Everyone, meet AJ Morris.

AJ Morris
Owosso, Michigan

How did you get involved with WordPress?

I started blogging in 2006. WordPress was the natural choice back then, as I liked to fool around with servers and websites. As time went on, I started developing themes and plugins. I now work with a theme company and have several large contracts maintaining and developing WordPress-based websites for companies, bloggers, and everyone in between. I love the ease of use and flexibility that WordPress offers not only to developers, but content creators as well.

Why did you decide to become a WordPress.tv moderator?

I love listening to people speak about WordPress. While I can’t financially support going to every WordCamp every year, I thought the next best thing was to get involved by helping to publish the WordCamp videos — and get to watch them first. It’s great, simple and fun, and easy to give back just a little to the WordPress community.

Got any essential tips for people interested in creating high-quality content for WordPress.tv?

Capture great audio! As nice as it is to see yourself in a video, I actually prefer that if you can’t get everything done well, to get at least the audio captured as best as you can.

An external Lavalier microphone on the speaker definitely helps. I’d also suggest a microphone to pass around for a Q&A session at the end of a presentation. This is helpful, since a lot of speakers don’t repeat the question.

There are some great videos on WordPress.tv! What are your favorites?

• Success in Distributed Contexts by Chris Lema. It’s great to hear the business side of how to work in a distributed environment.
• How WordPress Saves — Freedom, Hope, and Custom Post Types by Paul Clark. A great video on custom post types and how they are used to create applications other than blogs and simple websites.
• How Anyone Can Hack Your WordPress Site in Less than 5 Minutes and What You Can Do… by Dre Armeda. I’ve met Dre a few times, and everything he says about WordPress security is always spot on. He’s got great tips and tricks in his videos and presentations that can help everyone, from the beginner to the most advanced WordPress user.

Thanks for chatting with us, AJ!

Interested in getting involved? Apply to be a WordPress.tv moderator. For more on WordPress.tv video best practices, read our submission guidelines.

Please say hello to WordPress.tv moderator Ben Lobaugh, from the beautiful shores of Puget Sound.

Ben Lobaugh
Seattle, Washington

How did you get involved with WordPress?

I started using WordPress in the early days because it seemed I was never able to get around to completing the CMS I was writing. WordPress gave me the power and flexibility I needed, and as it grew and matured, I fell more and more in love with it. With version 2.8, I almost exclusively put clients on WordPress, and as of 3.0 I’ve abandoned all other CMS platforms in favor of the powerhouse WordPress has become.

Why did you decide to become a WordPress.tv moderator?

Well, first off the videos of me were not being published as quickly as I wanted! The videos on WordPress.tv have been useful to me, and the community has given me so much. Moderating videos on WordPress.tv is a simple and enjoyable way of giving back to this community.

Got any essential tips for people interested in creating high-quality content for WordPress.tv?

I highly recommend ensuring the camera will interface into your existing hardware before shooting anything; I ran into a hardware incompatibility issue when trying to pull WordCamp Seattle video from the camera. Another very important tip is to get an external (probably shotgun) microphone to ensure the speaker’s voice is crisp and clear.

There are some great videos on WordPress.tv! What are your favorites?

I get giddy if I see Morten Rand-Hendriksen, Tony Perez, or Zack Tollman on a WordCamp speaker list! These guys are incredibly fun and engaging speakers that can make any technical subject easy to understand. I highly recommend watching their videos. Even if you don’t know anything about the subject, you’ll enjoy watching their antics.

Thanks for chatting with us, Ben!

Interested in getting involved? Apply to be a WordPress.tv moderator. For more on WordPress.tv video best practices, read our submission guidelines.

Do you record your WordPress meetup? Submit it to WordPress.tv! Do you record WordPress screencast tutorials? Submit them to WordPress.tv! Do you create some other form of WP video awesomesauce that would benefit the community? WordPress.tv might be just the place for it.

Fair warning: Our intrepid group of WordPress.tv event video moderators already works hard to review and publish WordCamp videos, and if WordPress.tv is suddenly flooded with video submissions, they may take a while to get around to reviewing and publishing your video. Please be patient as we iterate toward success… and if you’re interested in donating your time toward becoming a WordPress.tv moderator, please apply here. If this takes off like we think it might, we will definitely need some extra eyes!

Thanks in advance for helping to make WordPress.tv an even more fantastic resource. If you have questions about this, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Phil Erb
Scranton, Pennsylvania

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m a systems administrator/programmer at the University of Scranton. While I do some work with WordPress at the university, most of my WordPress projects are after hours as a consultant or just for fun.

How did you get involved with WordPress?

