Watch these pre-recorded sessions before or after the conference. All sessions at the live conference will also be recorded for future viewing.

Workshops and main conference Sunday–Wednesday, 24–26 October

1:00–5:00pm

Managing Writers: The Impact of Hybrid
Barry Saiff
Founder and CEO
Saiff Solutions

Data Visualization and the Accessibility of Color
Elise Blanchard
Senior UX Designer
Mozilla

Creating Content at Velocity
Sharon Burton
Principal Content Strategist
Expel, Inc.

Using Taxonomies and Tagging to Connect Content Across the Enterprise
Heather Hedden
Knowledge Engineer
Semantic Web Company

7:30am–

Registration, Continental Breakfast
Everyone

8:30-9:45a

Welcome to LavaCon!
Jack Molisani, Executive Director, The LavaCon Conference

9:50-10:30a
Featured Speakers
(two sequential 18 minute TED-like talks)

Advocating for Change: Embrace Your Inner Rebel!
Liz Pfeffer, TV Content Design Lead, Netflix

“The Room”
Stacey King Gordon. UX Content Strategy Manager, Google

10:30-10:30a

Break

10:45-11:45a

Case Study: Creating Content Ecosystems Based Teams for Client Success
Mary Brooks, Enterprise Content Strategist, Amazon Web Services

Connecting Content Silos Across the Enterprise
Jerry Thorner, Global Learning Systems Owner, The CocaCola Company

What is Content Strategy in the World of Technical Communication
and a Case Study of a Successful Customer Change Project
Mark McLeod, Dir. Content Solutions, CogniLore Information Solutions

11:45a-1:45p

Networking Lunch + Dessert and Vendor Demos in the Exhibit Hall

1:45-2:45p

Stop the Coding Madness and Start Delivering!
Stefan Gentz, Global TechComm Evangelist, Adobe Systems

Transformative Innovation Though Content:
They Will Never See You Coming

Chris Rocco, Principal Program Manager, and
Mike Kippenhan, UX/UI Manager, Volkswagen Automotive Cloud

How To Stop Building Silos and Start Building Content Hubs
Jim Edmunds, CEO, Ingeniux

1:45-2:45p

Diplomacy In CCMS Implementations: Letting Someone Else Have Your Way
Leigh White, DITA Specialist, IXIASOFT

Going Global: How to Build Productive, Global Teams Leveraging Local Perspective
Christine Den Herder, Global Head of Content Strategy, Wayfair

The Easiest Way to Dramatically Improve the Quality of Your Documentation
George Eckel, Manager, Technical Writing, ServiceNow

4:15-5:15p
Featured Speakers
(three sequential 18 minute TED-like talks)

Keeping the U in UX Strategy
Scott Kubie, UX Content Advocate, kubie.co

What Your Web Analytics Won’t Tell You
Chad Dybdahl, Senior Solutions Consultant, Acrolinx

Let’s Discuss Content Reuse Again!
Stefan Gentz, Global TechComm Evangelist, Adobe Systems

5:15-6:15p

Networking Reception
Sponsored by Adobe Systems

8:00p–

Annual Storytelling Event
Mag’s 940
940 Elysian Fields Ave, New Orleans

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!

8:00am–

Continental Breakfast
Everyone

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

From Silo Busting to CaaStle Building
Sarah O’Keefe, CEO, Scriptorium

Less Work, More Revenue: Unlock Content Velocity
Carrie Hane, Head of Content Strategy Relations, Sanity.io

Documentation4.0, IoT, and the Future of Tech Comm
Nenad Furtula, Founding Partner, Bluestream Content Solutions

10:15-10:30a

Break

10:15-11:15a

Scaling Content Operations with Self-Service
Jon Nones, Knowledge Management Leader, Amazon Web Services

From Gran Turismo to GAAP: Unifying Docs for a Seamless Content Experience
Stephen Townsend Senior Manager and Kennan Rossi, Sony Interactive Entertainment
Kathy Clemens, BlackLine
Joe Gelb, Zoomin Software

Creating a Unified (Siloed) Experience: The Importance of Terminology and Taxonomy
Valerie Swisher, CEO, Content Rules, Inc.

