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BlogWorld Expo 2010 Recap! What Happens in Vegas…

Last week I attended BlogWorld Expo 2010 in beautiful (and warm!) Las Vegas with April, Brian, and Robin! This was my first visit to Las Vegas so I was very excited for the trip. My Company (WDS) redesigned the BlogWorld.com website and also sponsored the event.
BlogWorld Logo

I was lucky enough to record LIVE episodes of the SitePoint podcast at the event! Kevin Yank flew all the way from Sydney, Australia, along with Shayne Tilley and Luke Cuthbertson, to represent the launch of the new SitePoint venture Learnable! Patrick and Stephan, the other two hosts, were also there so we recorded a bunch of one-on-one interviews with attendees and also did a live recording with all four hosts! It was awesome hanging with sitepoint and podcast crew.

We also hung out with some great WordPress friends! Josh and Sally from Page.ly attended (and had a killer house party!). John Hawkins of 9seeds was the resident “local” giving us tips on places to check out and eat. Syed Balkhi of WPBeginner.com was also there and did a great interview with me. We also hung out with Andrew Powers and Adam Munns of PageLines.com

We had a WordPress dinner Saturday night with Lisa Sabin-Wilson and her husband Chris, Grant Griffiths and Clay from Headway Themes, Cory Miller and Matt Danner from iThemes, and I even met Brian Layman (who mentioned WDS in his presentation!), and Tracy Childers of Wishlist Member.

I was also invited to a few hotel suite parties by Darren Rowse of Problogger.com and SitePoint/Learnable. There is nothing quite like a Vegas hotel party!

Overall I had an amazing time! Can’t wait to attend next year! A photo gallery from the adventure is below:

25 Pounds Lighter and I’m Eating Hooters Wings!

Back in July, April and I decided to make a drastic lifestyle change. We had just recently moved to King of Prussia, PA and decided it was time to get in shape! We joined the local Ballys Gym, started eating super healthy, and completely changed our lifestyle. Surprisingly it wasn’t as hard as I expected.

Hooters logoIn just three short months I’ve lost over 25lbs! My initial goal was to hit the 200lbs mark. As a little incentive I wanted to treat myself to a reward, and that reward is a delicious dinner at Hooters! I love wings, and Hooters wings are some of my favorite, so this was all the incentive I needed to get my rear in gear and lose the weight!

As luck would have it I just hit the 200lbs mark this week, which is the same week that I’m going to Las Vegas for BlogWorld Expo! So tonight I get my reward dinner at Hooters that was three months in the making! Sure it’s completely unhealthy, but I’ve earned it!

As a side note I wrote this blog post 30,000 ft in the air on my flight to Las Vegas. I love technology!

Live SitePoint Podcast at BlogWorld Expo 2010!

Thursday kicks off BlogWorld Expo 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada. This year the entire SitePoint Podcast team (including myself) will be doing a live show! The live show is scheduled for Friday, October 15th at 2:00PM Pacific Time. If you are attending BlogWorld make sure you stop by and say hi to the podcast team!

If you can’t attend BlogWorld this year, don’t worry! The show will be livestreamed on the SitePoint Podcast’s USTREAM channel. It will also be released in the podcast feed as usual next week.

I am also doing a book signing for Professional WordPress at the event!

Professional WordPress Book Signing at Blog World Expo

Next month is Blog World and New Media Expo 2010 in Las Vegas. I’ve just confirmed I’ll be doing a book signing for Professional WordPress at the event!

Pro WP BookWiley will have a booth setup where you can purchase all of their amazing books. I’ll be signing copies of Professional WordPress at the Wiley booth on Saturday, October 16th at 1pm.

I’ll be attending Blog World Expo with Brian and April from WebDevStudios. As many of you know my company redesigned the BlogWorld.com website a few weeks ago using the Genesis theme framework. We are also sponsors of Blog World Expo this year!

It looks to be a great event so if you plan on attending be sure to stop by and say hi!

WordCamp Mid-Atlantic 2010 Recap

Last weekend I attended WordCamp Mid-Atlantic 2010 in Baltimore, MD and had a blast! I was joined by Brian and Chris from WDS.

WordCamp Mid-Atlantic LogoI attended some really amazing presentations. Jake Goldman gave a great talk on customizing the WordPress admin dashboard. I also enjoyed Andrew Nacin’s presentation on Advanced WordPress APIs. I even learned about a few WP functions I have never heard of.

One of the best moments was the last keynote by Jane Wells. Jane gave the keynote via Skype video while driving down the road ( Ryan Boren was driving ). Not only was it a great interview but it really demonstrated where technology is at these days. Amazing!

I had a great time hanging out with Cory Miller, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Steve Mortiboy, Aaron Brazell, Ryan Duff, Andrew Nacin, Jake Goldman, Jayvie Canono, Joel Fisher, Scott K Clark, Scott Ellis, and many more I’m sure I am forgetting.

My presentation was on WordPress Security and can be found below:

WordCamp Mid-Atlantic WordPress Security

WordCamp Mid-Atlantic 2010 Here I Come!

