Speaking and Training

Lorelle VanFossen provides training programs and is a popular keynote speaker and workshop leader specializing in web publishing, WordPress, blogging, social media, analytics, and having your say on the web. A long-time leader in web technology and development, since 1994 she has provided training programs and consulting on multimedia web publishing, delighting audiences with her quick wit and hysterical approach to what could be a dry subject. Her passion and enthusiasm for helping people have their say is contagious, and your group would benefit from a “Lorelle encounter” as many groups will testify.

Charles McKeever – Open Source Marketer – on Lorelle VanFossen at WordCamp Dallas 2009:
“Damn it Jim. I’m a blogger not a star ship captain!” That should have been the tagline for the talk that Lorelle VanFossen gave at WordCamp Dallas 2009. Lorelle gave another information packed, personality driven, WordPress ninja performance when she took the stage and played a Star Trek laden video intro for her USS WordPress Tags and Tribbulations talk.

If you don’t know, Lorelle is the resident WordPress mascot blogger. Last year she gave a fantastic talk on power blogging. This year she showed us how important it is to categorize the posts in your blog.

Lorelle has been the keynote and program leader to more than 40 WordCamps around the world, popular annual WordPress regional and national events, since 2007. She was the keynote for the very first international WordCamp in Tel Aviv, Israel. In Portland, Oregon, she put on the WordPress Fairy Blog Mother persona to present WordCamp Portland: How WordPress Changes Lives in 2008, the first Portland WordPress event. She has “evangelized” WordPress and blogging in more than a dozen countries at WordCamps and WordPress meetups and special events.

Her training programs on web publishing and social web interaction and marketing include a wide range of businesses, associations, non-profits, and government agencies. A typical year finds her 5-7 months on the road with speaking and training sessions and book tours.

Mark Ghosh of Weblog Tools Collection says:
Be kind, educate.

I adore Lorelle. To me, she is the embodiment of our community in everything she does and in every action she performs. She is supportive and critical at the same time. She embraces and challenges in the same breath. She sticks her tongue out and throws her arms wide open all in one swoop. I believe what makes her approach so nice is that she is kind to the people that can enact change and she loves to teach other people to do the things she does so well. She is a WordPress enabler.

I wanna be like her. So I pledge to be as kind as I can be and I promise to educate everyone that cares to listen. While I am at it, I hope to learn a thing or two along the way. Will you help me do that?

In addition to more than 5,000 articles, podcasts, and interviews on WordPress, blogging, and web publishing, she is the author of the first book on blogging tips and techniques, Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging, and the popular, Social Media for Crafters: Covering the Basics of the Social Web, for artists and crafters.

She is a founding member of Successful Online Business Conference (SOBCon), the successful business conference held in Chicago and Portland, Oregon. She is also the official “disruptive thinker” for the Bitwire Media network of sites including WordCast, Making My Life Network, Stories of Our Journeys, Life on the Road, WordCast Conversations, and the very popular WordCast Podcast.

Presentation topic examples include:

WordPress-specific
- Tags and Categories: Understanding Website Organization and Structure
- Mind Blowing WordPress Plugins: Showcasing Plugin Development that Breaks Rules
- How WordPress Changes Lives: The Power of Putting Publishing in Your Hands
- Managing Multiple Authors in WordPress
- 260 Ways to Break WordPress: Encouraging Creative Thinking
- WordPress.com Versus WordPress.org: Which One To Choose?
- WordPress Power Blogging Tips
- User Experience: Creating a Powerful User Experience in WordPress
Web Publishing:
- Your Blog as a Business Card
- By the Numbers: Understanding the Basics of Web Analytics
- Integrating Social Media with Web Publishing
- Blog Clutter: Tackling the Garbage on Our Websites
- Web Accessibility: Meeting the US Federal Standards for 2012
- Understanding Web Accessibility and the Benefits to Your Business
- Podcasting: Making Your Passion Seen and Heard
- Podcasting from a Storyteller’s Perspective
- Photoblogging: The Art of Visual Expression
- The Ignored Footer: Putting Life Back Into Your Bottom Line
Web Writing:
- Kicking Ass Content Creation
- Speed Blogging: Getting Your Message Out There Fast
- Having Your Say Online: Tips, Techniques, and Don’ts
- Memoirs and Personal Blogs: How to Tell Your Story
- Web Writing: The Art of Conveying Your Message in the Online Social Web World
- Content Connections: How to Create Content that Builds a Community
- Blogging Your Passion: How to Share Your Natural Talents
- When Having Your Say is Your Passion
Online Business and User Experience:
- User Experience: Tracing the Customer Journey
- User Experience Versus Usability: Making Both Matter
- Community Building in the Era of the Social Web
- F2F: The New Way of Doing Business Online – Face to Face Virtually
- Creating an Online Persona

Charles McKeever – The Open Source Marketer says:
Lorelle is “The” WordPress evangelist. Her blog is a wealth of information and she continually works hard to make sure it offers real value all the time. She is fun and outgoing. She treats everyone she meets like they’ve been her best friend for years, and when you talk with Lorelle you feel like you’re the only person in the room. Lorelle is colorful without being crass, and engaging without being overbearing. She wears life like a favorite sweater with holes in the elbows and when she talks, you can hear all the places she’s been. She’s one of my favorite people.

Training programs include: