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Brian Richards

Event Producer at WPSessions

@rzen Grandville, MI joined Jun 2008

WPSessions.com github.com/brichards Slack: @rzen
    Teams Community Core Documentation

    Bio

    I am the creator of [WPSessions.com](http://wpsessions.com/) and began using WordPress in 2007. In 2011 I started leading and training development teams and really started to come alive. Through WPSessions, I’ve had the privilege of organizing dozens of WordPress events, producing more than 400 presentations and hosting speakers from all over the globe.

    Since discovering WordPress, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many amazing WordPress agencies and experts. These relationships have allowed me to help develop sites for Cornell University, Microsoft, Disney, TIME, YMCA, and numerous others. My real passion is for self-directed learning and helping others develop skills and workflows to better solve important and complicated problems.

    I can’t resist helping good people do great things!

    Interests

    Movies, Lego, Woodworking

    WordPress Origin Story

    In 2007, one of my roommates insisted “you should really try WordPress” after listening to me describe a problem I was having with a site I was developing. Shortly after dismissing him with, “I’m not trying to build a blog” I started to notice that many of the sites I was looking toward for inspiration had “Powered by WordPress” in their footers. I couldn’t get over the fact that they each looked radically different from one another and decided, entirely of my own volition I might add, to give WordPress a try!

    I installed WordPress 2.3 in November of 2007 and my career trajectory took an immediate turn. I’ve been hooked ever since!

    Badges

    CODE
    2 badges
    Core Contributor '15 Plugin Developer
    COMMUNITY
    4 badges
    B BuddyPress Contributor '19 Meetup Organizer '18 WordCamp Organizer '14 WordCamp Speaker '17

    Current Job

    Event Producer
    Present
    WPSessions

    Recent impact

    Score weights high-impact work (commits, releases, approved translations, props) at 3x routine activity.

    Last 30 days
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    Last 90 days
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    Last 12 months
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    Team focus

    Across 3 teams, with no team-attributable contributions in the last 365 days

    WordPress releases

    Contributed to 7 releases
    • 5.9
    • 5.1
    • 4.1
    • 4.0
    • 3.8
    • 3.7
    • 3.5

    Contributions

    Type
    February 2023
    Feb 14 Tue · 16:37
    Meta med
    Completed the course Part 2: Personalized Site Design with Full Site Editing and Theme Blocks on learn.wordpress.org
    November 2021
    Nov 07 Sun · 20:36
    Core high
    Mentioned in [52028] on WordPress SVN:
    Media: Add filter for post thumbnail id.
    July 2019
    Jul 28 Sun · 19:42
    Meta high
    Confirmed as a speaker for WordCamp US 2019
    January 2019
    Jan 10 Thu · 15:27
    Core high
    Mentioned in [44542] on WordPress SVN:
    Media: Introduce the `has_post_thumbnail` filter.
    August 2018
    Aug 29 Wed · 10:56
    Core med
    Reopened ticket #44859 on Core Trac:
    Add filter to has_post_thumbnail() to override default thumbnail use
    Aug 28 Tue · 20:48
    Core med
    Created ticket #44859 on Core Trac:
    Add filter to has_post_thumbnail() to override default thumbnail use
    June 2018
    Jun 25 Mon · 15:27
    Meta high
    Confirmed as a speaker for WordCamp Grand Rapids, MI, USA 2018
    May 2018
    May 14 Mon · 18:00
    Meta high
    Joined the organizing team for WordCamp Grand Rapids 2018
    March 2018
    Mar 27 Tue · 15:51
    Meta high
    Confirmed as a speaker for WordCamp Detroit, MI, USA 2018
    August 2017
    Aug 08 Tue · 17:17
    Meta high
    Joined the organizing team for WordCamp Grand Rapids, MI 2017

    Developer

    Contributor

    Completed Courses

    Total completed courses: 1

    • Part 2: Personalized Site Design and Theme Blocks* February 14, 2023
    • *Course is no longer available.