I’ve been creating websites since 2002 — the philerb.com domain name turned 10 years old in September! — originally purely by hand, then by creating very basic CMS-type systems with Perl, PHP, and MySQL. I’d installed WordPress in 2007 and 2008 to play with it, but never had time to sit down and learn it. It wasn’t until just before 3.0 came out that I convinced myself custom-coded solutions aren’t the way to go. Now, I’m consulting on the side and working on WordPress sites for nonprofits and small businesses.

I didn’t really become involved with the WordPress community until last fall. Last year, I began following more WordPress folks on Twitter and started answering questions in the forums. I attended my first WordCamp – WordCamp Philly — in October. I’ve helped set up a Northeast Pennsylvania WordPress meetup — we had our first meetup recently in Scranton and are planning our next one for March 26. (We can be found on Meetup.com or on Twitter @nepawp.)

For WordPress 3.5, I published my first plugin (Disable XML-RPC). It’s a simple one-line plugin, but it’s left me wanting to create more. I’ve set a goal to contribute at least one thing to core in 2013.

Why do you want to be a WordPress.tv moderator?

I’ve only been to one WordCamp so far, but I love watching the videos from other conferences. They’ve helped me understand how much you can do with WordPress and inspire me in my own projects. I wanted to get more involved in the community so was very excited when I read about the need for moderators for WordPress.tv. I now have a (good) excuse to sit down and watch videos about WordPress, by some of the best in the business, every day.

What other things do you like to do?

When I’m not immersed in code or following the WordPress universe via Twitter on my phone, I’m playing with (and wrangling) my two kids: three-year-old Adam and one-year-old Rachel.

If you’re interested in getting involved in WordPress events, such as WordCamps and WordPress meetups, check out the Making WordPress Events discussion forum. You can also see what Phil and the WordPress.tv moderators are up to at wptvmods.

Chandra Maharzan
Kathmandu, Nepal

Tell us about yourself and your work.

I’m a theme designer, and since 2008 I’ve worked at Graph Paper Press to produce photography themes. Some of my themes have been on “top 100 free WP themes” lists on sites like Smashing Magazine, and Gridspace — one of the themes I crafted — is the 10th most popular theme in WordPress.com’s Theme Showcase. I currently have three free themes at WordPress.org, and one of them, Book Lite, is now available on WordPress.com, too. I also create minimal themes at WPshoppe and review themes at WordPress.org.

In 2011, I set up a WordPress group in Kathmandu, and we meet monthly. We organized our first WordCamp Nepal in November, which was pretty awesome!

Pictured at right: Chandra (right) with Philip Arthur Moore, theme wrangler at Automattic, in WordCamp Nepal.

How did you get involved with WordPress?

I began using WordPress extensively for client projects. I, along with others, thought that if WordPress was so efficient, time-saving, and cost-effective, we should share our experience with others. In April 2011, we had our first WordPress meetup with just four people. We created a Facebook group and soon after found people who were really into WordPress. While the group didn’t expand that much, we continued our monthly meetups. In August 2011, I was able to go to WordCamp San Francisco — an eye opener! I was determined to do a WordCamp in Kathmandu, so that’s how it started. We now have over 600 people in the group, and students in colleges are excited to start WordPress clubs.

Why do you want to be a WordPress.tv moderator?

I have learned many new things from the videos at WordPress.tv. But I do wish the videos were more interactive (with slides), and had high-quality sound. So, as a listener, sometimes you get lost. I want to improve our future videos and make WordPress.tv the best resource for WordPress! I want to help the WordPress community beyond the local level.

What other things do you like to do?

I have a baby girl who takes up a lot of my time. I also keep busy photographing and making music.

Stay tuned for the next Q&A in this series! If you’re interested in getting involved in WordPress events, such as WordCamps and WordPress meetups, check out the Making WordPress Events discussion forum. You can also see what Chandra and the WordPress.tv moderators are up to at wptvmods.

So, we’re very excited about the new team of WordPress.tv moderators. We formed a team of volunteers to review and approve the video content uploaded to WordPress.tv to ensure accuracy and quality, and to moderate comments and engage with the community.

Here on the WordPress.tv blog, we’d like to introduce you to these moderators in a Q&A post series. These moderators are WordPress enthusiasts — just like many of you out there — and we want to share their stories about how they got involved with WordPress.

First up in our Q&A series? Jerry Bates.

Jerry Bates
San Jose, CA

Jerry Bates

How did you get involved with WordPress?

I found WordPress sort of by accident — I was looking for a way, as a non-coder, to build a website for myself. I had no concept of “open source” or “community” at the time, but WordPress was the perfect solution for what I needed. Fast forward a few years, and I’ve built a business (and a lot of websites) based solely on WordPress, which I think is pretty amazing!

