15 #heweb15 conference sessions to attend in Milwaukee on Oct 5-7, 2015

The High Ed Web Conference: The Paradox of Choice – Really

Whether or not you’re going to Milwaukee next week, you probably know that the #heweb conference – the annual conference of the higher ed web professionals – is almost upon us.

I love this conference: it’s a great place to take the pulse of our professional community, discover new ideas & new colleagues, make new friends — and have some fun in the process.

It’s a full-packed conference with fantastic sessions — and let’s be frank, sometimes too much goodness: it is really tough to choose among all these great sessions!

As Dr. Barry Schwartz explained in his book, “The Paradox of Choice” (see my 1-1-1 book review to get an idea), the more choices you have, the tougher it is to make a choice.

That’s why it’s always a good idea to prepare at home: look at the conference schedule and choose the sessions you don’t want to miss.

While I won’t make the trip to Milwaukee this year, I still went through this selection process, because it’s part of my job at Higher Ed Experts to know what’s out there.

I read all the session descriptions, made a first cut of 27 then a second of 15 sessions – the final selection I’m sharing with you below.

It’s the same process I used last week to create the program of the 3rd Higher Ed Social Media Conference with all the proposals I received (the program will be announced tomorrow)

Big disclaimer about Karine’s selection

There are many fantastic speakers (I admire and like very much) and great sessions that aren’t listed below (but you can find them all on the schedule including the 2 keynote speakers & the poster sessions).

I made this selection focusing on fresh topics, perspectives and voices.

This list is just a list – it’s not THE list, so if you’re not there feel free to add a comment to tell us all why we should attend YOUR session.

Monday Sessions

8:30 – 9:15 a.m.

Searching for Direction: Using a Search-Based Homepage to Direct Users
by Rob Liesland & Greg McMullen – Xavier University

In the spring of 2015 Xavier University moved to a search-based homepage, with the goal of more efficiently getting users to their desired content. We’ll review the basics of the implementation, how the data is managed, and, most importantly, what we have learned from the actual usage. Do the users even use the search? Does it consistently deliver the results they are looking for? Is this the future?

WHY ATTEND?
This is a very different take on the homepage that was tried a few years ago (Duke University comes to mind) and now it’s back. Definitely worth finding out if this is a big come-back.

Create a Batman, Not a Robin — How to Get the Most of Your Student Staff
by Kareem Rahaman – Ryerson University

We generally hire student staff for lower level tasks, along with positions that need student to student interactions to succeed. However, how many of us are hiring with the sole purpose of creating the best possible job candidate after graduation? I will go into the step-by-step plan and framework that goes into how I build my student staff program to churn out job-ready Batmans ready to take on Gotham.

WHY ATTEND?
Many seasoned digital professionals started as student workers, so the approach makes a lot of sense. Plus frameworks are cool, right?

9:30- 10:15 a.m.

Demystifying Responsive Email
by Peter Anglea – Bob Jones University

I won’t sugarcoat it. Creating responsive email isn’t easy. In fact it’s hard. Like, harder-than-coding-for-IE6 hard. But everyone is saying how valuable email marketing is. Furthermore, having responsive email designs is just as important as having as having a responsive website when you consider that more than 50 percent of emails are opened on a mobile device. Multiply that by the millions of emails your institution delivers annually,
and that adds up to a big problem. Or a big opportunity, depending on how you look at it. In this session, we’ll roll up our sleeves and cover the best practices in responsive email. Like responsive web design, mastering responsive emails involves changes in how we write, design, and code. It’s
a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

WHY ATTEND?
Email messages are massively read on mobile devices – they better look good. Peter knows responsive techniques. He was voted best of conference a few years ago for a session about responsive workflow.

10:45 – 11:30 a.m.

It Takes A Campus To Raise A (Web Professionals) Community
by Rachel Carden – The University of Alabama

Every year, you look forward to the big HighEdWeb conference. You count down the days until October and then, high on that wonderful feeling of community, networking, and professional development, you return to your campus, ready to kick-start all of your new ideas. But the fun doesn’t have to stop just because you left Milwaukee. Conferences are a wonderful outlet for igniting your creative and collaborative juices, but you don’t have to be limited by your budget, and one or two annual trips, to engage with — and find inspiration from — your peers. You can have your own mini-conference every month by starting your own web professionals community right on your own campus. In this presentation, Rachel Carden will share how she started a web professionals community at The University of Alabama that went from a ten-member group that met every couple months at the campus coffee shop to a seventy-plus member community that meets every month to hear from presenters and discuss topics ranging from social media to crisis communication. All with no budget. This year her community, WebTide, also hosted and organized the HighEdWeb Alabama regional conference. Rachel will share what she did right, what she did wrong, and what she learned along the way, as well as tips and resources to start your own community and to help it flourish.

WHY ATTEND?
I’ve seen many proposals and sessions on how to train and organize your campus communitiy to help with websites, social media, content strategy, etc. Doing more with fewer resources by tapping into the power of the group works in higher ed.

