Only a few speakers left to feature in our Speaker Interview series. This interview was with Chris Carter.

Chris is a part of the St. Louis based full web design company called 314media. He’ll be presenting on Lessons from the 314 Team.

NILE FLORES: What got you interested in WordPress?

CHRIS CARTER: WordPress was the best CMS of the bunch when I first started this wild ride. It was easy for clients to learn and easy for me to build things on top of. It made the most sense – it tooks less time for me to make and show people how to use = more time for me to focus on new business.

NILE FLORES: What is the most interesting WordPress-related project you’ve worked on?

CHRIS CARTER: Anything that brings leads or new business to clients. I love hearing the tales of phones ringing about the new website. That’s my reason for doing this.

NILE FLORES: Name 3 WordPress plugins that have always been on your MUST install list, and why.

CHRIS CARTER: 1. Akismet – because spam comment notifications are no fun.

2. Custom CSS plugins – why create a child theme for 2 simple fixes?

3. Wordfence – watching bots attack things is fun (especially for those that have not seen this type of traffic before)!

NILE FLORES: What is something interesting about you that the WordPress community doesn’t know?

CHRIS CARTER: I’m a professional pyrotechnician & life long Cardinals fan. I may have closed a few support tickets high atop Busch Stadium (only during rain delays and the top half of innings).

NILE FLORES: In regards to new WordPress users, what one or two pieces of advice would you give them that could be very helpful?

CHRIS CARTER: Be as hands on as possible and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

The number of tutorials and information online is astounding – and it’s also amazing to me that there are a ton of ‘non-technical’ people who are great at using the platform.

At 314media, I routinely train administrative and other non-technical support staff to use WordPress – someone in one of your circles probably knows more about WordPress and would love to help you out (over coffee of course). Call me if you’re buying…

If you wish, you can leave comments or questions below, or catch Chris at WordCamp St. Louis 2015. Don’t miss out – purchase your ticket!