eduWEB Conference 2008 - Schedule Abstracts

Conference Program ... Abstracts: Topic Tables | Presentations

Monday, July 21st
9 am - noon Pre-conference Workshops (additional $150 per)
	Testing Your Redesigned Site by John Stapleton & Bill Hurlbrt, Paskill Stapleton & Lord	This workshop will discuss best practices in testing the site prototype and making the necessary adjustments. Questions to be addressed include: Who will you have test the site? How much time will you allot for them to test the site? What types of tests should you conduct? Who will conduct and evaluate the test results? What assessment metrics can you use to guide the testing, as well as future updates to your redesigned site?
	Join the Conversation: Social Media in Higher Ed by Mark Greenfield, University at Buffalo and Brad Ward, Office of Admissions, Butler University	The social web is here. Dialogue has replaced monologue. The conversation is the message. Communities dominate brands. It?s time to join the conversation.This workshop will provide an in depth look at how higher educational institutions can leverage the full power and potential of social media. In addition to examining the many advantages of social media and an analysis of the current tools available, case studies will be reviewed on a social site built for prospective students, and a niche social network created for higher education web professionals. Learn first hand the experiences that Mark and Brad have had in launching these successful social media sites and how this knowledge will help you in your social media efforts.
	Admissions Video 101: Using Online Video Effectively in Admissions Marketing by Darren Wacker, James Tower	The use of video on the Web continues to grow daily. Everyone from elementary school students to grandparents consume or create their own video content daily. Yet, college admissions departments have not capitalized on this growing development. This workshop will share strategies and examples that Admissions professionals can use to incorporate video into their online communications strategies while engaging students and their parents more effectively on the Web.
3 - 4:15 pm Opening Keynote Speaker	It's the End of the Web as We Know It Redux by Mark Greenfield, Dir. of Web Services, University at Buffalo	A seismic shift is underway. Exponential change will make tomorrow's technology unrecognizable. The mobile web is making always on -- always connected a reality. Prosumers are driving the move from Mass Media to My Media. The weapons of mass collaboration have laid the groundwork for the Participation Age. It's no longer about one-way communi-cation to an audience. It's about two-way conversation with a community. It's time to rethink a few things. Completely updated for 2008, this award winning presentation will focus on the (r)evolution of the web and the implications for higher education web professionals. A review of the latest trends will be followed by strategies on how to fully leverage the full potential of emerging technologies.
4:30 - 5:30 pm	Marketing:Fordham Law Case Study: Aligning Web Strategies with Content Management by Daniel Auld, Dir. of Technology, Communications and Academic Support, Fordham University and Christine Pierpoint, Principal and Senior Consultant, Welchman Consulting, LLC	In the last decade, the Web has become a primary information channel, and, thanks to sites like Amazon.com and Bank of America, Web users have a proclivity toward more interactive, utility-driven content. Colleges and universities are becoming increasingly aware that a standard 'brochure-ware' site does not have the same impact in today's competitive market. An effective Web strategy must account for dynamic content and contextualized user experience. At the same time, limited staff makes it difficult for university Web teams to keep up with content demands. Fordham Law School recognized the need to leverage the Web to engage audiences and developed a comprehensive Web strategy to address the growing need for dynamic Web content. As part of this strategy, the team sought to implement a content management system (CMS). The new software was needed to facilitate the creation and re-purposing of content across the school's Web presence, but with more than 1,500 Content Management Systems (CMS) available in the marketplace, finding the right one presented a challenge. In this presentation, we discuss how the Web team evaluated content management requirements for the school and ultimately selected a CMS solution to best meet their needs. Learning objectives:--Learn a practical approach for conducting a CMS product selection--Walk away with a framework for thinking about content management issues in your organization--Understand the major differences between CMS product categories and how they may affect your purchase decision --Gain insights into valuable CMS lessons learned by the Fordham Law School team.
	Development:Put Your Web Site to the Test! by Michelle Mierzwa and Matt Dempster, Datatel.com	How can you tell if all that hard work you put into your new web site actually works for your users? Watch them use it! In this session, you will hear the benefits of user-testing, and learn how to create and conduct an effective usability test. Topics include: perfecting your scenarios, how to recruit participants, and tips on how to analyze your data. You'll be amazed at how much you'll learn from your users in one short test!
	Marketing:You Have Faculty Using Technology to Market? ... Are You Kidding Me? by Dr. Greg WIlliams, Clinical Assisant Professor and Director,UMBC	Is enrollment important at your institution? If someone showed you how they increased enrollment in a graduate program by nearly 50% in three years, would you be interested? If so, attend this session and learn how one faculty member at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's (UMBC) Master's in Instructional Systems Development, did exactly that. This session will explore UMBC's success with innovative approaches involving faculty that use technology such as Google's Ads Words, Apple's iTunes University and selected multi-media) to expand enrollment in applied professional program that really works! Peter Drucker, the late management theorist, once said that "The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous". That is the approach to the strategy that was developed and successfully implemented at UMBC. There are no quick fixes to increase enrollment, but this is an approach that has proved to work. Learn how to tap into faculty's unique role to increase enrollment, not by traditional advertising and selling, but by using technology combined with a sound marketing approach to create relationships from inquiries to alumni. See how the importance of developing relationships with perspective students, current students, alumni, employers, advisory boards, and internal audiences, help to increase enrollment.This session will discuss a comprehensive approach to expanding enrollment using technology that can be replicated or adapted at any institution. Discover how applying some basic adult learning concepts, such as learner engagement, motivation, meaningful experiences, and relevant content, not only apply to effective teaching and learning, but to enrollment growth too.
Tuesday, July 22
7:30 -8:30 am ... Continental Breakfast: Topic Tables & Social Breakfast Creating an Identity with your Blog, by Ellen Taricani, Penn State By the Numbers: Deciphering Analytics for Website Improvements, by Jeff Cram, Managing Director & Web Strategist, iSite Design Overcoming Data Silos to Enhance Relationship Marketing, by Todd Gibby, CEO, Intelliworks The Shocking Truth They Don't Want Us to Tell You: You Don't Need An Agency to Succeed by Damien Navarro, Principal/VP Business Development, and Brian Harris, VP, Enterprise Accounts and Alliances, Earth Bound Media Group Vendor Free: Open Source Solutions by Nick Shontz, Developer/Systems Analyst, University of Montana A Microsite + Local Search = Increased Applicants by Abu Noaman, CEO, Elliance Online Communities: Adding Value, Protecting Your Brand by Desiree Ugo, VP, Client Services, YourMembership.com Less is More: Web Copy & Higher Ed Web Sites by Ron Bronson, Web & New Media Manager, Knox College Spend Time on Strategy and You'll Thank Yourself Later by James Runkle, Director of Strategy and Account Management, and Mike Graham, Creative Director, Second Melody LLC Your CMS Implementation Can Be a Success by Tonya Price, Director, Marketing and Web Operations, Worcester Polytechnic Institute From Dull Edge to Cutting Edge by Amy Stevens, Web Communications Manager, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Writing for your Blog: The "Interactive Classroom" by Merry Bruns, Content Strategist & Web Writing Instructor
8:30 -9:30 am
	Marketing: Branding in the Wild Wild Web (part 1) by Ms. Aika Joshi, Director, Marketing & Community Relations, and Shashi Naidu, Web Technician, Evergreen Valley College	Branding in the Wild Wild Web is a 2-part presentation. Part 1, "Branding is Not Just For Cows," covers how we developed our brand strategy at Evergreen Valley College and rolled it out into all areas of communication, with web presence being the last stronghold and why. We'll also make a case for why we feel marketing should manage the web function at higher ed institutions to save time, money and elevate their brand awareness. We'll share how we strive to update and refresh pages without losing the brand presence we've worked hard to create. Part 2, "The Quickest Rollout In The Wild Wild Web," covers how we were able to turn the institution around in 3 months to embrace a new web presence and overcome resistance. We'll share our strategy for creating buy-in of a new brand and graphic look while giving faculty, staff and administration ownership of their pages. We'll also cover specifics such as how to find free events calendars, callout buttons and more so you can do more with a small web budget! We'll also discuss what the future holds for our site. Please go to http://www.evc.edu to peek at the website I'm referring to. If you could see where we started, you, too, would think it was a miracle!Although I've indicated an Intermediate level as the target for this presentation, the presentation can be understood and appreciated by Beginner, Advanced and Intermediate levels. This is a one-size fits all presentation because the concepts of branding and marketing are basic tools for everyone to perfect.
