Join Ty Snouffer at Headstand Media on June 23, 2011 as he delves into the world of measurement and analytics in the digital space. It doesn’t have to be hard and at this Nightstand you’ll learn:

• How to develop a measurement plan
• The two key questions to establishing relevant Key Performance Indicators
• The difference between reporting and analysis
• Optimizing the performance of your site
• 30 minutes to action with analytics

Guest Presenter: Ty Snouffer

OUR PRESENTER

Tyler Snouffer
Senior Marketing Analyst
Resource Interactive

Ty has an up-beat personality and a witty sense of humor that shines light on every conversation he’s a part of. He’s easy to talk to—and more importantly, easy to listen to when he’s presenting analytics. Simply put, Ty’s dedicated to adding value to online business by converting data into usable information.

This analytical champion is focused on helping clients move beyond click-stream data when they measure their digital assets. Ty holds a mastery of the interpretation of usable data and understands the ins and outs of marketing optimization and web analytics best practices—from the strategic planning down to the technical nitty-gritty. He understands the importance of customizing the tools appropriately to suit business needs but at the same time connects with client teams to present analytics in an approachable manner. He is accomplished on many of the measurement tools you’ve heard of (SiteCatalyst, Google Analytics, WebTrends, Optimost) and many that you maybe haven’t. Ty has been on the Resource team since March of 2007 and currently works with Victoria’s Secret PINK, Venus, The Limited and Sherwin-Williams. He’s driven by presenting unknown insight to his clients and helping them analyze data to justify digital marketing.

Ty lives in the Chicago area, is devoted to his wife, his two daughters and his passion for emotion-provoking music (He will never be the guy telling his kids to turn their music down.). This Pete Townsend wannabe loves new album release Tuesdays and discovering new bands. Ty holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from DePauw University and an MBA from The Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business.

Please join us for Nightstand 20

We’d love to see many of our past friends and guests again, and we encourage you to pass on this invitation to others in the industry who would benefit from this presentation topic and networking event. RSVP by leaving a comment with your name and company or organization in the comment area below. NOTE: You must RSVP to be added to the attendee list at our building security desk! You will also be required to have a photo ID.

Where and When?

We are pleased to bring you Nightstand 20, an after hours educational and networking event to be held on Thursday evening, June 23rd at 1 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 4000, Chicago, Illinois (photo ID Required). Informal networking begins at 6 PM, with food and beverages provided. Introductions begin at 7 PM followed by our featured presentation and informal discussion until about 8:30 PM. (Attire is business casual to casual.)

We’d love to have you join us!

- Your friends at Headstand Media

RSVP’d Attenders: 19

Presentation

Steve Wilson, Managing Director of Digital Strategy here at Headstand Media, was our presenter. We surveyed the spectrum of Content Management Systems (CMS) available today and investigated some of the pros and cons to each. We looked at both open-source examples like WordPress and Drupal to .NET based solutions, to enterprise level Java-based offerings like Adobe CQ5.

Summary

The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) defines Enterprise Content Management (ECM) as the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization’s unstructured information, wherever that information exists.  Certainly true, but what does that mean in non-techno speak?  Why do organizations invest in this space?

• Brand protection
• Highly decentralized organization
• Extensive product offerings
• Strong need for workflow and to deliver process around approval loops
• Need to deliver content to multiple channels

Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMS) also provide organizations with a unified technology platform/framework that allows for leveraging their on-going investments in terms of templates, plug-ins/add-ons, developer and content author expertise.

Watch (further down the page) the Nightstand 19 video to view the complete presentation.

CMS Comparison Chart

View Full-Sized Chart

Watch Nightstand 19

Whether you are an individual, small business or a multi-thousand employee corporation, content management systems provide an enormous boost to the effective and efficient delivery of your web strategy and content. Join us for Nightstand 19 as we survey the spectrum of Content Management Systems (CMS) available today and investigate some of the pros and cons to each. We will look at both open-source examples like WordPress and Drupal to .NET based solutions, to enterprise level Java-based offerings like Adobe CQ5. You’ll take away at least 5 reasons to consider a CMS solution on your next web project.

Please join us for Nightstand 19

We’d love to see many of our past friends and guests again, and we encourage you to pass on this invitation to others in the industry who would benefit from this presentation topic and networking event. RSVP by leaving a comment with your name and company or organization in the comment area below. NOTE: You must RSVP to be added to the attendee list at our building security desk! You will also be required to have a photo ID.

