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We want to extend a big thank you to all of our amazing customers and partners who submitted a proposal to speak at this year's event. We've prepared a balance of topics for both Cascade CMS beginners and highly-technical users, as well as discussions about digital strategy and content marketing.
Please note that this is a tentative schedule subject to change.
All times are Eastern Time Zone.
P.S. Busy during Feb 18-20? Don't worry; you can watch all Day 2 & 3 sessions on demand for three months after the conference.
| Time | Title | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 AM |
Workshop Track 1: Intro to Development in Cascade CMS
Learn the basics of developing in Cascade, empowering you to make additions and changes to your existing implementation. The focus of this session will be data definition modifications and updating the corresponding Velocity to account for these changes. We will also cover basic coding concepts so that you can understand your current code base.
Key Highlights:
- Moving Parts: Learn how to create and update the data definition, system template, configuration, metadata set & shared fields, so that you can update any content on the page.
- Velocity: Learn programming basics in Velocity so that you can write better formats
Formats: Discover how to create reusable Velocity scripts that can run anywhere on your pages and allow you to generate dynamic content and markup
Who Should Attend:
- Web developers who are new to Cascade
- Web admins who want to make significant tweaks
- Marketers with a web development background
Requirements:
- Basic understanding of how entities in Cascade are set-up; such as Templates, Configurations, Data Definitions, Content Types, etc.
- Understanding of fundamental programming concepts, such as variables, conditional logic, and loops.
Basic understanding of HTML |
Rebecca Crow & Nate Sims |
| 10:00 AM |
Workshop Track 2: Advanced Velocity Coding in Cascade
Elevate your Velocity coding skills with our Advanced Velocity Coding workshop. This session delves into Cascade Velocity’s advanced features and techniques, providing participants with the expertise to handle complex customization tasks.
Key Highlights:
- Cascade Velocity Tools: Master the powerful tools Cascade provides within Velocity for custom development, including Locator, Query, Sort, Date, and more.
- Advanced Syntax and Logic: Explore advanced Velocity syntax and intricate scripting logic to automate the creation of highly customized web pages.
- Code Reuse: Leverage macros and imports to enable efficient code reusability.
- Performance Optimization: Learn techniques to optimize Velocity code for enhanced processing and performance.
Troubleshooting and Debugging: Hone your diagnostic skills to troubleshoot and resolve common issues in complex Velocity scripts.
- Best Practices: Discover best practices for maintaining and scaling your Velocity codebase.
Who Should Attend:
- Web Developers seeking to extend the functionality of their Cascade implementations.
- Those with a solid programming foundation and basic Velocity knowledge looking to deepen their understanding of Cascade development.
Requirements:
- Strong grasp of programming concepts like conditional logic, loops, arrays, and functions.
- Good knowledge of Velocity syntax and coding principles.
- Thorough understanding of Cascade entities, including Templates, Configurations, Data Definitions, and Content Types.
|
Elisabeth Hutzel & Fernando Blanco |
| Time | Title | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 AM | Welcome Message | Kat Liendgens, Hannon Hill |
| 10:05 AM | Exploring Code Compression w/ Velocity | Chris Halper, Concordia University Wisconsin |
| 10:05 AM |
High-Performance for Higher Ed Websites: Using AI and GA4 for Insights and Action
Your university has a website, but it’s not obvious what’s working well …and what isn’t.
In this session, you’ll learn to use AI and GA4 to discover your best opportunities for website improvement, from the first SEO keyphrase to the final “thanks for applying” page.
What key information is missing from the perspective of your visitor?
What phrases do your program pages almost rank high for?
What new paragraphs and pageblocks would improve traffic and conversions?
What are the emotional triggers of your visitors? How can you address them?
After 10+ years working with higher education institutions, Andy and his team of 50+ web design professionals has learned what’s working now for colleges and universities. The research and experience has led to proven methods and prompts.
Orbit media has handled 1000+ website redesign projects over the last 22 years. Working with those clients, it’s become obvious that higher ed websites are different. Colleges and universities have multiple goals (applications, donations, events, visits, etc.) and multiple audiences (prospective students, parents, donors, alumni, faculty, etc.), making them way more interesting than a typical lead generation website.
