Every session I attended was so impactful and inspiring; I left with a lot of ideas and new contacts. Thank you #HEWebMI for inviting me!
Because it was dual track, I didn't get to attend every talk, but a few gems:
James Seidler "Steering the Circus: Building an Effective Website Governance and Review Process": To get started with web site governance, write *something* down. Many questions or challenges will be managed simply by having something tangible to share with people. Also, when you deliver on the little yeses, you build credibility for the big no. Such an elegant strategy for being responsive and holding the line.
Nick DeNardis "10 tabs, 10 homepages: Competing for attention, access, and user experience": He shared an actionable framework for how to assess whether a web page has the required elements to be successful: Confidence, relevance, signal to noise, attractiveness, accuracy, and next steps. So efficient and effective!
Ashley Budd "Advanced Email Marketing Strategy": I will never write bad email again! Her upcoming book, Mailed It!, covers strategies for cutting through the spam - one great, simple example: The subject line should tell people what's in the email, be personalized, and avoid replacing words with emojis - and only use emojis at the END of the sentence if they add value. I am pre-ordering this book.
Aaron Knight "Accessible wayfinding: It's not uncharted territory": Even though tables are a significant design challenge for screen readers, they can be helpful in the map context to help organize information in a meaningful way. Also, check everything using OpenStreetMap.org.
Haley Goodreau and Cyndi Perkins "Moose, Snow, and Flaming Trumpets" Lean into What Makes Your Brand Unique": In addition to great recommendations for connecting with faculty around research storytelling, their presentation was the first I've seen where both decorative as well as substantive images were described for every slide through the presentation. Having a "Slide reader" for a live presentation is so powerful. It's inspired me to do more for my live presentations.
Thank you to our keynote speaker, Lija Hogan, for sharing her expertise in putting accessibility into practice! We are so grateful to all of our presenters for making our Michigan regional conference so awesome. 👏 #HEWebMI