WordSesh 2021, a free virtual event targeted at WordPress professionals, is less than one week away. Sessions will be broadcast May 24-28, followed by hands-on workshops May 27 – June 4. The event is hosted by Brian Richards, creator of the WordPress video training website WPSessions. It features an impressive lineup of curated speakers whose presentations will be recorded and published to WPSessions after the live event has ended.
WordSesh’s creators pioneered virtual events years ago, when nearly every WordPress conference was still a live, in-person event. Last year WordSesh was broken up into three regional events, but this year it has transitioned back into one global conference that will run at all hours over several time zones. Over the years its production and quality have become more refined. Speakers are compensated for their time and have personal coaching available to them. This year’s event will feature a combination of pre-recorded and live content, accompanied by live captioning.
“I designed the schedule to still support viewers from all around the world,” Richards said. “Day 1 (May 24/25) is scheduled for 1-4pm AEST to support the Asia/Pacific region. Day 2 (May 26) runs from 1-4pm CEST for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Day 3 (May 27) runs from 1-5pm EDT for folks across the Americas.”
Richards has sought out experts in each of the topics on the schedule. The standard sessions will run for 20 minutes, followed by 5-10 minutes of live Q&A. Presenters will be covering block development, headless WordPress, security, accessibility, client services, and other topics of interest to WordPress professionals.
Workshops will begin May 27 and will offer hands-on practice, activities, discussion, and the creation of a finished product. This year’s lineup includes six, 3-hour workshops, held over the span of several days:
- Let’s Hack! (Stephen Rees-Carter)
- Speed Up Your WordPress Site with These 3 Advanced Techniques
(Luke Cavanagh and Mendel Kurland) - Build your own Block Based Theme (Daisy Olsen)
- Building Accessible Navigation (Natalie MacLees)
- My First Headless WordPress Site (Kellen Mace and Jason Bahl)
- Nail Your Client Onboarding Process (Jennifer Bourn)
If you have been wanting to learn how to create your own block-based themes or headless WordPress sites, or improve your processes on any of the above topics, these free workshops will be a valuable investment of your time.
One new thing this year is that attendees will be invited to chat via Slack to bring more conversation during and after the live broadcast.
“Rather than participating in a single-threaded event chat, which disappears when the broadcast has ended, the Slack channels should allow for more robust conversations,” Richards said. “We’re also going to run the speaker Q&A through chat, rather than on screen, for the same reasons. I believe this will give attendees an opportunity to ask better questions and for speakers to provide more detailed answers – rather than both groups rushing to ask and answer as quickly as the live Q&A slots allow.”
Richards anticipates WordSesh attendance to be 1,500-3,500 people. Attendees will receive a digital swag bag with special discounts from multiple companies in the WordPress space. Registration is free and after signing up attendees will get an email reminder with the viewing link one hour before each day of the event.
Are the workshops free?