This is not your everyday conference!
Smaller group discussions for more intimate conversations and hands-on learning
Better opportunities to connect with ExpressionEngine community members and build new relationships
More being talked with and less being talked to
Speakers
The Mystery In The Models: The Basics of Adding a Model to your EE Add-on
The model portion of EE Add-ons have always felt like a mystery. The goal of this talk is to take a high-level overview of models in EE, and see what it takes to add one to an add-on. We’ll take an existing add-on (based on upvoting and downvoting content) with some old logic, and create models to manage the data in and out.
This would include some “live” coding (showing how the code changes and evolves, not truly coding on screen), as well as a Github repo with the actual code and step-by-step process of what was changed.
Developer Round Table
Submit your questions via our submission form or ask live during the round table.
EEeeek: Debugging The Most Hacked Site I’ve Ever Seen
On a cold, snowy evening, a call was placed. “Our site is down and we don’t know why. Our host won’t even let us access it because they say its been hacked.”
What would follow is the craziest EE2 to EE6 upgrade site rescue that we’ve ever done.
Join me on this epic journey as we talk about 5 quick lessons on what to do before, during, and after things break, or when you inherit a project that makes you break out in a cold sweat. Though the lessons will be quick, we’ll include some step-by-steps in written form for you to walk through as well!
Bio
Doug Black
tripleNERDscore
I’m Doug! I’m a developer and founder at tripleNERDscore, focused on creating opportunity for partners through websites, apps, and supporting development teams. I have been programming since I had a TRS-80 and saved programs on cassette tapes, and am a huge fan of, and core contributor to, ExpressionEngine! I also build in Laravel and Vue and whatever I can get my hands dirty with.
When not guzzling coffee and yelling at the keyboard (some call it programming), I am spending time with my amazing wife and girls, exploring abandoned places, listening to metal and Wu Tang, and working to bring some good to the world. Come talk nerdy to me!
Where is all of the ExpressionEngine work?
ExpressionEngine is good. ExpressionEngine is bad. PHP is good. PHP is bad. Flavors of opinions fluctuate almost daily in this industry, but that doesn’t change what works and what doesn’t. ExpressionEngine has faced ups and downs in its popularity among developers; and has faced challenges to the assertion that it’s a good choice for web project building.
As a historically independent developer, Caroline has witnessed ExpressionEngine; and its use, growth, and community since 2008. She will identify key niche’s for ExpressionEngine website development and explain how to find work there. She will identify ExpressionEngine’s advantages and explain how to determine if ExpressionEngine is right for a project. Most importantly, she will address add-on and future development and suggest experience-backed ways for developers to take ExpressionEngine into the future.
Business Round Table
Submit your questions via our submission form or ask live during the round table.
ExpressionEngine as a Wordpress Alternative
There are so many reasons for ExpressionEngine to take over for a website once the site has outgrown WordPress. Furthermore, as many as a thousand people a month who search for this hang in the balance. Part of our job as developers looking for work is to identify a good fit when we see it; so it’s up to us to bridge the gap and reach the people looking for us who may not have heard of ExpressionEngine. This talk will suggest ways to think about approaching potential clients who may be looking for a way out of the most ubiquitous CMS* on the planet.
Bio
Caroline Blaker
Principal
Caroline C. Blaker is a 12-year ExpressionEngine veteran who has been “going it alone” for most of that time. She is now at the head of the business she founded, Petroglyph Creative, which has become a small agency specializing in high-value PHP CMS work, while also contending with surrounding technologies. She has her BFA in Fine Art from Washington University in St. Louis, and has spoken about her experience with Imposter Syndrome (ExpressionEngine Conference 2018) and about Web Design in a professional development setting at the University of Texas, El Paso. She considers herself to be in the business of service, led by a desire to do good.
Caroline is the mother of Mahlon (7) and Mehera (1), is a skier, loves chocolate cake and blueberries (but not together.) She can make a pizza to rival any commercial parlor despite her residential-grade oven. Caroline is open for sharing on business, ExpressionEngine, a host of highly-personal topics you can probably catch her about on Twitter.
