WORKSHOP  

What: Putting the User First: Success Story and Tips for Structuring Web Content

Learn and have fun, too

Who : Teacher, Writer and Web Architect Thom Haller Bio

When : June 29, 2005

9 a.m. – noon (continental breakfast at 8:30 a.m. )

Where : Office of Thrift Supervision Amphitheater, 1700 G St., NW , Washington , DC , 20552 . A continental breakfast will be served at 8:30 a.m.

Directions : The nearest metro is Farragut West on the orange or blue lines. Exit at 17th St. and walk south. You may also exit at K St , Farragut North, on the red line. Cross K, and walk south.

How Much : It’s free!

Sponsors : Federal Consulting Group in the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Communicators Network

Who is invited : Federal employees and their guests.

RSVP : Reserve your place by sending your name, title, organization, and email address to fcg@ots.treas.gov by June 24 th.

Why & How

We are challenged to build Web products so our constituencies can find information they need, understand it, use it, and appreciate the experience. How do we respond to this challenge and create a usable site that meets our organization goals and user goals?

In this interactive presentation, Thom Haller will guide us through a process for structuring an information framework that enables people to DO what they want to DO. Specifically, Thom will offer a framework in which you (as a project manager or product developer) can place user-focused design and architecture activities. You will learn strategies for thinking like the user, gathering and evaluating information, chunking and testing content, and optimizing the “user performance” on your site so people can more easily accomplish what they want to accomplish.

You will leave the session with tips, tricks, and specific guidance you can follow. To support you in seeing the possibilities available to you, Thom will provide a case study (presenting a story about students and volunteers who restructured the Federal Plain Language resource, www.plainlanguage.gov). At the conclusion of the presentation, you may share the delight of a recent presentation participant who exclaimed, “At last … Now I can put all these pieces together in a way that finally makes sense.”

Oh, you’ll have fun too.