WOW Web Design and Project Management Conference
* February, 2005 - 24, 25 (Albany, NY) |
* September, 2005 - 16, 17, 18 (Silicon Valley, CA) (Special Guest Speakers and Unique Content, Click here for additional
content information and details) |
Conference Overview
Are you challenged to make sense out of today’s Web design practices with HTML, XHTML, CSS, and related tools? Or maybe you’re with a government agency and it’s your job to ensure your sites are accessible and Section 508 compliant. To top it off, one of the greatest challenges is to figure out how to manage web projects, which have grown increasingly more complex over time.
If this sounds like the challenges you’re facing, we promise this three day event is exactly what you’re looking for.
The WOW Web Standards and Best Practices workshop isn’t about software vendor agendas, marketing buzz words, sales hype and products. This is a serious workshop for serious practitioners.
Whether you come from education, government or military, or the corporate environment and you work with any aspect of web design, development, and project management, you’re facing a changing world when it comes to dealing with your web sites effectively. The WOW Web Standards, Best Practices and Web Project Management Workshop will cut through the hype and give you serious training in a range of need-it-know practices.
Key Objectives -
During these sessions you will:
- Survey contemporary design & development technologies and how they can serve you.
- Understand the benefits of web standards and best practices, and learn how technical and ROI performance improves with their implementation.
- Learn to author HTML and XHTML at an expert level.
- Learn about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and how they are so critical not just for designers, but for web developers and site managers, too.
- Gain insight into current tools, including web browsers, and how to work with them more effectively.
- Learn how to implement Section 508 and accessibility features into your site.
- Hone in on workflow problems in the industry, and learn about new models that can aid in improving your workflow.
- Take away new ideas to permit adoption of the best of industry solutions.
- Project Management Principles
- Examine project management problems that WOW conference attendees are experiencing and discuss their potential solutions
- The Importance of having a method
- Roles, responsibilities and attributes of a good Web project manager
- The composition and necessary skills within a Web development Team
- How to prioritize your Web projects
- The best Web project management tools available
- Implement effective scheduling, tracking and project management techniques
- Team workflow throughout project work stages
- The importance of getting a high-level buy in
- Development of a business Case
- Quantitative metrics and analysis
- Qualitative metrics and analysis
Conference Program
Day One:Program Start 8:30 am Open Plenary
Following introductions to speakers and WOW dignitaries, you will discover speaker perspectives on the goals for the workshop. You’ll also gain insight into the performance value, ROI, and legal compliance issues as they relate to Web standards.
Day One: Morning Session
¦ 9:00 am -12:30 pm
The case for web standards: Performance Benchmarking and ROI
If the term “web standards” is confusing to you, you’re not alone. In this session, you’ll get the real scoop on what web standards really are (and are not), how their implementation has been benchmarked and proves out that web site performance and management is improved, and that ROI – a concern for everyone these days – is clearly related to standards-based practices being implemented today.
Attendees will learn:
- What determines a web “standard”
- How performance in a standards environment can be benchmarked
- Analyze performance markers and see real evidence of how standards improve web site performance, user experience, and management concerns
- Understand buzz words and have misconceptions about standards – including the erroneous idea that they impede innovation – demystified
- Gain insight into the realities of how ROI can be increased via standards implementation
- Examine the statistical analysis and hear about critical case studies over the past two years that have proven that a standards-based workflow results in superior performance and a better bottom line.
Day One: Afternoon Session
¦ 1:30 pm -5:00 pm
Web Standards Today: Core Technologies
This session describes the current technologies that make up the core of web standards: Markup, CSS, and Accessibility. The focus is technical: you’ll learn how the key component to addressing standards lies in the separation of the presentation layer from the structural layer of the technology. Web standards is science, and you’ll learn how to approach it like a scientist would. We’ll be discussing web browsers, current development tools, HTML versus XHTML, and why CSS is emerging as a solution to more than making sites attractive, but make them accessible, too.