Where and When?

We are pleased to bring you Nightstand 19, an after hours educational and networking event to be held on Thursday evening, April 28th at 1 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 4000, Chicago, Illinois (photo ID Required). Informal networking begins at 6 PM, with food and beverages provided. Introductions begin at 7 PM followed by our featured presentation and informal discussion until about 8:30 PM. (Attire is business casual to casual.)

We’d love to have you join us!

- Your friends at Headstand Media

RSVP’d Attenders: 37

Kyle Williams - SEO Strategist

Headstand Media resumes our Nightstand series on February 10, 2011. Kyle Williams will present on the process he follows when developing a content-driven web business. Broken down into five steps, this process covers the brainstorming phase through promotion and generating revenue.

Less technical attendees can expect to leave the presentation with a process to follow when creating their own informational web business. More technical attendees will be able to take this process and immediately get started without the help of an outside consultant.

A variety of topics will be touched on in this presentation including: search engine optimization, keyword analysis, WordPress development, hosting and revenue generation through advertising channels.

About Kyle Williams

Since 1997, Kyle has been creating content driven sites with a focus on revenue generation from advertising, and search engine traffic. What started as a hobby, selling strategy guides for a popular video game through the Amazon.com website, lead to the development and sale of Survive Outdoors, Inc., an informational portal on various wilderness survival topics. Additional informational websites Kyle has developed on his own or promoted include topics like gaming, shoes, dust mites, insects, military history and even a Flash based wedding dress creator. Traffic numbers for these projects range from hundreds to over 600,000 unique visitors a month.

Please join us for Nightstand 18

We’d love to see many of our past friends and guests again, and we encourage you to pass on this invitation to others in the industry who would benefit from this presentation topic and networking event. RSVP by leaving a comment with your name and company or organization in the comment area below. NOTE: You must RSVP to be added to the attendee list at our building security desk! You will also be required to have a photo ID.

Where and When?

We are pleased to bring you Nightstand 18, an after hours educational and networking event to be held on Thursday evening, February 10, 2011 at 1 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 4000, Chicago, Illinois (photo ID Required). Informal networking begins at 6 PM, with food and beverages provided. Introductions begin at 7 PM followed by our featured presentation and informal discussion until about 8:30 PM.

We’d love to have you join us!

- Your friends at Headstand Media

RSVP’d Attenders:

The Power of Visual Storytelling

Alexander Garcia

Award-winning photojournalist Alexander Garcia will give a presentation about how strong visuals and the ancient power of story-telling can help grow audiences both online and offline. Garcia has been a photojournalist for almost 20 years, working at some of the biggest newspapers in the country. He will share insights into how to take concepts and/or ideas and turn them into winsome stories that engage the emotions of your audience.

About Alexander Garcia

Alexander Garcia has been a friend of Headstand Media and a regular attender of Nightstand for the past couple years. He is currently a photojournalist for a Chicago newspaper and responsible for a photo blog that sees some of its content reverse-published as a weekly photo column, a rarity in the news business. Alex has covered everything from the Superbowl and the Democratic National Convention to the survivors of the Rwandan genocide. He was part of a group that received a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of gridlock at O’Hare Airport, a 1st Place from the World Press Photo contest in Amsterdam, and the title of Illinois Photographer of the Year. He has been published in several books, including A Day in the Life of the U.S. Armed Forces, America at Home, Illinois 24/7 and America 24/7. In the process, he’s been called one of the “top photojournalists in the world.”

Check out AlexanderGarcia.com. You’ll see why we agree.

The best ways to reach Alex are:

• info@alexandergarcia.com
• Website: alexandergarcia.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/assignmentchicago
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/agarciaphoto

Invite Others!

We’d love to see many of our past friends and guests again, and we encourage you to pass on this invitation to others in the industry who would benefit from this presentation topic and networking event. RSVP by leaving a comment with your name and company or organization in the comment area below. NOTE: You must RSVP to be added to the attendee list at our building security desk! You will also be required to have a photo ID.

Where and When?

We are pleased to bring you Nightstand 17, an after hours educational and networking event to be held on Thursday evening, November 18, 2010 at 1 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 4000, Chicago, Illinois (photo ID Required). Informal networking begins at 6 PM, with food and beverages provided. Introductions begin at 7 PM followed by our featured presentation and informal discussion until about 8:30 PM.

