The LavaCon Content Strategy Conference | 27–30 October 2024 | Portland, OR

2021 Conference Program

From Content Strategy to Content Marketing, or 2021 program focused on how content can be created and shared across the enterprise.

There are many ways to learn at LavaCon:

LavaCon On Demand
Pre-recorded sessions you can stream before or after our live event, or watch with other attendees in organized viewing parties

LavaCon Live! Workshops
Optional half-day, hands-on workshops

LavaCon Live! Featured Speakers
18 minute TED-like talks

LavaCon Live! Social and Networking Events

LavaCon Live! LavaCon Vendor Quest
Consult with industry experts in our virtual exhibit hall

LavaCon Live! Networking Lounges
Hang out with speakers and other attendees in themed discussion rooms and Slack channels

Schedule at a Glance

Conference Schedule in PDF

On Demand Sessions
Will drop in late September/early October

Pre-Conference Workshops
Sunday, 24 October

LavaCon Live! Main Conference
Mon-Wed, 25-27 October

Pre-recorded sessions will drop in late September. You can watch single sessions on demand, watch a series of related sessions, or participate in organized viewing parties where you can chat with speakers and other attendees.

Sunday, 24 October 2021

Optional Half-day Workshops ($100 Each)

Morning Workshops

9:00-Noon PDT

Noz Urbina photoMapping Content Measurements to Business Metrics for More Strategic Insights
Noz Urbina
Omnichannel Content Designer
OmnichannelX and Urbina Consulting

Information Modeling: Not Just for DITA
Dawn Stevens
President
Comtech Services

The MiramoPDF Formatting Challenge
Corinna Kinchin, CTO, and
Joanne Hannagen, Business Development Manager
Datazone  (trading as Miramo)

Afternoon Workshops

1:00-4:00pm PDT

Content Design from a Design Thinking Lens
Sheila O’Hara
Principal Content Experiences Manager
Microsoft

From Seed to Harvest: How Writers Can Nurture Accessibility
Jacqueline Tidwell
Senior Content Designer
Microsoft

The Content Operations Mindset
Eeshita Grover
Director, Marketing
Cisco Systems

Monday, 25, October 2021

8:30am PDT

Morning Welcome and Coffee Talk
Everyone

9:00-10:00a
Featured Speakers
(three sequential 18 minute TED-like talks)

Three Ways Technical Communication is Key to Global Business Development
Emmelyn Wang, Global Business Development Lead, Amazon Web Services

Structure of Successful Content Marketing Plans: From Ideation to Deployment
Rachel Roumeliotis, VP of Content Strategy, O’Reilly Media

Spanning Silos: Using Data and Content to Build Synergy Across Product Teams
Tig Newman, Principal Content Strategist, Google

10:00-10:15a

Coffee Break

10:15-11:15a

Five Secrets for Creating Content at Scale
Jennifer Kemper, Director, Content Strategy, AmerisourceBergen

Building a Healthy Content Culture
Marli Mesibov, Lead Content Strategist, Verily Life Sciences

Preventing Good Content From Going Bad
Alan J. Porter, Author of “CX Trinity: Customers, Content, Context”

11:15-11:30a

Coffee Break

11:30-11:50a

The Future of Holistic Content Experiences is Here
Stefan Gentz, Global TechComm Evangelist, Adobe

11:50-12:30p

Panel Discussion: The Emerging Role of AI and ML in Content Engineering

Mara Pometti, Lead AI Content Strategy, IBM (Moderator)
Chad Dybdahl, Solution Consultant, Adobe
Jeff Coyle, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, MarketMuse
Val Swisher, CEO, Content Rules, Inc.
Gordon Edall, Vice President, Sophi.io

12:30-1:30p

Daily Recap and 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 in the Speaker Q&A and/or answer them in Slack directly.

1:30-3:00p

Come and go as you please.

3:00-3:30p
PDT

The Welcome to LavaCon Taiko Drum Lesson and Show

Refresh your focus with rhythm and movement!