I attended my first WordCamp — WordCamp San Francisco 2011 — and it was an incredible experience. Not only did I come away a whole lot smarter, but I experienced a “community” spirit firsthand and was impressed by the accessibility of the core team, speakers, and even Matt himself. WordPress went from being a tool to build sites to something I felt a part of. I decided I wanted to find ways to make my own contributions.

Since that first WordCamp experience, I’ve been active in the WordPress.org support forums, participate on documentation and UI discussions for core, and now moderate videos. I was even able to help contribute directly to WordPress 3.5 as well. If I have learned anything since that first WordCamp, it’s that if you truly want to help make WordPress better, your contributions will be welcomed by the community.  It is an incredibly rewarding thing in which to be involved.

What do you do when you’re not helping out with WordPress projects?

I run a little web design studio called FittingSites. I have been designing and building WordPress-powered sites for clients since 2010, though first started using WordPress myself in 2007. Before WordPress, I was a “traditional” graphic designer and commercial photographer, and because of this foundation, good design and a well-thought-out user experience are still important to me, even today.

Why do you want to be a WordPress.tv moderator?

I think video is a great way to learn, and something I’m attracted to because of my background in photography. I’ve always viewed WordPress.tv as a useful WordPress resource, but one that I feel could be improved. When I heard about the call for moderators, I jumped at the chance. I now get to be directly involved in two things I’m passionate about — video and WordPress — and use them to help make WordPress education more accessible to everyone. Plus, I learn so much “on the job” simply by watching all of these informative WordCamp presentations, which is an awesome fringe benefit.

What other things do you like to do?

When I’m not online, I enjoy collecting (and sometimes using) old-school cameras, cooking, and working on my classic car, which I’m slowly restoring.  

Stay tuned for the next Q&A in this series! If you’re interested in learning more about WordPress events, such as WordCamps and WordPress meetups, check out the Making WordPress Events discussion forum. You can also see what Jerry and the WordPress.tv moderators are up to at wptvmods.

– 7 in 2007
– 75 in 2008
– 337 in 2009
– 180 in 2010
– 271 in 2011

By the end of 2012, 441 WordCamp videos will be published to WordPress.tv!

So, be sure to browse the site for the latest presentations and tutorials from WordCamps around the world — for all levels of users, from WordPress newbies to seasoned developers. We’re certain you’ll find a talk that interests you.

In the meantime, we’ve handpicked some popular videos from 2012 you may want to check out. Enjoy!

Matt Mullenweg:
State of the Word 2012 (WordCamp San Francisco 2012)

Troy Dean:
How to Get Paid What You’re Worth (WordCamp Sydney 2012)

Chris Coyier:
10 Things to Make Your Site Faster (WordCamp San Francisco 2012)

Grant Landram:
How to Build a Professional WordPress Business (WordCamp Portland 2012)

Amanda Blum:
Hello World! — Sitemap to Success (WordCamp New Zealand 2012)

Andy Stratton:
50 Shades of WordPress (WordCamp Raleigh 2012)

Sam Cooke:
How to Pick a Theme (WordCamp New Zealand 2012)

Andy Peatling:
Mistakes I Made Using JQuery, and How to Avoid Them (WordCamp San Francisco 2012)

Ryan Hellyer:
WordPress for Those Who Hate Writing Code (WordCamp Norway 2012)

Wilhelm Joys Andersen:
Responsive Web Design (WordCamp Norway 2012)

Laura Kimball:
How to Blog Once a Day (WordCamp Portland 2012)

Drew Strojny:
How Not to Design a Default Theme (WordCamp San Francisco 2012)

Mika Epstein:
Getting Involved — Log On, Jump In, Hang Out (WordCamp San Francisco 2012)

I’d like to direct you to some of the videos hosted here on WordPress.tv that contain information on WordPress 3.0 to help you out.

The first place to stop is—of course—the announcement video that went up last week, with a quick overview of the new features and changes in WordPress 3.0. Take a look (if you haven’t already) and learn what’s coming when you click that Upgrade button in your Dashboard.

Next, there are a pair of videos from a recent WordPressNYC meetup: one from Steve Bruner, discussing some of the new customization techniques available in WordPress 3.0 and specifically the new Twenty Ten theme, and another from Boone Gorges about the new Multisite functionality baked in to core WordPress starting with 3.0.

For another take on the changes occurring in WordPress 3.0, Jane Wells’ keynote from Orange County WordCamp covers some of the changes made in 3.0 from another perspective—but also includes some notes on how you can get involved contributing to the greater WordPress project, and the goals of the new WordPress Foundation.

