Author: Dave Loodts

Building sites since 2006. Yep, that long. Run a webdesign company called davel.be from 2006 to 2022, now renamed to Woofers where we do only WooCommerce projects. Gave back to the WordPress community as: - Co-fouder & former co-organizer of WordCamp Antwerp (Belgium) - Co-founder & former co-organizer of WordPress Meetup Antwerp (Belgium) - Founder & rormer co-founder of WordPress Meetup Hasselt (Belgium) Say hi to me on Twitter.
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Introducing Level Level as our Silver Sponsor + interview

Level Level

Website: level-level.com
Twitter: @levellevel
Facebook:  facebook.com/Level.Level.Rotterdam

Hi Taeke, tell us more about Level LeveL and what is the connection with WordPress?

Level Level is a full service WordPress agency from Rotterdam (NL). We think, design, develop, host and support bespoke projects based on WordPress.
We help brands connect to their customers by creating outstanding websites and applications that offer the best user experience on any device.

About which topics can you help our visitors during the WordCamp?

Please ask us about anything WordPress! We love talking about business, design, UX, front- and backend development but also about how to keep your projects safe and sound.

How long does Level Level work with WordPress?

Since the start of Level Level, now 12 years ago, Level Level has been using WordPress for its projects.

Why do you sponsor WordCamp Antwerp?

As our business heavily revolves around WordPress we feel we have responsibility to give to back to its community. Therefore we attend, speak at, organise and sponsor WordPress meetups and WordCamps in the Netherlands and beyond.

Why should people come to WordCamp Antwerp?

Like any WordCamp, WordCamp Antwerp offers a great opportunity to interact with designers, developers, users and WordPress enthousiasts. Also one of our team members, Jaime Martinez, will be doing a talk about A modular approach tot WordPress theme development that you should definitely attend 🙂

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Introducing All In One SEO Pack as our Diamond Sponsor (+VIDEO interview)

Website: semperplugins.com
Twitter: @semperfidev
Facebook:  facebook.com/semperfiwebdesign

What do you do and what is the connection with WordPress?

I’m Arnaud from SemperPlugins.com. We are the developers of All in One SEO Pack, the original SEO plugin for WordPress. I provide technical support, take care of sales, marketing and come up with new ideas to improve the experience of our customers. I joined the team about three years ago and it’s been a blast!

About which topics can you help our visitors during the WordCamp?

Our plugin is translated in 60+ languages thanks to dozens of enthusiastic contributors. I’ve been managing that community ever since I started working for Semper Plugins and I’ll be happy to provide you with tips with regards to internationalization (i18n) and localisation (i10n).
We are also one of the pioneers of commercial WordPress plugins, so feel free to reach out to any member of our team with your questions about developing solutions for WordPress.

How long do you work with WordPress?

I was personally introduced to WordPress four years ago, but my colleagues have ten years of experience.

Why do you sponsor WordCamp Antwerp?

We’re sponsoring WordCamp Antwerp as part of giving back to the community we’ve gotten so much from. Over the past decade, we’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars sponsoring WordCamps across the US and the rest of the world. And it’s even greater if we can sponsor a WordCamp in the home country of one of our team members.

Why should people come to WordCamp Antwerp?

To meet local developers and other WordPress enthuasiasts from the local community, and to visit the lovely city that is Antwerp in the meanwhile.

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Introducing Jackmail as our Silver Sponsor (+interview)

This post is a serie of interviews of our sponsors.
All of our sponsors get an interview on this site, even a video-interview depending on the chosen sponsorpackage. Interested in sponsoring?

Website: www.jackmail.com
Twitter: @heyjackmail
Facebook: facebook.com/HeyJackmail

What do you do and what is the connection with WordPress?

Well, you may be aware that a lot of blogs and specialist recommands to avoid sending emails with WordPress, especially newsletters. They recommand to use external solutions, and they were right until Jackmail came.
We created Jackmail to solve that issue. You won’t have to leave your lovely WP suite to create and send newsletters, of even to fiddle with complicated settings about smtp or deliverability. Jackmail is a all-in-one newsletter plugin to create and send newsletters with its included routing platform. We’re the first plugin to ever propose that, and until now, it’s a big success 😛

About which topics can you help our visitors during the WordCamp?

We’re email marketing specialists. So, anything related to newsletters is our topic J You want help to collect subscribers ? To avoid going into spam ? Ask us 😉

How long do you work with WordPress?

Maximilien and I are WordPress users for a long time now (about 6 years now) but for Jackmail, it’s only been one year since we launched the plugin in April 17.

Why do you sponsor WordCamp Antwerp?

Beers and fries of course !

More seriously, we’re very close because we’re French and are located in Lille (Rijsel) so basically, it’s like doing a WordCamp at home.

