Speaking engagements

Below is a list of my recent speaking engagements.

Please contact me if you would like me to present at a conference, workshop or event.

 

Marketing automation: converting interest to uptake

21 November 2011 at the Squiz New Zealand User Conference 2011, Wellington

“Marketing automation” is all about using technology to generate interest, and converting interest to a sale or other action. Pioneered by business-to-business (B2B) marketers, marketing intelligence/automation can powerfully assist in many other contexts, such as higher education and government.

In this session, I explored how marketing intelligence/automation can be useful outside the usual B2B application, and provided a behind the scenes look at:

  • gathering and processing data to discover more about the user journeys of visitors
  • understanding what content visitors require
  • using A/B split testing to optimise section/navigation/home pages to fulfil visitor content requirements.

 

Social Media for Food Bloggers

12th November 2011, at the New Zealand Food Bloggers Conference 2011, Auckland

In this session I shared my thoughts on these Social Media questions:

  • Which social networks are the best ones?
  • Can we use social media to increase the number of visitors to our websites?
  • What do our online visitors like most, what do they want more of, and what do they need help with?
  • What to do when things go awry?
  • Is it true that I will meet new people and make new friends?

 

Digital Marketing for real people

27 June 2011, a lecture to University of Canterbury Engineering Management students, Christchurch

This lecture was part of University of Canterbury’s 2011 Engineering Management course.

We looked at the basics of Marketing, how to get to know the real people that come to our sites and their online goals, and how to provide the right content to them.

After that, we looked at examples of businesses (large and small) that understand and use Social Media as a marketing tool – and a few that don’t get it yet.

 

Online Marketing presentation

26 November 2010 at the Squiz NZ 2010 User Conference, Wellington

In this presentation I talked about how Online Marketing teams find out what people want, and how they give it to them, by providing answers to the following questions: How do Online Marketing teams get to know the real people that come to their sites? How do they then provide the right online content or service? How do they bring the right visitors to their sites and then provide a compelling and satisfying experience?

 

Online Marketing presentation

20 October 2010 at the Squiz International User Conference 2010, Melbourne

The Web is one of the primary tools used by Marketing Managers and Communications Managers to meaningfully engage with people in their markets. These can be as diverse as constituencies, partners, customers, or shareholders.

How do Online Marketing teams get to know the real people that come to their sites? How do they then provide the right online content or service? How do they bring the right visitors to their sites and then provide a compelling and satisfying experience? And how do their organisations deal with the shift of Web ownership, away from the IT department, to the Marketing team?

In short, this session was about how Online Marketing teams find out what people want, and how they give it to them.

 

Online Marketing lecture

21 July 2010, a presentation to University of Canterbury Engineering Management students, Christchurch

This presentation was part of University of Canterbury’s 2010 Engineering Management course. We looked at the basics of Marketing, how to identify audiences and their online goals, and how to provide the content or services they require.

After that, we looked at examples of large businesses that get Social media as a marketing tool – and a few that don’t.

 

Weaving websites with taxonomy

19 November 2009 at the MySource Matrix NZ User Workshop, Wellington

In this presentation I talked about website taxonomies: what Taxonomies are, how they are used, and how they can enhance website’s search results.

 

Merging corporate Intranet, Extranet and public websites into single, synchronized systems

22 August 2008 at the 8th Annual Strategic Intranet & Enterprise Portal Management Summit, Wellington

In my presentation on 22 August 2008 at the 8th Annual Strategic Intranet & Enterprise Portal Management Summit in Wellington, I looked into aspects of merging corporate Intranet, Extranet and public websites into single synchronized systems that allow access to both staff and partners.

The challenges that I discussed included:

  • Synchronising visual design and branding
  • Integrating separate systems from multiple vendors into a single sign-on system
  • Creating search results that are rich in context
  • Finding win-win solutions to diverse requirements from teams and business units that are distributed across the globe

I find the most interesting challenge, however, to be the issues around publishers that want to use a single instance of information across multiple websites - a topic that I discussed in this related article: Publishing content on corporate Intranet, Extranet and public websites.

 

Seeds of knowledge and inspiration at the workplace

24th April 2008, a presentation to Vision College’s Web design students, Christchurch

This presentation was part of Vision College’s 2008 programme to bring real-world experts into the classroom.

In my talk, I discussed how graduates need to be open to learn from more senior colleagues, but at the same time transferring their new knowledge into their new workplace. This is no easy task, but it helps if you know what to expect.

My core message to the students was: be patient, be willing to adapt, but hang on to your principles and knowledge.

 

When Commercial websites go Social

13 September 2007 at a TCANZ Christchurch branch meeting, Christchurch

On Thursday 13 September 2007, at a meeting of TCANZ 's Christchurch branch, I talked about Commercial websites that go Social.

We took a rather brief look at Social websites that try to become popular and then cash in, but the focus of the presentation was on the land of challenge and opportunity that lies between Commercial and Social websites, the new breed of Commercial Socialists that challenge and change the way we do business, and how not to get yourself into trouble if you want to build one of these new-generation websites. Towards the end of the evening, we also discussed the future of virtual environments.

I published a teaser-article (Can business websites become more sociable?) shortly before the presentation. 

 

Why use Web Standards

Wednesday 28 February, with Greg Comfort, at the WDANZ Conference 2007, Christchurch

On Wednesday 28 February, Greg Comfort and I talked about practical issues of Web Standards at the WDANZ Conference in Christchurch, which was organised by the Web Design Association of New Zealand.

Using Web Standards can be great, or it can wreak havoc with your digestive system, but I find that keeping to Standards when building a new websites saves time and money during the operational lifetime of these sites.

During our presentation, Greg and I shared some of our recent experiences, and showcased a few awesome Standards-compliant sites.

 

Untangling the Spider - how to survive writing Web content

8 September 2005 at the TCANZ conference 2005, Christchurch

The presentation started with a discussion of information overload and its implications, followed by an overview of presentation and content layers, steps in web design, and types of Web content. The focus of the presentation was the value of Web content design and Web Content Management Systems. Towards the end of the presentation, we looked at a number of Web sites, followed by a discussion of the implications of information overload.