Articles by Category: Conferences & presentations

WIPA Usability and Eyetracking Seminars (Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane)

Spreading the word on behalf of the WIPA committee:

WIPA is presenting an afternoon seminar on the use of the latest eyetracking technologies and the challenges of ensuring usability when an Agile Development process is used for developing websites. The two speakers are Dr Peter Brawn and Dr John Eklund, who are both experienced and respected experts in their field. More information available on the WIPA site:

wipa.org.au/events/display.cfm?event_id=13

Afternoon tea will be provided.

Cost

$50 for WIPA Members
$90 for non members

Dates

Canberra: Friday 23 May, 2008, 2.00 pm - 4.50 pm.
Where: NLA Theatre, lower ground floor, National Library of Australia

Sydney: Wednesday 4 June, 2008. 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm
Where: Y Hotel Hyde Park, Whitlam Square where Wentworth Ave meets Liverpool St.

Brisbane: Thursday June 12, 2008. 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm
Where: Riverside Hotel South Bank (To be confirmed)

Registration
wipa.org.au/registration/

Posted by jamesr at 10:07 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Intranet questions (Wellington, NZ)

The last two days I've been running a workshop in Wellington, New Zealand. A great group, and very vigorous discussions and debates.

As ever, for the record, these were the "big questions" raised by participants at the beginning of the workshop:

• Homepage policy?
• Intranet vs document management?
• Process for delivering a business-effective intranet?
• Intranet redevelopment process?
• Conducting needs analysis?
• Collaboration tools?
• Web 2.0?
• Getting the launch right?
• Project management methodologies vs intranet team?
• Keeping momentum going?
• Governance?
• Managing scope?
• Working more effectively with business units re content?
• How to find the right "activities" to add to the intranet?
• Different needs for each area?
• Analysing research results? And choosing the right activities?
• Obtaining business buy-in?
• Usability testing and information architecture?
• Trimming fat?

Posted by jamesr at 01:06 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

Highlighting two workshops (Melbourne, Brisbane)

Just a quick note to highlight two of our upcoming workshops:

• Complete Intranet Management
  Melbourne, 9 May 2008

  Running in a few days, this is a unique opportunity to get "under the hood" of the Intranet Hive, our new methodology for managing intranets. This provides a view of all the ongoing activities needed to sustain and grow an intranet, something that intranet teams have never run before. (The workshop will also now be run by Catherine Grenfell, a former intranet manager herself, and now the manager of the Intranet Leadership Forum.)

• Information Architecture Essentials
  Brisbane, 18 June 2008

  Information architecture techniques provide a solid foundation for developing (or redeveloping) websites and intranets, and these should be core skills for all project teams. This workshop provides essential knowledge and techniques that can be put into practice. (This workshop will now be run by Rebecca Rodgers, who is based in our Brisbane office, and has many good experiences to share.)

It's not too late to sign up for either of these...

Posted by jamesr at 11:50 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

The four purposes of an intranet [+ audio]

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As you may have noticed, I've been working steadily to capture some of the key concepts that underpin our intranet work. Some of these have already been shared as articles, and most in workshops, but this is a good way of getting these useful concepts out to a wider intranet audience.

This slidecast explores the four fundamental purposes of an intranet, looks at where intranets have traditionally focused, and where they should be going next if they want to demonstrate ROI.

(The audio was recorded at the recent IA Summit in Miami, Florida.)

Posted by jamesr at 09:39 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets, James' articles

What do innovative intranets look like? [+ audio]

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For those who missed my talk at the recent IA Summit in Miami, here's my full presentation (including audio).

In it, I walk through a number of the winners from the inaugural Intranet Innovation Awards, as well as answering questions on what they've done. Pointers are also given on where to focus innovation efforts, and how to deliver a more valuable intranet.

(Don't forget that entries for this year's Intranet Innovation Awards are now open, with a closing date of 16 May 2008. This talk should give you some good ideas about what to submit, and you should also read through the How to win an Intranet Innovation Award presentation on Slideshare.)

Posted by jamesr at 08:13 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Enterprise 2.0, Intranets

Call for papers: Open Publish 2008 (Sydney)

Open Publish 2008 is an event focused on issues such as improving the quality of information, better productivity for users and reducing non-productive costs. It will be of particular interest to those who believe in the potential of technology but understand the importance of people.

By combining the flexible collaboration of a user group with input from the leading thinkers and practitioners in publishing, Open Publish fosters meaningful discussion in the publishing community.

The conference is now calling for speaking proposals about the management and implementation of publishing technology based on open standards.

With attendees drawn from both government and enterprise, presentations should explore the technology, business and human factors that are driving change in the publishing process.

Examples of some topics of interest are:

• methodologies for selecting and implementing content management solutions
• cost estimation, return on investment, quality and risk management for publishing projects
• creating or using web-based programming interfaces (mash-ups)
• formal software development methodologies in the publishing environment
• understanding and leveraging open content such as Wikipedia
• best practices for content creation and conversion

Further details about presenting a conference session or delivering a tutorial can be found on the Speaker's Information page.

Posted by jamesr at 09:39 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Six phases of intranet evolution (including audio)

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I've been talking about the evolution of intranets for some time now, at conferences and workshops around the globe. What I haven't done, until this point, is share this model more broadly.

I've now uploaded the slides to Slideshare, with a related audio track recorded at the IA Summit in Miami, Florida. This outlines the following phases:

1. the intranet is born
2. rapid organic growth
3. repeated redesigns
4. usability and IA
5. useful, not just usable
6. intranet as a business tool

This should give an in-depth of idea of the model, and please do leave comments with your thoughts or feedback. (If nothing else, this is the first time I've tried this format.)

Posted by jamesr at 12:54 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

NSW Department of Primary Industries intranet demonstration (Canberra)

When Kate Needham demonstrated her award-winning intranet in Sydney a month or two ago, the sesions sold out in a matter of days. So if you'd like to see the same demonstration in Canberra, you'd better be quick! Details as follows:

The NSW Department of Primary Industries intranet, InSite, was recently named one of the 10 best in the world for 2008 by internationally renowned web usability expert and principal of the Nielsen Norman Group, Jakob Nielsen.

