Implementing a content strategy often involves overcoming significant technological and cultural challenges, but some of these challenges are so scary, so heinous, that they earn a place among the undead because they Just. Won’t. Die! In this session, Bill Swallow will take a look at these nightmare-inducing monsters—from unrelenting copy-and-paste zombies to life-draining, change-avoiding vampires—and show you what can be done to keep your content strategy implementation from turning into a fright fest.

1. @billswallow #LavaCon
Content Strategy vs. The Undead
Bill Swallow
Scriptorium Publishing

2. Content strategy vs.
Flickr: micadew
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3. Bill Swallow
@billswallow
Technical Consultant Scriptorium Publishing
www.scriptorium.com My interests:
Content strategy
Implementation
Localization
@billswallow

4. Why the undead?
Flickr: Ray Dumas
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5. Why the undead?
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Many reasons for implementing a content strategy
Many facets
Many impediments
Not unlike battling the undead
They JUST... WON'T... DIE!!!

6. Zombies
Flickr: Elena Gatti
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7. Zombies
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Mindless
Clumsy, slow moving
Uncommunicative
Destructive
Contagious

8. Zombies in our world
Wikipedia
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9. Zombies in our world
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Unbudging attitude Unrelenting will to preserve the status quo Continue to repeat the same actions Prefer mindless tedium Resistant to change

10. They're not ALL bad
Flickr: Terror on Tape
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11. They're not ALL bad
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Sometimes they're just misunderstood
They may have good intentions
They may have reasons for resisting change

12. Tips for survival
Flickr: Kenny Louie
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13. Tips for survival
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DON'T shoot them in the head Feed their needs while keeping the bigger picture in mind Find what drives them and harness that in your strategy

14. Vampires
Wikipedia
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15. Vampires
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Blood-suckers
Charismatic
Fear daylight

16. Charismatic life-drainers
Wikipedia
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17. Charismatic life-drainers
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Two distinct varieties: Someone in your organization who has a different plan A VERY persistent vendor Both fear being exposed of their shortcomings

18. Your tools for success
Flickr: Theodore Scott
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19. Your tools for success
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Always be prepared (do your homework)
Have a strategy rooted in your company's core goals
The “stake through the heart”: shift the focus back to the core intent/benefit of the strategy
Shed light on the subject to drive them back

20. Mummies
Flickr: Rocco Lucia
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21. Mummies
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Relentless Shambling but determined Guardians of the past Product of a curse or past desire

22. Dedicated and determined
Wikipedia
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23. Dedicated and determined
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Advocates of existing tools or workflows
Vocal or silent
Summoned by impending change

24. Wikimedia: Lysippos
Lift the mummy's curse
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25. Lift the mummy's curse
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Combat them with fulfillment
Acknowledge past successes
Kill them with kindness

26. Frankenstein's creature
Wikipedia
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27. Frankenstein's creature
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Cobbled together from bits and pieces
Has a mind of its own
Misunderstood
A product of science

28. Creator vs. creature
Wikimedia: Deckard97
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29. Creator vs. creature
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If not for Victor Frankenstein, the creature would not exist
Misuse of knowledge and technology
You may not always be able to control what you create

30. “We belong dead”
Wikipedia
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31. “We belong dead”
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If you have creatures of your own to wrangle, include them in your strategy
Try not to create more of them
You're a content strategist, not a mad scientist

32. Ghosts
Flickr: Nesster
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33. Ghosts
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Spirits, spectres, apparitions...
Things that haunt us
Often unsettling
Potentially hazardous

34. Mistakes and regrets
Wikipedia
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35. Mistakes and regrets
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We carry our ghosts with us
Echos of the past
“Would have/could have/should have”
Unfinished past projects
Past mistakes

36. Keep them in check
Flickr: relux.
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37. Keep them in check
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Don't give in to regret
Don't beat yourself up
Be confident in the direction you've chosen
Adapt your strategy over time
Don't be afraid of no ghost!

38. Your own Mystery, Inc.
Flickr: Pat Loika
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39. Be your own Mystery, Inc.
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Defeat your undead through investigation and preparation
Don't only focus on technology and capability
Personality, dispositions, and history matter
Knowledge and understanding
Unmask the undead for what they really are

40. Questions?
Flickr: BuzzFarmers
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41. Contact Information Bill Swallow @billswallow
Scriptorium Publishing www.scriptorium.com info@scriptorium.com
@billswallow