{"id":4843,"date":"2013-11-19T08:14:33","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T13:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?p=4843"},"modified":"2017-04-20T00:25:56","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:25:56","slug":"confab-higher-ed-2013-session-recaps-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/confab-higher-ed-2013-session-recaps-day-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Confab Higher Ed 2013: Session Recaps, Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Confab
Tasty morsels of knowledge.
See our full Confab Higher Ed coverage<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From November 11-12, more than 350 individuals representing more than 170 institutions gathered in Atlanta for the inaugural Confab Higher Ed. Alaina Wiens of the University of Michigan-Flint and Meg Bernier of St. Lawrence University share their recaps from some of the 33 speakers who shared content strategy knowledge at the event.<\/em><\/p>\n

Keynote: \u201cContent\/Communication\u201d with Kristina Halvorson<\/h2>\n

Much like other big higher ed buzzwords such as \u201cresponsive design\u201d and \u201csocial media,\u201d the term \u201ccontent strategy\u201d wasn\u2019t prevalent until within the last decade, Interestingly, what all three of these share in common is the need for a cohesive, well-thought out strategy, yet often content is dropped in at the 11th hour after all the designing is done or after \u201cthe right times to post to social media\u201d have been established. This often happens without much data on what our users and audience need and want in terms of content. <\/p>\n

If anything, Kristina let everyone know in the room that just by being there, we are doing it right. We\u2019re asking the right questions (\u201cWhy are we doing it this way?\u201d) and challenging people to think about content much earlier in our processes and tie it back to our institution\u2019s goals and objectives. <\/p>\n

But as we all know, content strategy involves people. Oftentimes when people hear us talking about content governance and workflow, they think we\u2019re saying, \u201cIt\u2019s not your content that\u2019s terrible, it\u2019s you.\u201d I think this is because writing is personal. It\u2019s not a math problem, it\u2019s something you\u2019ve created. So when someone else is telling you how to do it differently, it\u2019s hard not to take it personally. For me, the biggest takeaway was about how we need to empower people who are responsible for content.<\/p>\n

\u2014Meg Bernier
\n<\/em>
\nSee tweets from this session on Storify \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n

Keynote: “The Back of the Napkin: Explaining Complexity with Simple Pictures” with Dan Roam<\/h2>\n

In his keynote presentation about using pictures to explain complex ideas, Dan Roam shocked the room by announcing that the people in the world of Harry Potter do not exist. In fact, author J. K. Rowling may have been able to so convincingly write them because she started her creative process with drawing a map. Other famous map drawers include J. R. R. Tolkien, Margaret Atwood, and Ronald Reagan. <\/p>\n

Dan explained that people are \u201cwalking, talking, visual processing machines,\u201d and that \u201cwe can solve our problems, clarify our thinking, with pictures.\u201d Six visual processes work together to help us interpret what we see: who\/what, how many, where, when, how, and why. <\/p>\n

\u2014Alaina Wiens
\n<\/em>
\nSee tweets from this session on Storify \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n

“Being Understood: Why Higher Ed Needs Plain Language” with Laura Creekmore<\/h2>\n

An interesting statistic: 43 percent of the adult U.S. population has a basic or below-basic level of literacy. This means we need to be careful that our attempts to be the expert don\u2019t result in being misunderstood. <\/p>\n

In her session, Laura Creekmore outlined the importance of meeting our audiences where they are in order to effectively communicate, and offered some advice for simplification and clarity. <\/p>\n