This Friday, 11 April 2008 I will be giving live demonstrations of the intranet in Canberra, and explaining it's background, some of its key features, and future plans.

Please feel free to forward this invitation to anyone you think might be interested in attending the demonstration. RSVPs are essential.

When & where

Friday, 11 April 2008
Session 1: 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Session 2: 2:30pm - 3:30pm

There will be 30 minutes after each sessions where I will be available to answer any questions, if necessary (which I'm also happy to take during each session).

Canberra Institute of Technology
Room C024
Reid Campus
Constitution Avenue

See map at http://www.cit.act.edu.au/about/organisation/maps/reid/

The room is on the ground floor of C Block. Enter between B & K Blocks. The taxi drop off is outside K Block. Paid parking is available to the right of K Block or across the road.

RSVP

Please RSVP, indicating the session you are interested in attending (including names of all attendees and your day-time contact details in-case of last minute changes to the program), by Thursday, 10 April 2008 to:

Kate Needham
Manager, Internal Communications
NSW Department of Primary Industries
E-mail: kate.needham@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Posted by jamesr at 10:32 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Call for speakers: JBoye08 (Denmark)

Last year I had the great pleasure of speaking at the JBoye conference in Denmark. All in all, a very worthwhile event, with good talks and many friendly conversations. While I won't be making it back this year (only so much travelling I can do!), I'll nonetheless highlight the call for speakers that has just gone out.

If you're active in the content management, portal, website or intranet space, then definitely consider putting in a proposal. After all, who wouldn't want an excuse to visit beautiful Denmark...

Posted by jamesr at 09:48 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Managing and Growing Your Intranet (Auckland & Wellington)

I'll be running a pair of two-day Managing and Growing Your Intranet masterclasses in New Zealand in May. These have a huge amount of information packed in, and they'll be further tuned with the latest thinking between now and May.

The key details:

Managing and Growing Your Intranet
5 & 6 May 2008, Auckland
8 & 9 May 2008, Wellington

Managing and Growing Your Intranet will provide a unique set of practical methodologies for planning and growing intranets, along with an invaluable opportunity to network with intranet managers from other organisations. The course will cover a wide range of issues confronting all organisations while identifying practical techniques for delivering an effective intranet.

Managing and Growing Your Intranet will be highly interactive in format and will involve a range of discussions, group work and activities. These will give you an opportunity to focus your thinking and to explore new approaches.

Over the two days, many key intranet topics will be discussed, including how to strategically plan your intranet, how to structure your intranet and what activities are required to keep it effective in the long term. This includes the ‘6x2 methodology’ for intranet planning, developed by Step Two Designs.

Despite NZ being so close (comparatively!) to Australia, I don't seem to get across the ditch very often. So this will be the only time I'll be running these workshops in NZ this year...

Posted by jamesr at 09:58 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Two workshops at the IA Summit

Just a reminder that I'm running not one but two workshops at the upcoming IA Summit (Miami, April 10-14). In particular, my one-day intranet workshop is the full masterclass that I run all over the globe, so this is worth heading down to Miami just for this.

The two workshops:

Successfully deploying collaboration (half day)

Collaboration is the big unmet need within organisations, and this is the reason for the rapid spread of new tools such as SharePoint. While these tools are hugely valuable, they are also bringing real challenges for information architects.

If left unmanaged, the spread of collaboration tools can be ‘anti knowledge sharing’. What works well for local teams can easily lead to the ‘fragmentation’ of information, with key content locked up in local silos.

This is an information architecture challenge, as much as it is a knowledge management or information management one. As IA’s, we need to understand collaboration, when it work and how to make the best of it. We also need to find ways of slotting in collaboration tools alongside the existing platforms, such as the intranet.

This workshop will explore collaboration and collaboration tools. A new model will be provided that positions collaboration within organisations, and highlights where it can be used most effectively.

Strategies for innovative intranets (full day)

While the concept of the intranet as an ‘internal website’ has done much to improve the quality and status of these sites, it has now stuck intranet teams in perpetual ‘maintenance mode’. This metaphor also struggles to provide a vision of how to move intranets forward. To be effective, intranets need to innovate, to find new ways of meeting organisational needs. They must also become a valuable business tool that delivers tangible and visible benefits for the organisation as a whole.

The growing recognition of ‘enterprise 2.0’ and rich internet applications is further putting pressure on intranet teams to move the site to become a more interactive environment. The challenge is how to deliver this additional functionality when resources (and other constraints) are so tight.

This workshop provides practical approaches for managing and growing intranets. Central to this is the new ‘6x2 methodology’, which offers a rigorous framework for intranet planning. This unique approach focuses on carefully scoping the next six months of work, to ensure that what is planned is not just achievable, but is also worth doing.

Posted by jamesr at 03:49 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Speaking to the Geneva Web Group

Just a quick note to say that I'll be speaking at the Geneva Web Group on Monday March 17th. This is what I'll be covering:

Intranets must succeed. While they have progressed greatly over the last decade, they still struggle to get the support and recognition they need to truly prosper. James Robertson, international intranet expert, will share his insights into how intranets have evolved, and where they need to go next. He will also describe the four key purposes of an intranet, and how they need to be balanced. Examples from the Intranet Innovation Awards will also be shared, inspiring intranet teams to deliver new functionality that demonstrates clear business benefits.

It's not too late to signup, and there's cocktails after for some serious networking...

[Read full details]

Posted by jamesr at 03:54 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Presentation: Understanding staff needs and how to meet them

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These are the slides from my keynote presentation at the IntraTeam conference in Copenhagen today. 200+ intranet folks made for a great event, with some good questions and discussions. Jane McConnell's presentation was also a highlight.

Posted by jamesr at 02:41 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets, Usability & user-centered design

Workshops: information management and information architecture

Just a quick reminder that the early-bird rate is just about to close for two of our upcoming workshops:

• Innovative Information Management Planning
  Sydney, 2 April 2008

  Cairo Walker outlines new approaches to information management that provide practical ways of delivering solutions even in complex organisations.

• Information Architecture Essentials
  Sydney, 9 April 2008

  One-day workshop run by Patrick Kennedy providing core IA methodologies and techniques.