Attendees will learn:
- Which technologies define Web standards
- How web standards are changing the way we work
- How web standards relate to accessibility and section 508
- How current standards benefit us now
- How current standards will benefit us over time
Day Two: Morning Session
¦ 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Authoring great documents
If you work with HTML and XHTML, this course will provide fantastic insight into how to do things even better. Even if you’ve never worked with XHTML, you’ll learn it as the morning session progresses – so you can implement it at any time. The key to great standards-based, accessible web sites lies in the structured, semantic document. This session will explain what that means and how to create it – no matter the development tools you’re using.
Attendees will learn:
- The differences between HTML and XHTML
- The technical details of documents and how using elements correctly can improve your document performance, search rankings, and multi-platform (web, print, handheld/wireless and projection) device independence
- What “structure” really means
- How “semantics” are applied in great documents to describe content appropriately
- How to properly serve HTML and XHTML documents
- Recommended practices for document identification and management
- The future of XHTML and related languages
Day Two: Afternoon Session
¦ 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm
CSS: Beyond the Retrofit
Cascading Style Sheets are a hot topic these days. Why? Well, the reasons are more than you might imagine at first glance. Sure, CSS can help us manage fonts and colors – but it does so much more. From the prototyping phase in workflow to mass document management, to ensuring your documents can be made easily accessible for those with disabilities, CSS is a tool that is far more than just another pretty face!
Attendees will learn:
- The primary role of CSS in design
- How CSS can improve project workflow and prototyping techniques
- How to use CSS to enhance accessibility
- The role of CSS in mass document management and information architecture
Day Three: Morning Session
¦ 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Web Project Management a2z
As web design and development becomes more sophisticated and complex, the challenge of managing process and projects is becoming equally complex. This session will cover the important Web project management methodologies that have proven over time to assist in simplifying and streamlining projects.
Attendees will learn:
- Project management principles a2z
- Examine project management problems that WOW conference attendees are experiencing and discuss their potential solutions
- The Importance of having a method
- Roles, responsibilities and attributes of a good Web project manager
- The composition and necessary skills within a Web development Team
Day Three: Afternoon Session
¦ 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Web Project Management
Project managers and their team members rely on numerous skills and tools to improve the project process. Understanding priorities helps improve scheduling, having signoff from stakeholders ensures that the project continues without major disruption, relying on metrics, analysis, and effective tools all play into today’s demanding project management concerns.
Attendees will learn:
- How to prioritize your Web projects
- The best Web project management tools available
- Implement effective scheduling, tracking and project management techniques
- Team workflow throughout project work stages
- The importance of getting a high-level “buy in” from management
- Development of a business case
- Quantitative metrics and analysis
- Qualitative metrics and analysis
What others are saying about WOW's Certification programs?
"Any industry that wants to be taken seriously needs to have set of coherent standards and thanks to WOW we are working towards that. The WOW exam was extremely difficult but thorough. I feel I've found the right organization to hook up with." - Steve Zachar, Senior Web Producer, Electronic Commerce Department, Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, LLC and WOW Certified Professional Web Developer.
"I have taken the other certifications exams and I know after taking WOW's exams the chances of a 15 year old opening a book and talking practice test to pass the exam is non existent. I have the confidence that a WOW certified professional is someone who has the skills and can do the job." - Kathy Johnson, Assistant Professor of DeVry University and WOW Certified Web Administrator Associate.
"The WOW Web Developer certification course was the best of show. Molly Holzschlag was fantastic! The WOW exam covered the right breadth and depth of knowledge that a professional Web Developer should posses. Very well done." - Inigo Figuracion, Webmaster and WOW Certified Professional Web Developer, Zoological Society of San Diego.
"Continued collaboration between SJCC and professional organizations such as WOW enable us to serve our students better by providing current information about job skills and employment opportunities." - Lucy Dodge, San Jose City College.
cost
The intensive three day course will be delivered by leaders in a rich array of webmastering topics.
Registration for the event is $495.00.
WOW Certifications Exams - An Added Bonus
WOW conference attendees will be eligible to sit WOW’s professional level certification exams. This is included in the price of the workshop. WOW’s professional level exams retail for $150.00 and attendees will be able to schedule the proctored exams at a convenient time either Saturday or Sunday.