First Timers Guide

What the conference day will look like

Web 2009 Agenda

• 7:45-4:00 Registration
• 8:00-8:45 Breakfast and Poster Sessions In Presidents Hall
  
• 8:45-9:45 Opening Remarks and Keynote Presentation
• 9:45-10:00  Break
• 10:00-11:00 Breakout Sessions
• 11:00-11:15 Break
• 11:15-12:15 Breakout Sessions
• 12:15-1:15 Lunch in Presidents Hall
• 1:15-2:15 Breakout Sessions
• 2:15-2:30 Break
• 2:30-3:30 Breakout Sessions
• 3:30-3:45 Break
• 3:45-5:00 Town Meeting

How many people usually attend and who they are

The Web Conference usually attracts somewhere between 375 and 390 attendees from University Park, several campuses and Penn College. The attendees’ Web experience varies widely from those who input information into their department pages to those who write programs and run services offered to all Penn State employees. All who attend will find something of interest to take back from the sessions, posters, vendors, and networking opportunities available to them.

Casual/Business casual dress

Attendee dress is casual to business casual. However, the temperature in the rooms at the Penn Stater can be quite chilly, so dress in layers to insure your comfort.

What is included in the price?

The conference fee entitles you to attend any of the keynote, poster and breakout sessions during the conference day on June 8, including the town meeting at the end of the day. Also included in the fee will be a breakfast snack (if you arrive before the opening general session), morning and afternoon snacks, and a buffet lunch at the Penn Stater.

The workshop fee entitles you to attend only the workshop(s) for which you have registered. Included in the workshop fee will be morning and afternoon snacks and lunch.

Types of presentations to expect

 Web 2009

Opening Keynote

It’s All About Simple Access

Mark Malseed, noted author, investigative journalist and executive editor of OhMyGov.com

“Google revolutionized how we searched the Web and what we could find there. But the future is all about even simpler access to even more information. Any device, anytime. Answers, not search results. The important, the popular, and the random all findable and peacefully coexisting. Mark will take you on a site-seeing tour of the maddeningly complex and the amazingly simple on the web and beyond, noting what it will take to connect with the audiences of tomorrow.”

Town Meeting

The Perfect Storm

Penn State is facing challenges from many different directions, as are most colleges and universities. The most serious market crash in 80 years, a future of declining high school graduates, convergence of technological and social networks, rising consumer expectations and commodification of education, are some of the disruptive trends that are shaking up our community of Web professionals.

Higher Education also faces Globalization 3.0, the arrival of the technically adept Millennial Generation, and the ongoing Communications Revolution which will create a perfect storm that will forever change the college campus and the way we work. Mark Greenfield postulates that, “The true paradigm shift is just around the corner. The tipping point will happen shortly when stealth fighter parents will replace helicopter parents on college campuses. Gen X parents are coming and they will demand that colleges reexamine their entire operation from a price and value perspective. They will look at the college their children attend as a calculated market choice. They will view colleges as one of many providers in a large marketplace as new competitors emerge providing alternative choices for much of what college provides.”

All of these trends will put increasing pressure on colleges to provide value and to focus on efficiencies. Our panel of Higher Education Web professionals will describe the signs of the coming storm on their campus and recommend how we may approach this perfect storm proactively. Your questions will drive the focus of the conversation. The link below will take you to a tool you may use to suggest questions and/or vote on which will be presented to our panel of Higher Education Web professionals.

Panel:

• Sara Clark (Missouri State University)
• Dan Frommelt (University of Wisconsin, Platteville)
• Mark Greenfield (University at Buffalo)
• Steven Lewis (The College at Brockport)
• Christian Vinten-Johansen (Penn State)

Breakout and Poster Sessions 2009

For more information and descriptions of our Breakout and Poster sessions, please visit the appropriate link.

Travel and accommodations

If you are traveling from outside of University Park, you may stay at the Penn Stater at the conference rate. To book a room, contact Penn Stater reservations at 1-800-233-7505 and provide them with the conference code, WEBF09A (deadline May 8, 2009).