Phew! Can you believe that we’ve been announcing speakers for 5 weeks now!?!
It’s just that you can only pack so much awesomeness into one week, we’ve had to space it out. Plus, it takes some time to get so many rockstars on board. Luckily, we have a little over three weeks to get rid of all the brown M&M’s. Ha ha. Just kidding.
These folks might be rockstars, but they’re not the type to get all uppity about the wrong color M&M’s in the green room. They’re just as generous and accommodating as they are smart and all-around amazing. So, please, let’s have a hearty round of applause for our Design Workshop speakers:
Thom Meredith. With more than 18 years of experience in web development, digital workflow and communication design, Thom Meredith has served as art director for Looking, managing projects for Warner Bros., SONY and the Los Angeles Public Library; as interactive and print designer for the Los Angeles Times Magazine, overseeing the website, iPad app and print production; and as a solution architect and interaction designer at his own design and technology firm on projects for RE/MAX, Edmunds.com, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Kaiser, Nestle and Wikipedia. He serves on committees for the Los Angeles chapter of the AIGA and currently teaches interaction design and development at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
Robert Palmer is a digital problem solver in San Diego, California. After a decade of in-house and agency work for the creators of newspapers, magazines, television, hardware, software, sporting equipment, industrial products, and tract housing, he started his own web development and graphic design company in 2007. He has hand-crafted websites, WordPress themes, applications, identities, and technical illustrations for startups and Fortune 50 companies alike. He lives with his amazing wife Michelle, and works from home with their two cats, who are only occasionally helpful.
Greg Douglas is the Founder and Creative Director of Premium Interactive based in Hollywood CA. (http://www.premiuminteractive.com) An active member of the Los Angeles and Southern California WordPress community, Greg is the co-organizer of the popular Hollywood WordPress meetup group (hollywoodwp.com).
James Archer is the Chief Creative Officer for Crowd Favorite. He’s a future-focused optimist who loves identifying problems and designing solutions for companies that make a difference. Over the years he’s worked for clients like Microsoft, Motorola, Walmart, and Yahoo, and projects he’s worked on have appeared in U.S. News & World Report, Fast Company, Businessweek, Entrepreneur, The New York Times, AdAge, NPR, and others.
Brian Bourn is the chief executive at Bourn Creative, a full service design company and Genesis recommended developer in Sacramento, California. He also co-organizes the Sacramento WordPress Meetup Group.
With a passion for business, and eye for design, and a predilection for code, he provides consulting for online businesses, works with clients around the globe on website strategy and brings their vision to life in the browser with meticulous precision. In his 10th year as the boss, Brian keeps business running smoothly, moving forward, and growing year after year. Plus, he gets to tell his wife and business partner what to do every day (Bonus!).
Bryan Monzon has worked for Fifty & Fifty since 2010. Starting out as solely a designer, he eventually made the rare jump to full time developer. He manages a small team of six developers as they build solutions, both large and small, for non-profits around the world.
Taylor Aldridge has over 20 years of design and communication experience, with the last decade spent as the Creative Director for one of America’s largest food distribution companies. He is adept at motivating and inspiring creative teams and obtaining the highest quality design while still achieving targeted business objectives. Taylor’s expertise is creating communicative designs that are directly tied to enhancing usability.
As 10up’s first Creative Director, Taylor is tasked with building an exceptional web design team, process, and results on par with 10up’s well-earned engineering and development reputation.
Jessica Barnard is the Designer & Developer behind The Pixelista, a creative agency specializing in business branding and WordPress web development. Jessica has been making the internet more attractive since 2008, and her passion is working with small, women-owned businesses.
Anne McColl helps brands find the right words + pictures to tell their story. As The Best D@mn Copywriter, she works with a slew of agencies, studios and businesses and has had the pleasure of collaborating with amazing brands including Four Seasons, Hawaii Visitors Bureau, TurboTax, San Diego Zoo, eBay, PETCO, WD-40 and Rubio’s Fish Tacos. When she’s not surfing the Internet she can often be found surfing the juicy waves in San Diego. @annemccoll everywhere. AnneMcColl.com
I’ll give you a moment to catch your breath.
Yeah. Boom! If I had a mic, I’d drop it right now, but I’m writing, not speaking, silly!
So, which workshop are you planning to attend on Friday – beginner, business, or design? What sessions are you looking at for Saturday? And how will you be contributing on Sunday? You better start making some decisions, because theres’s only a couple weeks left!