Conferences

It’s “submit-your-proposal” season in higher ed with a few call for proposals recently launched or closing soon.

If you’ve never presented at a conference, why not try this year?

It would be nice to see new faces (nothing wrong with the regulars, of course) and hear new perspectives.

I’ve compiled a list of the top 5 speaking venues you should consider along with a few details (deadline, direct link to call for proposal online forms, etc.)

1. eduWeb Conference – Chicago, IL (July 26-28, 2010)
   Deadline: March 19, 2010
   You can submit a proposal for 4 different tracks via an online form.
2. Canadian Post-Secondary Web Conference – Brock University, ON (May 26-28, 2010)
   Deadline: I can’t find a deadline on the website, but don’t delay too much: it’s in May.
   You can submit a proposal for a presentation or a workshop via an online form.
3. High Ed Web Conference – Cincinnati, OH (October 10-13, 2010)
   Deadline: I can’t find a deadline on the website – maybe it’s a new trend ;-) April 1st, 2010 (no kidding – thanks to Colleen who let us know by posting a comment)
   You can submit a proposal for a presentation, a workshop or a poster session via an online form.
4. 2010 Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education – San Diego , CA (Nov 7-10, 2010)
   Deadline: April 9, 2010
   You can submit a written or a video proposal for a presentation/paper via an online form.
5. Higher Ed Experts Webinars – online all year long.
   Deadline: on-going
   Got an idea for a webinar or a webinar series? Just send me a short note via email at karine@higheredexperts.com so we can connect and talk about it.

Have I forgotten another good option? Let us know by posting a comment!

You might not know it, but I maintain a Google calendar of higher ed events and conferences where I keep track of anything interesting for web and marketing teams.

It’s a useful tool, but here’s a selection of the most interesting ones (as well as a recap of upcoming HEE webinars ;-) including highlights deadlines for registration, call for proposals and other interesting information like registration fees.

• Web Redesign Bootcamp -3-Webinar Series – February 16-18, 2010
  What you need to know before jumping into a redesign project
  This webinar series will feature 3 great higher ed web redesign experts: Stewart Foss (eduStyle), Ben Riseling (Duke University) and Chas Grundy (The University of Notre Dame).
  HEE Members: $350 per connection (HEE membership is open and free to people working in institutions)
  Register online by February 8, 2010 at www.higheredexperts.com/redesignbootcamp.
• 2010 CUPRAP Annual Spring Professional Development Conference – March 10-12, 2010
  Mainly targeted to the higher ed PR and communications professionals of Pennsylvania, this conference takes place at the Hershey Hotel in Hershey, PA.
  Member: $250; Nonmember: $315; Student $65
• Analytics 360 3-Webinar Series – March 10-11, 2010
  How to track and measure (and show to your boss) the ROI of your marketing initiatives
  This webinar series will feature 2 great higher ed analytics experts: Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis, both from Penn State.
  HEE Members: $350 per connection (HEE membership is open and free to people working in institutions)
  Register online by March 1st at www.higheredexperts.com/analytics360.
• CASE Conference for Media Relations Professionals – March 18-19, 2010 in Washington, DC
  Members $580, Nonmember: $825
  Register online
• CASE Editors Forum – March 24-26, 2010 in Boston, MA
  Members $760, Nonmember: $1060
  Register online
• Open Source CMS Fair 3-Webinar Series – April 13-15, 2010
  Why Drupal, WordPress/MU or DotCMS could be your next Web CMS
  This webinar series will feature 3 great higher ed professionals: Shelley Keith (SAU), Michael Fienen (Pittsburg University) and Blyth Morrell (Duke University).
  HEE Members: $350 per connection (HEE membership is open and free to people working in institutions)
  Register online by April 5 at www.higheredexperts.com/cmsfair.
• CASE Social Media & Community Conference – April 14-16, 2010 in Chicago, IL
  Members $690, Nonmember: $975
  Register online
• EduComm 2010 – June 7-9, 2010 in Las Vegas, NV
  Organized by the magazine University Business, this conference has 5 different tracks including Social Media/Web Innovation and Marketing Your Institution with Digital Media. This year, I’m a presenter with a session titled “Measure Twice, Cut Once: 7-Step Plan to Your Measurement Strategy for Digital Marketing.” Brad Ward and Mike Richwalsky will also present at this conference.
  Early Bird: $495 for Members, $695 for others Advance: $545 for Members, $745 for others
  Register online by April 23 for the early bird pricing.
• EduWeb 2010 – July 26-28, 2010 in Chicago, IL
  This year, the opening keynote will be given by Terry Flannery, Executive Director for University Communications and Marketing at American University.
  You can submit your proposal before March 19.
  Early Bird: $595, Regular: $695
  Register online by June 21st to get the early bird pricing.
• HighEdWeb Conference – October 10-13, 2010, in Cincinnati, OH
  The call for proposal isn’t open yet and no information about conference fee and registration is available now is open.
  Early Bird: $525, Regular: $650
  Registration will open online on March 15, 2010

