2023 Conference Program

Tuesday Post-conf Workshop

Saturday, 14 October 2023

Optional Half-day Workshops

7:00am–5:00pm

Registration Open

8:00am–Noon

Intro to AI Workshop: Excel with AI Before the AI Apocalypse
Noz Urbina, Founder & Omnichannel Strategist, Urbina Consulting, and Timi Stoop-Alcala, Principal Content Strategist, IKEA

To Move Forward First Know Where You Are
Dawn Stevens, President, Comtech Services

Noon–1:30pm

Lunch on your own

1:30–5:30pm

Advanced AI Workshop: Creating and Publishing Text, Images, Music, and Video Using Cutting Edge Generative AI Tools
Jason Kaufman, President and Principal Consultant, Irrevo

Content Design with Progressive Disclosure
Eeshita Grover, Director, Product User Content,
Cisco Systems

Actually Completing a Real Enterprise
Content Strategy for the Entire Enterprise and Getting it Right

Kevin P Nichols, Executive Director, Experience and Rebecca Schneider, Executive Director, Content, AvenueCX

6:30–7:30pm

Meet and Greet
Exhibit Hall

Sunday, 15, October 2023

7:30–

Registration, Continental Breakfast
Everyone

8:15–9:00am

The Welcome to LavaCon! opening Taiko Drum Performance
by Asayake Taiko University of San Diego!

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

Beyond the Horizon: Make AI Work for your Enterprise Content
Stefan Gentz, Principal Worldwide Evangelist, Technical Communication, Adobe Systems

Shifting the Spotlight: Elevating Content’s Impact on the Customer Experience
Scott Abel, Content Strategy Evangelist, Heretto

Creating the Content Experience Beyond the App
Jo Ward, Senior VP, Content Experience, Salesforce

10:15–11:00am

Five breakout sessions

Unlocking the AI Advantage: Transforming Content Creation for Technical Writers and Content Strategists
Jason Kaufman, President and Principal Consultant, Irrevo

Five Principles of Cross-Functional CX
Sara Feldman, Director of Member Engagement,
Consortium for Service Innovation

Elevate Your Content Strategy: Unleashing Seamless Integration & Innovative Publishing!
Stefan Gentz, Principal Worldwide Evangelist, Technical Communication, Adobe Systems

Dirty DITA Deeds Done Dirt Cheap: A Case Against Structured Authoring and the Status Quo
Carol Hattrup, Manager, Client Learning, Netsmart and
Amy Etheridge, Dir. Customer Success, NICE – CXOne Expert

Content Structure 101: The Building Blocks for Innovation and Digital Transformation
Marianne Calilhanna, VP Marketing, Data Conversion Laboratory

11:15am–Noon

The Technical Writer’s Unlikely Ally: Generative AI for Documentation
Patrick Bosek, CEO and
Jarod Sickler, Senior Solutions Architect, Heretto

Customer Experience and Content: Time for a Less Dysfunctional Relationship
Kevin P Nichols, Executive Director, Experience, AvenueCX

The Intersection of Content Strategy and Information Architecture: Storytelling from Both Perspectives
Amber Swope, DITA Strategies and
Lief Erickson, Intuitive Stack

Content 4.0: Human Knowledge in the Age of the Smart Machine
Joe Gollner, Managing Director, Gnostyx Research, Inc.

Overcoming Content Conversion Obstacles
(an Interview with Avalara)
Jackson Klein, CTO, Stilo Corporation

Noon–1:30pm

Networking Lunch followed by Dessert in the Exhibit Hall and
Therapy Dogs in the Grand Foyer

1:30–2:15pm

Real-life AI-powered Content Experiences: Behind the Scenes
Gal Oron, CEO and Co-founder, Zoomin and
Aditi Kashikar, Director, Documentation, Automation Anywhere

Building a Data-Driven UX Strategy
Minnie Tuteja, Sr. Technical Writer, Invafresh

Translation and Localization: It’s All Greek to Me
Dana Aubin, Senior Consultant, Comtech Services

How Measuring and Managing Content Quality Can Help You Prioritize Your Work
Alex Masycheff, CEO, Intuillion Ltd.

Applying the Principles of Structured Writing to Unstructured Content Creation
Dipo Ajose-Coker, Product Marketing Manager, MadCap Software

2:30–3:15pm

Positioning Your Content Strategy for Success in the Era of AI and Machine Learning
Dmitrii Kustov, Founder and CEO, Regex SEO

Managing Up, Down, and Sideways: How to Lead Effectively During Times of Chaos
Alexa Apallas, Director, Content Design, PayPal

Unclogging Long Translation Turn-around Times
Eric Kuhnen, President, GlobalLink CCMS

Content Quality Is not an Accident: Defining and Measuring KPIs
for Enterprise Content Quality
Torsten Machert, Senior Consultant, Congree

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and TechComm in Action
Nenad Furtula, CEO, Bluestream Software

3:15–4:15pm

Snack Break in the Exhibit Hall

4:15–4:55pm
Featured Speakers
(two sequential 18 minute TED-like talks)

Peril and Possibilities: AI in Content Operations
Sarah O’Keefe, CEO, Scriptorium

Technical Content: The Business Booster Every CEO Should Care About
David Hoare, VP of Content Experience, ServiceNow

5:00–6:30pm

Networking Reception
Marina Courtyard

8:00pm–

Annual Storytelling Event
Location: Side Bar San Diego

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!