	Development: Conceptualizing a University's Approach to High Quality in Technology Enhanced Learning by Mark Schoefield, Dean of Teaching and Learning, Edge Hill University, UK	This presentation is a reflection upon the genesis of a conceptual model for 'intelligentdeployment' of technologies to enhance students' learning. It developed from acreative epiphany stimulated by a 'model' used to support the teaching of a range ofgenres of writing to school children, which focuses on the importance of teachingabout alignment of the form of writing for its particular purpose and audience.Explanation is given of how this has been elaborated and refined as a dialogic toolfor planning for 'intelligent deployment of technologies' in one of the UK's Centres of Excellence in Teaching and Learning. The SOLSTICE Centre has a particular focuson learning technologies. The SOLSTICE 'intelligence informed dialogue' concept, which is derived from the above is shared and exemplified through the notion of 'NewAcademic Teamwork' grounded in trans-disciplinary, multi-professional pedagogicdesign approaches. The paper concludes with insights into how the SOLSTICE-Purpose, Audience and Form- model has been used to creatively stimulate discussionand definition of trans-disciplinary research with potential to engage multipleinternational partners.The SOLSTICE (CETL) approach involves an 'intelligence-informed dialogue' aimed at enhancing learning by the deployment of technologies. The dialogue is characteristically: Between members of New Academic Teams??Constructively aligned (Learning-Teaching-Assessment-Evaluation, Research; after Biggs (2003)??Bespoke Tailored? with alignment of Purpose (P = Learning foci) with Audience (A = Learner Foci) to determine the Form (F= Technology Deployment) for design for learning. (This organising algorithm P + A ⇌ F is the mechanism for focusing dialogue for design and research in all SOLSTICE activities. (See Schofield et al, 2005)?Related to notions of active learning and pedagogies related to dialogue and construction of knowledge ?Informed by, and generative of, research and scholarship across the P, A and F dimensions?Enhancement and dissemination focused ?Informed by teaching and learning approaches which utilise higher order cognitive processing approaches and language interactions.The presentation will include reflections on implementation of the approaches above and will engage participants in discussion of their own experiences of succeses in matching gechnologies to learning purposes successfully and unsuccessfully. They will undertake an exercise to appraise the extent of alignment of purpose, audience and form in their own contexts and/or analyse misaligned approaches as a way of processing the algorithm. Participants will be asked to reflect upon the SOSTICE approach and its potential transferability to thier own unique contexts.
	Development: Circling Over Enrollment: The E- Expectations of Helicopter Parents by Stephanie Geyer, Assoc. VP for E-Communications and Web Strategy, Noel-Levitz	he rise of the Web and e-recruitment has made it easier than ever for parents to get involved in the enrollment decisions of their children. These "helicopter parents" make their presence felt in the college selection process, financial aid packages, residential accommodations, class registration, and other decisions. How can campuses better prepare for and meet the needs of these parents?This session will reveal data from a new nationwide survey of parents and families of college-bound students. The presenter will discuss what these family members look at on college Web sites, what they want to see on these sites, what forms they fill out, and much more. Attendees will learn how they can create Web content that appeals to this crucial enrollment audience.
9:45 - 10:45 am	Marketing: How to Accelerate Your Search Marketing Campaigns in Education by Jennifer Brady, UMass and Dave Reske, NowSpeed.com	Accelerate Search Marketing Program Results by Leveraging the Latest Analytic, Creative and Social Media Marketing Techniques This session will provide practical tips, proven methodologies and best practice examples of implementing an effective search marketing campaign. You?ll come away with practical strategies in pay-per-click search marketing and search engine optimization to drive high-quality leads to your organization at the lowest possible cost. Using real example from UMassOnline's search engine marketing campaign: -- Get more out of your paid search and search engine optimization dollars. -- Integrate search marketing and social media marketing into a single, cohesive strategy. --Use metrics to continually refine and improve upon lead generation initiatives.
