Kristina Halvorson

The Practice of Content Strategy

When: Monday 14 February, 9:00-5:00pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Kristina Halvorson

($650 if attending conference, $795 if not)
SOLD OUT!

What's "content strategy"? Go ahead. Pick a definition. This practice (in one form or another) has been around for more than a decade, but somehow we haven't quite agreed on what it is, how it should work, and why it really matters.

One thing everyone does agree on: Dealing with web content is hard. It's complicated, expensive, time-consuming, and often overwhelming. There's new content. Legacy content. User-generated content. Print to web. Text to video. Static to dynamic. The list goes on and on.

But who's responsible for wrangling all this content into submission? Agencies want the client to do it, but the client doesn't have the necessary infrastructure to plan for and execute user-centered content. The client wants the agency to do it, but the agency doesn't have the subject matter expertise—let alone the internal resources—required to create content that's always accurate, relevant, and consistent over time.

Good news: The practice of content strategy gives us tools and processes that can help bring order to your content chaos. But before we can sell our organizations on investing time and money in content strategy, we need to help stakeholders understand exactly how content can make or break user experience, and what the costs are when we wait until the 11th hour to deal with it.

What will be covered?

Content strategy plans for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content. In this workshop, we'll learn:

• How and why content is undervalued in our organizations
• Why the four primary areas of content strategy are so interdependent: substance, structure, workflow, and governance
• How to create a content strategy: activities and deliverables
• Techniques for getting stakeholders to understand and align on the business value of content strategy

Who should attend?

This workshop is for anyone who's convinced that great content is central to a successful user experience and wants the tools to make it happen: Marketers, web editors and writers, user experience designers, information architects, product managers, and anyone else who deals with web content at any stage of the content lifecycle.

Nicole Sullivan

CSS of the future - building with Object Oriented CSS

When: Monday 14 February, 9:00-5:00pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Nicole Sullivan

Register now! ($650 if attending conference, $795 if not)
SOLD OUT!

For larger sites especially, this is the future of CSS!

We've all inherited code from somebody else and wished we hadn't. Sometimes we only have ourselves to blame for the unmaintainable tangle. We were too busy chasing the next cool feature to think about how our site would scale or how fast it would load. In this workshop, Nicole Sullivan will show you how she untangled facebook's CSS. What's more, you will analyze a site of your choice and leave the workshop armed with practical changes that will make your code lean, efficient, and flexible.

Who it's for

The workshop is targeted at people who already know CSS fairly well and are comfortable writing it by-hand.

What you'll learn

How to analyze broken CSS and make your site fast!

What you'll need

Laptops and the URL of a site they would like to analyze. Firefox and firebug should be installed.

David McCandless

How To Make Information Beautiful

When: Monday 14 February, 9:00-5:00pm
Where: Lion Harbour Lounge, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: David McCandless

($650 if attending conference, $795 if not)

SOLD OUT!

The use of infographics, data visualisations and information design is a rising trend across many disciplines: science, design, journalism and web.

In an age of high-speed living and info overload, visualized information has incredible potential to help us quickly understand, navigate and find meaning in complex world. They can also look really cool!

David McCandless has created over 500 information designs and data visualisations for clients around the world.

In this workshop, he'll share skills and techniques on how to merge design, information, text and story. Show how to work and play with data to get creative and unexpected results. Explore what makes a successful information visualisation. Explain how to develop the journalistic nous to zero in on interesting data and subjects. He'll also explore some of the common pitfalls, traps and FAILS that dog this young design form. And also be hat swapping and offering himself both as a creative director for any information design work and a journalistic editor for any ideas and concepts that you might want to bring or develop in the workshop.

He also has a - ssshhhhhhhhh! - secret project you may be able to help him with.

Who it's for

Designers who want to explore information design and data visualisation. Journalists who want to develop design skills and visual thinking. Scientists, media professionals, communication specialists, teachers, academics - anyone who wants to combine information and design to hone and amplify their message.

What you'll learn

Data skills. Story-telling know-how. Design sensibility. Research techniques. Enhanced visual thinking. Good feeling!

Jason Santa Maria

Web Typography and You

When: Tuesday 15 February, 9:00-5:00pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Jason Santa Maria

Register now! ($650 if attending conference, $795 if not)
SOLD OUT!

Type is both a verbal and visual medium; what you say is just as important as how you say it, and where those two things meet is the start of a conversation with our audiences.

This workshop will look at typographic design in detail, from basic typographic principles to developing an eye for choosing typefaces and how best to convey your messages visually. Strong emphasis will be placed on craft and detail. Afterwards, you'll be able to display an understanding of typographic design and the ability to focus on crafting compelling messages.

Who's it for

Have you ever felt insecure about your font choices or your typographic skills? This workshop is for web designers who want to learn the language of typography. We'll begin with the basics and walk through a typographic design process from start to finish.

