Thanks again for all the support, and we look forward to staying in touch. You can hear about what we’re up to by following us on our blog at www.nform.ca/blog or follow our low volume stream on Twitter.

Pat’s talk is title “Crowdsourcing for Inspiration.” Here’s the description:

Once dubbed by competitors as “crappy images for crappy people”, crowdsourced stock photography is now well on its way to dominating the stock photo industry. With a powerful mix of community and technology, amateur photography was one of the first industries to create millions of dollars of value for both workers and customers. Patrick explains how iStockphoto worked hand-in-hand with a community to harness their inspiration and imagination into a world-class product.

We’ll meet at the James Joyce around 6 p.m. If you’re staying at the Delta Bow Valley, the James Joyce is a 10 minute walk from the hotel.

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• The Future of the Social Web - Jeremiah Owyang
  Although social networks have caught the attention of brands and consumers, today’s social landscape is a primitive series of unconnected islands. Expect new technologies to emerge that connect all systems and communities together -that allow communities to spread and share from one another. This simple technology changes the web landscape as consumers rely on their peers to make decisions, any web experience can now be personalized, and social networks become as powerful as CRM systems. Marketers must be ready for the drastic changes to come as power shifts to micro-celebrities, communities, and social networks -not traditional marketing.
• Designing the Viral App - Christina Wodtke
  In short session, I’ll focus on the critical comments of defaults, sharing mechanisms, updates, notifications and even SEO as holistic elements of a viral system that is currently driving the popularity of social networks and social media successes everywhere. I’ll talk about the underpinnings needed to devise a successful social system as well, touching on identity, reputation and relationships in digital communities.

Have a look at the full program for more details.

You can make a reservation by calling 1-800-665-8571 (or 1-877-814-7706 for international callers). Use the group code GFANFO506 and the name nForm to get the discounted rate.

More importantly, our speakers are deeply experienced in their fields and are bringing real stories and case studies to their sessions. (One of our goals as we were planning this event was that there would be no hand-waving.)

Here’s the starting line-up for May 5th:

• Crowdsourcing in User Experience Design - Russ Unger (Draftfcb)
  Wikipedia, Zappos, Twitter, Ziv, HP, crowdSPRING, Dell and other successful ventures are all crowdsourcing — letting their customers contribute ideas and work that helps their business. Almost any business, especially in the Web space, can find a way to extend their reach to their customers. In this talk Russ will discuss the big wins that crowdsourcing can help companies with, including design testing, research, quality assurance and concept validation.
• Measuring Success When Profits Are Not the Bottom Line - Emira Mears (Raised Eyebrow)
  Drawing on case studies from our non-profit and government sector clients, in this presentation Emira will look at different ways to help your clients (or your own organization) set up measures of success for online communications plans that use alternative metrics and evaluation tools. The examples used will help participant set up their own frameworks for determining a solid return on investment for your own online communications projects.
• How to Get Started with Social Media: A Focus on the Process - Mark Faul & Chris Wight (City of Ottawa)
  Many organizations face large obstacles to introducing social media, including technology capacity and knowledge, privacy, accessibility, and language considerations; and the single largest challenge: resistance to cultural change. The City of Ottawa’s e-Media team will share the how they created a business case for social media, the social media strategies they’ve used and successes they’ve achieved.
• Going Beyond Web Analytics to Dig into the Minds of Your Users - Dianne Howie & Heather Searl
  Logitech’s Harmony Remote Control division has collected so much data through web analytics that it is often hard to know what to focus on. This session will draw examples from three years of work on Logitech’s Harmony remote web-based setup application, and the Harmony remotes themselves, to show the value of adding a variety of qualitative research methods to your quantitative analysis. In this session we’ll share some of the cost effective and quick things that Logitech has done to get into their users’ mindset.
• Getting a Little Respect: The Maturing Role of the Corporate Internet Strategist - Dan Evans (Evans Hunt)
  The lack of strategic oversight for the Web at the senior‐most level in many organizations often means misaligned goals and missed business opportunities. Dan will present highlights from current research that examines the scope, structure, influence and challenges of in‐house Internet executives.
• Using Iterative Navigation Testing to Guide Strategy for Content Rich Sites - Karyn Zuidinga (Analytic Design Group)
  For information-rich sites — which encompasses most intranets, government sites, public agency sites, and large companies — the information architecture is the expression and foundation of that site’s web strategy. This talk will explore iterative navigation testing, a tool we designed to guide strategy for content-rich sites and sell changes to senior management.
• Rethinking Sharepoint - Toby Spendiff (nForm)
  Thousands of businesses rely on Sharepoint every day to manage information and collaborate. And yet their users struggle with the interface, customization requirements, and Sharepoint’s viral nature. For two years Toby has worked on rethinking the Sharepoint experience so that it works more effectively for business and their employees. He’ll talk about the results of his work and share ideas for more effective business collaboration in this session.

We’ll have a few more sessions to add in the next week or so, so stay tuned.

The full conference runs on May 5th, and it will cost you just $399 before March 20. We’re running four half-day workshops on May 4th priced at just $299 each. Prices go up on March 21, so it pays to register early.

We’re really excited about the workshops and workshop leaders. We were able to bring together some seasoned professionals to run practical, valuable workshops that deal with real business problems.

The conference program should also be finalized in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned.