November 3 - 5, 2015
Workshops November 2
JW Marriott Washington DC
search • discover • inform • deliver • connect
DELIVERING ON THE PROMISE OF SEARCH

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

8:00 a.m. - 8:45 a.m.
Continental Breakfast
8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
Keynote - Complexity Informed Agility in Knowledge Management
Will Evans, Chief Design Officer, Praxis Flow
Jabe Bloom, Chief Flow Officer, Praxis Flow
Dave Snowden, Founder & Chief Scientist, The Cynefin Company, UK

Although the application of agile methods to software development is most common, the heart of agile is knowledge management. Agile relies on direct communication and intense collaboration across an integrated team of subject matter experts. Agile focuses on concurrent efforts with learning built into all phases and levels of the effort. Our experts in agile and KM provide a lively discussion of the types of knowledge, key methods of transferring, and sharing.

9:45 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Keynote - Unbounded Discovery: Designing a Taxonomy-Driven User Experience
Dave Clarke, Founder, Synaptica LLC, USA

Taxonomies are a proven enabler for information discovery as distinct from targeted search. How does one interpret and anticipate user needs and intentions when designing an information system? When do they need more options, fewer options, and how can they get reorientated should they go down a blind alley? Clarke explores how taxonomies, metadata, and graph queries can help transcend these design challenges for an engaging user experience.

10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Coffee Break in the Enterprise Solutions Showcase
10:45 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Optimizing and Beautifying Search
Sebastian Klatt, Senior Consultant, Raytion GmbH
Marianne Sweeny, Principal Consultant, Daedalus Information Systems

As we continually revisit what the role of a user experience professional is, Google has developed a set of algorithms that use computational mathematics to define a good user experience on the web. Within the enterprise, how do we break down silos to take back relevance? Marianne Sweeny opts for relevance determined by people. Sebastian Klatt turns his attention to usability, giving advice on the beauty of search.

11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Teamwork Improves Search
Lee Romero, Senior Manager, Global Knowledge Platforms, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Limited

To optimize search, it may not take a village, but it does require a multidisplinary team, or at least that’s the experience of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Its Search Optimization Center team defines search optimization standards, regularly reviews analytics looking for indications of problems, and identifies and executes improvement plans. Learn best practices for team-based search improvement.

12:30 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Attendee Luncheon in the Enterprise Solutions Showcase
1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Scoping Out Site Search
Martin Baumgartel, Head of Site Search, Shopify
Paul M. Wlodarczyk, Director, Solutions Consulting, Earley Information Science

Site search is hardly a new development in the enterprise search world, but it’s gaining importance in ecommerce as customers search for products and services on websites, expecting immediate and relevant results. Based on his experience with Verizon and Disney, Martin Baumgartel recounts his experiences with and gives recommendations for successful site search. Assessing site search performance is an important component. Jordan Cassel shares some best practices, visualization techniques, and quantitative measures that bring out the best in site search.

2:45 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Case Studies in Search and Discovery
Till Westermann, Senior Consultant, Raytion GmbH
Laurent Fanichet, VP - Marketing, Sinequa
David Copps, CEO, Brainspace

Enterprise search and discovery is never a cookie-cutter affair. Every situation differs, and every organization requires different solutions. Despite differences, enough commonalities exist that hearing about implementations in individual enterprise environments can spark ideas about what will work best in your work situation.

3:30 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
Coffee Break in the Enterprise Solutions Showcase
4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Precision Without Boundaries: Results That Matter
Erik Schwartz, Executive Director, Product Management, Comcast Cable
Ben Lack, Senior Director of Marketing and Business Development, Swiftype

Comcast has built a search and discovery platform that serves more than 500 million requests per day, at upward of 100 QPS (queries per second) at peak times to help customers find the TV programs they want to watch. A centralized platform allows the company to deliver the same experience via mobile, the web, and set-top boxes. Precision is finely tuned with a blend of machine learning, algorithmic, and editorial signals. Even those not in the entertainment business can learn from Comcast’s ability to deliver results that matter.

5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Networking Reception in the Enterprise Solutions Showcase

Stop by the showcase after a full day of stimulating conference sessions to mix and mingle with other conference attendees, speakers, and our conference sponsors.