Leveraging Semantics to Provide Targeted Training Content

Monday, 16 October 2023

7:30–8:30am

Registration, Continental Breakfast
Everyone

8:30–9:30am
Featured Speakers
(three sequential 18 minute TED-like talks)

When Perfection Is The Enemy
Megan Gilhooly, Sr. Director Self-help & Content Strategy, Reltio

Getting Business Buy-In For Your Content Initiatives
Maura Moran, Senior Content Consultant, Contiem

Building Trust and Credibility: Creating an Enterprise Content Strategy from Scratch
Samantha Azzarello, Executive Director, Global Research, J.P. Morgan

9:45–10:30am

Stories with Soul: Staying Alive in the Era of ChatGPT
Keith Boyd, Senior Director, Digital Employee Experience, Microsoft
and Mario Juarez, CEO, StoryCo

Driving Content Changes in a Change-Adverse Organization
Christi Guzik, UX Content Strategist, Rocket Companies

Unlocking Documentation’s ROI: Tech Content as Your Business Superpower
Stefan Gentz, Principal Worldwide Evangelist, Technical Communication, Adobe

Microcontent Pipeline to Chatbots and Voice Assistants
Rob Hanna, President, and
Patrick Baker, Director AI, Product, and Support, Precision Content

Heather Hedden, Semantic Web Company and
Esther Yoon, Senior Data Architect, Google

10:45–11:30am

Case Study: Experiments in Using AI for Content Personalization and Writer Efficiency
Fawn Damitio, Documentation Leader in AI and Machine Learning and
Marilyn Beck, Documentation Engineer, Meta

What’s next: Heading up to Social and Semantic Tech Doc
Fabrice Lacroix, Founder, Fluid Topics

Adventures in Structured Content Authoring: Bringing XML to Regulated Industries
Regina Lynn Preciado, Sr. Director of Content Strategy Solutions, Content Rules Inc.

Boost Results by Bringing SEO & A/B Testing Inside Your CMS
Stephen Fahlsing, Founder/Managing Director, BonfireLA Productions
and Jonathan Ames, Director of Marketing, ButterCMS

A Migration Is a Terrible Thing to Waste: A Roadmap For Your Next Big Content Migration
Mark Dorison, CTO and
Chris Free, President, Chromatic

11:30–1:30pm

Lunch followed by Dessert in the Exhibit Hall and a Therapy Llama in the Grand Foyer!

1:30–2:30p

Putting Up the Guardrails for AI Success
Brian Trombley, Managing Partner, Commercial, and
Hugues LaRicca, Managing Partner, Technology, Ariza Content Solutions

You Have Something in Your Content: Trust in a Time of Misinformation
Jennifer Kaufman, Director, Information Engineering, NetApp

Going Omnichannel in Pharma: A Multi-Project Case Study
Noz Urbina, Founder & Omnichannel Strategist, Urbina Consulting

Headless: Catch Silos If You Can
Tomas Nosek, Director of Customer Enablement and
Martina Farkasova, Customer Education Leader, Kontent.ai

Makeups and Breakups: Content Migration in the Real World
Jennifer Obert, Content Strategy and Delivery Supervisor and
Jessica Caldwell, Information Architect, Jack Henry & Associates

2:30–3:15pm

Ghost in the Machine: Integrating AI into your International Content Strategy
Elizabeth Riley, Accounts Director, Supertext USA and Mike Wald, Chief Marketing Officer, Oniracom

Putting Your Customer First in Your Content—Literally
Marcia Riefer Johnston, Senior Technical Writer

Product Information: Expensive, Cheap, or Priceless?
Matt Reiner, Customer Advocate, K15t

Building Business Value Through User-Centric Content Design
Aditi Kashikar, Director, Documentation, Automation Anywhere

A New Era of ECLM: The Platform & Ecosystem Strategy with Microsoft Integration
Martin Owen, CEO and Emerson Welch, VP Global Marketing, Quark

3:15–4:00pm

Snack Break in the Exhibit Hall

4:00–4:20pm

Evolution of Content Consumption
Eeshita Grover, Director, Product User Content, Cisco Systems

4:20–5:00 pm

Synergy: A Crowdsourced Exercise in Learning Retention
Andrea Ames, Customer Success/Retention Strategist, Idyll Point Group

5:00–5:30 pm

GenAI & Wine
Location: Booth 47 in the exhibit hall

5:30pm

Mariachi Parade to dinner venues: Butcher’s Cut, Greystone, Saltwater

7:00pm–

Annual Karaoke Night
Location: Side Bar San Diego