Missed a session?
Visit the 2025 lobby to see all the recordings.
Thursday, April 3
Quick links
Keynote
8:30 – 9:30 AM
Jena Marble explores the transformative potential of generative AI, drawing from industry experience and academic research. She examines how technology can amplify human storytelling, break down creative barriers, and open new pathways for expression. Attendees will take away resources and practical strategies for using AI tools that enhance creative capabilities by entering a human-first approach.
9:45 – 10:45 AM
Speaker: Sarah Coleman
This presentation explores the power of animation in web design, showing how to bring static visuals to life to create more engaging and dynamic user experiences. I’ll share techniques and tools used to animate assets, as well as examples of successful animations implemented in past projects. Attendees will gain insights into the principles of web animation, practical skills for implementing animations in their own projects, and the impact of motion on user engagement and retention.
Takeaways:
- Insights into the principles of web animation
- Practical skills for implementing animations in their own projects
- The impact of motion on user engagement and retention
The live session is canceled, but the speaker is providing a recording of the talk after the conference.
Speaker: Aurora Cruz-Torres
In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) holds transformative potential for enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the university classroom. This presentation will explore how AI tools and technologies can be harnessed to create inclusive learning environments, address biases, and support diverse student populations. Attendees will gain insights into practical applications of AI, such as personalized learning experiences that accommodate diverse needs, data-driven approaches to identifying and mitigating biases in teaching practices, and AI-powered tools that foster more equitable student engagement. The session will also address the ethical considerations and challenges of implementing AI in a way that genuinely promotes DEI.
Speaker: Michael Harshbarger
Incorporating accessibility into Agile sprints is essential for creating inclusive digital experiences. Treat accessibility as technical debt, addressing it systematically to prevent long-term issues. Begin by recognizing accessibility gaps, then gradually implement improvements within your current sprints, focusing on steady progress rather than perfection. Prioritize accessibility tasks by role, ensuring that content providers, designers, developers, and QA teams contribute to the process. Regularly review and update your accessibility practices during sprint retrospectives to maintain consistent progress. By following these steps, your team can integrate accessibility effectively, making your products more user-friendly and inclusive. Every small improvement in accessibility can make a significant difference in the lives of your users, ultimately changing the world for the better.
11 AM – 12 PM
Speaker: Courtney Fleeger
Join a step-by-step walkthrough on how to leverage Figma, a collaborative tool for interface design, to bring your UI concepts to life. Designed for both beginners and those experienced with Figma, you will learn more about:
- Figma’s community and user interface
- Figma’s core features like variables, variants, and auto layout
- The difference between designer and developer modes
- How to create responsive prototypes within Figma
- How to set up your own sharable components
This session is ideal for designers, developers, and product teams aiming to enhance their UI design process and establish a strong foundation in design systems.
Speaker: Chris Axtman-Barker
University Housing worked to analyze resident opinion data to refine communications encouraging residents to live on campus for a second (or third, or fourth!) year. Data backed key messages then ran through communications and marketing materials for a digital-first returner campaign with startling success. The presentation will include follow up survey data.
Speaker: Bill McLaughlin
Is a full website redesign out of reach? No problem. In this session, we’ll guide you through smart, strategic updates that can significantly boost your website’s performance. We’ll explore practical ways to enhance your website, making it more effective at engaging prospective students, even with an incremental investment end effort. This session is perfect for higher ed marketers looking to maximize their site’s potential while staying within their current framework.
You’ll learn how to:
- Prioritize your limited time and energy
- Give your top pages the love and attention they deserve
- Gain momentum with simple tasks and weekly goals
- Keep content sprawl at bay
- Approach smaller design changes and add-on functionality
- Utilize tools and tricks to improve quality, accessibility, and SEO.
1:30 – 2:30 PM
Speaker: Jason Rambeck
If you are an information worker, you’ve been using AI for a bit now and been slowly discovering all that is possible with this new-found power. In this session we will cover AI strategies, techniques, and tools website managers and authors can use to dramatically increase the productivity and quality of their work. We are all used to using AI to do things like: generate titles, outlines, content, or content ideas? But what if we could deeply integrate tools into our CMS to generate alt text, identify redundant content, and refine our information architecture. Then, taking advantage of the real power of AI, training models to guide things like content governance, tone of voice, and doing usability testing. We will explore these possibilities together using real-world examples to demonstrate how to unlock the power of AI for your website management.
Speaker: Nic Morse
This would be a presentation I would give explaining different types of animation and multimedia that one can do on campus and that you can do it with a budget and with free programs that are given to us as Illinois employees. All it takes is a little time and effort!
Speakers: Amanda Covher, Priyanka Pradeep
This presentation will cover the importance of device specifications and Best Practices for Android and iOS accessibility testing. It will be a general knowledge share for those new to mobile accessibility and how to test for it.
2:45 – 3:45 PM
Speaker: Cordelia Geiken
This session will walk folks through the different kinds of questions you should have answers to before you sign with a vendor. We will cover topics like: Design, Accessibility, Search Engine Optimization, Content Imports and Exports, Which CMS to use, Security, Backups and Storage. Come with your own questions and we will endeavor to answer those as well.
Speaker: Johnathan Grant
Hey, web wizards! Ready to uncover the secrets behind a seamless web review process? Join us for an in-depth case study on how a dynamic University of Kansas team revolutionized their web review system by optimizing workflows and forging strong partnerships with their customers. This session will highlight the innovative techniques and collaborative strategies that drove efficiency and excellence. Discover how the team streamlined operations, leveraged cutting-edge tools, and worked hand-in-hand with customers to ensure a smooth, effective review process. Whether you’re a web development pro or just getting started, you’ll gain valuable insights into creating a more efficient and customer-centric web environment. Let’s elevate our web game together!
5:00 – 7:00 PM
Join us for our social mixer at Analog Wine Library!
Web Con Mixer
When: Thursday, April 3, 5:00 – 7:00PM
Where: Analog wine Library, 129 N Race St, Urbana, IL
Join in for food, drinks and fun on us at Analog Wine Bar in Urbana to celebrate day one of Web Con.
