Below are blog entries for September 2008.
People helping People - Collaboration Integral at 2008 User's Conference
By Morgan Griffith
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 at 4:30pm
With 123 attendees at this year's event and a conference theme of "People + Process + Systems," collaborative success was almost inevitable at the 2008 Casacde Server User's Conference. The 2-day conference was held at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, which proved to be a remarkable venue. In case you didn't get a chance to attend this year, or if you just want a conference recap, here is a rundown of just a few of the 2008 conference highlights.
Our Cascade users were up bright and early Monday morning to sign-in and receive their "SWAG" (Stuff We All Get) bags, and then were off to a full day of conference sessions. The day began with two "all-hands" sessions that every conference registrant attended. The first of which was a welcome from Hannon Hill CEO, David Cummings, who spoke of the company's progress over the last year, including an overhauled Knowledge Base, heaps of product improvements and added functionality, and the upcoming launch of the product's new delivery server, to be released in the second quarter of 2009. Following David Cummings, Bradley Wagner, Hannon Hill's Director of Engineering, spoke on the past year of improvements as well as the what the future holds for Cascade Server in his presentation, "Cascade Server Roadmap."
After the all-hands sessions and a quick break, the rest of the two day conference consisted of two conference tracks, executive and technical, each with it's own set of sessions and speakers throughout the day. Our second day was wrapped up with an all-hands Open Q&A session and a 2-hour "Cascade Server Collaboration" session, intended to allow Cascade Users to interact and ask questions of the Hannon Hill team and each other.
To further contribute to this notion of collaboration and people helping people, many of our most avid Cascade Server users also volunteered to speak at this year's event. A big thanks goes out to Terri Vaughan, of Clemson University, Justin Klingman, of Beacon Technologies, Eric Palmer, of the University of Richmond, Nathaniel Graham, of University of Missouri, Richard Merrill of Autograff, Jon Whitener of University of Detroit Mercy, and Daniel Horwitz, of ProHealth Care, all of whom contributed to this year's conference with insightful and innovative presentations.
The Open House was another conference highlight and platform for additional user collaboration. The Open House is an annual gathering for all of our attendees to unwind after a long day of Cascade sessions and learning. Hosted at the Hannon Hill office and catered by Parsley's Catering of Atlanta, the Open House was a more casual platform for our users to familiarize themselves with the Hannon Hill community and its members.
The 2008 Cascade Server User's Conference was our most successful yet. This year's conference featured more attendees and a stronger venue than ever before and we look forward to keeping this going in the years to come. We want to thank all of our attendees who came to Atlanta this past Monday and Tuesday; we look forward to seeing you all again next year!
Category
- Events
The Cascade Server Family & Just a few of its Special Members
By Morgan Griffith
Thursday, September 11th, 2008 at 4:30pm
As the 2008 Cascade Server User's Conference approaches, I've been thinking a lot about what it is that makes our users, Hannon Hill, and the Cascade Server "family" so special.
The corporate culture here at Hannon Hill revolves around our desire and willingness to make our clients' experience with Cascade Server as seamless and productive as possible. To this end, our team is made up of some of the most talented, bright, and motivated people in the industry. As trite as it may sound, we truly come together each and every day to ensure our clients get the best service and CMS product on the market.
Additionally, our clients, and their feedback, experiences, and suggestions, are what really make Cascade Server the enterprise content management system it is today. What matters to our clients is what matters to us. Any user suggestions for product improvements and feature requests are always considered by our engineering and support teams; not one request is overlooked. The feedback of our clients, and the dedication of our development team, has ensured Cascade Server continues to meet the needs of our hundreds of clients across the globe.
As many members of the Cascade Server family will be coming together this month in Atlanta for our User's Conference, I'd like to introduce you to a few of the very special members of our community:
Nathan Glass - Enterprise Programmer and Analyst, Texas A&M Health Science Center
Nathan Glass is an Enterprise Programmer and Analyst at the Texas A&M Health Science Center. Nathan has spent a substantial amount of time in the programming field, in fact as he notes, "I have just as many childhood memories of warped green screens, QBASIC, and the now-extinct "turbo" button as I do of books and playing outside." After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Nathan parlayed his extensive technical knowledge and programming experience into a career in the field. At the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Nathan has been using Cascade Server for two years. Glass notes, on his use of Cascade, "My interactions with Cascade are all about adding new features or automating frequent/large tasks, so our end users can focus on the important things - developing content and wrestling with TinyMCE's magnificent grasp of HTML." Nathan is also actively involved and vocal in the Cascade Server community, frequently participating in Hannon Hill user forums and listservs.
Nathaniel Graham - Software Support Analyst, University of Missouri
Nathaniel Graham comes from Columbia, Missouri by the way of the Maritimes of Atlantic Canada. He served over eight years in the Canadian Navy prior to moving to the United States and returning to college to pursue his Bachelors of Science in Computer Information Systems. Nathaniel has accumulated a substantial amount of experience in the industry, having worked for small software companies and various higher education institutions, including his present employer, the University of Missouri. During his career, much of his time and effort has been devoted to consulting, writing scripts, and web maintenance. Over the years, Nathaniel has also adopted technical roles ranging from digital video production to content management system administration. With plans to attend graduate school in the future, he hopes to continue his education in system analysis and design. Nathaniel Graham is giving two presentations at this year's conference: "Site Architecture and Development Model - Cascade Server vs. Standard Approaches," and "Spearheading End-User Documentation: How to Prepare Yourself for End-Users."