Welcome Kris and Minh of Arugakki, leaders of the naname (slant-drum) style of taiko drumming.

Join Kris and Minh as they guide us through a quick and satisfying rhythm experience, followed by a performance of their newest work for Japanese drums.

Watch for an attendee email after you register with more information!

3:30p

Live Storytelling Event
Hosted by Phylise Banner and David Dylan Thomas

From poetry to stories and stand-up, grab your beverage of choice and hang out with your LavaCon peeps as we “talk story” (as they say in Hawaii).

They’ll be a place to sign up if you want to participate (five minutes per person).

No prior speaking experience required!

Tuesday, 26 October 2020

8:30a PDT

Morning Welcome and Coffee Talk
Everyone

9:00-10:00a
Featured Speakers
(three sequential 18 minute TED-like talks)

Thinking Through Your Thinking at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Kat Park, Designer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech

Trust Me: Moving from Unfamiliar to Adopted with Content Design
Selene De La Cruz, Content Design Director, Mastercard

10:00-10:15a

Coffee Break

10:15-10:35a

Inclusive Language: The Path to Respectful Content, Connections and Companies
Kiana Minkie, Marketing Content Specialist, Acrolinx

10:35-11:15a

Panel Discussion: The Importance of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in Content Teams

David Dylan Thomas,  Author, Design for Cognitive Bias
Jonathan McFadden, Senior Content Designer, Red Ventures
Kiana Minkie, Marketing Content Specialist, Acrolinx
Candi Williams, Head of Content Design, Bumble

 

11:15-11:30a

Tea and Biscuit Break

11:30-12:30
Featured Speakers
(three sequential
18 minute
TED-like
talks)

The Hero’s Journey: Transforming Content Development in Three Acts
Karen Brothers, Content Management Specialist, 3M

12:30-1:30p

Daily Recap and Q&A

1:30-3:00p

Come and go as you please.

3:00-4:00p

Starting time subject to change based on attendee voting

Awards Hour

4:00p-

80’s Trivia Night

Wednesday, 27 October 2020

8:30a PDT

Morning Welcome and Coffee Talk
Everyone

9:00-10:00
Featured Speakers
(three sequential
18 minute
TED-like
talks)

How to Unify Your Content and CX Strategies to Attract and Retain Customers
Travis McKnight, Senior Content Strategist, Portent, Inc.

Joining Forces: Creating a Collaborative UX Writing Environment
Christi Guzik, Senior Manager of Product Content, Vertex Inc.

Data Driven? Probably Not. Using Content Performance to Transform
Communications Strategy

John Yembrick, Director of Digital Communications, Lockheed Martin Corporation

10:00-10:15a

Coffee Break

10:15-11:15a
Featured Speakers
(three sequential
18 minute
TED-like
talks)

Quiet Leadership: Influencing Change without Being the Loudest Person in the Room
Stacey King Gordon, UX Content Strategy Manager, Google

ContentOps: Fad or Future?
Sarah O’Keefe, CEO, Scriptorium Publishing

Moving the Content Conversation from Cost to Value
Géraldine Boulez, VP of Marketing, Fluid Topics

11:15-11:30a

Hydration Break

11:30-11:50a

Spinning Words Into Gold: Helping Managers Recognize Your Value
MaryKay Grueneberg, User Assistance Development Architect, SAP

11:50-12:30p

Panel Discussion: The Future of Content

Hilary Marsh, Chief Strategist, Content Company (moderator)
Alisa Bonsignore, Founder, Clarifying Complex Ideas
Ulrike Irmler, Director of Content Operations, PayPal
Anne Bovard, Vice President of Global Communications, INVIDI Technologies
Marc Phillips, Content Director, Watson Health at IBM

12:30-1:30p

Daily Recap and Q&A

1:30-3:00p

Come and go as you please.

3:00-5:00p

Closing Cocktails and Experience 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!

Join us for an evening of cocktails and experience celebration!