11:15a-12:30p
Lunch and Learn

The Heroes and Villains of Content Strategy
Alan Porter, Author, CX Trinity: Customers, Content, Context

12:30-1:30p

Dessert and Vendor Demos in the Exhibit Hall

1:30-2:30p

How AI is Your Content Team’s Secret Silo-Breaker
Jeff Coyle, Chief Strategy Officer, MarketMuse

Be Faster than the Competition: Seamless Collaboration and Efficient Coordination Processes are Success Factors
Stefan Gentz, Global TechComm Evangelist, Adobe Systems

Transforming the Customer Service Center: Moving from “Call for Solution” to “Information Self-Service”
Alex Masycheff, CEO, Intuillion
Fabrice Lacroix, CEO, Antidot

2:45-3:45p

Celebrating Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Responsibility Through Self Service
Joe Gelb, President, Zoomin Software

How Analog Devices Brought Its Content Silos to the
Playground to Play Nicely Together

Scott Farrar, CCMS Manager, Analog Devices Inc.
and Maura Moran, Mekon Ltd.

Call Me Strange, or How I Learned to Love Content Silos
Michael Mannhardt, President and Torsten Macher,
Senior Consultant, Congree Language Technologies

4:00-5:00p

Stand Out from the Crowd
Dawn Stevens, President, Comtech Services

Panel Discussion: How a Headless CMS Can Support Content Strategy
John Collins, Sr Content Architect, Atlassian
David Newman, Digital Content Strategist, Intralox
Lynsey Cochrane, Senior Manager, Content Design & Development, Hilton
Carrie Hane, Head of Content Strategy Relations, Sanity
Matt Armstrong, Director of Business Development, Author-it
Michael Andrews, Content Strategy Evangelist, Kontent.ai (Moderator)

Improving the Review and Approval Process in Regulated Industries
Dipo Ajose-Coker, Product Ambassador, Componize Software

5:15-5:35p

Welcome to the Metaverse: A Hype-free Introduction to Web 3 and AR/VR
Noz Urbina, Founder, OmnichannelX.digital

5:35-6:30p

Annual Second Line Jazz Parade
featuring The Jaywalkers

You are part of the parade as we strut down Bourbon Street to our offsite karaoke venue.  Light appetizers will be served,  or you can grab dinner at one of the nearby restaurants.  Either way, don’t miss this fun and exciting evening!

6:30p–

Annual Karaoke Night
Location: Bourbon Heat, 711 Bourbon Street
A variety of appetizers will be served.
Additional food available from Bourbon Heat and other nearby restaurants.

7:45a

Continental Breakfast
Everyone

8:15-9:15a
Featured Speakers
(three sequential 18 minute TED-like talks)

Lights, Camera, Should I Be Doing This?
How To Go Live With Your Product Writing Expertise
Joan Barnard, Content Designer, Pinterest

Is Voice the Right Choice?
Kathleen Gavenman, Principal Voice Designer, Amazon
(In-person Only)

How Enterprise Content Teams Are *Actually* Using AI
May Habib, CEO and co-founder of Writer
(Virtual Only)

The Content Challenge: Why Content Experience Matters More than Ever
Trey Simonton, Chief Revenue Officer, MadCap Software

9:15–9:30a

Break

9:30–10:30a

Microcontent Architecture in Action
Rob Hanna, President and Joshua Anderson,
Associate Information Architect, Precision Content

Setting Boundaries: Effectively Prioritizing Content Requests and Keeping Your Sanity
Christi Guzik, Senior UX Content Strategist

Connect Your Localization Silo to a Flawless Global User Experience
Dominique Trouche, CEO, WhP

10:45–11:45a

Intelligent Content Drives a Dynamic Customer Experience
Chip Gettinger, VP Global Solutions Consulting, RWS

How to Communicate Change and Keep Your Customers
Mary Morreale, Sr. Manager, UX Design, Charles Schwab
(In-person Only)

Should You Start a Podcast? The Short Answer: Yes!
Mark Bologna, Podcast Producer Beyond Bourbon Street and
Michele Bousquet, Podcast Producer, Many Worlds Productions

12:00-1:00p

Return on Attendance: Content, Connection, and Community
Moderator: Andrea Ames, Customer Retention Strategist, Idyll Point Group

1:15-5:00p

Post-Conference Workshops

(includes box lunch)

Design Thinking+ for Content
Andrea Ames, Customer Retention Strategist, Idyll Point Group

Content Modeling for the Win!
Noz Urbina, Founder, OmnichannelX.digital

Developing Information Architecture for Deliverable and Content Types
Amber Swope, Information Architect, DITA Strategies

8:00p–

Closing Social
Location, TBD