Conference at a Glance
Schedule at a Glance
Pre-recorded sessions will drop weekly starting in early October. You can watch single sessions on demand, binge watch related sessions, download sessions to watch offline, or participate in organized viewing parties where you can chat with speakers and other attendees.
Friday, 23, October 2020: Pre-Conference Workshops
9:00-Noon PDT
Content Design for Omnichannel Experiences
Noz Urbina
Omnichannel Content Designer
OmnichannelX and Urbina Consulting
Creating Content that Builds Trust and Moves Metrics (two hour workshop)
Jen Schaefer, Content Design Manager, Netflix
Renee Crawshaw, Content Designer and Strategist, Mobile, Netflix
Content Can Save the World: Enlisting your Skills in the Fight Against Climate Change
Kendal Sparks
Lead Content Designer
Mastercard
Managing Writers: An Interactive Playshop
Barry Saiff
Senior Technical Writing Manager
DocuSign
Saturday, 24, October 2020: Pre-Conference Workshops
9:00-Noon PDT
Customer Journey Mapping for Omnichannel Experiences
Noz Urbina
Omnichannel Content Designer
OmnichannelX and Urbina Consulting
From Content Environment to a Content Ecosystem
Eeshita Grover
Director, Marketing
Cisco Systems
Monday, 26, October 2020
8:30 PDT
The “Welcome to LavaCon UX!” Opening Drum Circle
Jack Molisani, Executive Director, The LavaCon Conference, and Skinz N Bonez Drum Corps, live from New Orleans, and LavaCon Attendees, using drumsticks in your experience box!
9:00-10:00
Featured Speakers (three 18 minute TED-like talks back to back)
Bridging Silos to Deliver Delightful and Trustworthy Experiences
Beril Maples, Head of UX Design, Google Analytics
What Dark Side? How to Carve Your Own Content Path, from TechComm to MarComm and Back Again
Jessica Reed, Vice President, Product Marketing & Content Strategy, NBCUniversal
10:00-10:15
Coffee Break
10:15-11:15
Cheat, Borrow, and Steal: How to Build a Successful Design Practice
Colin Budd, Global Design Strategist IBM
The Customer’s Reason Why: New Thinking on How Content Fits with UX, Product, and Design
Tim Sandfort, ExxonMobil’s First Content Strategist
Creating Content Users Can Find
Carl DeBeer, Manager of Information Experience, VMware
11:15-11:30
Coffee Break
11:30-11:50
Fighting Bias with Content Strategy
David Dylan Thomas, Principal, Content Strategy, Think Company
11:50-12:30
Panel Discussion: The Necessity of Diversity and Inclusion in Content Development Teams
David Dylan Thomas, Principal, Content Strategy, Think Company (moderator)
Jordan Craig, Manager, Content Strategy, Twitter
Jill Sheffield, Vice President of Content Strategy and Development, Mastercard
Kendal Sparks, Lead Content Designer, Mastercard
Speaker Q&A
All sessions at LavaCon UX are 20 minute TED-like talks: long enough to be substantial, but short enough to stream without losing the audience interest. Throughout the day, type any questions you have into the Slack channel. We’ll address questions the Speaker Q&A and/or answer them in Slack directly.
Highlights from LavaCon UX! Main Stage Speaker Q&A
Press the image above to play the audio (or open here).
13:00-14:00
Pick a room topic, then network and discuss!
14:00-15:00
Informal Networking Lounges
Come and go as you please.
Book Club
Espresso Cafe
Crafts
Bier Garden
Zen Garden
Jobs and Career
Tech Talk
Puppies and Kittens
Sports
15:00-
PDT
Second Line Jazz Parade followed by Networking Reception and More Jazz
Sponsored by Adobe Systems
17:00-
Live Storytelling Event
Hosted by Phylise Banner and David Dylan Thomas
Tuesday, 27 October 2020
8:30 PDT
Morning Welcome and Coffee Talk
9:00-10:00
Storming the Castle: Winning Support for and Executing a Content Strategy
Britt Ellmer, TSYS and Noz Urbina, OmnichannelX and Urbina Consulting
How to Set Content Strategy in Motion for Sustainable Success
Hilary Marsh, Chief Strategist, Content Company
Are You Ready to Successfully Scale Your Content Strategy Practice?