Have I missed any good conferences?
Please let us know by posting a comment.

I love conferences.

Unfortunately, I can’t go to all of them – especially when they take place in Europe. So do most of you, I bet.

That’s why I really enjoyed watching earlier this morning the live stream of the keynote given by Professor Derek Law (University of Strathclyde) at the IWMW 2009 conference held until July 30 at the University of Essex in the UK: Headlights on Dark Roads

IWMW is THE web conference in the UK.

The organizers have done a great job at integrating social media and video streaming to offer a great experience to remote attendees. All the plenary talks are offered live from the website of the University of Essex. You can even ask a question – as I did this morning – by tweeting it to @briankelly

Twitter / karinejoly: Question: Clay Shirky states that we are not faced with information overload but with filter failure. How can we fix the filters? #iwmw2009

Starting tomorrow (July 29) at 9AM ET, Higher Ed Experts will also offer the FREE webinar versions of 2 sessions presented at this conference that were pre-recorded a couple of weeks ago:

Just check out www.higheredexperts.com/iwmw2009 to find out how to access these recordings.

IWMW 2009 Webinar Series: Higher Ed Experts

As you probably know if you’ve been reading this blog for a bit, I maintain a Google calendar of higher ed events and conferences where I keep track of anything interesting for web and marketing teams.

It’s a useful tool, but sometimes a good old post does the trick as well – especially when it highlights deadlines for registration, call for proposals and other interesting information like registration fees.

• 2009 CUPRAP Annual Spring Professional Development Conference – March 11-13, 2009
  Mainly targeted to the higher ed PR and communications professionals of Pennsylvania, this conference takes place in the Hershey (yes, like the chocolates) Hotel in Hershey, PA. I’ve been invited to present the first part of a workshop about online communities on March 11. Mike Richwalsky from Allegheny College will present the second part of this workshop.
  Member: $250; Nonmember: $315; Student $65
• CASE Annual Conference for Media Relations Professionals – March 19-20, 2009 in Atlanta, GA
  Members $565, Nonmember: $800
  Register online
• Analytics 360 3-Webinar Series – March 24-26, 2009
  How to track and measure (and show to your boss) the ROI of your online initiatives
  This webinar series will feature 3 great higher ed analytics experts: Shelby Thayer, Joshua Ellis (both from Penn State) and Karlyn Morissette (Dartmouth College)
  HEE Members: $300 per connection (HEE membership is open and free to people working in institutions)
  Register online by March 16 at www.higheredexperts.com/analytics360.
• CASE Communications, Marketing and Technology Conference – April 15-16, 2009 in Boston, MA
  Members $670, Nonmember: $935
  Register online



• Web Redesign Bootcamp (On A Dime Edition) 3-Webinar Series – April 21-23, 2009
  What you need to know before jumping into a redesign project
  This webinar series will feature 3 great higher ed web redesign experts: Stewart Foss (eduStyle), Tonya Price (WPI) and Nick DeNardis (WSU and EDU Checkup).
  HEE Members: $300 per connection (HEE membership is open and free to people working in institutions)
  Register online by April 9 at

www.higheredexperts.com/webredesign.

• Writing Right for the Web 2-Webinar Series – May 5-6, 2009
  How to get better at Web writing
  This webinar series will feature 2 great higher ed web writers and teachers: Mary Beth Kurilko (Philadelphia University and former Temple University) and Tim Nekritz (SUNY Oswego).
  HEE Members: $240 per connection (HEE membership is open and free to people working in institutions)
  Register online by April 27 at www.higheredexperts.com/writingright.
• EduComm 2009 – June 16-18, 2009 in Orlando, FL
  Organized by the magazine University Business, this conference will also cover cloud computing, sustainability, social networking, best business practices, etc.
  Early Bird: $495 Advanced: $545 On-Site: $595
  Register online by April 24 for the early bird pricing. I have a discount code of 10% off the registration fee for you if you plan to go, email karine@collegewebeditor.com to get it.
• Stop the Presses 3-Webinar Series – July 7-9, 2009
  This webinar series will feature 3 online magazine editors who went digital or even paperless with their publications: John Lofy (University of Michigan), Bonny Griffith (Ithaca College) and Karl Bates (Duke University).
  HEE Members: $300 per connection (HEE membership is open and free to people working in institutions)
  Register online by June 29 at www.higheredexperts.com/stopthepresses.



