Volunteers for the Word Lounge at WordCamp Mumbai

(Post content contributed by Disha)

At WordCamp 2016, not only will you interact with bloggers, designers and developers, but also sharpen your writing skills at the Word Lounge. The Word Lounge is a place where writing workshops will take place along side the sessions that happen in the main auditorium.

This is a space where you can explore different aspects of writing. Word Lounge will be conducted by the members of Alphabet Sambar – an experimental writing project, that nurtures and supports writers.

RamyaRamya Pandyan is Chef de Cuisine at Alphabet Sambar. A Bombay girl by birth and spirit, she had a storied career in the corporate world before she struck out to make a new way in words. She works as a digital storyteller, and was Grand Poobah for the first edition of Word Lounge held in Pune.

Aditya BAditya Bidikar thinks in panels and pixels. This Puneri man of letters writes fantasy fiction and also letters comic books for a living. His project ‘Daily Fiction’ had him turning out one weird idea a day, disguised as flash fiction for a year. Aditya brings the sweet union of words and pictures to Word Lounge this year.

SwaminiSwamini Deshpande is an engaging presenter of the written word. She is known for theatrics in her performance, which keeps her audience hooked to every word. Approachable and grounded, you will be surprised at what this foodie can whip out and churn out; worthy of the literary Michelin star.

AnishAnish Vyavahare is a branding consultant, teacher, and a writer. This biker boy has a funny take on everything. When he is not busy sharing exciting anecdotes with his students, Anish likes to spend time trying his hand at cooking and reading poetry. His writings are characterised by slapstick wit and quick humour.

PuckPuck is an irrepressible bundle of pure and unadulterated energy hurtling towards you. She of the infectious laughter, awkward antics, and delusions of grandeur that would put Darth Vader to shame. When she isn’t getting bitten by mosquitoes or being attacked by furniture, she can be found bundled under a thick blanket, cackling away at the latest Wodehousian concoction.

AmeyaAmeya Sarda is an avid black coffee-fuelled sleep deflector. Having never quite grown out of the kindergarten behaviour of teasing the people he likes, Ameya now spends most of his time playing board games and procrastinating writing. A younger sibling ensured an uncanny ability to stave off blame. He can usually be found Feeling the Bern or sniggering at Laurie & Fry.

janviJanvi Mahnot refers to herself as a ‘chocolate dependent’ life form. She is a Liberal Arts student, so jack of all trades, master of none. Loves quiet cafes and not-so-quiet book stores. An aspiring librarian; she has already got the glasses. In her spare time, she gets eccentric photographs clicked of herself. She is also a professional to-do list maker.

FairyFairy Dharawat is not a tale, she is a storyteller. She is versatile as a writer. But can anybody beat her at writing comic performance pieces where she takes the onus of representing the witty nuances of having pets like cats, dogs and cockroaches? I don’t think so.

RajashreeRajashree Gandhi aka Raju wins you over with amusing pocket size poems which you have got to hear. Her poems are a delightful mix of wit and charm just like her personality. This chirpy gal with a curly crop is an enthusiastic writer, who loves to ramble on how absurd some of the daily prime time television shows can be. And we couldn’t agree more with her.

FebinFebin Mathew is an engineer by the day and a writer at all times. He takes precision to a whole new level with his critique. His writing flows like a breeze but at the same time, you will be left holding on to your seats, for you don’t know when the next twist will leave you wanting for more of his wit and genius.

DishaDisha Khemchandani’s writing always takes off in new and interesting directions. Her quill is moody but when aflutter, it paints fresh canvasses with beautiful dreams and words.

Her verse is the echo of the soul.

VarunVarun Garg is a mechanical engineer and a nutrition advisor by qualification, writer by profession and a poet by nature. He writes in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and English. Often his work captures nostalgia in its various forms and leaves the reader aching with a feeling for a home that was. He released his first book of poems titled ‘Visarjan’ at the World Book Fair, New Delhi in February 2014.

AditiAditi Maddali is currently pursuing freelance web related work in Mumbai. She is a city person and is interested in images, moving and still.

She is Alphabet Sambar’s official photographer for Word Lounge.

The Alphabet Sambar community spans fifteen cities and seven countries. Come say hello on Twitter or their Facebook group.

Email: AlphabetSambar[at]Gmail[dot]com

Unveiling the Word Lounge by Alphabet Sambar

WordLounge_WCMumbaiWriters, wordsmiths and spinners of yarns everywhere! Lend us your ears. For we present to you the 2016 edition of the Word Lounge! Replete with writing workshops, storytelling games, Twitter fiction, and many other adventures of the literary kind.

