Real Presentations Right Here

PowerPoint Karaoke was fun - even more so than I expected. The participants were very creative and gave us whole new perspectives on topics from chickens to world peace through single sign on.

Now the conference is cooking along with dozens of great talks so far. How will we retain all this terrific information? Well, we won't unless you post your presentation materials on our wiki page St. Paul 2008 Spring Conference Presentation Materials. Please do post them for us all to revisit and recommend.

Are you ready for PowerPoint Karaoke?

Remember how much fun it was doing techno-speed dating at last year's JA-SIG? This year you are invited to join your colleagues in a rousing session of PowerPoint Karaoke at our our Sunday evening festivities. Never heard of it? See Boston Globe Article.

Be brave and join the fun. Contestants will have the opportunity to entertain their friends with their ability to ad lib by giving a presentation based on slides they have never seen before. A collection of presentations has been selected. Some JA-SIG stalwarts have been drafted - er volunteered. More contestants are MOST welcome. Prizes will be awarded.

To volunteer yourself or a friend or contribute your favorite presentation send email to susan dot bramhall at yale dot edu.

Tuesday Evening Dine-Around - Network Anonymously!

New to the JA-SIG Conference program this year is the "Tuesday Evening Dine-Around" activity taking place on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008, starting at 6:30 PM in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

This activity promises to be a fun way to interact and network with other conference attendees by throwing a dash of upfront anonymity into the mix. The program committee has selected several different restaurants within the vicinity of the hotel. Conference attendees can sign-up to eat dinner at any one of these restaurants using this online form, without knowing who they'll be eating with: https://www.concentra-cms.com/rms/survey/entry.jsp?id=1208456553742

If you sign up, you'll need to come to the Crowne Plaza Hotel lobby at 6:30 PM to be introduced to your dinner group and to be escorted by your restaurant host for a 7 PM reservation.

The current choice of restaurants are:

• Fuji-Ya Japanese food and Sushi, http://www.fujiyasushi.com
• W. A. Frost & Company Fresh American and Mediterranean, http://www.wafrost.com - will likely require a cab ride.
• Saint Paul Grill Classic grill cuisine, https://www.saintpaulhotel.com/dining/
• Kincaid's Fish, Chop and Steak House, http://www.kincaids.com
• Pazzaluna Authentic Italian food, https://www.pazzaluna.com
  
• Wild Tymes Bar & Grill http://www.wildtymes.net

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Following the dinner (at approximately at 8:30 PM), all groups in addition to all conference attendees are invited to come together for a post-dinner party that will take place at the Great Waters Brewing Company (http://www.greatwatersbc.com/). Great Waters offers a full selection of finely crafted beers in addition to a mouth-watering menu of deserts. This will be a great venue for bringing all of the communities attending the conference, together.

Seating is limited, so hurry and sign up! We hope to see you there!

uCamp – Where Designers and Developers meet

User Experience Issues, User-Centred-Design, Designing for the User-Centric Web … Everything is “user centric” these days, presenting a whole new set of challenges to the code-writing developer. What are the techniques, the pitfalls, the gotcha’s and the guidelines? Who are the experts, what are the principles, what is the body of knowledge, and how can they help the developer?

All these topics are subject matter for a uCamp – a place where code developers and human interaction designers get together and work together: to learn, to solve problems, and to achieve common understanding.

At a uCamp you can learn:

• How research-based personas can provide a solid and reliable foundation for crafting user interfaces.
• How well-established design patterns can be employed in local solutions.
• How to achieve accessibility and usability through standard approaches and techniques.
• How coders and designers can bring their skills together to produce the finest quality experiences for their users.

At a uCamp you can contribute:

• By giving a lightning talk on the user experience issue that concerns you most.

At a uCamp you can participate:

• In a design exercise that deepens your understanding of the designer’s profession.
• In a workshop to create a design or solve a problem.

If you’re at all concerned with user experience issues – as a developer, an architect, or a manager – come to the uCamp on Wednesday afternoon. Better still, sign up on the wiki to indicate your interest and influence the agenda at the JA-SIG uCamp planning page.

See you all there: Wednesday, April 30^th, 1:30pm.

Eat, drink ... and see posters!

We have nine great poster presentations scheduled for Monday night of the conference. You can find the list complete with abstracts at http://www.ja-sig.org/wiki/x/DAC1. The poster sessions, a first for JA-SIG, promise to be a fun and informative event. Attendees will be able to peruse the displays and interact with presenters while at the same time enjoying beverages and hors d'oeuvres. During these two hours you will be able to become familiar with a wide variety of projects as well as network with your peers.

And if you are interested in presenting, it is not too late to schedule your own poster! Visit the introductory poster session page on the conference wiki at http://www.ja-sig.org/wiki/x/1ICi for more information. Or feel free to send me an email at jim.helwig at doit.wisc.edu.

See you in St. Paul!

You Didn't Register Yet?!

You can remedy that by clicking right here:

http://www.ja-sig.org/conferences/08spring/registration.html.

The advantage of doing that now is that you can still take advantage of the "early bird" discounts, which are good until Sunday, March 23.

Now, it doesn't pay to think too hard about this. The content is really impressive; the diversity is staggering; the people are friendly, smart, and helpful; and the food is always good. What are you waiting for? :-)

Still Openings for the Poster Session

As of today (March 20) there are still openings for Poster Session entries. While poster sessions are a common mode of presentation at tech conferences, they are new to JA-SIG, so here's how it works: You get a table and a poster display stand. We'll have wireless connectivity and (likely) a monitor for your table, if you want to kick it up a notch. You get to bring the posters and the story you will tell us about an achievement you'd like to share, an application you've created, a Sakai implementation you'd like to show us, a portlet you're proud of, etc. It's a great way to show off your work without needing to prepare a formal presentation.

For more details, or to reserve one of the remaining tables, you can email poster session coordinator Jim Helwig (jim dot helwig at doit dot wisc dot edu).