Past Events

World IA Day is a one-day, annual celebration focused on the practice and education of Information Architecture. This celebration brings together a diverse community including information architects, user experience designers, content strategists, product managers, developers, scholars, and students.

This year's theme is: Information Everywhere, Architects Everywhere.

Hosted by Richmond UX

The tension between designers and content creators is at all-time high. Both designers of information, they need to get off their high horses, put their egos to one side and talk to each other. Users come to websites to get information, not to look at design, so content needs to be high up in the priority of a web build. Writers and designers both want to control the show, but if they both start with UX in mind, the end result is much better for users.

This ‘marriage therapy’ session, based on cognitive behavioral techniques, will showcase how you can resolve the conflicts you’ve experienced – whether you are a Mr. Content or a Mrs. Designer. We’ll interactively assess the problems we face and work to resolve the arguments. We’ll find a way to build digital experiences together that are right for the user and, ultimately, the marriage.

We spend a lot of time trying to solve communication problems through design. We design first, write later, and end up iterating endlessly, only to start the process over again—design first, words last.

What would happen if we wrote the words first—agnostic of technology or channel—and then designed an experience to bring those words to life? That’s what Steph Hay and her content strategy team are doing at Capital One. She’ll show us content-first techniques—like content prototypes, language boards, and conversation maps—that result in faster learning, fewer iterations, a more cohesive voice and tone, and higher engagement.

What You'll Learn

• The value of writing real content before there’s an interface
• Ways to introduce users to new content or interactions
• How to do Content-First Design in your work

This is a free event organized by Richmond UX. However, you must register to attend. Hurry up; there are only a few seats left!

During this live presentation, Joe will be sharing stories and content strategy insights from his new book E-X-I-T-O: Your Digital Marketing Strategy in 5 Steps. (The book is in Spanish, but Joe's presentation to us will be in English.)

About the Speaker

Joe Kutchera advises companies on how to best develop content marketing strategies for social media and digital platforms, with a special emphasis in Hispanic/Latin American markets. He is the author of two books including Latino Link: Building Brands Online with Hispanic Communities and Content and E-X-I-T-O: Su estrategia de marketing digital en 5 pasos. He has been featured on Advertising Age, BBC Mundo, CNN en español, CNNExpansion, NBC Latino, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Telemundo.

During his nine-year tenure at Time Warner, Joe built such web properties as Warner Bros. Online, ThisOldHouse.com, and CNNMoney, and CNNExpansion. During his last two years at the company, Joe started the digital ad sales team for Grupo Expansion in Mexico City (acquired by Time Inc. in 2005), launching the web sites for CNNExpansion, Quien, and Chilango. In 2008, Joe moved to ContextWeb (now PulsePoint) where he launched its Spanish-language ad network for U.S. Hispanics and opened its Mexico City office as its Director of Spanish-Language Markets. Subsequently, Joe served as the Director of Digital Marketing at Acento Advertising before consulting on his own.

Joe writes for Fox News Latino and has written for The Huffington Post, MediaPost and iMediaConnection. In addition, Joe has a BA from Macalester College and an MBA from Fordham University. Joe has served as a board member for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Mexico and as a member of the Hispanic Committee for the IAB in the U.S.

Contracts that outline the relationship between the content creator and the client are extremely important. Service contracts can foster good working relationships between you and your clients, they can define your responsibilities and your clients’ responsibilities, and, perhaps most importantly, they can help you get paid.

Julia will discuss some contract law 101 basics and will focus on a few points important to service contracts for content creators such as the importance of clearly defining deliverables, intellectual property rights, and price and payment terms. Julia has represented content creators and their clients and will address the points from both perspectives to emphasize the importance of having a solid service contract.

About the Speaker

Julia is an associate attorney in the Richmond office of Troutman Sanders LLP. She focuses her legal practice in the areas of intellectual property law, including trademark and copyright law, and internet law. Julia counsels clients on compliance with state and federal laws and regulations in a variety of areas, including corporate, intellectual property, marketing, and privacy law. Julia’s practice also involves trademark and copyright registrations, negotiating and drafting intellectual property licensing agreements, work made for hire agreements, and service agreements, assisting clients with their general business matters, and representing clients in disputes involving trademark, copyright, domain name, and privacy law.