These are both great workshops, grounded in real-life projects and providing a range of practical techniques and approaches. Also keep an eye out for the rest of our upcoming workshops (in Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane).

Posted by jamesr at 02:31 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Collaboration is about people

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I've just uploaded the presentation I gave today at a KM Roundtable meeting in Melbourne. A great group of people, lots of good questions, only just scratched the surface in the time we had available.

(I think there's huge amount of value in all these types of groups. The simple act of getting together and sharing information face-to-face is immensely valuable. So if you're into KM, definitely look into the KM Roundtables, held in Victoria and NSW.)

Posted by jamesr at 03:02 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Knowledge management

Narrative Techniques for Business (Melbourne, Canberra and beyond)

Anecdote are unquestionably the leading thinkers (and doers) in Australia on narrative techniques. Drawing on the best thinking from around the globe (and their own insights), they've done a lot of very interesting work. They are also great folk just to spend time with.

So it's worth mentioning that they have a number of workshops scheduled over the coming months:

• Narrative Techniques for Business
• Storytelling for Business Leaders
• Starting and sustaining communities of practice

PS. workshops are running in Melbourne and Canberra next week, so you'll want to move quickly!

Posted by jamesr at 01:18 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

In-house workshops

As you're probably aware, we've got a pile of upcoming workshops planned throughout Australia. We've put a lot of work into designing these, and they have been very well received by past participants.

For some years now, we have also been providing in-house workshops for organisations. We've been fairly quiet about these, but they too have been working well. So it seemed like a good time to raise the visibility of this option, as it gives a great way for organisations to build up their internal knowledge and expertise (something we have as a key goal for all our activities).

Standard workshop topics include:

• Intranet strategy: provides intranet teams with a set of tools and models to plan the redevelopment and growth of their intranet, including the 6x2 methodology for intranets.
• Intranet management: helps intranet teams review the management of their site, and provides new tools for planning, including the Intranet Hive.
• Intranet alignment: brings together all the internal intranet stakeholders for a day of facilitated discussions, with the goal of building a consensus on how the intranet should proceed.
• Usability and information architecture: gives hands-on experience with key usability and information architecture techniques, such as card sorting, paper prototyping and usability testing. Great for building up in-house skills in preparation for a website or intranet redesign.
• Selecting a CMS: shares best-practice insights into the content management marketplace, and how to go about selecting a new CMS.
• Collaboration and knowledge management: explores practical insights and approaches into making these things a reality within modern organisations. Includes a number of unique models and methodologies.

All of these workshops can be tailored or mixed-and-matched, and we are happy to construct one-off workshops to fit specific circumstances. (We can also run these workshops internationally, as part of the regular trips we make throughout the world.)

Download the one-page summary (PDF) to get the prices and practical details. Then if you'd like to know more, or would like to book an in-house workshop, contact Catherine Grenfell.

Posted by jamesr at 06:50 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

How to successfully moderate a conference panel, a comprehensive guide

Jeremiah Owyang has written an article on successfully moderating a conference panel. To quote:

Sadly, the value of most panels are really poor, and this is mostly due to the lack of moderation. Just yesterday, I heard that one nervous moderator asked the panelists to introduce themselves, then went directly to Q&A, providing little structured value to the audience. On the complete opposite end, I’ve seen one self-important moderator answer questions from the crowd, when it was his job to field questions to the panelists.

Posted by jamesr at 02:00 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Six month workshop calendar

We've now published our full set of workshops for the coming six months. Note that most of these will only be run twice in 2008, so you'll want to book early!

Posted by jamesr at 05:15 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Complete Intranet Management (Melbourne, May 9)

We've just launched a brand-new workshop that introduces a unique model for intranet management: the Intranet Hive.

The Intranet Hive was first created for an intranet team within a large Australian financial services organisation. Led by an experienced intranet manager, the team was effective and successful. They recognised, however, that they had ‘blind spots’, and some areas were being managed better than others.

From within the team, it was hard to identify these strengths and weaknesses. We were therefore asked to create a model that would help the team to conduct a self-assessment of their ongoing intranet tasks. Some months of thinking later, the Intranet Hive was born. Since that time, the model has been steadily evolving based on the input of the whole Step Two team.

While a comprehensive information pack will be released in due course, we felt it was important to share the model sooner rather than later, to better help teams in their day-to-day management of intranets.

Cairo Walker is therefore running a one-day Complete Intranet Management workshop (featuring the Intranet Hive) in Melbourne on May 9.

I'm really excited to get this live, and we'll only be running this workshop twice in 2008, with the second venue yet to be determined. So you won't want to miss out!

[Full workshop details]

Posted by jamesr at 03:47 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

Innovative Information Management Planning (Sydney, April 2)

Cairo's Innovative Information Management Planning workshop is a truly unique event, giving a fresh approach to planning information projects. We've just lined up a date in Sydney on 2 April, and this is not far off (the early-bird date closes on 2 March). At a glance:

To be successful, information management initiatives must quickly become valuable to the business, delivering tangible and visible benefits. This can be challenging in complex organisational environments with many hurdles to overcome.

Cairo Walker shares her on-the-ground experience working with some of Australasia's most prominent private and public sector organisation's information management strategies, plans and initiatives. Don't miss this opportunity to hear Cairo share her thoughts and insights on making information management work.

[Full workshop details]

Posted by jamesr at 11:10 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Information management

Brisbane intranet managers get together 20 February 08

Our Brisbane office, run by Rebecca Rodgers, is holding its second informal get-together for Brisbane intranet managers. Details as follows:

Date: Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Time: 10am - 12noon
Place: Suncorp Centre, Level 17, 36 Wickham Tce, Brisbane
Topic: Intranet Innovation Awards
Cost: Free

The Intranet Innovation Awards are global awards that celebrate new ideas and innovative approaches to the design and delivery of intranets. The goal is to find these ideas (whether large or small), and to share them with the wider community. Uniquely, these awards recognise individual intranet improvements, and not intranets as a whole. The presentation will go for approx 1 hour with time to network afterwards. A big thanks to the intranet team at Suncorp for hosting the event.

If you would like to meet other intranet managers and see what it takes to have an award winning intranet, email Rebecca by Friday, 15 February 2008. Numbers are limited and attendance will be on a first response basis.