Keynote
Full description coming soon!
Closing Remarks
See you guys in Philly for EEConf 2021!!
Updates from the ExpressionEngine Team
The ExpressionEngine team will be giving updates on what they’ve been working on, what’s next for ExpressionEngine and the community, and host a live Q&A with the entire team.
Bio
Tom Jaeger
Key Accessibility Practices to Implement in 2021
Digital Accessibility has become even more important this year as work, school, and other aspects of life have transitioned online. However, almost every website and mobile app on the market is not accessible for blind, deaf, and keyboard-only users.
Learn about the ins and outs of accessible development from both blind and sighted developers, as well as some key tips, trends, and tricks for bringing your UX into compliance in 2021.
Bio
Michele Landis
Co-Founder & CRO
Leading client development and marketing along with strategic partnerships, Michele spends a lot of time educating companies and business associations across all verticals on how to tackle an accessibility audit project, how to build with inclusive design & the business case for accessibility. Specializing in reducing risk, she’s frequently leading CLE on this topic across the nation, and was recently invited to speak at SXSW on the topic of Mitigating Legal Risk in this niche area of technology.
CartThrob 6 - The State of ExpressionEngine Commerce
Description to come…
Bio
Shawn Maida
But First… Parse Order and PHP in ExpressionEngine’s Templates
Most of the time, ExpressionEngine’s template processing “just works” the way you’d expect it to.
But occasionally, especially when creating pages with complex interlocking functions, it’s important to understand just how EE processes each of the tags, variables, commands, PHP and embeds in a given template.
This is called Parse Order, and we’re going to walk you through it and test your understanding of it with some interactive quiz questions. We’ll also share some clever ways to work around Parse Order problems without an add-on.
Bio
Rowan Sentesy
Rowan is a self-taught web developer working with Hop Studios with 15 years of ExpressionEngine experience. He does development, client relations, strategic planning and project management. He loves developing slick functionality with elegant code, and growing his own (EE-based) business, Bellyfit®
Agenda
All times Eastern Standard Time
- Spring SummitApril 28th
Opening remarks from Andy McCormick, one of the conference organizers.
There are so many reasons for ExpressionEngine to take over for a website once the site has outgrown WordPress. Furthermore, as many as a thousand people a month who search for this hang in the balance. Part of our job as developers looking for work is to identify a good fit when we see it; so it’s up to us to bridge the gap and reach the people looking for us who may not have heard of ExpressionEngine. This talk will suggest ways to think about approaching potential clients who may be looking for a way out of the most ubiquitous CMS* on the planet.
Most of the time, ExpressionEngine’s template processing “just works” the way you’d expect it to.
But occasionally, especially when creating pages with complex interlocking functions, it’s important to understand just how EE processes each of the tags, variables, commands, PHP and embeds in a given template.
This is called Parse Order, and we’re going to walk you through it and test your understanding of it with some interactive quiz questions. We’ll also share some clever ways to work around Parse Order problems without an add-on.
Digital Accessibility has become even more important this year as work, school, and other aspects of life have transitioned online. However, almost every website and mobile app on the market is not accessible for blind, deaf, and keyboard-only users.
Learn about the ins and outs of accessible development from both blind and sighted developers, as well as some key tips, trends, and tricks for bringing your UX into compliance in 2021.
On a cold, snowy evening, a call was placed. “Our site is down and we don’t know why. Our host won’t even let us access it because they say its been hacked.”
What would follow is the craziest EE2 to EE6 upgrade site rescue that we’ve ever done.
Join me on this epic journey as we talk about 5 quick lessons on what to do before, during, and after things break, or when you inherit a project that makes you break out in a cold sweat. Though the lessons will be quick, we’ll include some step-by-steps in written form for you to walk through as well!
Description to come…
Silver Sponsors
Are you ready to join us in Online?
EEConf Spring Summit 2021 is a 1-day virtual event that will include hand-picked topics and summit style sessions so you can follow along with the presenter, ask questions, and meet others in the community.