We’d love to have you join us and see our new office space!

- Your friends at Headstand Media

RSVP’d Attenders – 33

• Randal Birkey
• Benjamin Nelson
• Kyle Williams
• Matt Ritsman
• Megan Lee
• Steve Wilson
• Alex Garcia – Presenter
• Vijay Donthi
• Dwight Nelson – HBN Brand Design
• Jill Bremer – Jill Bremer Communications
• Patrick Richards – Richards Patent Law
• Barry Lohman – Neiger Design
• Chris Arndt – Moody Bible Institute
• Brad Bretz – Photography
• Roy Horras – Physician
• Josef Gottlieb – Photographer
• Matt Maldre – Tribune Media Services
• Kevin Dudey – Web Designer
• Joann Sondy – Photography
• Steve Tanner – Kidology
• Erik Vorhes – VSA Partners
• Kim Hollett
• Bradley Wilson
• John Vander Laan
• Tom Regan – Photographer
• Rob Hart
• Conor Kuzdas
• Shauna Bittle
• Allison Williams
• Kathryn McBride – Designer
• Ravi Nemana
• Brian Valentin
• James McDonald

In other news, check out our new Headstand Media website design! We’ve been working on it a long time, and finally threw the switch in time for the Day Ignite 2010 summit held last week at the Westin Chicago River North hotel.

Also, many of you know and will remember our friend and Nightstand presenter, Steve Wilson, formerly at McDonald’s. Steve has just launched a new website called Brand Cosmology, where he will be blogging about brands, social media, and related topics. Check it out!

Five Things You’ve Always Wanted To Know About Databases But Were Too Embarrassed To Ask

This presentation will be tailored for the average business person and web designer to gain a more practical real world understanding of this important element of web design and development.

About the Presentation

Databases play a very important role in all of our lives. After all, almost every website you visit interacts with a database in some way. However, many working in the IT and web design industry never come in direct contact with the database and may wonder what’s actually going on inside. In this presentation we’ll answer 5 basic questions about databases that will help you understand what’s going on “under the hood.” We’ll also talk about some recent trends in the database world for handling ultra-large datasets and huge amounts of traffic (think facebook, twitter, google, amazon). How these companies can handle the astronomical amounts of data and traffic without crashing their systems is quite clever… come to find out!

About Kent Thompson

Kent has been building web applications for 9 years including shopping carts, live chat applications, help desk systems and survey products. He currently works exclusively on building and maintaining the cloud-based www.monsterfollowup.com, a follow-up marketing system that lets you capture and follow up with your prospects and customers via a variety of mediums including phone, SMS, email, print and web.

Kent graduated from Taylor University in 1999 with a degree in music composition. In 2000 he earned a Certificate in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television from the University of Southern California. He has been a regular attender and contributor at Nightstand events. Visit Kent’s personal blog at http://krtthompson.blogspot.com

Invite Others!

We’d love to see many of our past friends and guests again, and we encourage you to pass on this invitation to others in the industry who would benefit from this presentation topic and networking event. RSVP by leaving a comment with your name and company or organization on our Nightstand Blog. NOTE: You mus RSVP to be added to the attendee list at our building security desk! You will also be required to have a photo ID.

Where and When?

We are pleased to bring you Nightstand 16, an after hours educational and networking event to be held on Thursday evening, September 16, 2010 at 1 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 4000, Chicago, Illinois (photo ID Required). Informal networking begins at 6 PM, with food and beverages provided. Introductions begin at 7 PM followed by our featured presentation and informal discussion until about 8:30 PM.

We’d love to have you join us and see our new office space!

- Your friends at Headstand Media

RSVP’d Attenders – 17

• Randal Birkey
• Benjamin Nelson
• Kyle Williams
• Matt Ritsman
• Taylor Birkey
• Megan Lee
• Kent Thompson
• Vijay Donthi
• George Gill
• Shane Montgomery
• Tim Schwaar
• Daniel Pitariu
• Roy Horras
• Branden Stuck
• Steve Tanner
• Evelyn Way
• Melissa Meulenberg

The type of questions that we plan to address are:

• What is a database? – Examples
• The power of a database, ease of use, sample SQL query
• How spreadsheet fields relate to each other
• What is an index and why is it important?
• Common problems with databases (what happens to databases when you become Facebook)
• How Facebook, Google, Amazon organize their databases to scale up
• Overview Amazon simple DB and how they solve scaling problems for startups
• Limitations of simpleDB

More details will be forthcoming here on the Nightstand Blog in the weeks ahead, and email invitations will go out in early September.