What you'll learn

• An applied knowledge of basic typography, and how it applies to crafting a visual experience
• An understanding of how viewers read and comprehend messages, and the effects type has on this process
• How to develop a creative process and strategy for typographic design
• How to refine your work and focus of detail-oriented practices
• How to make smart decisions in choosing type

What you'll need

Laptops equipped with an image (Photoshop, Fireworks, etc) and text (Coda, TextMate, TextWrangler, etc) editing program.

Mark Pilgrim

In-depth with HTML5: getting started with 4 key technologies

When: Tuesday 15 February, 9:00-5:00pm
Where: Lion Harbour Lounge, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Mark Pilgrim

Register now! ($650 if attending conference, $795 if not)
SOLD OUT!

Learn the basics of four important HTML5 technologies: canvas, video, local storage, and offline web applications.

Who it's for

Front-end web developers with little to no HTML5-specific experience

What you'll learn

The basics of several HTML5 technologies and how they can be combined

What you'll need

Participants are expected to bring their own laptop. Mark will have a packet of resources for participants to download at the start of the workshop.

Christine Perfetti

Usability Bootcamp: The Essentials of Usability Testing

When: Tuesday 15 February, 9:00-5:00pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Christine Perfetti

Register now! ($650 if attending conference, $795 if not)
SOLD OUT!

Every week, we get questions from clients asking, How do we really know what our users want? How do we ensure our design will work for users? How can we be confident that our design changes are actually improving our product? To answer these questions, Christine Perfetti, has put together a one-day Usability Bootcamp, to provide you with the skills to evaluate and improve your designs

In the one-day workshop, Christine will share proven techniques for understanding your users, gathering user feedback, and evaluating your designs. She'll teach you all of the steps to conduct your own usability tests, including how to plan the tests, recruit users, facilitate the sessions, analyze the data, and communicate the results.

Who it's for

This is the best usability testing refresher you can attend. It's perfect for usability professionals, product managers, designers, engineers, and content strategists who are just starting out with usability tests.

Or, if you have already conducted some tests but want to refine and hone your skills, attending this workshop is a great way to ensure you get the most out of each test.

What you'll learn

In the Usability Bootcamp, attendees will learn:

• How to plan all of the steps for a successful usability test
• How to recruit the right users. You'll see some simple techniques for writing a good screening questionnaire that quickly identifies the perfect participants
• What makes a good task? Christine will show you how to write tasks that get you the answers you're seeking. You'll review examples of both good and poor scenarios
• How to become a better facilitator. You'll learn proven techniques for keeping the participants relaxed while they share their frustrations and delights with the design
• The best ways to analyze the test results. You'll see how to decide what to report and how it can best help your particular audience, whether it's senior management or members of the technical staff
• How to conduct remote research with users. Christine will share the most effective techniques for conducting usability tests remotely

What you'll need

We will be conducting usability tests of real web sites and applications during the workshop. Attendees should bring a laptop and examples of work they'd like to usability test during the workshop.

Merlin Mann

What’s (Maybe, Kinda, Sorta) Next for You? Steps Toward Futureproofing Your Passion

When: Tuesday 15 February, 9:00-12:30pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Merlin Mann

Register now! ($375 if attending conference, $495 if not)
SOLD OUT!

Everybody who cares about what they do wants to get better at it, right? But, how do you know if you’re getting better at the right things?

And, perhaps as importantly, if you crave the independence and agency of working on your own stuff for real money, what sort of modest, baby steps might help you start walking in the best direction for now?

In this half-day workshop, we’ll unpack some of the real (and perceived) barriers to both gaining expertise and achieving independence (and, yeah—you better believe they’re related).

Through a lively mix of seminar, discussion, and focused exercises, we’ll work to discover (and potentially start moving) any block to discovering the thing for which we’re most willing to work our asses off.

Recommended for:

• fed-up cube-dwellers
• belly-aching malcontents
• unruly trouble-makers
• nervous geniuses
• anyone with the fire to make something great

Michael Lopp

How to Lead

When: Tuesday 15 February, 1:30pm-5:00pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Michael Lopp

Register now! ($375 if attending conference, $495 if not)
SOLD OUT!

Do you want to manage or lead? What's the difference and why do you care?

In this workshop, we'll first explore the reasons why managers are hated so that we can understand how not to repeat those mistakes. We'll tease apart the ideas around leadership and figure out how to apply them to our careers regardless of whether we're currently a manager of people.

Who it's for

This is a workshop for anyone who has a job. This workshop does not assume prior management experience and will speak equally both to managers and the managed.

What you'll learn

This workshop will be a combination of presentation, discussion, comedy, and debate. You'll leave this workshop better equipped to talk with your peers and your manager and more capable of influencing the direction of your career.

You'll also have fun.

What you'll need

An open mind and a sense of humor.

Josh Clark

Tapworthy Mobile Design and User Experience

When: Wednesday 16 February, 9:00-5:00pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Josh Clark

($650 if attending conference, $795 if not)

SOLD OUT!

From first concept to polished pixel, learn to create a mobile app that delights. This workshop teaches you to "think mobile" by planning and creating app interfaces in tune with the psychology, culture, ergonomics, and context of an audience on the go. You'll learn to conceive and refine an app's interface and user experience in tune with the needs of a mobile audience—and their fingers and thumbs. The workshop explores the practical principles of mobile and touchscreen design using examples from all major mobile platforms.