Lastly, if you’d like a peek into the future of WordPress, as mentioned in the announcement video, Matt Mullenweg‘s keynote from WordCamp San Francisco on the State of the Word is a great look at where WordPress is now and where it’s headed.

Notice something missing? We’re in need of tutorial screencasts for WordPress 3.0 to help users new to WordPress or new to the features in 3.0 learn how to use them. If you’ve created a screencast to help users of WordPress 3.0, or are thinking about doing so, please contact us here at WordPress.tv! We’d be very happy to look at your tutorial and consider it for publication here on WordPress.tv with the best of the best.

Enjoy WordPress 3.0!

WordPress 3.0 brings some changes. Multisite installations of WordPress now come from the same download, a handful of alterations have been made behind the scenes, and a brand new interface for creating navigation menus is coming.

With these updates in mind, we’re bringing you a pair of videos today from the most recent WordPress NYC Meetup, which was titled “WordPress 3.0: What You Need to Know.” The first video is a presentation by Steve Bruner on some of the new methods of customizing WordPress in 3.0, including custom post types and menu management, and the second is from Boone Gorges, demonstrating the new built-in multi-site ability.

WordPress 3.0 is just around the corner, and this is a perfect opportunity to create and submit a tutorial for publication on WordPress.tv! WordPress users will be looking for help with these new features. You might be the teacher they need to advance their knowledge of their favorite publishing platform. Have you been working with the beta versions of WordPress 3.0? Are you a developer, designer, or power user? We feature great tutorials from WordPress users around the world on WordPress.tv, and you too can be a WordPress.tv Producer.

If you’ve created a video tutorial that you’d like to see published on WordPress.tv, please drop us an email and let us know what you’ve made. We’ll be happy to take a look at it and follow up with you for more information.

And share the word! If you see a tutorial on WordPress.tv that you think would be useful for your friends or blog readers, feel free to grab the embed code from the video and embed the video on your own blog!

From the Developer/Designer Track

The Developer and Designer track from WordCamp Boston starts out with some basics and moves into heavier territory. First, there’s Mitcho with “Getting into the Loop,” an introduction to how to work with The Loop and make it work for your WordPress sites. Then, Daniel Jalkut from Red Sweater Software discusses the AtomPub and XML-RPC APIs in “Exercising APIs,” using examples such as desktop, iPhone, and even Web implementations.

Jim Doran gives an overview and a case study in how to use “jQuery in WordPress,” demonstrating layout and animation techniques, DOM manipulation, and JSON, Daniel Collis-Puro shows you how to have “Screaming Fast WPMU” with a whole bunch of optimization techniques and tricks to get your installation up and running smoothly, and Rob Larsen teaches the basics of integrating “HTML5” enhancements into your themes using some JavaScript and a little know-how.

Rounding out the Developer and Designer track, we have Daisy Olsen’s session on “Parent and Child Themes,” demonstrating how to get more mileage out of themes by creating new versions of them as child themes, and “Making BuddyPress Do Thy Bidding” from Boone Gorges, beginning with basic BuddyPress examples and moving on to more specialized fare.

From the Practical Track

The Practical Track contains sessions like “Rock Your Business Blog” from Karen Rubin, focusing on building a brand and an audience using your business blog, “WordPress, PHP, and CSS: Oh, My!” from Shayne Sanderson, covering the very basics of theme development and design to help your blog get off the ground without the need for specialized design work, and “MU-ving to MU” from Automattician Jane Wells, explaining and detailing the changes coming to WordPress MU in WordPress 3.0, as it joins the main WordPress distribution.

WordPress security has been a hot topic lately, and Brad Williams gives his excellent presentation entitled “Lock It Up,” where you can learn several basics to help keep your WordPress site secure. Corey Eulas performs a live critique of sites owned by audience members in his presentation, “SEO Analysis.”

A good overview of legal issues faced by bloggers as they work to create good content is presented in “How Not to Get Sued” by Miguel Danielson and Kimberly Isbell, giving you insight into what you should consider before you hit Publish. And Steve Garfield gives a lightning version of his web video course in “Get Seen: Web Video,” offering tips on everything from equipment to post-production techniques.

The Keynote

In a great sit-down discussion, two of the original authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto discuss its impact, its foresight, and its shortcomings ten years later in “Ten Years after the Manifesto: The Cluetrain Stops at WordCamp.” Doc Searls and David Weinberger sit down with writer Scott Kirsner to discuss the lasting impact and lessons to take from Cluetrain in its second decade.

That’s a lot of video to digest, so dig in, kick back, and enjoy the sessions from WordCamp Boston. Summer brings WordCamps, and WordCamps bring more session video. Be on the lookout for more sessions posted to WordPress.tv! Follow us on Twitter for notices when we publish the latest videos.