Posted by jamesr at 07:26 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

Intranet Planning Day (Canberra, 4 June 2008)

I've just scheduled another one of my Intranet Planning Day workshops, for 4 June in Canberra. As ever, I've packed all my best thinking on intranet management into this workshop, including my unique '6x2 methodology'. I'm only running two of these in Australia this year, so you won't want to miss out.

To quote:

Intranets must succeed. Hidden behind the firewall, however, intranet teams often find it hard to identify the best practices and latest thinking. This workshop on intranet strategy provides practical insights into managing intranets, including the unique '6x2 methodology'. Presented by James Robertson, recognised as an international expert on creating and managing intranets, this workshop has been run across the globe. Don't miss this opportunity to hear James share his thoughts on making intranets work.

[Full workshop details and registration form] (340k PDF)

Posted by jamesr at 10:05 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

Information Architecture Essentials (Sydney, Brisbane)

We've started our event calendar for the year with a new round of our ever-popular Information Architecture Essentials workshops:

• Sydney: 9 April 2008
• Brisbane: 18 June 2008

In this one-day workshop, Patrick Kennedy will present the fundamentals of information architecture (IA), the core methodology for organising and designing websites and intranets. Key skills such as card sorting will be taught, and this workshop is designed to build in-house information architecture skills. A must for all web or intranet teams.

During the workshop, you will learn:

• the importance of balancing the requirements of users and business
• techniques to gather information about the needs of your audience
• the meaning behind commonly used IA jargon
• ways that information can be organised
• how to create a taxonomy for your site
• the importance of good labelling to help people find what they need
• how to design navigation methods and page layouts
• processes to follow for IA projects

[Workshop brochure & registration form] (296k PDF)

Posted by jamesr at 03:04 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Information architecture, Usability & user-centered design

International events

The team at Step Two have a busy schedule of international events and workshops over the coming six months. We strongly recommend all these events, and encourage you to drop by to say hi:

Posted by jamesr at 03:18 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum 2008 (Sydney, February)

Ross Dawson of Future Exploration Network will be hosting the Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum 2008 on February 19 in Sydney. Enterprise 2.0 is an important topic for many organisations, but the challenge is finding how best to deploy these new technologies and ideas.

Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum will provide a pragmatic overview of how Web 2.0 and social media technologies are being applied inside the enterprise to create business value. This unique half-day event will be centred on case studies of how leading Australian and global organisations have benefited from these technologies, and the key factors in successful implementation.

Ross Dawson is a leading thinking in this space and a truly compelling presenter. He has also assembled a stellar cast of thought-leaders and implementers:

• David Backley, Chief Technology Officer, Westpac Banking Corporation
• Peter Evans-Greenwood, Chief Technology Officer, Capgemini Australia
• Brian Haverty, Editorial Director, CNET Networks Australia
• Andrew McAfee, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School
• Sheryle Moon, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Information Industry Association
• Victor Rodrigues, Software Development Manager, Cochlear
• Euan Semple, Former Head of Knowledge Management, BBC
• Jonathan Stern, Business Unit Executive, Lotus Software, Australia and New Zealand

Step Two Designs is a supporter of this event, and I can personally recommend it to anyone looking to explore these ideas. Not to be missed!

[Full event details]

Posted by jamesr at 02:33 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Enterprise 2.0, Information management, Intranets

Intranet masterclass in London (7 March 2008)

I'm pleased to announce that I'll be running a once-off intranet masterclass in London on 7 March 2008. The workshop is being organised by Martin White of Intranet Focus, UK's foremost intranet expert and a close working partner of Step Two Designs.

This is the first time that I've run a masterclass in the UK (I've run them everywhere else!), and maybe the only time this year. The main topics that will be covered in this masterclass will be:

• Managing the evolution of intranets
• Intranet innovation -- critical success factors
• Establishing effective collaboration
• Improving intranet search

I will also be sharing some of the lessons learned by the award winners in the 2007 Intranet Innovation Awards. The masterclass will conclude with a Q&A session led by Martin White and myself (two gurus for the price of one).

To ensure that all delegates have an opportunity to share ideas and issues, workshop places will be limited and early registration is advisable. The masterclass will run from 9.30am to 4.30pm. The registration fee will be £250 plus VAT, to include a hot lunch, refreshments and documentation.

For more information and a registration form send an email with Intranet Masterclass in the Subject line to martin.white@intranetfocus.com or call (+44) 1403 267030.

Posted by jamesr at 11:55 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

It's nice to have friends

It's nice to have friends. Over the years, we've met a lot of people at conferences and events, and have steady readers of the articles we publish. We've also worked with a lot of organisations, or have had conversations via emails.

The connections we build at conferences, however, can be lost at the end of the events. While many teams read our articles, this readership is largely invisible and unconnected.

So we've created a Friends of Step Two Facebook group. Everyone is welcome, and this is for those interested in intranets, information management, usability or information architecture.

We'll publish links to our regularly monthly articles, and well as cool stuff like the upcoming video interviews of the Intranet Innovation Awards winners.

Beyond that, the group is entirely open. Everyone is welcome to post links, photos and videos. Let's start a conversation, we're all friendly people...

Posted by jamesr at 10:28 AM | Permalink
Categories: Collaboration, Conferences & presentations, Information architecture, Information management, Intranets, Usability & user-centered design

Making intranets work (for communicators)

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These are the slides from the 1.5 hour workshop I gave at the IABC "Communicators' Day Out" conference today. Focused on internal communications teams, the session explored intranet strategy and the role as a comms channel.

(As ever, the slides are mostly free of text.)

Posted by jamesr at 03:32 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

Intranet Planning Day (Canberra, October)

Another quick note to highlight the Intranet Planning Day masterclass that I'll be running in Canberra on 19 October. These contain all my latest thinking on how to deliver successful intranets, including the 6x2 methodology.

Topics covered during the day:

• model of intranet evolution, explaining why intranets are the way they are
• creating an effective "sales pitch"
• identifying staff needs (including techniques such staff interviews, workplace observation, contextual inquiry and task analysis)
• 6x2 methodology for intranets
• positioning the intranet as a business tool
• leading successful intranets and gaining management support
• redefining the role of intranet teams

These are great fun days, with a huge amount of information packed in. I guarantee that you'll come away buzzing with new ideas on how to deliver a better intranet.