11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Fostering A Culture of Collaboration and Learning Among Social Media Managers
by Chris Barrows – New York University

Only a few years ago, New York University lacked a central team to oversee its social media presence, and there was very little sense of community among social media managers in various departments across the university. Through the creation of a new position and a Social Media Ambassadors group, the university has dramatically refocused its efforts in the social media realm — and achieved some striking results. Two actions played a key role in these successes. First, the New York University Social Media Ambassadors group was formed in 2012, and now counts as members more than 175 community managers from across NYU. From online meetings and knowledge sharing through the use of Google Groups to in-person meetings twice a semester — featuring presentations from representatives of industry giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — the group has created a professional development opportunity for NYU’s community managers to share and learn. Secondly, social media training was implemented through the use of NYU’s iLearn program, as well as one-on-one and group consultations with school and department employees. The opportunity to learn, share, and lead has led to an increased interest and sense of community in social media across the university’s global campus. This presentation will provide guidance on creating community of learning and leading, tips for forming a collaborative university group of your own, and lessons learned over the course of the past two and a half years.

WHY ATTEND?
For the same reasons I mentioned in the previous session but with a focus on social media groups.

3:00 – 3:45 p.m

Slacking Off at Work
by Lacy Paschal – Vanderbilt University

SLACK. It’s no longer a bad word at work. Slack is the communication platform that will change how your team works. In this session we’ll explore how Vanderbilt University implemented Slack in their Web Communications office, integrated it with their help desk, project management system, code repositories, and how it completely changed the culture of the office. (Oh, and there may be some incoming Slack messages from some of our friends in Milwaukee … and some at home!)

WHY ATTEND?
Have you started to use SLACK? Is it the holy grail of team communications? This is the session to find out and get started.

Learning to Live with the Anonymous User
by Jason Fish – Purdue University

Yik Yak, Fade, Secret, Erodr, Cloaq, Whisper, Jah — just to name a few. If you haven’t had to deal with issues arising from one of these anonymous social apps, consider yourself lucky. However, if we look through the negativity and shocking posts that stems from allowing “anonymous” usage, is there something we can learn?
– What is it about these apps that have students coming back for more?
– When is the right time for the institution to step in and do something?
– Where should the line be?
– How can we leverage the platforms for good?
– Why can’t we use the same addictive techniques?
During this presentation, we will explore the dark back room that is the anonymous social app and discover that it doesn’t have to be a place of filth. Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of how to manage anonymous social apps on their campus, how to use the power of anonymous for good, and how to handle issues when they do arise.

WHY ATTEND?
Everybody in higher ed has conflicting feelings about Yik Yak. That a sign it’s important to find out more about it.

4:15 – 5:00 p.m

From MySpace to Mobile: How Ten Years of E-Expectations Research Informs Future Digital Strategies
by Stephanie Geyer – Ruffalo Noel Levitz & Lance Merker – OmniUpdate

Since 2005, the E-Expectations research project has tracked the online preferences of college-bound high school juniors and seniors. The e-recruitment and technology landscape has changed considerably in that time. Facebook and YouTube were just beginning to go public, Twitter had not yet launched, and the iPhone was still two years away. Over that time, how have the expectations of prospective college students changed? How will they continue to evolve? This session will examine ten years of E-Expectations research data, and will discuss how the identified trends might apply to the future development of websites, mobile, social media, and email. The presenters will also discuss how campuses can create an effective mix of online recruitment strategies that will both engage students and be manageable for those overseeing campus technologies. Participants will leave this session with a better understanding of how to increase the quality and consistency of their online content across multiple channels.

WHY ATTEND?
The e-Expectations Survey has been used so many times to make decisions in higher education. It’s 10-year old this year (like this blog!), so there’ll definitely be something to learn about trends in this session.

Tuesday Sessions

8:30 – 9:15 a.m.

Tragedy, Pitchforks and Twitter: Managing Campus Crises on Social Media
by Amy Grace Wells – University of South Carolina

It was a tough spring at University of South Carolina. With a campus shooting, blackout, and a student incident that went viral, in addition to weather-related updates, the social team has been busy… busy learning lessons on how to manage mobs, keep parents calm, and provide timely communications in complicated situations. Being strategic and staying on brand can happen in times of crisis. In this session you’ll learn:
How to work with executive leadership to get messages out without the paralysis of crafting the “perfect” message.
How to manage a mob and keep a cool head.
How to move forward and get back to normal after the worst case scenario.

WHY ATTEND?
Crises and social media? A match made in… hell, right? I attended a session presented by Amy at PSEWeb this summer and she’s a great speaker.

