minneapolis souvenirs: the insights, lessons, and little gems i brought back from confab 2011
Post on 15-Sep-2014
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A wrap-up of Confab 2011, presented at the Content Strategy Cape Town Meetup on 20 July 2011.TRANSCRIPT
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Minnesota souvenirsThe insights, lessons, and little
gems I brought back from Confab 2011
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Here’s a real FAQ:
Why has content strategy suddenly become so
important in the last few years?
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Organisations are
feeling the pain.
“Why hasn’t SEO fixed
our problems?”
“Why haven’t the users generated all our content for us?”
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
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“We need a blog!” “We need a
Facebook page!”
“We need an iPad app!”
“We need to write
articles!”
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Confab was the best conference ever,
in the history of forever.
Confab B
onus
Fact #1
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
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Souvenir #1
“What is content strategy?” is getting simultaneously harder
and easier to answer.
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This is a salad.
(Obviously.)
But what’s in it?
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
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Confab topics: a small selection
Messaging
Writing for websites
Content curation
User-generated content
Metadata schemas
Content creation processes
Editorial strategy
Storytelling
Content marketing
Content management systems
Measuring content
Change management
Localisation
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Souvenir #2
Listening is a key skill for content strategists. Perhaps
even THE key skill.
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(I have no idea how Kristina can hear anything over that loud party hat.)
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
“Tell me more about
that.”
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And that wasthe simple version.
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460 people attended Confab. The conference sold out two months in
advance.
Confab B
onus
Fact #2
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
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Souvenir #3
Defining workflow is an integral but undervalued part of content
strategy.
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Who?
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
How?
What?
When?
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The content creation process
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Yeah. Sure.
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The Groupon content creation process
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I’m as disappointed as you are at the
fact that they don’t use unicorns.
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Approximately 783 metric tons of cake were consumed at Confab.
Confab B
onus
Fact #3
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Souvenir #4
Content must be well-structured if it’s to be future-proof.
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“Nimble content can travel freely, retain context and meaning, and
create new products.”– Rachel Lovinger
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Erin Kissane isn’t just smart;she also has amazing shoes.
Confab B
onus
Fact #4
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
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Souvenir #5
Content has to be tested and measured. Continually.
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Test. Improve content. Test.
Improve content. Test. Improve
content. Then reward yourself
with a piece of cake.
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
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At least three prominent content strategists slid down the pole at the Minneapolis #11 fire station on the
night of 10 May 2011.
Confab B
onus
Fact #5
Margot Bloomstein
Fire station pole
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Souvenir #6
Content strategy is becoming a community of practice.
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We’re sharing ideas.
Image courtesy of Sean Tubridy
We’re sharing challenges.
We’re sharing tools.
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Groups, groups everywhere
Funny ‘cos it’s
true.
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Real friendships have developed.
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Confab had its own signature cocktail.
Confab B
onus
Fact #6
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Souvenir #7
We need allies.
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Find your content champions.
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This thing only goes if we collaborate.