Full workshop details

Posted by jamesr at 09:30 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Information architecture fundamentals (Canberra, October)

Just a quick reminder that our Information architecture fundamentals workshop being held in Canberra on 26 October 2007 is rapidly approaching. This workshop is designed to teach core IA skills, and is a very effective way of building in-house expertise within web and intranet teams.

During the workshop, you will learn:

• importance of balancing the requirements of users and business
• techniques to gather information about the needs of your site visitors
• ways that information can be organised
• how to create a classification or taxonomy for your site
• importance of good labelling to help people find what they need
• how to design navigation methods and page layouts
• processes to follow for information architecture projects

We've recently re-started these workshops after a break, and they have a very strong reputation for teaching practical and pragmatic skills. (This is also the only IA workshop that we'll be running before 2008.)

Full workshop details

Posted by jamesr at 12:54 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Where collaboration tools fit in (Melbourne, Sydney)

Just a reminder that I'll be presenting two Where collaboration tools fit in afternoons in the coming month, details as follows:

• Melbourne
  25 September 2007
  Crowne Plaza Hotel
• Sydney
  10 October 2007
  Mercure Hotel

I'll be covering the four phases of collaboration, as well as providing a model that describes where to target collaboration tools

This is the latest thinking on collaboration, drawn from the observations of many different organisations. If you are planning to deploy collaboration tools (or have already!), this is the information you need to know to ensure that the best outcomes are obtained.

Posted by jamesr at 09:50 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Registration has opened for Oz-IA/2007

It's just been announced that registration is open for the Oz-IA/2007 conference (Sydney, September 22-23). This is a remarkable practitioner-led conference, the only one of its kind in Australia. If you are an information architect or usability specialist, this your best chance for professional development (and some serious networking!). Plenty of stuff for those looking to build their skills also...

There are discounts for members of IAI, WIPA and AWIA.

(We're proud to be one of the sponsors of the conference again, and I look forward to seeing you there.)

Posted by jamesr at 09:57 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Where collaboration tools fit in (Brisbane, September 12)

Are you thinking of installing SharePoint, QuickPlaces, or equivalent? Do you already have these types of collaboration tools in your organisation, but are struggling to work out how they relate to your intranet, document management systems, etc?

With the rapid spread of collaboration tools, the opportunity for new approaches to intranets and information management are being explored. More immediately, organisations are confronted with the fundamental question: where do collaboration tools fit in?

Are they a replacement for intranets and document management systems, or do they sit alongside? Where should initial projects be focused?

This industry briefing provides simple but effective models for answering these questions, as well as helping to target collaboration efforts for greatest impact.

The next session is to be run in Brisbane, as follows:

Date: Wednesday 12 September 2007
Venue: Rydges South Bank, Brisbane
Times: 2.00pm to 3.30pm, refreshments from 3.30pm
Price: $100.00 (free for members of the Intranet Leadership Forum)
Full event details
Note: this event is strictly vendor-neutral.

(This will also be run in Sydney and Melbourne later this year.)

Posted by jamesr at 03:05 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Workshop in Denmark

As noted earlier, I'll be back in Europe in November. I'll be running a half-day workshop at cmf2007 (Aarhus, Denmark) on Designing innovative intranets. Details as follows:

Designing and structuring an intranet isn't easy. This workshop explores key principles, introduces innovative new approaches and highlights the latest research results. The workshop will also feature examples from the winners of the global Intranet Innovation Awards.

Whether building an intranet for scratch, or looking for ways to enhance an existing site, this workshop will provide a wealth of new and practical ideas.

Topics covered:

• revisiting home page design
• information scent, and other IA principles
• exploding design myths, such as the 3-click rule
• innovative design elements, including examples from Intranet Innovation Awards winners

The soon-to-be-announced Intranet Innovation Awards winners cover a huge range of great ideas. This will be the only time in Europe that screenshots from the winners will be presented, so you don't want to miss out.

Posted by jamesr at 12:53 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

IABC Communicators' Day Out (Sydney)

Just a quick note to say that I'll be running a mini intranet workshop at the IABC Communicators' Day Out, 22-23 November in Sydney. This will be a 1.5 hour session on intranet strategy, targeted particularly at those communication folks responsible for running a corporate intranet.

Should be a good fun session...

Posted by jamesr at 11:03 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Program finalised for Oz-IA

The program has just been published for the Oz-IA conference, to be held in Sydney on September 22 and 23. This is a great conference, with a depth of material for information architects that can't be obtained anywhere else. So if you want to build your IA expertise, you won't want to miss out on this!

(We're supporting the conference again this year, and were the primary sponsors for the inaugural event last year.)

Posted by jamesr at 09:55 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Would you like me to drop by when in Europe?

I'll be back to Europe in early November, to speak (and run a workshop) at the always-excellent cmf2007 conference in Denmark.

Now, it's a long way to come for just a three day conference, so I'm planning to stay a little longer. So if you'd like me to drop by for some consulting, mentoring, or an in-house workshop, just send me an email. I'm happy to visit anywhere in continental Europe or the UK...

Posted by jamesr at 07:48 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Six month event calendar (Australia)

Ok, to summarise, we've just announce a whole raft of workshops and masterclasses for the the coming six months throughout Australia. To make this easier to follow, here's a full event calendar:

Posted by jamesr at 04:54 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Where collaboration tools fit in (Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney)

To meet the huge level of interest in collaboration at the moment, we've organised three more sessions on Where collaboration tools fit in, with dates as follows:

• Brisbane (12 September 2007)
• Melbourne (25 September 2007)
• Sydney (10 October 2007)

To quote:

With the rapid spread of collaboration tools such as SharePoint, the opportunity for new approaches to intranets and information management are being explored.

More immediately, organisations are confronted with the fundamental question: where do collaboration tools fit in? Are they a replacement for intranets and document management systems, or do they sit alongside? Where should initial projects be focused?

Best-practice thinking will be shared, giving you answers on how best to introduce collaboration tools within your organisation, regardless of the technology used. Several mini case studies will also be shared, exploring the scope and diversity of collaboration needs and solutions.

