RoundUp 09 - Continuing the Conversation
June 8th, 2009 by aporterWe have now finalized the schedule for this year’s WebWorks RoundUp Users Conference, and things will look a little different this year.
This year’s focus is on increasing customer involvement and engaging in meaningful conversations that will provide the most value to conference attendees.
Instead of traditional presentations followed by question-and-answer sessions, we will be increasing attendee participation through panels and a selection of themed “boot camp” sessions. Read the rest of this entry »
Conferences in 2009 - Quality counts.
April 24th, 2009 by aporterIn the current economic climate one of the first items that get cut in any budget squeeze is usually travel, and subsequent attendances at industry conferences. But, judging by my experiences at the two industry conferences I’ve attended so far this year, DocTrain West and WritersUA, this is a false economy. Yes attendance was down at both, due to aforementioned budget and travel restraints, but they were two of the best conferences I’ve attended in years.
WIKI Publishing White Paper - now available in eBook format.
March 2nd, 2009 by aporterLast week we officially announced the publication of our newest white paper “WHY USE A WIKI? - An Introduction to the Latest Online Publishing Format.”
For the first week we only offered the paper to people who requested a copy directly after seeing the announcements on various sites such as Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn etc., as well as through the wwp-users group.
From various conversations over the last twelve months or so, I knew that interest in using wikis for delivering online content was high, but I never expected the response that the announcement of the paper generated. I spent a significant amount of my time last week just sending out PDF copies of the wiki white paper.
Twestival Time
February 13th, 2009 by aporter
2009 Austin Twestival
WebWorks and the Movies
February 6th, 2009 by aporterOne of the great things about working at WebWorks is that nearly everyone on the team is a movie fan. We love movies and conversations around the office are often peppered with movie quotes, and even the occasional bad Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation.
Movies have become so much part of the WebWorks culture that we have even incorporated them into our regular quarterly company meetings. Each quarter we have an all-hands company meeting to review the previous quarter and to discuss plans for the new quarter. A couple of years ago we started a tradition of including a movie clip as part of that meeting.
He Speaketh Here, He Speaketh There
January 20th, 2009 by aporterIf you are planning on attending any conferences, or STC chapter meetings, over the next few months there’s a good chance that you’ll find me stood up at the front of a room somewhere, talking about something.
In the new updated standard bio I use for speaking engagements I added a line about being “happy to talk publishing to anyone who will listen.” Based on that statement, this year I should be a very happy guy.
Over the last few days I’ve spent time updating the WebWorks.com event list and booking flights and hotels – and it seems I will be doing a lot of talking.
How to get people to use a wiki? - Invite them to a party.
January 9th, 2009 by aporterYesterday evening I was putting the finishing touches to my upcoming white paper on the use of wikis as an online publishing format, and was thinking back about the techniques we used here at WebWorks to make the use of our internal wiki such a success.
Here’s what I wrote in the white paper:
While the main focus of the wiki may be technical, you can speed acceptance by seeding the wiki with other topics that may have a broader appeal. For instance one of the things we use the wiki for at WebWorks is organizing the company Christmas Party!
That Was Quite A Year…
December 29th, 2008 by aporterEarlier today I sat down to write the latest issue of our Channel Partner Newsletter and thought it would be fun to look back at all we’ve acheived in 2008.
Turns out that it was a lot….
- We moved to a quarterly release cycle, with regular patch updates.
- We posted more technical information about our products then ever before.
- We released an industry leading “Publish To Wiki” solution in 2008.3 that is already attracting interest from new markets.
- We welcomed Group Wellesley, IFN Solutions Ltd, Scripto bvba, Shree IT, Suite Solutions, Tedopres, and User Aid as partners.
- We continued to reach out to customers through Web2.0 initiatives such as these blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and The Content Wrangler community, as well as increasing participation in the established wwp-users Yahoo group.
- With assistance from the fine folks at User Aid we completed the first phase of our documentation re-write project, and launched the new Documentation wiki.
- We hosted another great user conference with RoundUp 2008.
- We launched the online “Many Faces of WebWorks” Customer Gallery project.
- We continued our successful Free Webinar series with attendance growing steadily throughout the year.
- We developed more online short video tutorials.
And somehow in the middle of all this we also managed to find time to reconfigure and redecorate our entire office space!
If 2008 was full, we anticipate that 2009 will be even more exciting (although without the office makeover), with new initiatives being planned, more industry participation, increasing communications, and a growing sense of community with both our partners and our customers.
Thanks to everyone who made 2008 such a great year for the WebWorks team. We all look forward to working with you in 2009 - and beyond.
RoundUp 2009 - New Venue, New Dates – Even Better Value
December 12th, 2008 by aporterA few days ago we announced on our Twitter feed and through a couple of other Web2.0 venues the dates and venue for next year’s WebWorks Users Conference.
RoundUp 2009 will be held from October 19 – 21, at the Hyatt Regency Austin.
While the date change is a minor one (we pulled the event forward to fit in around other Austin based happenings rather than conflict with them), the biggest change is that of venue.
While we are sad to leave behind the wonderful Stephen F, Austin InterContinetal, our home for the last two years, we are very excited about the possibilities offered by the Hyatt Regency, in terms of both facilities and location.
The Hyatt is located on the banks of Lady Bird Lake right in the center of downtown Austin and offers spectacular views of the city skyline, as well as the lake and surrounding countryside. It is within easy walking distance of the famous Austin downtown live music scene, as well as the growing Warehouse Entertainment District and the eclectic SoCo (South Congress) area. The famous Threadgills music venue is just a block away, and the hotel itself is situated on the 10 mile lakeside hike-bike trail.
Each guest room is guaranteed a view and all are fitted with the latest flatscreen TVs and an iHome docking station for your iPod or iPhone.
We worked very closely with the hotel to make this year’s RoundUp even more affordable in the current economic climate.
We have managed to hold the registration fee steady for the third straight year and the hotel rate will be the cheapest we’ve been able to offer so far with a special conference room rate of just $199/night.
Booking early will also make traveling to Austin cheap as there are some great air-fare bargains at the moment.
We are looking forward to welcoming our customers and partners to this great new venue for three days of product knowledge, case studies, industry trends, networking, and some Texas style hospitality.
And if you would be interested in presenting a case study or paper at RoundUp 2009, just drop me an email and let me know.
(As a little added incentive, presenters get a complimentary conference registration.)
Full details can be found on the WebWorks RoundUp website.
Blogging about WebWorks & Twitter
December 8th, 2008 by aporterIn a wonderful example of Web2.0 media synergy, Tom Johnson has posted an excellent entry on his blog about how we use Twitter here at WebWorks.
WebWorks & Twitter
Click HERE to read the post.