	Development: Head in the Cloud: On-demand solutions for processing, storage and content delivery needs by Mike Richwalsky, Asst. Dir. of Public Affairs, Josh Tysiachney, Web Communications Coordinator, Allegheny College	On campuses across the country, both IT budgets and resources are shrinking. One of the scarcest resources may be bandwidth-everyone wants more of it, but it's expensive. This makes it a challenge to deliver content to multiple audiences, especially web 2.0 content like video. If it's slow, you risk alienating the constituents who ultimately provide revenue for your institution-including students, alumni and prospective students and their parents. We web developers are expected to deliver more with less, especially in this burgeoning age of web video. If the video that cost your institution thousands of dollars to produce downloads at dial-up speeds, you'll see your visitors leave in drastic numbers.What's an overworked web pro to do? Look to the cloud.On-demand services like cloud computing, storage, and content delivery have become near commodities in their pricing and scalability, and implementing them may be easier than you think. It's a win for you, it's a win for your institution, and it can take a significant load off of your already stressed IT resources.We've been using the 'cloud' at Allegheny College for nearly a year. This presentation will showcase our implementation of this exciting technology, focusing especially on Amazon's Web Services offerings.
	Marketing: Buzz, Brands & Babes: Finding Out How Your School's REALLY Being Portrayed Online ... and what to do about it by Sean Carton, Chief Strategy Officer, idFive	User-created media sites such as CollegeHumor.com, Ratemyprofessor.com, and even Facebook can have a huge impact on how your brand's perceived online. If you don't believe it, give it a try: go to one of these sites and search for your school. But be warned...what you find may not be safe for work!So how can you influence your brand online when so much of what's said on the web is out of your control? This talk will examine how "buzz" is built online, how viral media can explode without warning, and how al ittle understanding about how social media works can help you have a huge impact with your brand.
10:45 - 11:15 am	Networking with the Exhibitors
11:15 - 12:15 pm	Marketing: Recruiting 2.1: An Update on the Revolution in Student Recruiting by Brian Niles, CEO, TargetX	This session is an update on Brian Niles' 2006 introduction of the Recruiting 2.0 Revolution -- a fundamental change in the way students learn about colleges, requiring a revolutionary change in the way colleges communicate with prospects. The goal of this session is to help web developers and marketers understand the needs and challenges that admissions offices are facing in recruiting today's prospective students -- who are web-centric, marketing-averse, demand instant gratification and thrive on making and maintaining online connections. Recent research highlighting these characteristics and suggestions on how you can take advantage of the revolution will be a significant part of this lively discussion.
	Development: Bring more to your front page without the clutter. Utilizing AJAX to bring content in on the fly. by Richard Orelup, Programming Czar, Valpariso University	When designing our current athletics website, it became very clear that every sport wanted to have it's information on the frontpage easily accessible by all. End users (the fanatics) only wanted to see the sports they cared about. We achieved a great balance by using AJAX to bring in lots of information after the page had loaded. This gave the end user only what they wanted without having a huge load time but allowed every sport to be accessed from the main page. In this presentation I will go through what design obstacles we went through to reach our end goal. I will also go through the technical obstacles encountered through our CMS and how we structured our data to get around this.
	Development: Open Source Update: The Progress of Reason, an open-source CMS for higher-ed by Matt Ryan, Assoc. Dir. of Web Communications and Development, Carleton College	Reason is an open-source content management system developed at Carleton College. Since it was introduced to EduWeb in 2007, Reason has had over 3,000 downloads, won "best poster" at HighEdWeb, built a small but growing community of schools adopting and developing it, and has gone from a beta project to being readied for an official release. In this session, its developers will demonstrate some of Reason's standout new features, chart the progress of Reason in the past 12 months, share their insights on what to look for in a CMS, and talk about the challenges and rewards of building a content management system that fits the needs of a higher ed institution.
2 - 3 pm	Marketing: Puzzling Over Web Analytics? by Carmella Manges, Director of E-Marketing, St. Edwards University	St. Edward's University has been using web analytics and e-mail metrics since 2005 to measure the success of online promotional campaigns, recruiting efforts, e-mails, e-newsletter performance, online event registration and other initiatives. Metrics and benchmarking via web analytics has become a best practice for the university and plays a key role in measuring marketing ROI.At this session, you'll learn what motivates St. Edward's University to use web analytics and how we apply these techniques not just to measure success, but to inform planning efforts even when the numbers reveal an unhappy story. Hear our case study about how web analytics was used to reinvigorate an unproductive online advertising campaign (Admission Ad Billboards) that first went awry in 2006 and then recovered beyond expectations. Now the online Billboards are one of our key tactics to drive web traffic to admission applications.Topics that will be covered: ? How does St. Edward's apply web analytics to its programs?? Why and what should you measure?? Key terms and resources you need to know.? Do web analytics and e-mail metrics intersect?? How to use web analytics to measure success of the print channel.? Understand web analytics through an actual case study; putting the pieces together.
	Development: Power to the People by John Nunemaker, Senior Web Developer, University of Notre Dame	One of the most time consuming tasks in higher ed web development is maintenance. It starts off simple, but each site you create adds more and more to your list of never ending maintenance items. It can even take your group over, to the point that you are constantly in a reactive state, waiting for the next maintenance item, rather than looking forward for new opportunities.What I'm going to talk about is how we addressed these issues at Notre Dame by building a custom website management tool. We gave power to the content owners to update their content but kept aesthetic in the hands of the designers and developers who originally created the site. Also, I'll cover some other ideas we have implemented to lighten the load and help our group focus on the future.
	Marketing: High Tech & High Touch - Integrating Web & Print Using Variable Print Technology by Dr. Cam Cruickshank, VP for Enrollment Management, and Matthew Allison, Webmaster, Tiffin University	The presenters will describe how Ivy Bridge College of Tiffin University utilizes its various strategies to generate web traffic, capture data from the web, process and clean the captured data, and finally convert the cleaned data into high quality print on demand pieces.
3:15 - 4:15 pm	Marketing: High School Students Tell All: What they really think about how we use the Web in College Recruitment by Pamela Kiecker, Ph.D., Head of Research and Issue Analysis, and Bill Royall, President, Royall & Company	This session will present the results of a national survey of high school students conducted especially for the 2008 eduWeb Conference. What are the most effective web applications for college recruitment? How do students view information provided on institutional websites, blogs, and message boards? Are online communities more credible sources of peer-to-peer information about colleges than institutional websites? What type of information do students need to receive from university-affiliated "authorities" rather than friends in their online social network? The session will highlight findings and provide guidelines for recruitment and enrollment strategies using a variety of web-based tools.
	Development: Surviving a Website Redesign by Inas Hamam, Assoc. Dir. of Communications, American University, Egypt	Handing over of web site responsibility to our unit- Need to restructure/redesign site- Putting together comprehensive strategy- Initial design / navigation wire frames- user testing- design- building new CMS- migrating content- launch of new site- training university community to update own pages and edit content (ongoing).
	Development: Producing our Catalog with our Web CMS by Anne Macdonald, Managing Associate Director for Web Services, Suffolk University	We are in the process of setting up our catalog in our RedDot web content management system to produce the full cycle of the catalog online. We have our current catalog in production and have taken the text files and created a navigation structure for the cataglog that represents the table of contents from the print catalog. Once this set up we will publish this web version of our catalog to the web site. We will then work with this edition of the catalog to set up workflow and authorization packages for the catalog that indicate which area of the University has rights to edit individual areas or pages of the catalog. We will then develop a training manual based on just this area of the web site. From there we will train users in how to use the content management system to edit the pages. The Registrar's Office will monitor the content editing and review process. We will import the Course Descriptions for each program from our Student Information System into our Web Content Management system. Once the final files are ready, we will extract the text for the pages, using XML, to a text file and move the text in MIcrosoft Word for formatting for the print version of the catalog. Once the print version is delivered, we will publish out the new catalog to our web site.The print version will be moved into a PDF or other digital file for output on a CD.Once all is complete, we will begin the cycle again. We estimate this will save us approximately $20,000 a year in outside production costs by using an internal system we already own.