These are great afternoon sessions, and at $100 a pop (free for members of the Intranet Leadership Forum) you don't want to miss out!

Posted by jamesr at 04:43 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Content management, Information management, Intranets

Information Architecture Fundamentals (Sydney + Canberra)

After quite some time, we've finally found the time to restart our hugely popular Information Architecture Fundamentals workshops. These are great sessions to build in-house skills within web and intranet teams. The two dates planned for 2007:

• Sydney (24 August 2007)
• Canberra (26 October 2007)

To quote:

In this one-day workshop, Patrick Kennedy will present an introduction to information architecture (IA), the core methodology for organising and designing information-rich websites and intranets. Fundamental principles will be covered, along with a hands-on exploration of practical techniques. A must for all web teams.

Note: the early-bird date for the August workshop is rapidly approaching, so you'll want to book your places quickly!

Posted by jamesr at 06:45 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Information architecture

Innovative Information Management Planning (Melbourne + Canberra)

We've also organised two new dates for Cairo Walker's Innovative Information Management Planning masterclass. The inaugural event was very well received, and there's more to come:

• Melbourne (21 September 2007)
• Canberra (8 November 2007)

To quote:

In this one-day masterclass, Cairo Walker will present an innovative methodology for information management planning that will ensure that above-the-waterline benefits will be realised within the first six months. Drawing on extensive IM and project management experience, this masterclass will present practical solutions to real-world situations and challenges.

Posted by jamesr at 06:32 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Information management

Intranet Planning Day (Canberra, August)

We've just announced another date for my Intranet Planning Day masterclass, to be held in Canberra on 30 August 2007. To quote:

Chart a course to a more successful intranet, and take a fresh look at what it takes to be a more effective intranet team. This one day masterclass is the latest in a series of events run throughout Australia (and internationally), further enhanced with the addition of the brand-new '6x2 methodology' for intranet planning.

The masterclass will be presented by James Robertson, recognised as an international authority on intranet strategy and design. Drawing on experiences gained in many organisations and the best thinking from overseas, James will challenge current thinking as well as providing practical solutions.

Full event details, including registration form

Posted by jamesr at 06:12 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

Open Publish 2007 (Sydney, August)

Just a quick reminder about the upcoming Open Publish 2007 conference, to be held in Sydney on August 1-3. This has grown into the main content management conference within Australia, and it's run with a very strong practitioner focus. To quote:

Covering critical ideas such as wikis, blogs, single-sourcing data and content management, Open Publish will discuss these topics from the perspective of best practices, project methodologies and human / usability factors rather than simply technology.

With the objective of fostering a greater sense of community for managers, developers and production staff, Open Publish aims to offer the informal collaboration of a user group combined with presentations from the leading thinkers and practitioners in publishing.

I'm co-chair of the conference, and will be running a pre-conference tutorial. Some of the Step Two team will then be presenting in the conference itself. Considering how little this conference costs compared to other events, it's not to be missed!

Posted by jamesr at 09:50 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Intranet questions (Brisbane, Australia)

I've just finished running a very enjoyable Intranet Planning Day workshop in Brisbane. Plenty of questions and lots of interaction, just the way I like it.

For the record, here were the "big questions" raised at the beginning of the day:

• Getting management not to see it as a quick project?
• How to get staff interested and using the intranet?
• Best way to find out what users need?
• Right metadata, etc?
• Processes for publishing?
• How to engage management?
• Funding?
• Integration of systems?
• Content lifecycle?
• CMS?
• Search?
• Maintaining relevance?
• Ways to structure content?
• Content format? (HTML vs PDF)
• DM vs intranet?
• Taking away hard copies from staff?
• Identifying benefits?
• How to implement governance?
• Word processing to intranets?
• Structure of team?
• ROI?
• Maintaining organisational interest over long term?

Posted by jamesr at 07:44 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

Joseph Busch today in Melbourne

I've just spent the day sitting in on Joseph Busch's workshop in Melbourne, as the first stop in the tour that we've organised. It's been a great day, and I've learnt a lot about how to make taxonomies to work in practice. My biggest take-home insight has been the comparative power of faceted approaches to classification compared to having one huge hierarchical structure, and how this can be applied to websites, intranets, etc.

It was also great to see how to test taxonomies, in a variety of practical ways:

• testing draft taxonomies to see that users can find things
• checking that producers correctly tag items
• checking that items are sensibly distributed between the categories

All of these are very simple ways of ensuring that the taxonomy is more than just theoretically sound, it actually works in practice.

Joseph is very quietly-spoken, constantly sharing stories from the projects he's been involved in. And these are some serious organisations that he's worked for, including Oracle, Microsoft, IMF, Dell, Home Depot, HP, Harvard Business Publishing, NASA and a pile of other US Federal Government agencies.

Anyway, there are still places for Sydney and Canberra, if you book quickly.

Posted by jamesr at 05:06 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Information architecture

CMS questions (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

I've just run a two-day Web content management workshop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. These were the big questions raised by participants, for the record:

• Collaboration tools?
• Who owns the website?
• Sharepoint?
• Publishing multiple websites using a CMS?
• Translation of content?
• Online surveys as part of a CMS?
• Language selection?
• Search engine?
• How to analyse requirements?
• Vendor selection?
• How to convince/engage CMS users?
• How to choose the right CMS?
• Selection of authors?
• Flash objects managed within the CMS?
• Skills/members of the web team?
• Calendar capabilities within a CMS?
• Security?
• Photo galleries using a CMS?
• Limiting size of images/docs?
• Personalisation?
• CMS vs HRMS?
• Standard look-and-feel?
• Getting control of the website?
• Integration of the CMS with online systems?

Posted by jamesr at 08:38 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Content management

Taxonomy workshop (Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney)

Just a reminder about the upcoming Taxonomy and metadata strategies for effective CM workshops in June. Taxonomies are something that are often talked about, but discussions can be short on practical detail.

To address this we've brought Joseph Busch, one of the leading US taxonomy experts, out to Australia. Joseph has worked with many high-profile organisations in the US, and brings tremendous depth of experience. In these types of workshops, there are always things to be learned from the presentation, but even more from the opportunity to get your questions answered by someone who's really been-there-done-that.