As you well know, writing is not just about stringing pretty words together, but it is about characters, dialogues, settings, story, genre etc. At the Word Lounge 2016, you will get to fine-tune these nuances.

Curious to know more? Read on.

Think you know your cinema? How about writing stories incorporating some of the most iconic dialogues in movie history? Better still, how about getting inside John’s head and getting him to do what you want, all to achieve your own nefarious goals. If being evil and manipulative is not your cup of tea (difficult as it is to believe), why not just relax with our fellow writers for a taste of some Alphabet Sambar?

We’ve all sung the wrong lyrics to a song. And in that moment when the terrible, traumatising truth dawns on us, we find ourselves standing our ground, adamantly protesting that our lyrics are better than the original (They fit better, for heaven’s sake!). Well, what if that could be true? Just this once? Come! Wield your pens and be delightfully wrong with us! The famous writer Oscar Wilde once said, “The heart was made to be broken.”

Let’s pick up the pieces in style at the Word Lounge. Tell us about the raised toilet seats. The missed appointments. The unpaid bills. The snoring. The nagging. The forgotten anniversaries. Tell it all!

And that is not the end of it. Here at the Word Lounge, you will learn about the jobs that aren’t out there, the jobs that only exist in a parallel universe.

Come visit us at the Word Lounge on 12th and 13th March! Wield your pen, flaunt your imagination, and awaken the writer within!

(Blogpost contributed by Disha)

Learn from Sakin Shrestha on approaches to WordPress theme development

While developing any theme, choosing the right approach can make or break your theme. Taking a particular approach that suits your theme development goals, will not only increase your chances of making a great theme, but also have a good time doing it.

At WordCamp Mumbai 2016, Sakin Shrestha will tell us more on taking these approaches to WordPress theme development.

About Sakin

Sakin has developed and reviewed themes since 2012. He has experimented with various approaches including starting from scratch, parent and child theme, using starter themes, or using a framework. He will shed light on when to use each of these approaches, drawing from his own experience.

Join this session if you want to get started with WordPress theme development, or are a developer looking to get some tips on choosing the right approach.

You can tweet him @sakinshrestha

Raghavendra will speak on WordPress accessibility features

raghavendraOne of main issues with making themes and product accessible on WordPress is a lack of discussion around it. It is a major topic that should be addressed at every WordCamps where designers and developers are present.

Raghavendra Satish Peri will cover the basics of accessibility & how designers & developers can leverage the tools out there to make their WordPress themes more accessible.

Raghavendra will tell his own story and will show a few demos.

About Raghavendra

Raghavendra brings more than 5yrs of experience to the table in the niche area of Digital Accessibility; has worked with various clients ranging from travel & hospitality, e-commerce, entertainment & media, banking & finance and more.

He currently works with Deque Software as Digital Accessibility Consultant.

When he is not busy with his day job He spends his free time blogging,
training for marathons, listening to audiobooks, traveling & attending
conferences/local meet-ups.

Currently he is focusing his energy on enabling the wider design & developer community in India to understand why digital accessibility & digital equality is important.

Ramya Pandyan on “The Community Manager – the future of a blogger”

At every WordCamp there are many bloggers who attend and wonder, what exactly is the future of blogging. One future that can be imaged is the role of a Community Manager.

The role of a community manager is not very clear at times. They are responsible for but not dictators of the communities they manage. There are all kinds of people issues that come up and questions of security, access, control etc.

Ramya Pandya (aka Ideasmithy) as a content creator, sees her communities as the people who read and engage often with her content, some of them content creators themselves. Hear her talk about how these communities collaborate merging communities or even new communities being created at WordCamp Mumbai.

Ramya has been a long time blogger. She battles obscurity, slays boredom and keeps a lot of people entertained with her stories about Mumbai, men, books and life at large. She blogs, tweets, Insta’s, FB’s, +G’s and Goodreads.

Tweet-bomb her at @ideasmithy.

A Rough Schedule for this WordCamp Mumbai

Over the past couple of weeks we have received a lot of questions about the timings for WordCamp and the schedule. The exact schedule is not decided as yet but here is a rough idea of things that will happen over the two days at WordCamp Mumbai.