You’ll learn the AI prompts and the GA4 reports for actionable insights.
Improve search rankings and organic traffic. Address objections and add supportive evidence. Strengthen calls to action and increase clickthought rates. Learn which actions are most likely to drive which outcomes. That’s what this session is about.
BONUS! This session will also include a live review of websites on a first-come-first-serve basis. Let us know if you’d like to volunteer your site. |
Andy Crestodina, Orbit Media Studios |
| 11:00 AM | Secrets of Cascade | Sam Skinner & Johannes Schuetze, Hannon Hill |
| 11:00 AM |
Modernizing Higher Education Websites with AI-Driven Site Search
In a world where students and faculty expect instant access to information, it's crucial for higher education institutions to prioritize digital transformation. This session explores how AI-driven site search brings a modern approach to higher ed websites, enabling faster, more accurate, and personalized search results that meet the needs of today’s digital-first users. |
Sara Kelzer, Cludo |
| 11:55 AM | TBD | Joe Macri, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| 11:55 AM |
Clear Signals: How Well-Understood Brand Stories Drive Enrollment
"We need to tell our story better"...a statement so common in higher education it’s become cliche. But should we tell the story better or tell a better story? This session delves into elements of brand stories and their impacts on enrollment. We’ll present original research on how students understand brand stories and whether perceptions differ by student segment and institution type. You’ll learn actionable insights on fine-tuning your storytelling approach, ensuring your institution's story stands out and connects with your audience. Expect to gain a fresh perspective on articulating your brand story in a way that captivates and convinces. |
Allison Turcio, Sienna College & Grant De Roo, ADV Market Research |
| 12:45 PM | Lunch | |
| 1:45 PM |
Ensuring Accessibility: Leveraging the power of Cascade CMS to improve your website's accessibility
Web accessibility is not a new topic, but it still ends up forgotten, on the backburner, or sometimes never even considered. Even when developers build websites with a focus on accessibility, many times the end users who update those sites do not understand or even know about web accessibility. However, with Cascade CMS, we can incorporate web accessibility into the CMS so that no matter who is editing a page, it will remain as accessible as possible.
This presentation will touch on built in accessibility features of Cascade CMS, but also dig into templates, blocks, data definitions with velocity, and even take a look at WYSIWYG configurations. |
Phillip Coxwell, Auburn University |
| 1:45 PM |
Developing and Optimizing High-Performing Program Pages
In the dynamic landscape of higher education, a strong online presence is crucial for attracting right-fit students. Among the key components of a university's digital presence, program pages play a pivotal role. What information is most critical to include? What should we consider when developing a program page for a new program? How do we tackle two similar programs that are often confused by our students? How do we balance marketing and academic content on the page?
This conference session aims to answer the above and provide a set of recommendations for developing higher-performing program pages on your institution's website.
In this session you’ll gain:
1) An understanding of the prospective student user journey as it pertains to program pages
2) Recommendations on program page layout, content strategy, and high-converting inquiry forms
3) SEO best practices and real-world examples |
Mia Pang, Carnegie Higher Ed |
| 2:40 PM |
Building a dynamic web application with Cascade and VUE.js
In this presentation, Michael Duncan and Caleb Hyatt of Geneva College will walk you through a recent project that leverages the benefits of the VUE.js, PHP and mySQL to shuttle content from Cascade into a simple API that feeds a single dynamic search page for News Releases, Stories and Blogs within Cascade. |
Michael Duncan & Caleb Hyatt, Geneva College |
| 2:40 PM |
Enhancing Website Search with AI
Have you ever gotten lost in a maze of web pages, desperately trying to find a specific piece of information? Most likely some of your website's users have, and while traditional web search can help, it's often limited and frustrating.
This isn't another AI hype talk—it's a practical roadmap for making web search more helpful to your website users. Drawing from hands-on experience, I'll break down how Large Language Models can help turn frustrating keyword hunts into smarter, more intuitive information discovery. We'll dig into the real-world techniques that make AI-powered search work, including Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).