Workshop dates:

• Melbourne (Crowne Plaza): 7 June 2007
• Sydney (Mercure Hotel): 12 June 2007
• Canberra (Hyatt Hotel): 15 June 2007

(Like all our events, we've brought out Joseph because he's extremely practical, knowledgeable, and approachable. We've seen him talk in the US, and we're looking forward to seeing him again in Australia.)

[Full workshop details]

Posted by jamesr at 04:24 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Where collaboration tools fit in (Canberra, 3 July 2007)

We've just organised the first in our new round of afternoon sessions, titled Where collaboration tools fit in. Scheduled for Canberra on July 3, this is what we'll be covering:

With the rapid spread of collaboration tools such as SharePoint, the opportunity for new approaches to intranets and information management are being explored.

More immediately, organisations are confronted with the fundamental question: where do collaboration tools fit in? Are they a replacement for intranets and document management systems, or do they sit alongside? Where should initial projects be focused?

This industry briefing presents an innovative and effective model that outlines:

• three levels of information management within organisations
• inwards and outwards focused information
• where collaboration tools should be focused
• taking a 'portfolio' approach to collaboration technologies
• managing the relationship between collaboration tools and other systems

This model is designed to provide a common understanding within organisations, helping to target collaboration efforts for greatest impact. Presented by Step Two Designs, the recognised thought-leader on intranets and information management, this briefing is entirely vendor-neutral.

Numbers are strictly limited, and this is a hot topic. So read the full event details, and book quickly!

Posted by jamesr at 10:58 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Content management, Information management, Intranets, Knowledge management

Intranet questions (Wellington, New Zealand)

A full house for my two-day intranet workshop in Wellington (New Zealand) this week, and a switched on group it was too, which made for some excellent discussions. Thanks also to those who shouted me a drink at the end of each day...

For the record, these were the "big questions" identified at the beginning of the workshop:

• How to say no?
• Decentralised authoring?
• How to have fun as an intranet team?
• Who should be authors?
• Portals?
• Supporting authors?
• Deployment roadmap?
• Business buy-in?
• How to change org culture/habits?
• The role of LDAP?
• SharePoint?
• In parallel with big organisational change?
• Who owns the homepage?
• PDFs versus web pages?
• Painting a vision?
• Perfect intranet?
• Intranet versus other communications channels?
• How to present to management?
• Project planning?
• Aligning to business needs?
• How to break down silos?
• How to support individual teams and business units?
• Selling, while managing expectations?
• Ownership? (Taking the power back?)
• Advice vs best-practice vs debates regarding design decisions?
• Roles/personalisation?
• Appropriate publishing technology?
• Avoiding change fatigue?
• Intranet versus DM?
• Identifying intranet sponsors?
• Who should design the intranet?
• Getting signoff for wireframes/IA/etc?
• Usage statistics?
• Value of wireframes?
• Non-computer literate users?
• Keeping it simple/usable?
• Death to personal drives?
• Wikis?
• User acceptance testing?
• Images on the intranet?
• Collaboration/forums/etc, and how to get end-user engagement?
• Intranet instead of TradeMe?
• Developing the CMS? (Project plan?)
• Low-maintenance design?
• Multimedia/online training vs bandwidth?

Posted by jamesr at 11:04 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

Intranet Planning Day (22 June, Brisbane)

Chart a course to a more successful intranet, and take a fresh look at what it takes to be a more effective intranet team. This one day masterclass is the latest in a series of events run throughout Australia (and internationally), further enhanced with the addition of the brand-new '6x2 methodology' for intranet planning.

The masterclass will be presented by James Robertson, recognised as an international authority on intranet strategy and design. Drawing on experiences gained in many organisations and the best thinking from overseas, James will challenge current thinking as well as providing practical solutions.

It's been a while since we've been to Brisbane, so don't miss out!

Intranet Planning Day
Friday, 22 June 2007
Rydges South Bank, Brisbane

To be successful, the intranet must become a valuable business tool that delivers tangible and visible benefits for the organisation as a whole.

While many organisations have an intranet, all too often they are struggling due a lack of resources, and may not be much more than a publishing platform for static information, or a "dumping ground for second hand documents".

This one day masterclass provides intranet teams with an opportunity to focus exclusively on the strategy and planning aspects of intranets. Current directions will be challenged, and new techniques and approaches provided to deliver a more effective site.

This masterclass is suitable for both experienced managers of long-standing intranets, as well as those managing intranets in the earlier stages of development. It is particularly valuable for intranet managers who have recognised the common challenges and are looking for solutions and answers.

Topics covered during the day:

• model of intranet evolution, explaining why intranets are the way they are
• creating an effective "sales pitch"
• identifying staff needs (including techniques such staff interviews, workplace observation, contextual inquiry and task analysis)
• intranet management model, based on the Intranet Roadmap™
• positioning the intranet as a business tool
• leading successful intranets and gaining management support
• redefining the role of intranet teams

Full event details

Posted by jamesr at 03:01 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

Innovative Information Management Planning (27 June, Sydney)

In this one-day masterclass, Cairo Walker will present an innovative methodology for information management planning that will ensure that above-the-waterline benefits will be realised within the first six months. Drawing on extensive IM and project management experience, this masterclass will present practical solutions to real-world situations and challenges.

Innovative Information Management Planning
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Mercure Hotel, Sydney

To be successful, information management initiatives must quickly become valuable to the business, delivering tangible and visible benefits. This is particularly challenging when information management projects are large and complex, with the goal of addressing problems that have not proven easy to solve in the past.

Approaches often start with 100-page strategy documents or detailed project plans, moving into content and systems audits or the end-to-end mapping of complex business processes. By the time these activities are completed, they are already out of date.

This one-day masterclass provides information management teams with an opportunity to focus exclusively on information management strategy and planning. Current directions will be challenged, and new techniques and approaches provided to deliver above-the-waterline benefits within the first six months.

This masterclass is suitable for experienced information management practitioners, as well as those managing initiatives in the earlier stages of development. It is particularly valuable for those managers who have recognised common challenges and are looking for solutions and answers.

