The document summarizes a presentation about content strategy and content management systems. It discusses challenges such as managing expectations, balancing structure with flexibility, and translating ideas into usable implementations. Key points addressed include setting realistic expectations, balancing rigidity of content models with creative needs, and ensuring the author experience is built into the content management system. The overall message is that content strategy and content management systems require addressing both technical and human factors.

1. MAKING
THINGS
REAL
A very professional presentation by
Corey Vilhauer
about content strategy and content management systems

2. me, pretty much

3. THE
PERFECT
LESSON PLAN

4. THIS IS ME
@mrvilhauer

6. WE ARE HUMANS.
IT IS ROBOTS.

7. “There’s a murky space
between the idea of content
and the hard reality of a
content management
system.”
- Deane Barker
author, Web Content Management

8. THE EXPECTATION BARRIER
THE BALANCING ACT
THE TRANSLATION POINT

9. THE EXPECTATION BARRIER:
OR, OUR DREAMS ARE
ALREADY DEAD
How do we help teams understand
the reality of content management,
and set expectations accordingly?

11. CONTENT
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

12. CONTENT
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
ARE NOT THE PROBLEM
WE ARE

13. Article Category
Ad Banner
Title Short Title
Meta Title
Preview Title
Header Image
Preview Image
Image Caption
Image Maintenance
Body Copy
Category Feed
Content Break Points
Alternate Tags
Opengraph
Another Ad Banner
Editorial Categories
Byline Name
Date

14. WE STILL KIND OF
SUCK AT
MAKING OUR WORK
SOUND HUMAN

15. “…developers should
watch for ambiguity or
inconsistency that will
trip up design.”
- Eric Evans
author, Domain-Driven Design

16. EXAMPLE:
Newsroom
News Listing
News Feed
News

17. When we say:
Content Model
We mean:
A conceptual term for the collection of content types,
attributes, relationships and datatypes in place to
accurately describe a logical domain of content.
In other words:
How pages, blocks, and other content are shaped and work
together within the CMS.

18. GET REAL, DUDE
The Balance of Message and Structure
The Priority of the Machine
Permanence vs. Flexibility
Communicate the Purpose

19. THE BALANCING ACT:
OR, THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
“WE CAN” AND “WE SHOULD”
How do we balance the rigidity of a
content model with the creative
flow of a marketing team?

20. “If we have learned anything
at all in this century, it is that
all new technologies will be
put to use, sooner or later, for
better or worse, as it is in our
nature to do.”
- Lewis Thomas
author, “Autonomy”

21. WHAT
CAN
BE
DONE
SHOULD

22. CAPTURE IMPLEMENT LAUNCH
DEFINE THE BONES ITERATION

23. YOUR
NEW CMS
CAN’T
READ
OR
REASON

24. PAGES COMPONENTS
AGGREGATIONSINTEGRATIONS
DATA!

25. Pages
Home Page
Section Home Page
Components
General Text Page
Program Search
Undergraduate
Graduate
School
Program
Major
Directory
Directory Bio
Faculty Listing
Story
Stories
Student Media
Map Home
Calendar
Event
Image Block
Video Block
Link List Block
Program Block
Directory Listing
Story
Media Type
Event
Accordion
Table
Carousel
Promo Block
Academics Block
School Listing
Faculty Listing
Major List
Course Catalog
Search Results

26. HIGHLY-STRUCTURED
PAGE
MORE GENERIC PAGE
WITH COMPONENTS

27. PAGE
COMPONENTS
AGGREGATION
INTEGRATION

28. STRUCTURED OR OPEN?
How similar is this from page to page?
What integrations do I need to use?
How often does this content change?
How many will we create?

31. EXAMPLE:
News Feed
Press Release Feed
Case Study Feed
Article
Press Release
Case Study

32. HOW CAN WE
MAKE THIS
MORE WELCOME?

34. BAD COP

35. THE TRANSLATION POINT:
OR, WELCOME TO
THE MACHINE
How do we take our ideas
and turn them into a usable
web implementation?

36. BUILD YOUR
AUTHOR EXPERIENCE
INTO THE CMS

37. DEFINE THE BONES ITERATION

39. omg so sorry

40. [ INSERT MORE
APPROPRIATE
REUSE PICTURE
HERE ]

41. Meta Title
Page Title
Menu Title
Content Title

42. Meta Title
Page Title
Menu Title
Content Title
URL Slug

43. ACCESSIBILITY?
SEARCH ENGINES?
OPENGRAPH CARDS?

44. DOCUMENTATION

46. AND IN CONCLUSION:
OR, MY TIME IS
NEARLY GONE
Does any of this
apply to me, and why the
you-know-what should I care?

47. “Broken gets fixed.
Shoddy lasts forever”
- Jack Moffett
author, Bridging UX & Web Development

48. “There’s no API call for
makeShitUpHere()”
- Deane Barker
author, Web Content Management

49. THANK YOU
for making
things real
For notes and the slide deck, please visit
www.eatingelephant.com/confab17