engaging experience

Case V Conference

I spoke December 12 at CASE V in Chicago. Though the talk was nominally about designing an effective fundraising web presence, I focused on user experience design more broadly, and the process (including the thought process) of creating a user-centric website.

The audience of about 90 comprised communications and fundraising professionals, with very few pure IT or web staff. This was the first year of the Web track at CASE V, and I'd been told to expect primarily business leaders. People seemed grateful for the chance to talk about how to express their business goals while simultaneously answering their constituents' needs.

There are no right answers, and Dartmouth certainly has a long way to go here, too. So the more we all talk about this, the better.

The presentation and handouts are available on megmaker.com.

Show Don't Tell

I'm headed to a higher-ed fundraising conference next week in Chicago. I thought my presentation was in the bag - it's the same one I gave this summer at another conference. But I need to add more "showing" to the "telling." It's hard finding good examples of higher ed sites that create a good user experience. But why? Is it lack of market pressure? Lack of exposure to real product development? I'd love to see higher ed site developers start taking more risks.