4:30 - 5:30 pm	Marketing: Blogs: The Many Voices of a University by Heidi Cool, Senior Web Designer/ Webmaster, Case Western Reserve University	Whether marketing to prospective students, engaging the community in campus life or reaching out to alumni, our mission requires us to distribute a wide range of information that will allow our various audiences to connect with our colleges and universities. Such information could include features of our academic programs, the impact of research, faculty scholarship, student achievements, campus activities, event announcements, etc. Through the use of campus blogs we can build on this informational foundation by letting the members of our community share their own thoughts and viewpoints with the world. By giving voice to these individuals we present an inside look into their experiences, activities and intellectual pursuits. At Case Western Reserve University we have made blogs available to all members of the campus community including students, faculty, staff and alumni. Staff members use these blogs to share information, to teach and to provide customer service tools online. Faculty use them to share both their personal ideas and as classroom tools to engage students in online discussions. Students may blog about their overseas experiences, their athletic activities or classroom assignments while alumni may discuss their careers or political beliefs. This presentation will provide examples of the various ways individuals at Case, and other schools, are using blogs and how these individual voices come together to present a richer portrait of university life.
	Development: Information Architecture in Higher Education by Dimitri Glazkov, Software Engineer, Estrada	Let's admit it: "Information Architecture" is a highly overused and misused term. All we know is that most frequently, it refers to ";that thinking, of which we sure wish we did more before starting to redesign our site". In this session, we'll cover some of the most important points of planning and development process that leads to timely deployment of successful Web sites. Rather than re-hashing the "Polar Bear Book" (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596000359), we'll look at the practical applications of the process, optimizations and ways of staying within reality-based resource and time constraints. As part of this presentation, I will also reveal a few battle-tested (yet novel to the wider audience) IA techniques that are more fit for the chaotic and quirky higher education microcosm.
	Marketing: The Admission Lifecycle and Mass Notification: A multichannel enrollment management model by Chris Ferguson, Director of Admissions, Wilmington University	See how Wilmington University's Admissions Office utilizes a multi-channel marketing strategy to increase yields along the Admission Lifecycle. With the seamless integration of diverse technologies (including a private social network), mass notification and face-to-face communications, future students are more likely to move through the lifecycle, strengthening an institutions incoming class.
Wednesday, July 23
7:30 -8:30 am ... Continental Breakfast: Topic Tables & Social Breakfast Don't Contact Us! Empowering Users to Create Online Forms, by Nathan White, Web Application Developer, Carleton College Everything We Knew About Web Redesign was Wrong by Jaye Lawrence, Director of Web Communications & Development, Carleton College Top Ten Search Marketing Mistakes Made by Universities by Abu Noaman, CEO, Elliance Streamlining Online and Print Catalog Publishing using a CMS by Eric Palmer, Director of Web Services, University of Richmond Capturing Innovation: Turning Point Clickers as Revealed in TUCAPTURE by David R. Feeney, Director of Digital Education, Fox School of Business, and Gail Gallo, Training Director, Computer Services, Temple University Microformats, why would I use them? by Jesse Rogers, Member of Special Projects Group, University of Waterloo Branding in the Wild Wild Web (part 2) by Ms. Alka Joshi, Director, Marketing and Community Relations, Evergreen Valley College Instant Connection. Limitless Results. by Todd Mason, CEO of Mason Media Group Blogability: What Does it Take to Make it in the Blogging World? by Karen Buck, Director of Cross Media Strategy, Zehno E-Mail Marketing for Higher Education by Kyle James, Webmaster, Wofford College The Current State of Web Design in Higher-Ed and Your Website by Stewart Foss, Founder, eduStyle.net Engaging the Social Networking Generation: How to Talk to Today's College-Bound Juniors and Seniors by Jennifer Ringler, Higher Education Business Consultant, James Tower
8:30 - 9:30 am	Marketing: Listening to Our Users: How Imperial College London used 'mental models' to guide their redesign by Pamela Michael, Head of Communications Projects, Imperial College (London) & David Poteet, President, New City Media	This session will give the audience an overview of the website information architecture and redesign project recently undertaken by Imperial College London with New City Media. Covering the methodology and approach the project team took, we'll detail the 'mental model' audience research techniques and testing processes that gave the redesign its direction. We'll also share how we communicated about the project to the College community. Delegates at this session will pick up tips and techniques they can apply on their websites to improve the user experience.
