Karine describes the series as:

“Professional Photos, Videos and Live Streams 101″ is a 3-webinar series that will help you learn (or train your campus content contributors on) how to take photos, shoot videos and live stream events like a pro. With tighter budgets and the increasing need for multimedia content, more and more communication, marketing, publication and web professionals are asked to take photos, shoot videos or live stream events without any formal training. This series is designed to offer winning strategies and practical tips to improve the quality of your photos, videos or live streaming events on a shoestring for teams who can’t rely on a professional photographer, videographer or live streaming expert.

I’m just one of three speakers this week, including a great tutorial on campus photography by Judson Copland, Director of Creative Services at Oklahoma Christian University and how to do live streaming by Seth Odell, Communications Associate at the UCLA School of Public Affairs and the host of Higher Ed Live.

If you work with video or photography, there will be a lot to learn. The HigherEdExperts webinars are well-run and the presenters are top-notch (well, Judson and Seth are, for sure.) The prices are affordable, and in addition to the live show, you get access to a recording and handout materials. It’s a good deal, especially if you aren’t able to travel to conferences in this tight budget environment.

If you’re in the UK or EU, I’d recommend you check it out. If you’re in the US, it’s also worth checking out. Cash in those frequent flyer miles – the sessions were very informative and organizers Brian Kelly and Marieke Guy do a great job in putting together a compelling program. It’s not an easy time for higher education in the UK right now, so any tips, tricks and best practices that web professionals can learn will be well worth it.

From the conference call for propsals:

Last year we recognised that turbulent times were ahead. We are now working in different political, economic and environmental times. Yet change brings with it many opportunities. There are opportunities to reform old systems, to adapt working practices, to look at new markets, to work with new partners, to consider niche areas and to embrace new technologies. This year’s theme will be: Responding to Change.

This year’s conference will be held July 26-27, 2011 at the University of Reading. The deadline for proposal submission is February 4, 2011.

I’m thinking of submitting a plenary talk – I’ll just have to check under the couch cushions for some money for airfare.

Quick sidenote: Hey Janus and Lau: how about an invite to come to Aarhaus next year?

I attended and spoke at this conference last year and found it to be very, very informative. We were going through a CMS selection process at the time, so having access to high-level executives from several CMS companies in the US and Europe was very helpful. I also had a chance to network with people from many professions, including someone who was there from the Cleveland Clinic, just up the road from John Carroll. I even went to talk with staff at the Clinic about cloud technologies. Win, win!

The sessions themselves were also very good, and while not strictly a higher ed conference, there was a higher education track and higher ed speakers in the other tracks as well.

Here’s a bit from an email I received recently from J.Boye regarding what they’re looking for in next year’s program.

Have you made a substantial change in the way your organization is communicating online in terms of design, user involvement or internal processes? Present your results on our tracks on User Experience, Online Communication, Web Project Management or Online Strategy.

Is your intranet making a real and measurable impact on business or have you experimented with new social features that could be showcased on the intranet track?

Have you navigated through the complex challenges for online managers in either higher education or the health sector?

Have you gone through a vendor selection- or implementation process and have insider views to share on our track dedicated to web content management?

The call for proposals for next year’s conference is now open, if you’re interested. Check it out here.

We talked about using WordPress as a CMS, magazine, ticketing system, book publishing tool, even a Blackboard/LMS replacement.

Here are the slides from our presentation:

First of all, Web Design World has a great line-up of rock stars in design, UX, content management and more. There will even be a session entitled “Education vs. Other Markets: How Does Design Differ?” with Patrick Haney and Dan Rubin. You can check out the full conference agenda at http://bit.ly/WDWAgenda.

The organizers of Web Design World are extending a special discount for the 3-day Web Design World Passport package – just for higher education web designers and webmasters! To save $400 off the Passport package rate, simply register at http://bit.ly/WDWReg and enter the promo code EDU10.* That’s it!

*Please note: $400 discount is applicable to new registrations only. No refunds will be given on prior registrations.

The 2010 eduStyle Awards will be announced in person at the eduWeb Conference in Chicago on July 27, 2010 and today I’m asking for your help. If you have a second today, would you mind going over to EduStyle and voting for this blog? I work hard to present great content on a regular basis – posts that talk about social media (on a technical level), the cloud, WordPress, security and much more.

In the last year, this site has had 102,000+ visitors from 176 countries and territories around the world, including 4 visitors from the Isle of Man and 1 from Kyrgyzstan. It’s been cool to talk with people around the world here and share insights and viewpoints on web development.

So, thanks in advance for voting for me. I appreciate it.

This is probably the only time in my life I can say I’m opening for David Pogue. He goes on right after I finish up. I’m nervous that I’m one of the talks being streamed and featured as part of the EduComm virtual track, so people at home around the world can watch me live and hopefully send in some questions. I also hope things go smoothly.

Here are my slides from today’s talk:

As 2009 winds to an end, I was going through my list of speaking engagements and man, 2009 was an awesome year.

I did 9 conferences and webinars this year with one more coming up in December.

I got to hang in cool places like Northampton, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Hershey. I spent an amazing week in England and Wales. It was a year I’ll never forget.

What will 2010 bring?

Good question. I’ll be presenting a pre-conference workshop at the NERCOMP annual conference in March, and after that, the calendar is wide open. My goal is do as many if not more than last year.

If you’re organizing a conference, and are in need of someone to come and talk about the cloud and its uses in higher ed, web apps + development, video or social media (especially at liberal arts colleges), please let me know. I’d love to come and share my experiences with people. Australia and New Zealand – I’m looking at you.

You can use the contact form or connect with me via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

The conference, which runs March 8-10, 2010, has a theme of “The Next-Generation University: Rethinking IT in Disruptive Times.” The conference will explore how our institutions and organizations are managing economic challenges, forging new visions, and integrating new information technology paradigms and approaches. How are emerging technological possibilities and economic conditions changing what “university” means? How are our IT organizations surviving and finding ways to thrive and lead the way under these new conditions? How are we evolving to meet the changing academic and administrative priorities of our institutions? What emerging technology opportunities and models are supporting the core missions of our schools and our associated organizational and professional development goals?

There are 7 conference tracks: