It’s the third day of speaker announcements for WCEU 2019! Today we are showcasing speakers covering the topic: Open Source & Communities.
These speakers take a fresh perspective on how we can use WordPress and other open-source technologies, and how our communities can have a real impact on the world. Get ready to be inspired!
Brian Teeman
The power of free
Brian has never been slow to express an opinion, thanks to his background in community activism. As co-founder of Joomla!, he has seen the power of community and software freedom and believes that only by working together can we ‘repair the world’.
Brian has been contributing to, and advocating for, free software for over 20 years and is a regular speaker at tech and non-tech events across the world.
Ines van Essen
Bringing people to WordCamps
Ines has been active in the world of WordPress since 2011, first as a developer and later as a support engineer. She has given talks at WordCamps around the world, helping developers to understand the importance of support and documentation.
Ines is also the lead volunteer at DonateWC, an initiative that helps diversify WordCamp speaker pools by providing financial aid to speakers who are unable to afford travel.
Marcel Bootsman
Why I walked more than 700 km to Berlin and survived
Marcel is the owner of Nostromo, a specialised WordPress company that offers maintenance, development, and consulting. He is active in the WordPress community as a WordCamp organiser, forum moderator, and translation editor.
When he’s not looking at a screen, he enjoys walking (go figure!), riding a mountain bike, and playing tennis.
Mary Job
How a diverse Nigerian WordPress Community was born
Mary is a writer and the founder at How Do You Tech, which documents correct answers to ‘how do you’ questions in tech. She teaches ICT and mentors at Uwani Hub, a foundation for teaching women and girls to use computer technologies to empower themselves, and believes that anyone can blog and everyone should.
Mary volunteers for the Lagos and Ijebu WordPress Community in Nigeria, and is the lead organiser for WordCamp Lagos 2019.
Ronnie Burt
Democratising education
Ronnie is Chief Business Officer at Incsub, the company behind WPMU DEV, CampusPress, and Edublogs.
He’s a former educator, a math nerd, and a wannabe musician.
Sebastiaan van der Lans
From WordPress to blockchain: The future is 100% open source
Sebastiaan is an open-source fanatic who loves to explain complex technology in plain English. His WordPress agency, Van Ons – founded in 2006, 25 developers, and based in Amsterdam – works on large-scale WordPress websites for publishers, television, and charities.
Since 2013, he has been researching the intersection between WordPress and blockchain, aiming for an inclusive, fair, and 100% open-source future! Sebastiaan’s motto is inspired by Walt Disney: Celebrate progress, tomorrow is just a dream away.