	Development: Keys to Effective Website Management: An Organizational and Editorial Overview by Sarah Stanek, University Writer/Editor Santa Clara University, and Melissa Eckel, Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont College	University Web sites are especially large and, unlike more rigidly controlled corporate sites, require contributions from people who may not be technologically prepared to become Web site administrators. With budget constraints, hiring specialists is unreasonable for most schools. The best use of Web resources is training Web site administrators to manage, edit, and organize content.Organization is the key task; even the most inexperienced Web administrator is most likely a Web consumer and can learn to apply the knowledge that they gain from using Web site to building them. Simple exercises in navigation, hierarchy, and categorization can help them make the connection between being a Web user and a Web creator.Content creation, though it may seem to be the most challenging part, is less about writing than clarity. Writers and non-writers can learn to create simple, direct Web content, which is a different skill than writing other memos, press releases, or marketing briefs. Regular updates and revisions are critical to healthy, user friendly Web sites. While many content updates can be planned and revisions scheduled based on predictable events, maintenance requires a more responsive Web site administrator who can also incorporate feedback from users. Requests from university administration and changing Web standards must also be considered in their proper contexts.This presentation is ideal for Web managers or Webmasters who deal with decentralized or inexperienced Web personnel or content creators. The tools presented will lean heavily toward successful methods of teaching best Web practices.
	Marketing: Bringing Web Services, Marketing Communications and the University "Customer" Together to Launch 50 Web Sites in Six Months by Rachel Beanland, Dir. of Communications, Matthew Levy, Coordinator of Technology Operations, and Phillip Gravely, Editorial Manager, School of Arts & Sciences, University of Richmond	In the summer of 2007, the University of Richmond's School of Arts & Sciences prepared to convert 50 departmental and programmatic Web sites into a new content management system. With a small team and just a few months to complete the project, the job looked daunting. Working together with the university's web services and marketing communications departments, the School of Arts & Sciences' goal was to create a network of sites that targeted prospective and current students, spoke in a common voice and allowed departments to tell their own unique stories while cross-promoting stories and news that touched other academic areas. Today, the School of Arts & Sciences' new Web site sees nearly 1.5 million page views per year and the numbers are growing. From completing a site audit to designing a common navigation structure to developing meaningful ways to tell the "real" stories, the team shares the trials and tribulations of undergoing a massive Web site conversion from multiple points of view: web services, marketing communications and the university "customer," the School of Arts & Sciences. Topics will include: managing change (both at the departmental level and at the university level), creating and sticking to a realistic but compressed timeline, coordinating personnel and decision-making processes, designing appropriate information architecture, writing and reworking Web copy, coordinating the content migration, practicing good design and integrating new media.
9:45-10:45 am	Marketing: Skool Pool: A Facebook application for students & schools by Melissa Cheater, e-Strategy Consultant & Phil Bliss, Technology Director, Academica Group	In October 2007, Academica Group launched a Facebook application for prospective students called SkoolPool. Our annual survey of 50,000 applicants shows that 87% of prospectives find the opinion of friends influential when evaluating colleges and universities. The concept behind SkoolPool is to allow students to do this via their Facebook networks. The SkoolPool launch revealed interesting comparisons between using traditional online advertising (Banner ads, Search engine optimization) and social strategies such as word-of-mouth and viral.
