{"id":4376,"date":"2013-06-11T12:30:31","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T16:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?p=4376"},"modified":"2017-04-20T00:23:35","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:23:35","slug":"higher-ed-takeaways-from-confab-minneapolis-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/higher-ed-takeaways-from-confab-minneapolis-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Higher Ed Takeaways From Confab Minneapolis 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kristina
Kristina Halvorson wrapping up Day 1 at Confab Minneapolis 2013.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last week, I attended Confab Minneapolis 2013. And it rocked. I was joined by an international community of content professionals to challenge our thinking and help advance the evolving discipline of content strategy. We also enjoyed a lot of cake.<\/p>\n

As in past years, the higher ed community was well represented. If you missed the event, don\u2019t fret. Confab Higher Ed has yet to come (more on that later<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Like many Confab-ers, I left Minneapolis feeling extremely inspired \u2014 along with a renewed sense of urgency for making meaningful change in higher ed. <\/p>\n

Here are some of the themes that emerged.<\/p>\n

Your Voice, Your Values<\/h2>\n

Last year at Confab<\/a>, Kate Kiefer Lee from MailChimp<\/a> said, \u201cContent doesn\u2019t just make people do things, it makes people feel things.\u201d It\u2019s these feelings that enable us to build meaningful relationships with our users \u2014 students, faculty, staff, alumni. Our community. <\/p>\n

In her Confab Minneapolis 2013 talk, \u201cVoice Lessons: Finding Your Company\u2019s Personality,\u201d Tiffani Jones Brown<\/a> shared how Pinterest<\/a> builds these emotional user connections with its voice. Brown described \u201cvoice\u201d as your brand, your personality, your "vibe.\u201d In other words, your communication style.<\/p>\n

Of course, the big challenge says Brown is that \u201cwe don\u2019t exactly own our voice…Getting your voice right takes a village.\u201d Your institution\u2019s voice is not defined by the PR and communications teams; it\u2019s defined by your community at every touch point \u2014 through admissions policies, course descriptions, campus tours, career services, and so on. We have to own our voice and plan for using it effectively.<\/p>\n

Owning your voice and using it effectively means understanding your institution\u2019s values: Who are you? Who do you want to be? Being able to answer these fundamental questions will enable you to communicate with a voice that represents you. <\/p>\n

Since your voice is defined in part by your community, Brown recommends looking within your institution: \u201cYou can\u2019t overdub a voice on your organization.\u201d How does your community talk about you? What is the \u201cvibe\u201d that defines you? Learn it and own it.<\/p>\n

Less \u201cMe,\u201d More \u201cYou\u201d<\/h2>\n

As a nice follow-up to Brown\u2019s talk, Stephanie Hay<\/a> talked about building trust with our users. We need to be careful with the words we use to communicate. The words we use need to be honest, up front and genuine. Anything short of that causes users to doubt our intentions. <\/p>\n

"Stop using marketing words,\u201d says Hay. \u201cIf you’d sound like a tool saying it to your mom, you probably sound like a tool.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order build trust, we need to build relationships with our users and give them a reason to care about who we are and what we do. We need to flip our messaging from \u201cMe\u201d to \u201cYou.\u201d Want users to care about you? Use clear language and be up front about your value. \u201cUsers trust what they know,\u201d says Hay.<\/p>\n

At the end of the session, an attendee asked, \u201cWhat if my newsletter really is award-winning?\u201d In other words, what if \u201cmarketing words\u201d are honest? Hay says you can still use these words, but first ask yourself, \u201cWhat do my users care about?\u201d If your users care that you have an award-winning newsletter \u2014 if that is relevant, useful information for your audience \u2014 then it\u2019s appropriate. <\/p>\n

Building trust with our users is hard. We need to be thoughtful about the words we use, making sure they communicate clearly and reflect the voice of our institution.<\/p>\n

Invest in Relationships<\/h2>\n

A theme from this year\u2019s conference, which may already be evident, is that as content professionals, we\u2019re in the business of building relationships \u2014 with our audiences as well as our peers. Amanda Costello<\/a> from the University of Minnesota talked about creating content with internal stakeholders \u2014 experts and specialists.<\/p>\n

We need to put the same work into building relationships with internal content stakeholders as we do with our external audiences. This means listening to their needs and helping them to do good work on the web. <\/p>\n

Costello says meet with people on their turf. Go to their office. Go to their meetings. Learn about what they do and how you can help each other.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most important skill for content professionals is listening. Costello talked about being an expert listener. Build working relationships. Build trust. <\/p>\n

By listening, you not only build working relationships with subject matter experts, you also learn. Costello made a great point: Subject matter experts know your audience because they know your content. Learn from them.<\/p>\n

Be Interesting<\/h2>\n

Melissa Rach<\/a>, co-author of \u201cContent Strategy for the Web, Second Edition,\u201d explored the importance and value of interesting content<\/a> \u2014 why you need it to capture people\u2019s attention and get them engaged. Here are two of her ideas about making content interesting that really stuck out for me: <\/p>\n

Get yourself interested <\/h3>\n

Most content professionals create content on numerous subjects \u2014 many of which may not be interesting to write about. Maybe you\u2019re writing about a new faculty initiative or admissions FAQs or academic advising policies. Whatever the topic, take the time to learn about the subject. <\/p>\n

The more you learn about a topic, the more interested you and your users will be in the content you create.<\/p>\n

Find information gaps<\/h3>\n

There is a lot of opportunity on the web to create content that fills information gaps and encourages curiosity. Users often come to our website looking for specific information, which (hopefully) we plan for and provide. But what about information they didn\u2019t know to look for? What about the information they discover and are curious about? Are we planning for that as well? Are we creating content that encourages people to learn more than expected?<\/p>\n

In higher ed, our websites can be incredible resources for learning and discovery. Rather than just creating content to describe an academic program, get people excited about the subject \u2014 provide learning resources or examples of in-class learning and discovery. Give people a reason to care about you and learn more about the value you offer them.<\/p>\n

When to Slow Down<\/h2>\n

Conventional wisdom says to get our web users from point A to point C as quickly as possible. We\u2019re taught that people come to our website to perform tasks, not to \u201cexperience\u201d our website. Margot Bloomstein<\/a> swung the pendulum the other way to challenge this conventional wisdom, asking: Are users frustrated because the experience is slow, or does it feel slow because of a bad experience? Done well, a slow web experience can offer value<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

The right content slows down users, focuses their attention, and helps them act deliberately. It respects them and the topic equally.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Bloomstein says users can appreciate slow experiences when they\u2019re:<\/p>\n