Topics covered during the day:

• traditional approaches to information management planning and why these haven't worked
• the ten principles for effective information management
• creating an effective 'sales pitch'
• identifying staff needs (including techniques such as staff interviews, workplace observation, contextual inquiry and task analysis)
• putting in place a realistic information management roadmap
• positioning information management as an effective business tool that contributes to organisational goals and bottom line results
• leading successful initiatives and gaining management support
• redefining the role of information management teams

The workshop will also explore the brand new 6x2 planning methodology, developed to give information management teams a practical approach for information management planning.

Full event details

Posted by jamesr at 01:44 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Information management

Taxonomy and metadata strategies for effective content management (June, Australia)

Taxonomies are a hot topic at present, with many organisations exploring how these can be used to coordinate practices across organisations and to integrate business systems. While the word 'taxonomy' is often used, it is often less clear what this means in practice, and how to make it all work.

For this reason, Step Two Designs is bringing out Joseph Busch to Australia, as the recognised taxonomy expert from the United States. Uniquely, Joseph combines this with an in-depth knowledge of content management and how to implement taxonomies in real-world settings.

Taxonomy and metadata strategies for effective content management

• Melbourne (Crowne Plaza): 7 June 2007
• Sydney (Mercure Hotel): 12 June 2007
• Canberra (Hyatt Hotel): 15 June 2007

In these one day masterclasses, Joseph will provide practical answers to core taxonomy questions such as:

• What is a taxonomy?
• How do you get one and does it really make a difference?
• How do you organise user tests and use the results in a CMS implementation?
• How do you get content tagged up using a taxonomy?

Joseph will then go on to provide answers to the hard questions about enterprise content architecture strategies, including:

• What does every content manager need to know about taxonomies and metadata?
• How can a taxonomy and metadata model drive successful search, workflow, content re-use, and the automation of content production processes?
• What are the critical elements of a business case for a content architecture?
• What are the critical do's and don'ts of designing a metadata and taxonomy model?
• How do you test a taxonomy's effectiveness with users?

These are Joseph's first events in Australia, and they are relevant for every team tasked with designing or implementing a taxonomy.

Full event details

Posted by jamesr at 12:13 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Content management, Information architecture, Information management, Intranets, Knowledge management

Workshop on innovative intranets

In light of this months' article on innovative intranets, it's probably worth mentioning again that I'll be running a European workshop on this topic in a few weeks. The Building innovative intranets workshop will be held in Denmark on April 18th. (The workshop will be in English.)

There are already a number of participants coming from outside Denmark, and with the cheap flights that are available, anyone from continental Europe (or the UK) should consider attending. (It will be at least 6 months before I run another European workshop.)

Posted by jamesr at 09:56 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Presentation: IA Summit 2007

As ever, the IA Summit (held this year in Las Vegas) has been a hugely enjoyable event, mostly due to the conversations held in the corridors. I gave a presentation on "Enterprise IA methodologies: starting two steps earlier", which covered the use of ethnographic techniques within organisations.

Enterprise IA methodologies: starting two steps earlier (1.3Mb PDF)

Posted by jamesr at 03:36 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Information architecture

Bob Boiko's workshop is rapidly approaching

It's now only a week or so until the first of Bob Boiko's workshops in Australia. While Canberra is almost completely full, there are still places in Sydney and Melbourne. About the workshop in brief:

Web managers face real challenges: their sites are being deluged by content that is out of control and of dubious value. IT managers are struggling too: they can't prove the value of their web systems to their leaders and so get inadequate funding to deal with the ever increasing content load.

The solution is a two-pronged approach: first, figure out the types of information that are really worth distributing; and second, model those information types so they can be effectively collected, stored and published to the intranet, web and beyond.

This two-day masterclass by Bob Boiko, author of the Content Management Bible, will provide proven solutions to the hardest of content management challenges. Out from the US, this will be Bob's only visit to Australia in 2007, so don't miss out!

And the dates:

Melbourne (Crowne Plaza): 15-16 March 2007
Canberra (Hyatt Hotel): 20-21 March 2007
Sydney (Mercure Hotel): 22-23 March 2007

(Full workshop details)

Posted by jamesr at 02:18 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

First CMPros meeting for 2007 in Sydney

For those in Sydney with an interest in content management:

First Sydney meeting for 2007 — 'Choosing the right CMS'

Always a contentious, informative and popular topic. Our first Sydney meeting for 2007 will be a round-table discussion on 'choosing the right CMS', personal experience, selection criteria, business drivers and what's out there in the market place.

James Robertson, Co-Chair of CMPros Australia, MD of Step Two Designs and internationally respected commentator on all things CMS will moderate a general discussion on this topic. We look forward to your input and experiences in the dialogue, or if you prefer, just come along and listen.

All welcome, regardless of whether a member of CMPros or not.

Details are ...
Time | Thursday, 1 March | 5.30pm to 7.30pm
Venue | Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts – 280 Pitt Street (near Bathurst Street), Sydney

If you could take a moment to confirm your attendance, it will assist with seating arrangements, please confirm by email to david@komodocms.com

Posted by jamesr at 07:40 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Innovating intranets in Denmark

I've just arranged to run a one-day masterclass in Copenhagen, Denmark on Building innovative intranets (18 April 2007). This may well be the only full-day workshop I run in Europe this year, and it will cover the latest thinking on intranet evolution, intranet strategy, web 2.0 and collaboration.

Topics covered on the day:

• 6x2 methodology for intranets
• Defining intranet goals and "sales pitches"
• Identifying real staff and organisational needs
• Leading successful intranets
• Six phases of intranet evolution
• Web 2.0 and enterprise 2.0
• Where collaboration and personalisation fits in

These workshops have been run throughout the world, and have been very well received (read past comments). So read the full workshop details, and sign up before places run out!

Posted by jamesr at 03:13 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Intranet strategy workshop at the IA Summit

I'm going to be running a whole-day workshop on Intranets as a business tool at the upcoming IA Summit in Las Vegas. This workshop is primarily targeted at experienced intranet teams, but will also be relevant to new-starters.

Topics covered on the day:

• Evolution of intranets
• Practical 'needs analysis' techniques
• Creating an intranet 'sales pitch'
• 6x2 methodology for planning intranets
• Role of the intranet team
• Role of collaboration tools and portals

This is a day of unique models and methodologies, including a model on the