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10 sessions (and some) you should attend at #heweb10 from Oct 10-13 in Cincinnati

Karine Joly

One of the biggest events of the year for higher ed web professionals is just 6 days away. Can you believe it?

The High Ed Web Conference will open this Sunday in Cincinnati, OH and this year, I’ll be there to enjoy the great sessions, the conversations and the rest.
It’s been 3 years since my last High Ed Web (the last time it was held in Rochester, NY), but I’ve always loved to follow the conference over Twitter and through all the online chatter for the past few years.

I will present a poster session this time (it’s going to be my first ever) about the Higher Ed Analytics Revolution I’m trying to start. I will share some results of our monthly benchmarking survey and hopefully recruit more participants fort this industry-wide benchmarking initiative (it’s free to participate). If you want to learn more about it, definitely stop by Tuesday, October 12 between 3:30PM and 5PM.

Another big first for me this year is the fact that I’ve chosen to support the conference with my business checkbook (don’t believe me? Scroll all the way back on the conference’s homepage to see the little Higher Ed Experts logo).

My professional development business, Higher Ed Experts, will be the official sponsor of Steve Krug’s keynote. We are going to try to make him feel welcomed with a little project I’ve been working on with a few familiar faces of the higher ed web community. There will also be a chance for a lucky attendee to win a 12-month VIP webinar pass worth more than $2,500.

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten that my post title promised you a selection of must-attend #heweb10 sessions. I’ve combed and reviewed the schedule and compiled 3 lists: general goodness, sessions about mobile web and presentations about analytics.

10 must-attend #heweb10 sessions

Sunday, 1:00 – 4:30PM
WordPress 3.0 for [strikethrough]Fun and Profit[/strikethrough] the Sake of Your Sanity.
by Shelley Keith, Web Site Coordinator, Southern Arkansas University
This one is a pre-conference workshop. Shelley knows WordPress inside out and she is a great presenter (I’ve worked with her for my Open Source CMS Fair webinar series earlier this year).

Monday, 8:30-9:15AM
Guided by Voices: Why Institutions Need a Social Media Identity
by Jake Daniel, Director of Web Strategy, University of New Orleans
What I find interesting in this session is the fact that Jake will deal with the topic from two different institutional points of view. A lot has been said about social media strategy but maybe not as much about social media voice, that’s why I’m looking forward to attending this session.

Monday, 10:45AM – 11:30AM
Managing Projects in Web Development
by Daniel Frommelt, University World Wide Web Coordinator, University of Wisconsin – Platteville
I’m also looking forward to this session because I remember expressing my inerest about this topic for a webinar to Daniel last year when I saw one of his Facebook updates about a project management school paper he was working on. Anyway, I thought it would make a great presentation last year and can’t wait to see it next week.

Monday 11:45AM-12:30PM
CMSDK: Understanding the Building Blocks of the CMS
by Jason Woodward, Director of Administrative Computing, Cornell University
I’ve attended many presentations about CMS over the years, but I’m intrigued by Jason’s framework. It looks like the right approach.

Monday 4:15-5PM
Hold Up! WordPress Can Do That?!? GTFO!
by Mike Richwalsky, Director of Marketing Services, John Carroll University
and Jesse Lavery, Web Content Coordinator, Allegheny College
I’ve known Mike for ever and worked with him on several occasions at Higher Ed Experts. Mike is a great presenter and is currently working on cool projects with WordPress.

Monday 4:15-5PM
Web Content Best Practices to Share with Clients
by Kate Russell, Information Architect, AgencyND, Univ. of Notre Dame
I don’t know Kate, but she comes highly recommended by her boss, Chad Grundy. At the internal agency of Notre Dame University, she is the in-house information architect. There aren’t many around in higher education, which is why I think she should have a few good pro tips to share.

Tuesday, 8:30AM-9:15AM
10 Years In The Hole: A Possibly Cautionary Tale About Being A Higher Ed Web Geek
by Dylan Wilbanks, Web Producer, University of Washington School of Public Health
I know that taking care of web business in higher ed can be tough (I worked for an institution until 2007). Dylan’s session description looks a bit depressing, but quite interesting and to the point. I think it will make a great combo with Karlyn’s session just below.

Tuesday, 10:45-11:30AM
Confessions From a Wicked Vendor (or What I Learned in My First Year on the Other Side of Higher Ed)
by Karlyn Morissette, Director of Marketing Communications, Fire Engine RED
Karlyn has chosen the dark side of the force leaving higher ed for a vendor… In the description of her session, she promises to share a few very useful tips from that side of the fence. I worked on a couple of occasions with Karlyn for webinars and can confirm, if you don’t know that already, that she is a great presenter.

Tuesday 1:30-2:15PM
Dirty Secrets of Web Directors
by Chas Grundy, Director of Interactive Marketing, University of Notre Dame,
Nick DeNardis, Associate Director of Web Communications, Wayne State University
and Matt Herzberger, Director of Web Communications, Florida International University
Here again a great bunch of speakers with whom I worked at Higher Ed Experts (I always try to work with the best people around) for a panel that sounds really useful. Chas and Nick work more in an internal agency setting while Matt is the head of a centralized web office.

Tuesday, 2:45-3:30PM
Content Strategy: The Key to Effective Web Content
by Rick Allen, Manager, Web Content, Babson College
Web Content Strategy is going to become something big in higher education, because it has the potential to help with our content issues. Rick will tell you some and if you want to learn even more, you’ll get a chance to hear it from the source, Kristina Halvorson, who wrote the book about content strategy soon as she will present a master class for Higher Ed Experts.

About the mobile web

The mobile web is the hot topic of the day (and the year to come). That’s why I’ve put together this special “mobile” selection.

Sessions about Analytics

With budgets being tighter than ever, measurement isn’t (or at least should not be) optional anymore. Web analytics can help – that is if you know how to unleash its power.

So, here are my picks. What is the session YOU absolutely don’t want to miss?
Tell us by posting a comment!