 

Why should people come to WordCamp Antwerp?

For beers and fries ! (and maybe waffles 😛 ) People should definitively come to Antwerp because it’s kind of unique to have this event so close to you. Regarding the number of WordCamp in Europe, having one in its country is great. Let’s meet and exchange about WordPress !

Bonus question :

What should we expect from Jackmail in 2018?

Wow! A lot to be honest 🙂 . We have major releases coming, and the biggest one is that we will propose to replace the wp_mail() function of WordPress. You’ll be able to send all of your emails with our professional platform (abandon cart, lost password, forum notification … everything). We just implemented Custom Post Types and are working on more integration with forms plugin. We will have a busy year. 🙂

What is Jackmail in video!

 

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Introducing Combell as our Gold Sponsor + video interview with Brecht Ryckaert

This post is a serie of interviews of our sponsors.
All of our sponsors get an interview on this site, YES: even a video-interview depending on the chosen sponsorpackage. Interested in sponsoring?

Combell

Website: combell.com
Twitter: @combell

What do you do and what is the connection with WordPress?
I’m Brecht. I work as a senior support engineer here at Combell.com, where I provide technical support to our hosting customers. I’m also the escalation point for all things WordPress for our shared hosting customers.

About which topics can you help our visitors during the WordCamp?
Due to my 10 years of experience in the webhosting sector, I’ve specialized in WordPress debugging, but also in performance and security.
At WordCamp Antwerp I’ll present a talk about how to debug and resolve issues with WordPress.
But if any visitor has any kind of question, I’m happy to help out to the best of my abilities.

How long do you work with WordPress?
Personally, I’ve been working with WordPress since version 1.5, so that takes us back to 2005.
At first strictly as a tool to blog, but that quickly evolved into creating websites and when I started working at Combell this evolved into debugging and problem solving

Why do you sponsor WordCamp Antwerp?
First and foremost, WordPress is very important to Combell as it is tremendously popular with our customers and the better part of all sites we host are built with wordPress.
Second, but no less important, Combell as a company strongly believes in the power and necessity of the community. That’s why we try to support the local conferences and meetup groups as wherever we can.
We send our engineers to as many events as possible, so they learn and improve their skills, which ultimately benefits our customers. Becoming a sponsor is the next logical step for us.
And while doing so, we can give back to the community that enables us to work with amazing software like WordPress.

Why should people come to WordCamp Antwerp?
Simply because it’s the place for WordPress enthousiasts and professional to learn, network and make new friends. And it’s a Belgian WordCamp, which makes it awesome on its own.
If you’re into WordPress, you simply can’t miss out on this conference. Period.

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The FULL schedule of Saturday: discover the speakers & talks

The full schedule of WordCamp Antwerp (Saturday) is launched.
We’re proud to present this schedule full of WordPress related talks.

Important to know: 13 out of the 17 talks are directly related to WordPress on a hands-on user-level. That’s a very high rate!

So we believe that WordPress developers, designers and users will like this program.

The full schedule can be found on: https://2018.antwerp.wordcamp.org/programma/

About the selection process

We want to thank everyone who’s submitted a talk.
The selection process was democratic but not so easy and we had for sure some debates. If you want to get feedback about your submission, do contact us. We hope to see everyone on WordCamp Antwerp 2018.

 

 

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Thank you Go Daddy Pro: our Gold Sponsor

GoDaddy Pro is a free membership program for web developers, designers & agencies. It offers exclusive tools to help onboard, manage and maintain multiple clients and their sites fast and easy. With GoDaddy Pro tools, you can easily shop for your client, monitor their sites, and manage their products from a single dashboard. Additionally, your membership includes advanced 24/7 technical support and rewards for recommending GoDaddy to your clients.

You can use GoDaddy Pro with all of GoDaddy’s newly refreshed hosting products, including Managed WordPress, cPanel shared hosting, our brand new cloud product, and our virtual and dedicated solutions.

And, always get the best price on GoDaddy products with your “30% off list price” member benefit.

Learn more about GoDaddy Pro.

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Thank you Bluehost: our Silver Sponsor

Bluehost has been a WordPress partner since 2005 and powers over 1 million WordPress sites worldwide. Their objective is to help customers, whether novice or pro, create a thriving online presence at an affordable price. With a team of in-house tech experts available 24/7, Bluehost dedicates time and resources to providing the best support and services in the industry. Join millions of other site owners and see what Bluehost can do for you and your online presence.

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Laatste oproep voor sponsors

Het budget voor het organiseren van deze WordCamp is helaas nog niet rond.
We hebben gelukkig wel de backup van de WordPress Foundation, dus geen paniek: de WordCamp gaat sowieso door!
Maar we wensen als lokale WordCamp wel zelfbedruipend te zijn.