• EduWeb 2009 – July 20-22, 2009 in Chicago, IL
  This year, the opening keynote is Dimitri Glazkov from Google. Dimitri used to work for a higher ed CMS vendor and is an excellent speaker. He will talk about the next big thing. There’s also a new track this year “Get it Done” managed by Karlyn Morissette and Matt Herzberger. You can still submit your proposal before March 20.
  Early Bird: $550, Regular: $650
  Register online by June 8 to get the early bird pricing.
• HighEdWeb Conference – October 4-7, 2009, in Milwaukee, WI
  The call for proposal isn’t open yet is open as of March 6, 2009.
  Anticipated Early Bird: $500
  You’ll be able to register online starting May 1st, 2009
• AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education – November 15-18, 2009 in Boston, MA
  The call for paper is open until April 3, 2009. If your proposal get accepted, you’ll get one free registration.

Have I missed any good conferences?
Please let us know by posting a comment.

This is the second installment of my new series dedicated to vendor deals and other bargains to help you survive and thrive with tighter budgets.

After the first installment about a very interesting offer to send up to 10,000 email per month for free for institutions with non-profit status, this time we’re talking about a discount on a conference fee for the next Xpert Summit taking place in Las Vegas next month.

Organized by Brian Niles’ Target X for their clients – mainly folks working in admissions offices or in charge of marketing/communications to prospective students, this conference is open to others, but for a $200 fee.

Brian and his team are regulars on the conference circuit and are always providing great value (without too much pitching in their presentations). So, when Adrienne Bartlett, Client Concierge at TargetX, emailed me with this offer, she got my attention.

What’s the deal?

If you’re looking to get some practical tips on email, social media or college visits, to network with some of your peers and can find a good deal on hotel & travel, you can attend this year’s Xpert Summit for free even if you’re not a client. That’s a $200 saving.

What does the fine print say?

Be prepared to listen to some sessions including some product information – hey, it’s a user conference after all.

Want to have a look at the schedule and the different sessions?
Just download this PDF file.

How do you get started?

If you’re interested and want to sign up without paying the $200 conference fee for non-clients, just email Adrienne and to get the fee waived let her know you’re a collegewebeditor.com reader.

Here are the slides and links for this workshop I gave on November 16, 2008 at the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education

Workshop Slides

Workshop Links

All the links
Blogs examples
Interesting articles

UPDATE: after my workshop, I was invited by Tom Williams from Innogage to answer a few questions live on Ustream. Tom decided to cover the conference by broadcasting some live videos with speakers over his Ustream channel every day – There were a few people asking questions via chat and the session was recorded. I’m addressing a few points about blogging and you can also see what a 4-hour long workshop can do a speaker ;-)

Live TV : Ustream

Just a quick post as I’m packing this morning for the AMA Symposium for Higher Education.

Karlyn Morissette and I will be live blogging/twittering as much as we can from the conference. We haven’t agreed on a hastag for Twitter yet, so feel free to follow me and I’ll make sure I let you know how to follow all the action from the conference attendees (although I’m not sure how active this crowd is going to be on Twitter).

While I’m scheduled to present a workshop about blogging tomorrow afternoon, Karlyn will give a presentation on integrated email marketing on Monday morning.

Her session promises to be a very interesting and useful, but if you’re not going to the conference, you can still register for Email Marketing 360 as Karlyn will present the first webinar and Carmella Manges has prepared a great presentation about email analytics and measurement for the second.

Besides the twittering and the blogging, I also plan to interview some of the attendees (more than 600 people will be at the conference) for my upcoming University Business column to be published earlier next year.

If you’ve read the news lately, you know that the economy isn’t very promising, some have already started to make adjustments and I’d like to find out how the higher ed marketing/communication community is coping with the bad economy.

