Vote Now! – 2017 Nonprofit Technology Conference Proposals

Session proposals for the 2017 Nonprofit Technology Conference are up! If you’d like to see Constructive speak at 17NTC, then vote at the links below and read on to learn more!

– What’s It Take to Create a Content Creator Friendly CMS? – 

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– What Am I Buying? Understanding the Technology Supporting Your Website – 

What’s It Take to Create a Content Creator Friendly CMS?

When decision makers are thinking about a website redesign, the experience that site managers and content creators have maintaining a site often gets less attention. It is, however, one of the most essential foundations of an effective website. Visitors to your website don’t give a second’s thought to the quality of its content management system. But your staff who have to use it every day sure do! Simply put, not all CMS’s are created equal. The quality of your website’s UX depends heavily on the quality of its CMS. Getting it right takes user-centric design principles, proper planning, thoughtful architecture, and above all, attention to detail. Before making an investment in your website, get a Developer’s perspective on what you need to know to get the most value—and make sure you aren’t left with an unpleasant surprise that your staff will have to deal with for years to come.

This session will be a best practices overview that covers:

• The Importance of establishing Content Workflows early on
• The Impact of backend workflow optimization on Content Creators
• The Impact of CMS Architecture on Ongoing Maintenance Costs
• Impact of CMS architecture on the front-end user experience
• The Benefits of High Quality Semantic Organization
• How to Apply Usability Design Best Practices to CMS Development
• Documentation, Guides and Tips: The gifts that keep on giving

What Am I Buying? Understanding the Technology Supporting Your Website

Too often those making important decisions about their organization’s website do not have enough knowledge about the technology and potential complexity that goes into building a website in order to understand cost and time implications. Building a website can be complicated, especially when it comes to understanding the technology required for the site and how this impacts budget and timelines. If you are a decision-maker for your organization’s website, and you don’t have knowledge about the technologies involved when designing, building and running a website—you can’t make truly informed decisions, and your project can suffer or fail.

This session will be a primer where you will learn about:

• General web technology
• Content Management Systems
• Databases
• Hosting and Maintenance
• The impact of complexity and integration on website builds
• Involving technologists in all phases of a website project
• Gaining a foothold in understanding these topics will help remove some of the mystery around building a website, and will help you more clearly know what your project will really cost in effort, time, and money.