Day 1 – Saturday, 12th March 2016

  • Registration & morning snacks – 9:00 am – 10:15  am
  • Speaker Sessions – 10.30 am to 1:00 pm
  • Lunch – 1:00 pm to 2.00 pm
  • Speaker Sessions – 2.00 pm to 4:00 pm
  • Tea and Snacks – 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm
  • Speaker Sessions – 4.30 pm to 5.30 pm

Day 2 – Sunday, 13th March 2016

  • Morning snacks – 9:00 am – 10:15  am
  • Speaker Sessions – 10:30 am to 1:000 pm
  • Lunch – 1:00pm to 2.00 pm
  • Speaker Sessions – 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
  • Tea and Snacks – 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm
  • Speaker Session – 4.00 pm to 5.00 pm
  • End Credits and Goodbyes – 5.00 pm to 5.30 pm

    These are the rough timings.

    The sessions will be grouped together according to context. So we will be splitting them as Developer, User, Community Building and Business related sessions.

A more complete format of each individual sessions and other extra activities will be published this week.

Buy WordCamp Tickets Offline in Mumbai, Nashik and Pune

desk-44077_1280Our tickets are selling well but a common complaint at times is that for some people buying a ticket online is difficult because they might not have a bank account or access to a credit card.

This is especially true with younger audiences and college going WordPress fans.

So we are introducing offline ticket sales! We have kept some tickets away which can be bought offline paying cash.

The price remains INR 500/- but there are three places you can buy these tickets this Saturday, February 27th 2016. Currently this is the only date we are making offline tickets available.

  • Mumbai WordPress Meetup10.30 am to 1.00 PM.
    Address: Starbucks Bandra-Kurla Complex
    Ground Floor, First International Financial Centre Building, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai
  • Pune WordPress Knowledge Exchange4.30 PM to 6.30 PM
    Address: rtCamp Solutions Pvt Ltd
    G-2/2, Liberty Phase-2, North Main Road, Koregaon Park, Pune
  • Nashik WordPress Meetup5.30 PM to 6.30 PM
    Address: MilesWeb Internet Services
    401 C-Wing, 4th Floor, Chandrakiran Park, Near Prakash Petrol Pump, Govind Nagar, Nashik

Don’t just attend these meetups to buy tickets but also get talking and ask your questions about what a WordCamp is, why you should attend one and more.

Also for folks who want to buy tickets online, visit https://2016.mumbai.wordcamp.org/tickets/.

We are working on announcing a rough schedule soon and you can also check out our list of speakers announced to decide on attending the event.

Big thanks to Harshad Mane and Saurabh Shukla along with local organisers of meetups in Nashik and Pune for making offline ticket sales happen.

Note: Offline tickets can only be purchased by paying cash. If you prefer using a card, use the online option.

Kshitij Patil will explain how to sell your web designing skills

Kshitij-patilWeb designing skills are easier to learn than to sell, is what one could say. A lot of people struggle to sell their skills. Learn from insights Kshitij will offer about how to sell your web designing skills in the Indian context.

Kshitij is a self made entrepreneur who started his journey by selling computer parts during the first year of his college for pocket money. From there he went on to form Zetabyte Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a Web Development Company along with his school mate. He has recently diversified into starting a News Media website kshitijpatil.com to provide daily content from multiple verticals.

Being a salesman at his core, he boasts that he can sell anything to anyone (as long as it’s legal, ofcourse).

You can tweet to him @thekshitijpatil

Learning about building Freemium plugins with Bryce Adams

bryce-adamsWhat is a Freemium plugin? How to go about building a Freemium plugin? Get key insights from Bryce Adams. He is in a great place to talk about this topic because he is working for Automattic on the biggest WooCommerce store in the world –WooThemes.com.

A nomadic coder, he has spoken about WordPress at several events, including WordCamp Europe, WordCamp Kansai & WordCamp Mumbai 2015 and WordCamp Nepal. He loves open source software, building useful products and interacting with the community! In his spare time, he’s either traveling the world and attending WordPress events or building small products that try to push the boundaries of everyday development.

That apart, Bryce is very approachable to have a chat with regarding all things WordPress. He spoke last year at Mumbai and is now travelling back to the big city, for yet another WordCamp.

You can follow him on Twitter @bryceadams.

WordCamp Mumbai Tickets are Live!

The tickets to WordCamp Mumbai 2016 are now LIVE!

The ticket price is INR 500/- only and is non-refundable. This ticket is valid for both days.

If you have applied as a speaker but have not been yet confirmed, do not worry, we will have tickets that you can purchase later.

Speakers who have already been confirmed along with sponsors will be sent their free tickets over the weekend.

You can book your tickets at https://2016.mumbai.wordcamp.org/tickets/

WordCamp Mumbai 2016 is over. Check out the next edition!