Can’t make it to the conference, but have good tips, great ideas or strong opinion about the topic? Post a comment or email karine@collegewebeditor.com to get a chance to be featured in this article.

If you are at the conference, don’t be shy and come say hello, I look forward to meeting new faces.

For the past few days I’ve been busy wrapping up my presentation for the marathon 4-hour workshop I’ll give this Sunday at the AMA Symposium for Higher Education.

And, I can report that blogs aren’t dead or “so 2004″ as Paul Boutin would love his readers to believe after scanning his Wired article published on October 20, 2008:

Thinking about launching your own blog? Here’s some friendly advice: Don’t. And if you’ve already got one, pull the plug.
Writing a weblog today isn’t the bright idea it was four years ago.
[...]
And why bother? The time it takes to craft sharp, witty blog prose is better spent expressing yourself on Flickr, Facebook, or Twitter.

Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004

As higher ed blogger, Kyle James, noticed in a comment posted on higher ed blogger Andrew Careaga’s post about this essay, there’s something really fishy in this (link-bait?) article:

they are declaring the death of blogging… on a blog… by a blogger…

Paul Boutin is indeed a correspondent for the blog Valleywag.com, a gossip blog per Wikipedia definition.

But, enough with this rhetoric.

I’m sure you want proof that all this “blogs-are-alive” chatter isn’t a conspiracy developed by bloggers for bloggers. So, I did some investigative research for my AMA “Blogging Boot Camp” workshop and thought I’ll share the results with you, dear readers (anybody out there?)

In his Wired piece, Boutin tries to defend the point that Twitter, among other social media applications, has killed blogs.

Twitter — which limits each text-only post to 140 characters — is to 2008 what the blogosphere was to 2004. You’ll find Scoble, Calacanis, and most of their buddies from the golden age there. They claim it’s because Twitter operates even faster than the blogosphere. And Twitter posts can be searched instantly, without waiting for Google to index them.

You can also search the posts from this blog, collegewebeditor.com, instantly without waiting for Google to index them, but I’m not claiming yet that my blog’s internal search engine will bring more traffic than the big G.

Didn’t I say that I would stop with the rhetoric?

Sorry for that.
Now, let’s focus on hard cold facts:

How do Twitter and Blogs perform when it comes to Google rankings?

Just look at this story posted on Missouri S&T’s research blog, Visions, last month: Brain Powers for Power Grids.

Brain power for power grids – Visions

The blog post was announced on Missouri S&T Twitter account almost immediately:

A bit more than a month after the posting on the blog and Twitter, check out what pops up for a Google search on the topic.

No Twitter post in sight.

Don’t get me wrong.

Twitter is a great tool, but in a world where everybody googles blogs are still bringing amazing value with a bit more context than any 140-character would ever be able to do.

What do you think?

I’m currently wrapping up putting together my slides and handouts for the following 4-hour workshop I’ll give at the AMA Symposium for Higher Education on November 16, 2008:

Blogging Boot Camp: How to Start and Develop a Successful Blog

Since I would have never been asked to present this workshop without this blog, I thought it might be a good idea to invite your input about its content.

Hey, you’re the readers and some of you are also bloggers!

So, here are my questions to you:
Is there anything you’d like to know about blogging in a higher ed setting?
or, if you’re a blogger yourself, is there anything you wish you had known before starting your blog?

Please post your reply in the comments (I’ve finally added a subscribe-to-comments plugin, but haven’t had a chance to test it yet, so let me know if it doesn’t work)

After being away from this blog from some time – geez, almost 2 weeks, that’s what work can do to you sometimes – I’m back with a new edition of my “Catch-up Date with Karine” series.

Unless, you were leaving on an unconnected deserted island last week, you’ve probably heard about all the great things happening at the HighEdWeb conference in Springfield, MO last week.

Whether you could attend or not the conference, you should check out the following links pointing to the presentation slides made available by the HighEdWeb organizers:

Marketing, PR, etc.

