Provocative discussion and relevant topics help make AIfIA Leadership Seminar a success

March 30, 2003 10:38 PM

March 30, 2003 -- AIfIA's first Leadership Seminar brought together information architects and user experience professionals for a “provocative and productive” day of presentations and discussion. The seminar was held on March 21 at the 2003 IA Summit in Portland, Oregon.

“The seminar's four topics were both challenging and relevant,” said Victor Lombardi, AIfIA secretary, who delivered a presentation on content management systems, “and the combination of presentation and interactive activities made the seminar a great success.”

“The seminar discussions were intense, provocative and productive. The experience level of our attendees was the highest I've seen at a professional conference,” said Peter Morville, an AIfIA Board member, leader of the session on Strategy, Architecture and Tomorrow's Web.

Participants were also impressed with the quality of the seminar. “The activities and discussions let you put into action what you had just heard about. I learned some tips and techniques about user testing that we are putting into practice at PeopleSoft right away. I can't wait to take another seminar,” said Chiara Fox, Information Architect at PeopleSoft.

“It was like going to a cool party with friends, but instead of talking about music... we all talked about information architecture. The best presentations were just excuses for conversation; the group exercises were substitutes for Pictionary,” reported Dan Willis, Consultant.

The Leadership Seminar covered a range of practical problems, including

  • Strategy, Architecture and Tomorrow's Web
  • The (Unfulfilled) Promise of Content Management Systems
  • Building Bridges Between Practice and Research
  • Selling Information Architecture
Presentations from the AIfIA Leadership Seminar are available at aifia.org/calendar/000053.php.For more coverage of the seminar and the 2003 IA Summit, visit IA Slash and Boxes and Arrows.

Contact: Jeff Lash, AIfIA Press Coordinator