Get To Know Kim Shivler

Kim Shivler, M.Ed. has worked as a writer, instructor, developer and serial entrepreneur for over 20 years. Her business experience includes computer network and database administration, technical training and writing, project management, web development, and work as an aesthetician and spa owner. She also worked for large corporations including Tivoli, an IBM company, where she was part of the worldwide technical sales and marketing team.

Kim learned HTML in 1995 building help files as a UNIX system administrator and opened her first web development company in 1996. Since then, Kim has worked as a business owner and employee in a variety of fields including a few years as part of an IBM worldwide team. Between 2008 and 2012, she worked with a variety of Content Management Systems and ran an online membership site for skincare professionals using Drupal. In 2012, Kim found WordPress and never looked back at any other CMS. She has been creating online courses in WordPress since 2013 and currently combines her background in education, years of business experience, and WordPress experience to teach others how to build online courses, their first WordPress site, and learning platforms.

As a writer, Kim has worked in a variety of fields including software documentation and instruction, manuals for aesthetic and medical devices, and general health articles.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Master of Education degree in secondary English education from the University of Florida.

We’re thrilled Kim will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2016 on Building A Learning Platform With WordPress!

Speaker Q&A With Kim

To help you learn even more about Kim, we asked her to answer a few questions for us, some WordPress-related, and some others we think you’ll appreciate 🙂 Be sure to give her a shout out on Twitter and don’t forget to use our hashtag #wcsac.

What inspired you to give this talk at WordCamp?

Online courses are hot which is cool, but also problematic. Whenever something becomes popular online, we see the flood of get-rich quick schemes surrounding it. As a teacher with a Masters Degree in Education and many years experience in both live and online training, the concept of “pop-up a crappy video and call it a course” breaks my heart. This doesn’t serve the business owner or their customer in the long-run.

There are fabulous opportunities for business owners and those developing sites for other businesses when it comes to online courses and learning platforms. I want to share the technical, business, and learner success pieces of why and how to configure these platforms. We’ll look at reality, not hype.

For those developing sites for others, the interest in online courses provides opportunity to offer additional packages and services. These folks may understand the technology pieces hands-down, but, what are the best options for building platforms that are learner focused. Also, if new to some of the plugins and configurations, understanding more about the complexity helps them understand better how to configure their price structure.

Entrepreneurs/business owners, both do-it-yourselfers and those who hire developers, may not know what’s technically available and frequently aren’t sure how to configure this to best serve their audience. Understanding more about learner focused platforms helps them better serve their audience, and understanding more about the complexity of configurations prepares them to better work with their development team, if applicable.

How did you discover WordPress?

I heard about it on a podcast. I have been developing in HTML since 1995. We were hand-coding help files for a UNIX network using VI (yep the text editor). In 2007, I started experimenting with Content Management Systems and used Drupal for several years. I ran a few membership and magazine sites on Drupal and then did some contract work helping another Developer and Project Manager create a Portal for his teams to track projects using a Scrum methodology.

During this time others started asking me for development work, and I wanted something easier for my non-techie companies to maintain. I heard about WordPress on a podcast, and in 2012 started using it and haven’t looked back since.

How has WordPress Or WordCamp impacted you?

My overall role in the world is as a teacher and encourager. WordPress allows me to support others including less technical entrepreneurs who want to create a website to share their vision with the world.

As for WordCamps, I love the community spirit of the events. It’s so much fun getting to meet people In Real Life who you know online. I love to speak at WordCamps because it’s a chance to share my knowledge and help other entrepreneurs find WordPress solutions. I have ongoing friendships with people I have met at my talks. WordCamps have also been a great chance for me to learn from others and collaborate on ideas surrounding WordPress.

How do you primarily work with WordPress?

I teach and coach people to build WordPress websites and online training courses and platforms using WordPress. On the WordPress intro side, my work is split between supporting entrepreneurs who had a site built and now want to blog and update it on their own and teaching those who want a side-hustle how to build a basic site for their own business. My online course training includes teaching how to create the content along with how to use Learning Management Systems and create learning platforms.

What does the WordCamp theme Discovery mean to you?

I am a true believer in life-long learning. If you aren’t growing, you’re dying – or possibly intellectually, dead already. To learn, you must discover. I search to discover new things daily. From how to accomplish something in WordPress, how increase business and make sales come easier for myself and my customers, to personal growth — I am always learning. New recipes for the kitchen are welcome discoveries. In supporting WordPress, I continue to discover challenges that my students have with plugins, themes, and sometimes core functionality. These discoveries allow me to share solutions and provide a never ending series of lessons.

What is the latest book you read?

Steal the Show by Michael Port (re-read) for nonfiction and A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay for fiction.

What is your favorite restaurant? Favorite menu item?

Red Ginger — California rolls with massago.

What TV series are you current binging on/into?

Aquarius.

What do you do for fun?

I love to cook and write about cooking and kitchen gadgets, plus enjoy spending time with my cats. I’m launching a series of cat stories, soon.