I’m heading to WordCamp Mid-Atlantic today (Friday) in Baltimore! This WordCamp has a special place in my heart, as last year was the first WC I attended and presented at! It’s amazing how much has changed in just a year and a half. I’ll be attending with Brian Messenlehner and Chris Cochran.

I’m speaking on WordPress Security (surprise!) and have a few giveaways that might involve a book on WordPress! This is one presentation that I think should be given at every WordCamp, because it’s that important.

Security is a vital part of any website. I’ll cover the most current tips and tricks, top 10 WP security tips, recommended plugins, hosting consideration, and even an example of a popular hack and how it works.

If you’re attending make sure to track me down. I love talking WordPress as much as a cold beer!

WPClassroom.com Is Back! New WordPress Training Classes Scheduled

WordPress Training LogoThe WordPress Classroom is back with new classes scheduled! If you’ve ever wanted to learn WordPress, or expand your knowledge, WPClassroom.com is for you! We offer the best value ($25/class!) and the best instructors!

WordPress for Beginners is set for September 28th at 7pm ET. This class is for beginners with a focus on content. Learn how to create posts, pages, links. Also learn the ins and outs of comment and discussion moderation. The class will even cover tips and tricks including automated backups, scheduled posting, security plugins, and more!

Extending WordPress for Beginners is set for September 30th at 7pm ET. This class is for WP site administrators with a focus on customizing WordPress. Learn how to install and configure themes and plugins. The class will also cover menu management, user accounts and roles, and WordPress settings.

Both courses run 1 hour in length with a 1 hour question and answer session. That’s TWO hours of WordPress training for $25! You can also register for both classes for $40. All WPClassroom.com classes use the most powerful online training tools provided by Cisco WebEx. Training is even recorded for later playback!

I couldn’t recommend these courses enough for people who want to truly understand everything that WordPress has to offer.

New Book: Professional WordPress Plugin Development!

I couldn’t be more excited to announce a new book I’m co-authoring: Professional WordPress Plugin Development!

WROX logoThis book will continue the Professional WordPress series with a focus on plugin development in WordPress. This alone is exciting news, but of course I’m not writing this book on my own. I’ve brought in two of the best known WordPress developers in the business: Ozh Richard and Justin Tadlock! Anyone who works with WordPress will be very familiar with these two guys. They both have a huge reputation for writing some of the most detailed, easy to understand, and extremely knowledgeable tutorials out there for plugin and WordPress development.

The excitement doesn’t stop there! We’ve also brought in two great Technical Editors for our new book. The first is Andrew Nacin. Anyone who follows the core development of WordPress will be very familiar with Andrew. Andrew is one of the most active core contributors to the WordPress project and his endless knowledge of the internals of WordPress are sure to help take our book to the next level. The second Tech Editor is Doug Vann. Doug is known for his expertise and knowledge in the open source CMS world. Doug will approach this book as a CMS user, thinking outside the box of a normal developer.

This book will be jam packed with plugin knowledge from beginner topics like creating your first plugin, security, and settings, to more advanced topics like JavaScript and AJAX, Cron, and the mysterious Rewrite API. This book will have something for everyone looking to learn or expand their knowledge on building professional plugins in WordPress.

You can following our process during the writing of this book using the hash tag #plugindevbook on Twitter. The book is currently planned for a March 2011 release date.

SitePoint Podcast Interview with Authors of Wicked WordPress Themes

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing two of the authors of SitePoint.com’s new book Build Your Own Wicked WordPress Themes on the SitePoint Podcast. I had a great time talking WordPress themes with Allan Cole and Jeffrey Way.

During the podcast we covered some great topics including:

  • Intro to WordPress themes
  • Where to start when building a theme
  • Theme frameworks
  • Theme options
  • Selling themes and what to consider
  • GPL and split-license

I had a chance to read the new book prior to the interview. I would classify this book as a must read for any designer looking to learn how to develop amazing WordPress themes. The chapter on selling themes is worth the book price alone!

If you haven’t done so be sure to pick up a copy of Wicked WordPress Themes and starting creating beautiful themes today!

Best Wings in Philadelphia?

Last night April and I decided to try the winner of the “Best Wings in Philly” as awarded by Philadelphia Magazine.

Cinnamon Wings

The winning wings were from Teresa’s Next Door Bar in Wayne, PA. When I heard the wings were cinnamon I was a bit skeptical, but being the best wings in Philly I had to try them.

The first thing I noticed is the wings are whole wings. So even though the serving is only 5 whole wings, it’s actually 10 traditional wings. When the waitress brought the wings we immediately smelt the warm cinnamon aroma. Even the guy sitting next to us asked if they were cinnamon flavored.

The wings were extremely delicious! The meat was juicy and cooked perfectly. The cinnamon was better than I expected, but I still felt like I was missing out on my normal hot wings.

Overall the wings at Teresa’s Next Door Bar were really good and I would recommend them to anybody. Now I need to go back and try the hot wings!

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Brad Williams Blog

WordPress and the Web

Who is Brad?

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Brad Williams is a computer programmer and tech junkie who enjoys exploring technology and sharing his knowledge and experience with others.

 

CEO of WebDevStudios, Maintainn, and Pluginize. Co-author of Professional WordPress and Professional WordPress Plugin Development.

 

Brad resides in Philadelphia.

 

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