Justin Klingman - Senior Web Designer & Lead CMS Specialist, Beacon Technologies
Justin Klingman is the Senior Web Designer & Lead CMS Specialist for Beacon Technologies, Inc., located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Most of Justin's work with Cascade Server involves managing Beacon Technologies' multiple implementations of the CMS, conducting end-user training and demonstration sessions, and leading Beacon's Content & Design team. Justin has been working with Cascade Server for 3 years, and serves on the Cascade Server Product Advisory Council, providing regular input to Hannon Hill regarding potential new features and improvements, while also beta testing new functionality before it is introduced. He has been with Beacon Technologies for nine years, and attended Virginia Tech, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science & Information Technology. Justin will be giving a presentation at this year's Cascade Server User's Conference, "Tips and Tricks for End Users."
Eric Palmer - IS-Director of Web Services, University of Richmond
Eric Palmer has been the Director of Web Services at the University of Richmond for roughly 2 years, and a Cascade Server user for the same amount of time. Throughout his career, Eric has gained more than 24 years of IT experience, has built and sold a number of consulting companies, and has also served as a bank compliance advisor and corporate privacy director. Additionally, Eric is a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and a Certified Scrum Practitioner (CSP). In addition to his day job, Eric is a life coach and mentor to professionals seeking to dramatically transform their careers. Eric will be speaking at this year's conference on the topic of "Streamlining Online and Print College Catalog Publishing."
Richard Merrill - Development Director, Autograff
Originally from the high desert cattle country of Oregon, Richard Merrill moved to the east coast as a Mechanical Design Engineer in Boston's high-tech belt. In this role, Richard was responsible for distilling complex aerospace assemblies into a few parts in a process he has termed "simplicity engineering." Richard later headed north to Maine in the 80s to raise his family, establishing an energy-efficient home design/build company founded on these same principles. In the 90s he transferred these skills to the web development industry. Richard currently serves as the Development Director for his firm Autograff, which designs and produces graphics, identity, and web sites for startups and multi-million-dollar companies. Autograff was delighted to discover Cascade Server in 2007, a product they now use regularly in many of their implementations. Richard will also presenting this year at the User's Conference; his presentation is titled "Cascade Server and SEO Structures, Menus, and File Naming Protocols."
Terri Vaughan - Web Customer Support Specialist, Clemson University
Terri Vaughan is a veteran girl-geek who has parlayed her passion for technology into a career as Clemson University's Web Customer Support Specialist. Located in Clemson, South Carolina, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Clemson University enrolls over 17,000 students each year. With over 70 undergraduate programs and 5 separate colleges at Clemson, Terri is responsible for providing support and training to members of her institution who use the Cascade Server CMS across campus. Terri has a plethora of experience in the IT industry, and currently serves as the IT manager for Clemson's Office of Web Services. Terri's additional career successes include surviving the dot com bust in Silicon Valley's gaming and entertainment industry. Terri enjoys parasailing, riding motorcycles, shooting pool, and traveling to conferences. Terri will be traveling to Atlanta for this year's Cascade Server User's Conference, where she'll be presenting on the topic of "How to Turn End-Users into Content Experts," and hopefully watch her favorite team, the Braves, play.
Our daily schedules aren't dictated by common corporate motivators such as revenue growth and sales numbers. First and foremost, we conduct our business each day based on the needs of these and other people that have contributed to making Cascade Server what it is today. We realize that a change and/or improvement to the system affects people not just dollars. We are also keenly aware of the importance of maintaining an innovative and informative web site. It is this knowledge and our dedication to our Cascade users that bring us all to work each day. We look forward to continuing to meet the needs of our clients, and to seeing many of you at the User's Conference, September 22-23.
Category
- Commentary
Deadline Extended for Cascade Server User's Conference
By Morgan Griffith
Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 1:00pm
With over 110 attendees already signed-up for the 2008 Cascade Server User's Conference, we're confident that this year's conference will be our best yet. Due to this overwhelming response, we're extending the registration deadline. Day-rate registration ($350.00) will continue to be available through Friday, September 12.
If you've already signed up for the conference, or plan on doing so in the next few days, make sure to pre-select your conference schedule! Doing so will allow you to pick the sessions you'll attend ahead of time, and choose sessions from both the business and technical tracks.
Additionally, for those who've already signed up, we've put together a shared conference attendee list that allows you to see who else is attending and get in touch with fellow participants prior to the conference. If you'd like to be included, and receive a copy of this list, please email Marketing Assistant Uran Piedra at uran.piedra@hannonhill.com.
If you haven't signed up for the 2008 Cascade Server User's Conference yet and are interested in learning more about what we have in store this year, be sure to visit the User's Conference page on our website, or go directly to our conference registration page. We look forward to seeing you in a few weeks!
**Please Note -- As we mentioned in our last conference update blog, as of September 1st, conference attendee cancellations are non-refundable.
Category
- Events
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