Virtual WebFirst Conference, July 23, to Detail Latest Data, Best Practices

Digital workshops shouldn't be weighed down by environmental factors, so the eighth annual WebFirst is officially on ― and will be virtual. WebFirst 2020 is set for Thursday, July 23, with sessions conducted online live.

As before, WebFirst is hosted by the University of Arkansas and is free and open to the public. Online registration opens in June. Details are at the WebFirst conference page. Registrants will be emailed links to the sessions.

The program this year will be a half-day, in the morning, with half of the eight topics specifically on U of A topics and the rest about higher education in general. A new feature in this year's program is that registrants will have access before the conference (and everyone afterward) to new webinars, recorded online mini-sessions. U of A specialists in their fields conduct all presentations.

Virtual Conference Topics

University of Arkansas Themed Sessions

• Marketing and Brand — use of apps contracted by the university, including ResourceSpace (management of assets such as images) and Font Awesome (web icons) and more
• Services Overview ― learn more about the helpful services on campus including Cherwell support management and LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com)
• OU Campus ― what's new, quick tips and common mishaps on the platform used with academic websites
• WordPress ― find out about recent changes in themes and block editing on the platform

Higher Education Themed Sessions

• Defining your audience — identifying your audience and how to tailor marketing to different audience types
• Comparing cloud-based storage apps — when to use Box or Microsoft Sharepoint/Teams
• User Testing — creating a remote card sort study
• Easy Video Tips and Tricks — discussing cell phone video tips, effective video testimonials and video equipment

Prerecorded Mini-sessions

• Social Media
• Accessibility
• Photoshop basics
• Site Audits, Analytics
• OU Campus features, especially Component macros

To sign up for the WebFirst mailing list — news sent year-round — or for questions, write webhelp@uark.edu . General information, tutorials and related materials are at WebFirst.uark.edu.