I was honoured  to be the opening keynote presenter at IntraTeam Event 2015 today. This is a wonderful conference, held in Denmark, a country that really gets the intranet.

The talk was about the power of ‘design’ to drive better intranet experiences.

The key points:

• ‘Design’ is now a powerful word within many organisations, even at senior leader levels.
• Design means many things, from basic usability through to full ‘design thinking’.
• Start by getting the fundamentals right, by delivering a usable intranet. This includes using techniques such as card sorting, tree testing and usability testing (as outlined in Designing intranets: creating sites that work).
• The standards of intranet design should match the wider web (see Intranet design continues to shine in 2015).
• Intranets should also generate a positive emotion when the site is opened by staff (see What message does your intranet send to staff?).
• The intranet should also have a strong brand, in terms of identity and design.
• Beyond this, the intranet should delight, providing staff with solutions that exceed their expectations.
• Applying the broader discipline of ‘design thinking‘, we can take a fresh look at what we deliver, based on a deep understanding of staff needs and the business.
• The Platinum winner of the 2014 Intranet Innovation Awards is Lakewood High School, which is an amazing example of what can be delivered.

Obtain a copy of this year’s Awards report to see more about the examples shown, and thanks again for the opportunity to return to Denmark!