I’m spending a good chunk of the next few days composing what I’ll be talking about at this year’s WordCamp St. Louis, which is this Saturday the 22nd at Maryville University. I’m honored to have been asked to speak at two sessions during the day and if you are in the area I hope you will attend.

The first talk I’m scheduled to give is a Getting Started with WordPress session. It’s a challenge to boil down the very essentials to 40 minutes.[ref]Each session is scheduled for 40 minutes of talk, with 10 minutes of Q&A. I’m debating having the beginner workshop limited to 30 minutes with an extended Q&A.[/ref]

Right now I’m planning on covering security basics like password selection, backup practices, and the upgrader; settings basics like setting titles and taglines, discussion settings, and plugin installation; comment moderation basics and setting up antispam; and touching on the Visual Editor and the options available there.

Some of the topics we could cover in the intro session look to be covered by some of the other sessions throughout the day, so I’ll touch lightly on those things and recommend those other sessions for more information. It’s also important to note that there will be a Happiness Bar at WordCamp.

The second talk I’ll give won’t have any Q&A; it’s the closing talk for the day. My theme for the talk is going to be “Make Awesome Stuff” and has four areas of focus:

1. What’s going on with WordPress everywhere
2. What’s going on with WordPress in St Louis
3. The power of open source
4. What’s coming down the road and a call to action – make awesome stuff!

Again, if you are in the area, I would encourage you to attend. It’s $20, there’s a bit more than 50 tickets remaining, and you get some awesome sessions and a lunch for that low, low price.

You can learn more about WordCamp St. Louis at the official site, here.