Looking Good, Looking Forward: Tips and Tricks to Give Your Content a Visual Makeover
by Danielle Poupore – John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)

We live in a visual world. With the growing popularity of apps such as Instagram and Snapchat — and with Facebook and Twitter becoming increasingly more image-driven — it is essential that higher ed marketers and social media managers be able to engage student audiences through dynamic imagery. Information that used to be presented in text-heavy flyers and emails is now forced to compete for our students’ attention alongside Grumpy Cat memes and ten-second Vines. If you’re not a graphic designer nor professional photographer, this new landscape can seem pretty scary! But here’s the good news: By following a few simple tips, anyone can create beautiful, aesthetically pleasing, and effective visual content. This presentation will guide you through the process of visual content creation, including tips and tricks for planning your image strategy, taking the perfect photo with just a smartphone, editing and adding text, applying basic design principles, and implementing your new and improved material into existing communications channels.

WHY ATTEND?
We use so many visuals on the Web and in social media. Learning how to make them better should be high on our priority list.

10:45 – 11:30 a.m.

As Easy as Herding Squirrels: Managing Social Media on Your Campus
by Tiffany Broadbent Beker – College of William & Mary

Social media accounts are created every day by student organizations, academic departments, programs, and countless other units across your campus. How do you support and coordinate all of these accounts when they’re managed by dozens (or hundreds) of people scattered throughout your institution? In this session we will explore the tools and methods that William & Mary uses to tackle this challenge, from guidelines for starting a social media account, to the best ways to keep track of existing accounts, to how to create and sustain a social media users group (SMUG), and how you can bring all of these ideas back to your campus so you can start to wrangle your own herd of social media squirrels.

WHY ATTEND?
I know this session, because it was originally developped for the 1st Higher Ed Social Media conference — and it was a hit.

Why a Beautiful Campus but a Digital Wasteland?
by Brian Hawkins – Indiana University

Every college has access to shovels, soil, seeds, and trimmers, yet why are some campuses places of beauty for education while others are not? It’s not the tools, it is an expression of values, leadership, and discipline that enable physical campus beauty over the decades. It’s time to do the same in the digital environment. A content-management system, a few web developers, and varied ideas don’t make digital beauty (or effectiveness). It’s time to bring the discipline from physical beauty to the digital campus.

WHY ATTEND?
Brian presented this session this summer at PSEWeb and it was really interesting — and kind of puzzling too as it hints a big change on how to deal with the web in higher ed.

2:00 – 2:45 p.m.
I Believe I Can See the Future: More Than the Typical Analytics Routine by Joshua Dodson – SNHU

Getting the metrics is not the hard part. Guessing at what it might mean will get you nowhere fast. Turning numbers into action is what makes the difference between a strong, contributing member of the team and a weak link. By using some simple methods of data analysis, you can go from generating a report to providing real value to your organization. This presentation will discuss examples from higher education and explain how statistical significance is not as daunting as it can sound. We will explore methods such as statistically significant A/B testing, intervention analysis, and time-series forecasting. You will be able to immediately apply techniques to improve your analysis and add value to your institution, and you will learn how this kind of analysis is used to make positive changes within higher education marketing and enrollment.

WHY ATTEND?
Joshua is one of the most knowledgeable digital analytics and SEO professionals in higher education. As a member of Higher Ed Experts Faculty, he has presented at many of our conferences, but not as much as at other industry conferences. So, this is a rare treat for the 300 pros who have taken his courses over the past 4 years to meet Joshua and learn more about predictive analytics (the next big thing).

3:00 – 3:45 p.m.

Snapchat: More Than Selfies
by Tony Dobies & Candace Nelson – West Virginia University

Snapchat can be more than selfies. In fact, it can be a key recruiting and relationship-building tool for your university. We’ll take a look at Snapchat campaigns from West Virginia University and examples from other universities from around the country that are using the app successfully.
For those already using Snapchat at their university, we’ll also talk about different strategies for overcoming some of the limitations of the app and discuss the future of the app in higher ed.

WHY ATTEND?
I met Tony last year when I invited him to present at the 2nd edition of the Higher Ed Social Media Conference. And, I was so impressed by his presentation skills for such a young professional that I urged him to submit proposals to higher ed conferences. Oh, and WVU has been an early adopter of Snapchat.

How Life Lessons from Jane Austen Helped a One-person Communications Team
by Lisa Catto – Western Oregon University

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single-person communications team must be in want of efficiency tips and commiseration. And coffee. Lots of coffee. In an era of declining budgets and expanding duties, many of us alone manage significant portions of the communications efforts at our campuses. While there is value to the flexibility of being responsible for everything yourself, it can be highly stressful and may lead to inefficient multitasking, losing track of tasks, or even worse, burnout. When I get stressed out, I often turn to Jane Austen and her brilliant stories and characters. I’ve found that her classic stories provide valuable life advice that is applicable to those bearing the burden of being a one (wo)man team. Pulling from my experience as the campus-wide media relations and social media expert for a mid-sized public university, I share suggestions for how to work smart, how to get support from others and how to…gasp…say “no” on occasion. Regency attire heartily encouraged.

WHY ATTEND?
There are still many teams of one in higher education. If this is you, don’t miss this presentation.

Presenting at #heweb15, but not on this list?

Tell us why people should attend your session by posting a comment!