Jordan Craig and Lisa Jennings Young, Content Strategy Managers, Twitter
10:00-10:15
Coffee Break
10:15-11:15
Creating Content that Truly Resonates by Analyzing Metrics and Data
Tony Mann, Director, Developer Content, DocuSign
How In-product Support Turns Documentation into a KPI-smashing Enterprise Asset
Megan Gilhooly, Vice President Customer Experience, Zoomin Software
11:15-11:30
Tea and Biscuit Break
11:30-11:50
Better Content Through Better Listening
Surbhi Mahendru, Senior Web Content Manager, Amazon Web Services
11:50-12:30
Panel Discussion: Beyond Inclusion. The Importance of Accessible UX Content and Design
Jennison Asuncion, Head of Accessibility Engineering Evangelism, LinkedIn (moderator)
Char James-Tanny, Principal Technical Writer, Schneider Electric
Megan Lawrence, Sr Accessibility Technical Evangelist, Microsoft
Dave Goodman, UX Designer, The Paciello Group
12:30-13:00
Speaker Q&A
All sessions at LavaCon UX are 20 minute TED-like talks: long enough to be substantial, but short enough to stream without losing the audience interest. Throughout the day, type any questions you have into the Slack channel. We’ll address questions the Speaker Q&A and/or answer them in Slack directly.
13:00-14:00
Pick a room topic, then network and discuss!
14:00-15:00
Informal Networking Lounges
Come and go as you please.
Book Club
Espresso Cafe
Crafts
Bier Garden
Zen Garden
Jobs and Career
Tech Talk
Puppies and Kittens
Sports
15:00-16:00
Starting time subject to change based on attendee voting
Awards Hour
- Best Mardi Gras Mask Awards
17:00-
Trivia Night
Sponsored by Twitter
Wednesday, 28 October 2020
8:30 PDT
Morning Welcome and Coffee Talk
9:00-10:00
Bringing the Arts and Humanities to Tech
Jonathan Foster, Principal Content Experience Manager, Microsoft
The Headcount Hustle: How to Grow Your Content Team
Selene De La Cruz, Content Design Manager, Mastercard
10:00-10:15
Coffee Break
10:15-11:15
Use Your Words: The Business of Content
Joe Gollner, Principal, Gnostyx Research Inc.
Why Your Company Needs a Digital Council
Jackie Pysarchuk, Senior Director, American Bankers Association
11:15-11:30
Hydration Break
11:30-11:50
Impacting the Bottom Line: Creating Experiences that Convert Trial Users to Paying Customers
Dean Atchison, Senior Director, CRM Content Experience, Salesforce
Fiona Moriarty, Lead Technical Writer, Small Business Platform, Salesforce
11:50-12:30
Surbhi Mahendru, Senior Web Content Manager, Amazon Web Services
Beril Maples, Head of UX Design, Google Analytics
Jonathon Colman, Senior Design Manager, Intercom
Kit Brown-Hoekstra, Content Operations Lead, [A]
12:30-13:00
Speaker Q&A
All sessions at LavaCon UX are 20 minute TED-like talks: long enough to be substantial, but short enough to stream without losing the audience interest. Throughout the day, type any questions you have into the Slack channel. We’ll address questions the Speaker Q&A and/or answer them in Slack directly.
13:00-14:00
Pick a room topic, then network and discuss!
14:00-14:30
Informal Networking Lounges
Come and go as you please.
Book Club
Espresso Cafe
Crafts
Bier Garden
Zen Garden
Jobs and Career
Tech Talk
Puppies and Kittens
Sports
14:30-17:00
Cocktails and Failure Celebration
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself!”― Eleanor Roosevelt
From Jack Molisani, LavaCon’s Executive Director:
I believe an “expert” is someone who has made all the mistakes possible in a given field (assuming you don’t keep repeating them).
As Eleanor Roosevelt said, let’s learn from the mistakes of others. So grab a drink and your best failure story. You’ll learn from others, and others will learn from you!
I anticipate we’ll hear people boasting, “You think you screwed up? What until you hear what I did!”
Join us for an evening of cocktails and failure celebration!