness of content, recent discussions in social media concerning the topic, past speaking experience (though not a requirement), and content applicability to WordPress users. We strive to showcase local talent but all proposals are encouraged.

Developer Track

Developer, in regards to WordPress, can mean almost everything under the sun related to the creation of a WordPress web site. Developers have a wide knowledge of coding standards, project management, back up procedures as well as staying up to date on the latest design trends. There are many different ways that a WordPress web site can be configured, designed and executed.

The Developer track will feature plugin development, subversion control, developing your site for the latest version of WP (3.9.1 & 4.0 and beyond), and user testing. We’d like to know how our speakers this year handle things when it comes to keeping the client happy, as well as meeting your deadlines in a timely fashion.

Here are some of the possible topics we’d like to cover in the Developer track:

  • Plugin Development – Keeping your plugin code up to date, refactoring and releasing final products for shipment.
  • Subversion / Backups – What tools are you using to keep revisions and backups readily available for those rainy days.
  • Responsive Design / Development – From SASS to .LESS, Bootstrap and HTMLS to CSS3. What frameworks best suit you or your client’s needs.
  • Cache / Minify – Everybody wants a website to load faster and faster. What plugins, hosting providers and tools are you using to accomplish delivering pages at lightning quick speeds.
  • Project Management – Base Camp, Asana, Team Box are just 3 tools developers use to keep track of deadlines and team management.
  • Payments / Pricing – How do you go about pricing and planning for a project so both developer and client know what is to be expected.

Designer Track

Designer, in regards to WordPress, can mean almost everything related to the user interface of WordPress web sites. If you are an expert in the look and feel of WordPress websites, show the community.

  • CSS
  • Responsive Design
  • Themes and Theme Frameworks
  • Much more

User Track

Whether using your WordPress site as a vehicle for marketing your business, as a blogger, or a combination of both all users should have some working level of their site. We are offering attendees the option to attend the Beginner User or Intermediate User sessions, which will be tailored to your knowledge level.

Here are some of the possible topics we’d love to cover in the user track:

  • Dashboard and Settings Overivew
  • WordPress Security 101
  • Blog Topics – How to plan and schedule blog topics that benefit your readers.
  • Podcasting and WordPress – How to set up and promote your podcast.
  • Content Creation/Content Curation – content is king or “content is everything, everything is content” but what does that mean today?

Business Track

It’s one thing to have a beautiful-looking, functional WordPress blog, but it’s another thing to get your target audience to find you in search engines to engage with you and your content. The more that your target audience finds you, the more authority you show in your field which can lead to more clients, more readers, and possibly more income.

The Business / Internet Marketing / User track will be a curated selection of presentations that will provide best practices and practical tips and tricks for increasing engagement between your readers and your WordPress sites.

Here are some of the possible topics we’d love to cover in the business track:

  • Monetizing Your WordPress Blog – basic monetization techniques for any blog.
  • Authority and WordPress – Why becoming an authority in your industry will benefit your blog/business.
  • Email Marketing – best ways to grow your list, effective techniques, how to best communicate with your opt-in list.
  • Social Media – not a “why” or “should I” session but current best practices and what’s coming next for using social media to promote your site.
  • Affiliate Marketing – best practices or using your authority to increase your affiliate revenue. Ethical affiliate marketing.
  • eBook Marketing & Production – selling and marketing your eBook with WordPress. Guy Kawasaki’s APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur is helping thousands of would-be authors become actual authors.
  • Branding – why your brand is important and how to stay true to your personal brand.
  • Keyword Research – best practices, tips and tricks, implementation.
  • Running a Lifestyle Business – putting the 4 hour work week into action.
  • Online Video – marketing with online video, incorporating into your WordPress site.
  • Using Screen Capture Software – how and why it benefits you and your site.
  • Hiring & Managing Virtual Assistants – Can you use a VA effectively to grow or manage your business?
  • Search Engine Optimization for WordPress – including latest Google tips and tricks, how not to get banned by Google.
  • Communicating Your Message – tying it all together – brand, authority, marketing.
  • Protecting Your Online Reputation – best practices, tips and tricks.

To apply to be a Speaker at WordCamp Las Vegas 2014, please fill out this form

Have You Spoken at a previous WordCamp or other public venue?(required)


Into Which Content Category would you place your presentation? (Check all that apply)