LavaCon 2015 attendees took their week-long party to New Orleans this year, which means there were as many sequenced and feathered costumes as there were perspectives on the role and power of content. So while the scene was remarkably different from last year’s in Portland, Oregon, the fundamental message stayed the same: content is important.
This year, speakers presented data and metrics about the financial rewards that come with paying attention to content. We were excited to see analytical focus reflected in our colleagues’ talks, as this approach is right in line with our ever-expanding focus on using data to improve content.
Of course, there were moments for grammar nerds and the business-minded alike, with conversations on the serial comma, team building, company silos, and more. If all this sounds worth reading, it’s because it is.
Enjoy our summary of the week’s highlights!
LavaCon 2015 Summary: Content Still Matters
Content26 covers this year’s LavaCon in the Big Easy.
One of the first sessions on Sunday focused on the inherent relationship between content and business processes. Have a look…
Examples of mapping between content and business goals… excellent @aames #lavacon pic.twitter.com/s4cnHzT3WI
— Nolwenn Kerzreho (@NolwennIXIASOFT) October 18, 2015
Managers often don’t care about content itself. It’s how that content affects the business they want to hear about. @nozurbina #lavacon
— Alyssa Fox (@afox98) October 19, 2015
And @mrcruce shared a great piece of evidence on how UA and UX can make content more powerful and better for business.
"Next" instead of "Buy" for Facebook payments lifted conversions…wait for it…87%. Made process safer, reduced anxiety. #lavacon #ux
— Cruce Saunders (@mrcruce) October 20, 2015
Of course there were plenty of perspectives on content strategy.
"They want to participate with you, not just buy from you." #contentstrategy #lavacon
— Melissa Eggleston (@melissa_egg) October 19, 2015
Preview of my #lavacon presentation. I have a new model for #contentstrategy planning. pic.twitter.com/un3JXUY7ka
— Sarah O'Keefe (@sarahokeefe) October 7, 2015
"Managing the sense of urgency is part of your #contentstrategy" – @nozurbina #lavacon
— Adriana Dunn (@adrianadunn) October 19, 2015
And with so many great ideas floating around, and not all of them were about business. Content folks know how to play as hard as they work, and the play was as diverse as the talent.
Six #stcorg past presidents are at #Lavacon this year pic.twitter.com/bW8bL3D1hL
— Liz Pohland (@pohland) October 20, 2015
Want one of these FABulous magnets? Stop at our booth and join the #tcdojo mailing list #lavacon pic.twitter.com/LT3UorqgW2
— Single-Sourcing (@SingleSourcing) October 20, 2015
So, yeah. This is happening. #LavaCon2015 pic.twitter.com/ZvgLgewjjV
— David Dylan Thomas (@movie_pundit) October 19, 2015
We heard that familiar and important rallying cry to break down business silos for the good of the company and the product.
"When we apply content strategy and content engineering across silos, the entire organization wins." @mrcruce #lavacon
— Marli Mesibov (@marsinthestars) October 20, 2015
"Before there's music there's strategy" @cpgiordano on breaking down silos. #lavacon #contentstrategy pic.twitter.com/E6wdZRqwQC
— Misti Pinter (@wanderarelost) October 20, 2015
And again and again, we saw a focus on content agility. This covered everything from frequent content inventory, to content repurposing or creating evergreen content, to new and ever-evolving content evaluation systems.
My golden rule: revisit your content strategy when you change the clocks and smoke detector batteries. #lavacon
— Wendy A F G Stengel (@wendywoowho) October 21, 2015
Setting up content project for success: Evaluate what you have to judge LOE. @irrevo's Jason Kaufman at #lavacon pic.twitter.com/EGpfAkbuUD
— Irrevo (@irrevo) October 19, 2015
A pilot project shd b low risk & hi visibility. The purpose is to to finish & succeed. Create credibility & momentum. @sarahokeefe #Lavacon
— Kirsty Taylor (@kirstyt) October 21, 2015
#lavacon Agile success comes from nimble planning
— Chris Bridgen (@chrispbridgen) October 21, 2015
