{"id":1107,"date":"2016-08-24T09:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T16:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2016.la.wordcamp.org\/?p=1107"},"modified":"2016-08-23T20:20:16","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T03:20:16","slug":"speaker-interview-jerret-farmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/la.wordcamp.org\/2016\/speaker-interview-jerret-farmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Speaker Jerret Farmer & Dummy Mike Puppet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Get to know Jerret Farmer<\/a>, an individual with an eclectic employment history and a passion for WordPress.<\/p>\n

\"Farmer-wclax16\"<\/p>\n

Jerret has\u00a0been employed as a Producer, Project Manager, Software Architect, Programmer, 2D\/3D Production Artist, Art Director, and Lead Technical Artist. He’s\u00a0worked for Image Comics: Top Cow, Activision, and FOX studios. He has worked on licensed properties for Marvel, Universal, and Warner Brothers studios.<\/p>\n

Currently, Jerret works as the Manager of Digital Innovations at CauseForce, overseeing\u00a0the creation and maintenance of their main websites and multiple WordPress blogs.<\/p>\n

\n

I prefaced our interview by letting Jerrett know of my relative\u00a0ignorance to the practice and art of ventriloquism.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, the good news is that we have that in common. Part of what makes the bit work is that I\u2019m not a ventriloquist. I know how that sounds. You are correct in stating that these presentations tend to be on the dry side and I wanted to do something that really engaged the audience right up front and get them involved with the whole of the presentation.<\/p>\n

My first swing at the bat was at WP OC and that worked really well. I only used the puppet at the very first and once I warmed up the audience I got into putting up a site. This time I\u2019ve shaken off a bit of the fear and doubt of trying it and will do a lot more with the act.<\/p>\n

Speaking without moving your lips and switching voices on the fly takes a lot of practice and relaxation. I don\u2019t have a lot of time and public speaking is very scary so I think most of the humor comes from how bad I am at it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What should we know about you that you haven\u2019t included in your brief, third-person, professional biography?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am in the witness protection program.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Introduce us to your dummy. Name, gender, hobbies, anything we should know that isn\u2019t obvious?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mike Puppet. He really, really likes Elvis. But that will probably be obvious.<\/p>\n

\"Mike

Mike Puppet<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

How did you get started and involved with ventriloquism?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once I have started, I\u2019ll let you know.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What made you decide to put together a WordPress related presentation utilizing a dummy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a suggestion from a co-worker. I really wasn\u2019t sure if he was joking, but I thought it was a great way to engage an audience. That and Mr. Puppet insisted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a few words, and without giving away the big secret of your presentation, what\u2019s one mistake you and Mike Puppet\u00a0can help WordPress newcomers avoid?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Always put on security and backup software first. Not even a dummy runs a site without protection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What security and backup software, if any, would you recommend beginners install before getting started?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always install iThemes Security Pro and their backup software Backup Buddy. Those are the two first products I install.<\/p>\n

\n

Jerret Farmer\u00a0and Mike Puppet will be at WordCamp Los Angeles in the\u00a0WordPress by a Dummy<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get to know Jerret Farmer, an individual with an eclectic employment history and a passion for WordPress. Jerret has\u00a0been employed as a Producer, Project Manager, Software Architect, Programmer, 2D\/3D Production Artist, Art Director, and Lead Technical Artist. He’s\u00a0worked for Image … Continue reading Meet Speaker Jerret Farmer & Dummy Mike Puppet<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11536871,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[259194],"tags":[947132],"class_list":["post-1107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-speaker-interviews","tag-jerret-farmer"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p78Wxo-hR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/la.wordcamp.org\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/la.wordcamp.org\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/la.wordcamp.org\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/la.wordcamp.org\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11536871"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/la.wordcamp.org\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1107"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/la.wordcamp.org\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1291,"href":"https:\/\/la.wordcamp.org\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1107\/revisions\/1291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/la.wordcamp.org\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/la.wordcamp.org\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/la.wordcamp.org\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}