Dus: we zoeken nog enkele sponsors!

  • Verdien (een deel van) je centen met WordPress?
  • Wil je je meer tonen richting de WordPress Community? (lees: vacatures voor WP’ers of zichtbaarheid voor je product of service)

Dan is dit een mooie manier om terug te geven en bij te dragen aan de WordPress Community en het enige WordPress gerelateerde meerdaags evenement  in België.

We hebben sponsorpakketten voor zowel freelancers tot middelgrote/grotere bedrijven zoals agencies en software bouwers. Al vanaf €250 help je mee dit community event te organiseren.

En of je in de watten wordt gelegd als sponsor!

Op geen enkele andere conferentie vind je zulke visibility voorwaarden en mogelijkheden om daadwerkelijk je ‘gezicht’ op een evenement te plakken. Ons doel is om de sponsor te ‘verpersonaliseren’, door:

  • Tekstueel interview (zie huidige voorbeelden)
  • Een video interview (voor Diamond en Gold)
  • Stel jezelf voor tijdens de Opening Remarks

Yep, je leest het goed. Stel jezelf (of jouw bedrijf) kort voor tijdens de Opening Remarks. Kort, spontaan en geen Sales Pitch. De bezoekers kunnen dan al meteen een ‘gezicht’ plakken op jou als sponsor. Deze facetten zorgen voor een community event, wat geheel anders is dan een commerciële conferentie.

Wat krijg je nog als sponsor:

  • gratis tickets tot de conferentie
  • gratis toegang tot Speakers Dinner op vrijdagavond
  • lot’s of love van de WordPress Community

Tot en met vrijdag 2 februari om 20u00

Onze Call for Sponsors sluit op vrijdag 2 februari om 20u00.
Neem dus nog snel die kans om jouw bedrijf te betrekken bij de Belgische en Vlaamse WordPress Community.

Alle info over onze sponsorpakketten vind je hier.

 

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Introducing Weglot as our Silver Sponsor (interview)

This post is a serie of interviews of our sponsors.
All of our sponsors get an interview on this site, even a video-interview depending on the chosen sponsorpackage. Interested in sponsoring?

Weglot

Website: weglot.com
Twitter: @weglot 
Facebook: facebook.com/weglot/ 

What do you or your company do and how is it connected to WordPress?

I’m the co-founder of Weglot, a multilingual plugin to translate and display a WordPress website in different languages. With human and machine translations, our service automatically detects and translates you content, while letting you easily manage your translations via a dedicated dashboard.
With 75-80% of our 20,000+ users WordPress is our main integration (libraries), even if we’re also available in other technologies. It’s also the first one we launched when starting our company, almost 2 years ago.

What topics can our visitors ask you about during WordCamp?

Multilingualism and translations management obviously :). More seriously, we’re passionate about technologies in general, entrepreneurship and startups. We love sharing tips and ideas about actions to grow companies, or to improve users experience.

We’ll also be pleased to discuss plugin development, and the importance of the community within WordPress.

Last but not least, SEO for the translated content. Thats’ something we’ve spent some time on, so we’re happy to share our insights.

How long have you been working with WordPress?

It’s been almost 2 years, it all started with Weglot.
Actually, during the very first days of Weglot, neither Rémy, nor me, did hear about WordPress. Our first integration (library) was a JavaScript snippet (we still have) and when we discussed with users a big part of them just replied: do you have a WordPress plugin to add it? We did not have any plugin, and we did not really know about WordPress.

So Rémy started digging into WordPress documentation and build a first version of the plugin. We iterated with users, released a news version and so on. Then we decided to sponsor the WordCamp Paris to officially launch our plugin and discuss with users. That was the very first beginning of our journey within WordPress.

Why are you sponsoring WordCamp Antwerp?

For us, the sponsoring goal has always been twofold.

First, it’s a great way to give back to the community and make it possible to gather all kind of the WordPress players during 1 or 2 days. It’s the only opportunity to have WordPress users, agencies, core contributor, plugin or theme developers, services, speakers, media in the same room. Technologies last if they are used and animated, both online and offline. I think WordPress is one of the most incredible communities for that.

Secondly, WordCamp allows companies generating revenues within WordPress to get exposure and exchange with their end-users.

So we’re sponsoring to both support the community, exchange with our users and get some exposure within the community.

What would be the next big trends within WordPress in 2018-2019?

To keep competing and increasing its market share WordPress needs to be able to serve more and more higher end users and customers.
With that in mind, it means agencies, freelancers, developers, service providers will also need to increase the proposed value and match higher standards.

Ultimately, it will benefit end-users, with fewer solution providers offering higher quality, and actively developing and supporting products.

WordCamp Antwerp is over. Check out the next edition!