We hope to see many of you then!

- Headstand Media

• Background: on the hotel itself, the Hard Rock brand, and why they decided to jump into the social media moshpit to begun with
• Implementation and Strategy: general info about listings, strategies used to pick up fans and followers, and some sample guest interactions
• Social Media Method to Providing Kick Ass Service: discussing rewards programs, and some entertaining social media guest stories
• Damage Control: how Hard Rock Hotel responds to complaints, and strategies for acquiring positive consumer reviews

Melissa and the rest of the Nightstand attendees discussed the ins and outs of social media, how it applies to the hotel and service industries, and what kinds of things might be coming down the line.

As always, we enjoyed a tasty dinner and spent time meeting new people, networking, and having a grand old time. We would like to thank Melissa for presenting well-organized and engaging material that provided some great fodder for discussion. Thanks also to all our guests who came out to Nightstand 15. See you all next time!

The Hard Rock Hotel Chicago presents tips and tricks of how a soft-branded hotel was able to use a brand culture of authenticity, and occasionally even irreverence, as a guiding force in interactions with guests on Twitter and Facebook, and its success in balancing that cheeky voice with a true focus on customer service.

Headstand Media is excited to welcome Melissa Meulenberg, eCommerce Manager at the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago, for Nightstand 15 on May 27th. Melissa will host a discussion on using promotions, making relevant (and even irrelevant) posts, and taking the Hard Rock’s commitment to pleasing the customer offline to provide truly awesome customer service. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear about a sassy mom caught tweeting on the toilet, and a 22-year old Army couple whose Facebook post gave them the stay of a lifetime on Michigan Avenue.

About Melissa Meulenberg

Melissa Meulenberg has been the eCommerce Manager at the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago for 2 years. She joined the hotel in 2008 after 3 years working for the online travel company Expedia Inc. (owner of expedia.com, hotels.com, and tripadvisor.com). She has been (mis)quoted in HOTELS Magazine (but she’ll take what she can get), is a featured speaker at the 2010 BrandSmart Conference in June, and is in the running for a featured spot at the EyeForTravel 2010 North America Travel Distribution Summit in October.

Melissa holds a (much-neglected) bachelor’s degree in psychology and Russian/East European studies from the University of Michigan. Outside of work, she spends her free time schooling her friends at pool and training for races (she completed a Half-Ironman race last summer and is registered for the Chicago Marathon this year).

May 27, 2010
6 PM – 7PM: Food & beverages, informal networking (We’re ordering in from Star of Siam!)
7 PM – 8:30 PM: Introductions, presentation, discussion

Invite Others!

We’d love to see many of our past guests again, and we encourage you to pass on this invitation to others in the industry who would benefit from this presentation topic and networking event. RSVP by leaving a comment with your name and company or organization below.

We’d love to have you join us!
Headstand Media: Randy, Benjamin, Kyle, Matt, Taylor, and Megan

CONFIRMED ATTENDERS – 34
Headstand Media (6)
Melissa Meulenberg – Hard Rock Hotel
Steve Wilson – McDonald’s
Jake & Ali Bland – YFC/USA
Alex Garcia – Chicago Tribune
Tim & Lauren Schwaar
Jim & Mary Whitmer – Jim Whitmer Photography
Katie Scarpelli – Scholle Packaging
Diane Chewning – Scholle Packaging
Nastia Kryvulia
Shane Montgomery – VIP Property Chicago
Corey Wilkinson – Bolder Image
Patrick Richards – Richards Patent Law
Kent Thompson – Action Web Apps
Conor McCarthy – TheTalkingMirror.com
Donny Williams – Independent Producer
Lauren Dillon – Oasis International
George Gill – RentaBikeBow.com
Evelyn Way – Acoustics Consultant
Marina Beric – Designer
Debbie Kong – Designer
Eric Vorhes – VSA Partners
Greg Forst – Moji
John Stoffer & Maura Gaskill – Stoffer Photography
Andrea Nordstrom