• E-Cards: Using a Thoughful Tool to Communicate with Current and Future Students (PPT file) by Thomas Marrone (Southeast Missouri State University)
• A Day in the (Online) Life of a Humble News Release (PPT file) by Lori Packer (University of Rochester)
• Get a Clue: Shift Happens (PPT file) by Gordy Pace (The University of Montana)
• Feeding the Hand that Feeds You: Supporting Enrollment Efforts (PPT file) by Rob Liesland (Xavier University)
• Authenticity 101: Redefining College Marketing (PDF file) by Jeff Kalay (Target X)

Cool Web Thingies

• Web Accessibility: How Higher Education is Responding to the Need (PPT file) by Terry Thompson (University of Washington)
• Creating a College Web Style Guide: Principles, Processes, and Prototypes (ZIP file) by Jesse Racine (McHenry County College)
• Colors on the Web: Few Things, Great Results (Website) by Martha Carrer Cruz Gabriel (University Anhembi Morumbi)
• The Accessible Video Interface (ZIP file) by Gabriel McGovern (Portland Community College)
• Card Sorting: Research That Every Web Developer Should Use (PPT file) by Douglas Tschopp (Augustana College)
• Search Engine Optimization 2008: Beyond META Tags (PPT file) by Brian Smith (University at Albany)
• New Initiatives in Web Standards Education (PDF file) by Chris Mills (Opera Software ASA)
• Hello, Is Anyone Out There? Using Web Analytics to Understand Your Audience by Kyle James (Wofford College)
• View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: #heweb08 heweb08)

Projects (CMS, Redesign, etc.)

• Blogger + Jott = Crisis Communications (PPT file) by Paula Ganyard (University of Wisconsin – Green Bay)
• It Isn’t About the Feature Set: Selecting a Web Content Management System that Works for You (ZIP file) by Anthony Dunn (CSU, Chico)
• Our Pilot Adventure with Luminis IV Leading the Way (PPT file) by Sripriya Giridharan (Seton Hall University)
• Using Our Web CMS to Produce Academic Catalogs (PPT file) by Anne Macdonald (Suffolk University)
• Web Services for Web Services (PPT file) by Kevin Bischof (Xavier University)
• Designing a New User-Centric College Public Website: Lessons Learned (PPT file) by George Sackett (St. Louis Community College)
• Bedework Calendar Implementation Details (PDF file) by Cornelia Ann Bailey (University of Chicago)
• University-Wide Web CMS Implementation – Failure, Then Success (QuickTime Movie file) by James Buratti (Texas State University)
• Academic Alert System (PPT file) by Carla Bates (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
• Bold Fusion: Blending Our Marketing & IT Teams (PDF file) by Lee Staton (Indiana University Southeast)
• Migra(tio)n Headaches? (ZIP file) by Keith Slayden (Ithaca College)
• Wiki + Shared Drive + DocMgmt = Our Intranet (PDF file) by May Chang (University of Maryland)
• Getting Started with WordPress (Website) by Stephanie Leary (Texas A&M University Writing Center)
• A (pod) cast of hundreds (PPT file) by Steve Hodges (IUPUI)
• Webcasting (PPT file) by Joel Doepker (Ozarks Technical Community College)
• CRM Patterns, Puzzles & Prose: Bridging the gap for internal audiences (PPT file) by Paul Redfern (Gettysburg College)
• Identity Management: How and Why (PPT file) by Kirk M. Anne (SUNY Geneseo)
• CMS Success at Princeton University (ZIP file) by John Wagner (Princeton University)
• Vlogging Student Life Events (not as dirty as it sounds) (ZIP file) by Todd Sanders (UW-Green Bay)

Techies’ Corner

• Higher Ed on Rails (ZIP file) by Sven Aas (Mount Holyoke College)
• Cross-Site Scripting: What is it, and how can you protect your site from becoming a victim? (PPT file) by Paul Gilzow (University of Missouri)
• Why Microformats? (ZIP file) by Daniel M. Frommelt (University of Wisconsin – Platteville)
• Avoiding the JavaScript:void(‘’): Building Web Apps That Work Anywhere and Everywhere (PPT file) by Jason Pitoniak (Rochester Institute of Technology)
• Adding Interactive Content to Your Website Using JQuery (ZIP file) by Jaclyn Whitehorn (The University of Alabama)
• HTTP 201 – Or, What Happens When Your User-Agent Isn’t A Browser? (ZIP file) by Jason Woodward (Cornell University)
• Agile Web Development (PPT file) by C. Daniel Chase (University of Colorado)
• Test-driven Development for Web Applications (ZIP file) by Brett Bieber (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
• Driving a Hybrid: The Basics of Adobe AIR (ZIP file) by Christina Dulude (Duke University)

There was also some live blogging (and twittering) going on at the conference. Karlyn Morissette compiled most of the posts on the eduguru blog.