Featured School: Northern Arizona University. Susan Kirtland

Inspiring Online Insight

Continuing with our theme of “Thrive,” we have some great presentations on online practices that will help keep you on the cutting edge to help you reach your audience...

For our featured school presentation, join Sandra Kowalski and Trey McCallie from Northern Arizona University for their presentation, “Elevating the Digital Experience.” NAU recently undertook the gargantuan task of revamping their entire system, taking 300 web sites that were under performing, to make them into something that helped them achieve their mission and strategic roles. Sandra Kowalski leads the University Marketing and Printing Services departments at Northern Arizona University, and Trey McCallie is the university’s web master. They’ll show you how the team conducted research and changed management strategies that influenced the design, photography and content creation, resulting in a more relevant, revitalized web presence.

Susan Kirtland, of Propeller Communications, will present “What Your Visual Messaging Really Says About You.” She is a nationally recognized expert in strategic marketing and positioning. Susan will demonstrate how a more powerful approach to brand positioning includes the identification and use of accurate visual cues that will trigger the desired perceptions you want for your college or university. Through the use of actual case studies, she will explore the five elements of successful visual messaging. Learn the important role graphic design plays in your institution’s brand positioning and how it directly impacts target audience perceptions.

Another key aspect to success is your website’s usability. Susan presents “Do-It-Yourself: Testing Your Website’s Usability.” Learn how to use in-house resources to test your institution’s website for effectiveness and ease of use. Topics include how to assemble a concise questionnaire to achieve optimal feedback, how to conduct the testing on your campus and how to use the data to determine the appropriate refinements to make a positive impact.