	Development: ??? by Greg Cangialosi, CEO, Blue Sky Factory
	Development: You Can't Please Everyone, but give it a try anyway by Mary Beth Kurilko, Director of Web Communications, Temple University	The overhaul of the Temple University website this past March was informed by various types of user testing: virtual focus groups, online surveys and informal meetings campus groups. Interpreting the data was the biggest challenge; how much weight to give to each type of feedback? What does it all really mean? We'll discuss how the most expensive type of user testing doesn't necessarily yield the most substantial results. We'll also cover how to make sense of the data to design a highly usable, functional and attractive site.
11 am - Noon	Marketing: Using New Media Channels to Acquire Students by Ron Hendricks, Chief Innovation Officer, DataMark	Every institution has goals to attract the right student at the lowest possible cost. Traditional channels are still being used to accomplish student goals but in the next five years, new media channels will see a growth explosion. According to Forrester Research, video advertising spending will double 14 times over the next five years to a whopping $7.2 billion. Social/professional networking, blogging, and mobile networking will also see similar jumps in ad spending as marketers seek to take advantage of new media channels that target interactively networked communities with distinctly different attributes and benefits than traditional media. Marketers who understand and embrace new media during this growth stage will realize great return the learning they invest today about this exciting new marketing growth opportunity.
	Development: How to Embed Video on Your Website by Lance Merker, CEO, OmniUpdate	This presentation will show attendees how to take video from virtually any media source and in a few simple steps convert those multiple sources into one easy to use Flash source. As a result, utilizing video on the campus website is simplified for both back-end implementers and incoming site visitors. A demonstration of this process will be given and the benefits discussed. The Q&A portion of the presentation will allow attendees to ask questions specific to their website development issues.
	Marketing: Hundreds of Websites. Countless Insights. by Brenda Foster, Partner, GCF and Katie Pugh, Account Manager, GCF	Harvard. Yale. Princeton: the names of the most prestigious schools in the nation speak for themselves, but how well do their websites match up to their reputations? Since 2000, GCF has surveyed 100 college websites each year to track trends and determine best practices. This year we used a different list of colleges, the US News & World Report's "Lowest Acceptance Rates" college listing from 2007. This seminar will provide the results of the survey and explore whether or not these schools demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate their marketing messages online. The resulting data will show what schools should strive for when creating and/or updating their websites. Benefits of Participating: - Review the results of GCF's eight-year survey of 100 college websites. - Learn which elements, from design to technology, are most important and which colleges are using them to their advantage. - Discover what?s in and what?s out in navigation and design. - Compare your college website to the national survey. - Examine 8 years of data specific to college and university websites and their use among college students. - Consider what to do and what not to do on your site . -Learn how innovation affects the way students perceive the value of an institution.
Noon - 1 pm Closing Keynote	It's the community, stupid ... 7-step plan to raise and nurture any community online by Karine Joly, Web/New Media Evangelist, CollegeWebEditor.com Blogs, wikis, podcasts, videocasts, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more have made their ways in higher education. Whether you work in admissions, communications, marketing, PR, student services, advancement, alumni associations, web services or information technology, it's impossible to ignore this fireworks of new technologies. It's easy to get blindsided. It's difficult to see that it's really not about the technology, but the community. While we can't predict today what the next Facebook or YouTube will be, we can get ready for the online communities of tomorrow. It might take a village to raise a child, but what does it take to jump start and nurture a thriving online community? A bit of luck, a lot of work and my 7-step plan.
End of Conference
Post-Conference Workshops (additional cost: $150 per)
2 - 5 pm	Direct Mail & Online Giving - A Partnership that Works by David Hazeltine, Founder & CEO, YellowFin and Blake Groves, Senior eCRM Consultant, Convio, Inc.	The Internet should be an integral part of any organization's fundraising and marketing strategy. And online response to direct mail appeals result in higher average gifts -- not to mention the new e-mail addresses it captures. This session will help development, alumni relations and other higher ed fundraisers understand best practices and campaigns used to combine online and direct mail initiatives. This session will be interactive, with alternating presentation and audience involvement.