Introducing WPCampus Speaker: Dwayne McDaniel

Dwayne McDaniel will be joining us at WPCampus 2017 to share how Every project is a story: Applying storytelling to your client interactions. You can see him in action on Friday, July 14 at 9:30 a.m.

Tell us about your first website or digital project. What was the spark for you?

I had gone to school for computer science and have build a lot of little sites over the years, but it was not until I build a calendar for the improv community in San Francisco that I fell in love with open source web development. It was shortly after I launched that project that I discovered my current role at Pantheon.

Why higher education?

I really believe that WordPress (and other FOSS projects) really are democratizing publishing. Getting this tech into the hands of students is key to next generation of a a free and open internet.

Tell us about the topic of your session. Why is it important to you?

Storytelling is critical to understanding other people. I have long been fascinated by this topic and when I uncovered the directly applicable connections between storytelling and project and process management it was a game changer for me. I am very excited to share this knowledge with the world.

Who do you follow on Twitter?

I follow pretty much every human who follows me and a handful of businesses I think are interesting. Some folks I follow make me question things from time to time, like one of my favorite webcomic artists, Zack Weinersmith.

Others I follow because they are super down to earth and just generally cool people I have met on my journey, like Dan Ficker. He is from the midwest, like me, and reminds me of life outside the bubble of San Francisco, putting a friendly face to the rest of the US.

Then, of course, there are the folks I follow because they are genuinely the most supportive and amazing people in the whole wide world like Bridget Willard. Her positivity, general belief in the community and encouragement to keep doing the right thing are downright inspirational. Having super positive and awesome people in your Twitter stream is a really important, especially with all the bad news that seeps in. To that end, I also follow Adam Warner. He is one of those very uplifting people who I have had the pleasure of meeting thanks to WordPress.

Why do you ♥️ WPCampus?

What is not to love? In 2016, I was able to attend the first WPCampus event and it was amazing. From the hallway conversations, where folks in the same boat got to share their tales from the trenches, to the unforgettable party with karaoke, every bit of it was memorable. Every single person I have met because of WPCampus has been great and any community that has that much positive energy is something to

If someone designed a wapuu for you, what would it look like?

It would have a beard and a mic and look as close to my gravatar as you could fashion.

What WordPress, or other, tool can you not live without?

Slack! This has changed the way I think about online communication in a way nothing has since IRC. Pretty close second is Twitter.