I recently returned from Content Marketing World – easily one of the very best conferences I have attended in recent history. There was so much interesting information, so many interesting things that people are doing in content. I was thrilled to be there.
I was among a very short list of very smart people who taught half-day workshops the day before the conference. And I know that when I get to share a ballroom wall with Rob Rose, I’m in good company.
My workshop was called Taking Your Content to Global Proportions: Global Content Strategy Best Practices. I divided the information into two discreet sections. Part one focused on global website best practices. Part two dissected the components of how to create a strategy for your global content.
When I first submitted my topic, I was pretty nervous. Just two short years ago, I ran this workshop at Content Strategy Applied. I had 12 people attend the session. Next door, over 70 people were crammed into a session on metrics. I was demoralized. How could people care more about metrics than about their global content?
Fast forward two years later to Content Marketing World. My session had 72 attendees. It was sold out. And, it had a great corporate sponsor, Cloudwords. What a difference two years makes!
Naturally, I was jubilant. “See,” I told myself, “I told you this stuff is important!” There’s nothing like someone who says ‘I told you so’ to themselves.
It was a great session. The attendees were very engaged, asking excellent questions. Most of the people in the room were already managing multilingual content. The challenges they face are real and they are not simple. That’s because most global content happens organically. One day, someone decides that translating content into a few languages is a good idea. There may or may not be a plan. It just happens. And before you turn around, you are dealing with 12, 15, or 24 languages. One of my attendees manages over 80 languages!
Clearly, the time for global content strategy has come. I told you so.
Val is on the Advisory Board for the Technical Communications Program at the University of North Texas. When not working with customers or students, Val can be found sitting behind her sewing machine working on her latest quilt. She also makes a mean hummus.
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