Workshops, Classes, and Clinics — Oh My!

You may have checked out our speakers and sessions before, but check again! We’ve added a track of Blogging U. classes to both the Portland and Phoenix events featuring a variety of formats, but all of these sessions are hands-on, not lectures. Some classes are the same in both cities, while others will vary based on who’s teaching. Most classes last half an hour, while the more advanced workshops/clinics are an hour long. But enough with the logistics, here are the class descriptions!

Writing 101: Storytelling
Blogging is just another way to tell a story. Join Mike Dang and Mark Armstong, editors of Longreads, for a 30-minute writing class focused on practicing the art of storytelling. A combination of writing, sharing, and providing feedback, this class will get your creative juices flowing. What’s your story?
Portland, 30 minutes

Writing 101: A Daily Practice
In this 30-minute class, we’ll talk about how to build a writing habit, give yourself the space to write, and try different techniques to unlock your mind and tell your story. This session will be led by Cheri Lucas Rowlands, a story wrangler for WordPress.com and Longreads.
Phoenix, 30 minutes

Blogging 101: Planning Ahead
One of the most important things when trying to grow a blog — posting regularly — can also be one of the greatest challenges. What if some days you don’t know what to say? Or don’t have time to write? We’ve got your back! In this class we’ll take a look at some of the programs on WordPress.com aimed at helping you get the creative juices flowing, like Blogging U, Daily Prompts, and weekly Photo Challenges, and we’ll help you set up a posting plan for your blog. We’ll also create a few draft posts and learn to use the post scheduling tool, so that you can put your plan into action! This class will be led by Josepha Haden.
Portland, 30 minutes

Photography 101
Get photography tips, learn how to use the WordPress media editor, and optimize images for the web! Taught by Sheri Bigelow and Ash Rhodes.
Phoenix, 30 minutes

Design 101: Customize
The first thing people notice when they visit your site is how it looks. In this workshop, bring your laptop or tablet and begin the process of making your site feel more like you by using the customizer to update things like taglines, fonts, and theme options. Taught by Kathryn Presner in Portland, and by Kathryn Presner and Erick Hitter in Phoenix.
Portland & Phoenix, 30 minutes

Design 102: Menus and Widgets
Dig deeper into customizing your site. In this session, you’ll use the WP Admin screens to set up custom menus for your site navigation, and widgets to bring more shazam to your sidebars. And yes, you’ll even try out the custom menu widget. Worlds collide! Taught by Kathryn Presner in Portland, and by Kathryn Presner and Erick Hitter in Phoenix.
Portland & Phoenix, 30 minutes

Writing 201: Clinic
For this one-hour session, bring some writing with you (your blog on your laptop or other device counts!) that you think could be better, and participate in a writer’s workshop led by Longreads editors Mike Dang and Mark Armstrong. They’ll guide the group in giving feedback, and will provide their own constructive criticism on how to improve the elements of your writing that you want to improve.
Portland, 1 hour

Writing 201: Clinic
In this open and informal discussion session, WordPress.com editor Cheri Lucas Rowlands will talk a bit about what makes a great post. Be sure to bring your laptops, notebooks, or drafts to work with: you can ask specific questions, learn about others’ techniques, and brainstorm story ideas with the group.
Phoenix, 1 hour

Design 201: CSS Basics
How many times have you heard, “You can change that with custom CSS,” but you didn’t know how to get started? In this half-hour class, learn the basics of working with CSS as our teachers walk you through the process of making some simple CSS changes on your blog. You’ll want your laptop with you for this one! Taught by Kathryn Presner and Michelle Langston in Portland, and by Kathryn Presner and Erick Hitter in Phoenix.
Portland & Phoenix, 30 minutes

Design 202: CSS Clinic
You understand the basics of CSS, like how to change a color or the size of your headlines, but what about the more complicated stuff? In this open clinic session, come prepared with your CSS hopes and dreams, and our teachers will walk through how to make people’s dreams come true in a classroom setting so everyone can learn together. What kind of dreams can be solved by CSS? Move your sidebar to the other side, add a new border around all your photos, hide elements from being displayed — dream big. Led by Kathryn Presner and Michelle Langston in Portland, and by Kathryn Presner and Erick Hitter in Phoenix.
Portland & Phoenix, 30 minutes

The full session schedules are posted on the city event pages for Portland and Phoenix. Don’t forget, your ticket includes a year of the WordPress.com Premium upgrade or the VaultPress backup bundle, so get your ticket today!

Comments

  2. Pingback: Workshops, Classes, and Clinics — Oh My! | The WordPress C(h)ronicle

  3. This is more like what I would want at a Press Publish event, rather than the speakers you have lined up. Too bad they are only thirty minute classes. This should be the focus.

    1. Thanks for the feedback! We are really excited about our speaker roster — many people would like to eventually turn their blogging into something profitable/a career, and the featured bloggers have all done just that. There are a handful of speakers like this, and all the rest are WordPress.com employees doing tutorials, so in addition to the Blogging U hands-on classes, we think there is a good balance. This isn’t really intended as a ‘get started’ event, but to help existing bloggers level up. In the future we may do more events focused specifically on setting up blogs and other hands-on skills, but there are already a lot of events like that through local WordPress meetups. With Press Publish we’re specifically trying to fill a gap in the current meetup/conference offerings.

      1. I’ve been blogging with WordPress for almost 12 years. I’m not interested in the start up stuff. I would just like to meet fellow bloggers and talk about writing posts and maybe get and give some writing tips and ideas. I know you guys can only put on what you think/know to be the need so this is just a little more feedback for the future. I’m still trying to figure out how to go to the Portland event.

        1. Ah, I see! It’s not as prominent as the schedule (since that’s what people go for first), but we’ll also have the happiness lounge open all day with some tables and chairs and coffee for people who mostly just want to talk and network rather than attend sessions, and we’ll have WordPress.com and speakers in there all day too, to give one-on-one advice and/or just have conversations with people who want to discuss things further. Does that help?

        2. Yes, thank you. I just have to figure out hotel money. I’m in outer Portland but due to drive time and other situations, I would have to spend Friday night at the or a hotel so I have to work that out. That’s the only thing keeping me right now.

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