In 2004, a nutrition company offered a life-changing opportunity to earn a full-time income for part-time work. There were only two steps to get started: purchase a $500 kit and recruit two more members. By 2013, the company was making $200 million. There was just one problem -- the vast majority of members earned less than they paid in. Stacie Bosley explains what a pyramid scheme is and how to spot one. [Directed by Wooden Plane Productions, narrated by Bethany Cutmore-Scott, music by Matthew Reid].

Visual artist Helen Marriage stages astonishing, large-scale public art events that expand the boundaries of what's possible. In this visual tour of her work, she tells the story of three cities she transformed into playgrounds of the imagination -- picture London with a giant mechanical elephant marching through it -- and shows what happens when people stop to marvel and experience a moment together.

Every minute, 20 people are newly displaced by climate change, economic crisis and political instability, according to the UNHCR. How can we help them overcome the barriers to starting new lives? TED Resident Muhammed Idris is leading a team of technologists, researchers and refugees to develop Atar, the first-ever AI-powered virtual advocate that guides displaced people through resettlement, helping restore their rights and dignity. "Getting access to the right resources and information can be the difference between life and death," Idris says.

In the 13th century, Genghis Khan embarked on a mission to take over Eurasia, swiftly conquering countries and drawing them into his empire. But, legend has it that there was one obstacle that even he couldn't overcome: a towering wall of ice, grown by locals across a mountain pass. M Jackson explores the ancient methods of growing glaciers and how they can be used to combat climate change. [Directed by Artrake Studio, narrated by Addison Anderson].

Every year worldwide, more than 50,000 otherwise healthy people with epilepsy suddenly die -- a condition known as SUDEP. These deaths may be largely preventable, says AI researcher Rosalind Picard. Learn how Picard helped develop a cutting-edge smartwatch that can detect epileptic seizures as they occur and alert nearby loved ones in time to help.

In this talk, we will look at what WordPress looks like as an Application Data Graph and how WPGraphQL enables a GraphQL API for WordPress and allows us to interact with the WordPress graph via GraphQL queries and mutations. In previous talks, (WordCamp US 2017, WordCamp for Publishers 2017, WordCamp Orange County 2017) I’ve talked a lot about the history of WordPress APIs and how GraphQL compares to them and helps solve some problems of using other APIs. This talk will focus less on the history of why WPGraphQL came to be and how it compares with other existing WP APIs, and focus more on how to use WPGraphQL, how to extend WPGraphQL to work for your site. We’ll start by looking at basic usage of WPGraphQL: querying posts, pages, terms, etc. Then we’ll explore some features of the query language such as variables, aliases, and field arguments. Then we’ll look at Mutations (creating, updating and deleting data) and we’ll discuss how WPGraphQL handles Authentication and Authorization, and other features like fragments. Throughout the talk we’ll look at the internals of WPGraphQL and how it goes from a request to the WordPress server to resolving data back to the client, and how it makes use of core WordPress technology to efficiently resolve data.

The internet is the single most effective information sharing tool in all of history. We can build on the work and progress of others in a completely unprecedented way. The implications for the progress of humanity are both serious and exciting! But it’s also in danger. Find out why I think open systems and the open web will steer our future or how the lack of them will ruin it.

Do you know that if you have a picture of a duck having it face left or right can increase your conversions by 40%? Think this sounds silly? It is but backed by research. Spend some time to learn about what a/b testing is, what things to test, testing methodology and the best tools to use for your site. Everyone will get a handout of the very same checklist I use when A/B testing our client’s sites. One of our clients, an insurance company, increased leads by making just a small 2px change. When you launch a website, you are guessing. Sure the guesses are educated based on experience and data, but you can maximize your ROI with good A/B testing.

This talk will cover everything you need to know in order to create a plugin to start using on your own site. You won’t need to have any prior PHP or other coding knowledge to walk away with something you can use right away.

Imposter Syndrome affects minorities and Women in Tech at a much higher rate than in other professions. Dashon Hawkins and Sheila Hoffman will share their own experience on this important topic.