Julia is a graduate of both the College of William & Mary and the William & Mary Law School. Here in Richmond, Julia volunteers with various non-profit groups and bar associations, and she is a former 804RVA Coworkaholic (and will always be a member of the Wolfpack).

What's remarkable is how many marketers continue to specialize in one particular medium, as opposed to an integrated approach.

Join us on May 22 for an in-depth conversation on this topic with Gini Dietrich, nationally recognized PR pro and author of Spin Sucks: Communications and Reputation Management in the Digital Age. Dietrich will offer advice on creating valuable, shareable content and how to effectively leverage earned, paid, social and owned media to reach your customer no matter where they are. Gini will join us through Google+ and you'll have a chance to ask questions at the end of her presentation.

About the Speaker:

Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communication firm. She also is the founder of the professional development site for PR and marketing pros, Spin Sucks Pro, author of Spin Sucks: Communication and Reputation Management in the Digital Age and co-author of Marketing In the Round.

The Primetime Companion was a feature that lived within the NBC Olympics Highlights and Results application. The feature offered engaging, complementary and interactive content that tied directly to the primetime shows as part of the second screen experience. Typically 200-250 pieces of content were produced for each show and released to the app at approximately the moment it was relevant to viewers. From the hours of 7p-12p, the app defaulted to the Primetime Companion.

About Caroline

Caroline Engle produced the Primetime Companion feature for NBC for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She was previously an employee of the CBS television series "Person of Interest" in New York as well as The Golf Channel in Orlando. Caroline graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in communication studies and a focus in media studies and production. She is also proud to be a Virginia native, having grown up in McLean.

About the presentation:

What do content strategists do? How are they different from content marketers? In this presentation from SMX Advanced 2013, Jon takes a look at content strategy and how it can enable better marketing by focusing on the entire system, the entire experience of content. And better content means a better experience for your users and customers.

Originally presented at SMX Advanced 2013 in Seattle, Washington on June 12, 2013.

About the speaker:

For over 15 years, Jonathon Colman has helped people and organizations build, find, and use the best stuff on the Web.

Jonathon has worked with organizations like Facebook, REI, The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and IBM to connect with their customers, launch platforms and tools, and build communities. By leveraging expertise in SEO/Inbound marketing, social media, web analytics, content strategy, and agile methodologies, Jonathon helps organizations become better at what they do so that they can succeed in fulfilling their missions.

But never fear! Andrea Goulet Ford of BrandVox is back in this month's meetup, and she'll show you how to keep your blog content rolling. You'll complete a three month editorial calendar to help you map out your content and plan ahead. This helps you:

-Create quality content on a regular schedule

-Use your blog to map back to specific business strategies

-Manage multiple authors or contributors

-Track publication and marketing efforts

-Capitalize on trends and increase visibility

You'll walk away with much more than a spreadsheet. You'll also learn how to give your blog character and help it stand out from the crowd.

Brad, Edward, and George from Recurve Services will talk about why quantifying a brand is an essential and attainable component of a complete content strategy. They’ll even identify some metrics you can use. But no one’s crunching numbers out of a love for statistics (OK, maybe Brad is). The right data can give anyone involved with guiding a brand better insights and farther reach. And it all starts with a new, content strategist-friendly way of looking at the relationship between people and brands.

Bradley Robb

Bradley Robb has a background in both strategy and production. Bradley enjoys turning strategic objectives into operations and boy does he hate cinnamon.

Edward Baldwin

Edward Baldwin is a strategist who grew up on the wrong side of the creative brief. He now hunts for brand insights like the Predator–in the least sporting way possible.

George R. Perry

George has a long history writing content and analyzing data, which he now uses to provide actionable insights into client markets and users. George is the ebony to Bradley’s ivory.