Interview with WCSTL Speaker: Matt Christensen


Next in our speaker interview series is Matt Christensen. He’ll be speaking about AMP, or Google Accelerated Mobile Pages, in his talk Get AMP’d. Here’s a little about him.

Interview with Matt Christensen

NILE FLORES: When did you start using WordPress?

MATT CHRISTENSEN: 2004. I was building my own CMS for my personal blog when I came across WordPress.

NILE FLORES: What are a few takeaways that attendees will get from your talk?

MATT CHRISTENSEN: Attendees will get an overview of the Google AMP project and why if they haven’t taken a look they should. How it can help mobile readiness of their sites. Also, how to apply AMP to their site. What plugins are available or how to integrate it into custom themes and plugins.

NILE FLORES: WordPress is turning 15 years old. What would you like to see in the future for WordPress?

MATT CHRISTENSEN: I’m eager to see how the API continues to grow. I like the idea of a detached admin and frontend that can be created because of the API. I also really want to see Gutenberg mature and become core ready.

NILE FLORES: “And just for funsies”, over the past few years, the WordPress community has seen the rise of the cute Wapuu character? Heard of it? And if so, what’s your favorite Wapuu? (Wapuu Reference: https://wapu.us/ )

MATT CHRISTENSEN: I have heard of it. I think they are great. If I have to pick a favorite it would either be Dev Wapuu or Remote Working Wapuu.

NILE FLORES: What is your favorite area of the WordPress admin?

MATT CHRISTENSEN: Honestly my favorite area is the dashboard. I like getting a quick glimpse of the things that are important to me.

NILE FLORES: What are the top three WordPress plugins that you believe every WordPress user should have installed?

MATT CHRISTENSEN:

  • Contact Form 7
  • BackWPup
  • Yoast SEO

Don’t miss out on Matt’s talk on AMP. Get your WordCamp St. Louis ticket today!