Who it's for

This workshop isn't (only) for geeks. The workshop's interdisciplinary approach is appropriate for everyone involved in the app design process—designers, programmers, managers, marketers, clients. The workshop takes a hands-on approach to intermediate and advanced design concepts but requires no specific technical know-how. Experienced designers and newcomers alike will uncover the shifts in mindset and technique required to craft a great mobile app.

What you'll learn

The workshop will equip you to ask the right questions (and find the right answers) to make aesthetic, technical, and usability decisions that will make your apps a pleasure to use. You'll learn: the key elements of the mobile mindset and what your audience expects of your app; the ergonomic demands of designing for touch; strategies for crafting your app's visual identity; techniques for introducing your app to your audience; how to work with gestures; and how these rules apply (or don't) to the iPad and other tablet devices.

What you'll need

Bring a pen, pencil, crayons, and a little bit of wonder. Paper will be provided, and no digital gear is required.

Steve Souders

The Long Tent in the Performance Pole

When: Wednesday 16 February, 9:00-12:30pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Steve Souders

Register now! ($375 if attending conference, $495 if not)
SOLD OUT!

Speed matters. As designers and developers it's a point of personal pride to create a fast web site, to take that extra step to ensure users aren't left twiddling their thumbs and rolling their eyes waiting for our sites to load. But there's more to it than the pride we take in our craft. Google, AOL, Bing, Shopzilla,Yahoo! and others have shown that faster web sites attract more users, engage them longer, and generate more revenue while running on less hardware consuming less power and using less bandwidth. A better experience, more users, increased revenue, and reduced costs. What's not to love?!

So how do we get us some of this fast web stuff? Metaphorical spoonerisms notwithstanding, it starts by finding out what's taking the most time. Sounds simple but tools that give us visibility into the browser are fairly new, they vary by browser and OS, and many produce results that suffer from the observer effect or are plain wrong. In addition to the tools, you need to be able to spot the critical path items that are hurting the user experience.

Join Steve Souders, creator of YSlow and author of High Performance Web Sites and Even Faster Web Sites, as he peels the performance onion on some popular web sites using the latest tools.

And don't forget about mobile. Steve will show tools that let you test the most popular mobile devices without leaving your chair, and some new tools that give visibility into what the heck is going on in mobile browsers.

Who it's for

Anyone who likes fast web sites will enjoy this workshop. There are high level takeaways for everyone. The bulk of the workshop digs into JavaScript, CSS, and HTTP quirks and tips, so front end and app layer developers are the primary target audience.

What you'll learn

After attending this workshop you'll have picked the web performance tools of choice for your development environment, and will know how to spot the performance problems.

What you'll need

Most of the tools are free, so bring a laptop so you can download and use the tools during class.

Scott McCloud

Writing with Pictures: The Power of Visual Communication

When: Wednesday 16 February, 9:00-12:30pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Scott McCloud

Register now! ($375 if attending conference, $495 if not)
SOLD OUT!

Nothing communicates faster and more memorably than images. Learn from a comics master how images can transmit ideas, stories, and information with force and precision. Cartoonist Scott McCloud (Google's choice to explain the inner workings of their Chrome browser through comics!) will get you drawing and THINKING about how we learn and are persuaded through pictures just as successfully as through words, and how techniques from the graphic arts world can be applied in web design and usability.

Who it's for

Anyone with a visual design background and an interest in visual communication. No drawing experience required.

What you'll learn

Word-image integration, amplification through simplification, visual storytelling, impoving your "cognitive load time," conveying complex ideas visually.

Merlin Mann

Killing your Sailboats: Managing Innovation by Saying True Things

When: Wednesday 16 February, 1:30pm-5:00pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Merlin Mann

Register now! ($375 if attending conference, $495 if not)
SOLD OUT!

There’s a shameful open secret inside many companies that nobody likes talking about. It’s the “third rail” of office culture and it unnecessarily electrocutes the spirit of great teams every day:

Truth be told? Managers often say untrue things.

We’re not talking about lies or deceptions in the usual sense; we’re talking about the much more nuanced problem of saying one thing, then doing (or rewarding) something entirely different.

• It’s the culture that demands nothing but unadulterated success, while claiming to foster innovation.
• It’s the manager who’s a broken record about the need to “define your job,” while demanding you check email all day and tell him when you’re going to lunch.
• It’s the C-Level who bellows about employees’ poor productivity and lack of focus as he updates Facebook from his CrackBerry.

In this half-day workshop, we’ll talk about the institutional gulf between what we say is important and what we do to prove, fund, and defend it.

If you’d like your organization to foster an environment in which no one ever needs permission to be awesome–and if you have the stomach for the unconventional cure–you may find this interactive workshop to be far more useful than simply mounting another motivational poster of a sailboat.

Recommended for:

• anyone who manages anything
• rapidly-growing tech companies
• reluctant fibbers
• insufferably honest nerds
• people who loathe corporate BS