You'll learn how to enhance your existing search tools, not replace them, and see how the right approach can make finding information feel almost magical. Filled with examples and strategies, along with a few hard-learned lessons, this session is for anyone who is ready to give their users more than the classic "10 blue links." |
Mark Lee, Colorado College |
| 3:30 PM | Break | |
| 3:40 PM |
Create Your Own Data Layer in Velocity
A data layer reduces complexity and streamlines references between your code and incoming data. What does this have to do with Velocity formats and page content? We'll dig into creating a custom data interface using a hash table that sits between your incoming structured data (data definition) and your macros and display logic. Using Cascade's internal API for maximum flexibility and performance, we'll leave behind index blocks as we create an easily addressable, lightweight structure that allows you to use dot syntax in favor of getChild() and better error handling for missing data with default values. Hash tables make these things possible and they're fast. Data layers also provide consistency. With this approach, changes to the structure of your data definition can be handled in your custom layer without passing those changes downstream to all your existing code, future-proofing your formats for changes still to come. |
Winston Churchill-Joell, Sarah Lawrence College |
| 3:40 PM |
From Concept to Conversion: Crafting a Program Finder that Drives Student Inquiries
Learn how Reynolds Community College significantly enhanced program discovery by developing a dynamic, user-friendly Program Finder that increased student inquiries by 70%. We will walk you through our journey from recognizing the limitations of traditional online course catalogs to implementing an improved program solution, developed in partnership with the Cascade CMS team, that integrates career data, enhances student engagement, and effectively boosts conversions. |
April-Nichole McIntosh, Reynolds Community College |
| 4:35 PM |
The Cliff is Coming: Strategies to Prepare
We’ve heard about the enrollment cliff and its likely impact on higher education. For her dissertation, Dr. Carrie Phillips researched how marketing strategies might help mitigate this cliff. This session shares findings from visiting with chief marketing officers about how they’re preparing. The session will begin with a high-level overview of the enrollment cliff followed by a deep dive into how marketing strategies might lessen the impact. You’ll hear about the challenges participants face, strategies they’re exploring and best practices to consider. As you’re looking to navigate change at your institution, this session is a great place to start. |
Carrie Phillips, University of Arkansas at Little Rock |
| Time | Title | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 AM |
Cascade CMS & Clive Roadmap
The Product Roadmap has been one of the most highly anticipated sessions for many years. Hannon Hill’s VP of Product, Bradley Wagner, and CEO Kat Liendgens will share our product philosophy and themes, provide a quick summary of recently released features, and give attendees a sneak peek into what’s on the horizon for Cascade CMS and Clive. |
Kat Liendgens & Bradley Wagner, Hannon Hill |
| 11:15 AM |
Recent Releases
Join us as he will walk you through recently-released features, polishes, and fixes in Cascade CMS and Clive.
|
Graham Lewis, Hannon Hill |
| 12:30 PM |
Lunch and Learn
Join this 20-minute lunch and learn session about the University of Texas Permian Basin unique tuition estimator. |
Sandra Fancher, Stamats & The University of Texas Permian Basin |
| 12:15 PM | Lunch | |
| 1:15 PM |
College of the Canyons Journey to Cascade
College of the Canyons made the migration from Modern Campus's Omniupdate to Hannon Hill's Cascade over the summer of 2024. With a team of 1, it was a huge undertaking, but able to be completed within 2 months. Walk with us through the process of our lift and shift. |
Stephen Burns, College of the Canyons |
| 1:15 PM |
Supercharge Your Content with AI and Data
We all need to create incredible content, put it out on the right channels, and monitor it to make it as effective as possible. Come get practical examples of how generative AI can help with every part of this process. Learn why content marketing should be a key strategy for your brand and how you can leverage generative AI and data to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your content marketing in the creation, distribution, and optimization phases.
Takeaways:
- Learn how to effectively use generative AI to ethically and safely create content.
- Understand what tools can be used to help with getting your content on the right channels.
- Build a library of prompts to aggregate and analyze your content data to identify what's working and what's not." |
Brian Piper, University of Rochester |
| 2:10 PM |
Managing 100s of Sites with Global Templates, Blocks and BRICKS!
Discover how Hannon Hill’s professional services team revolutionized website management for a large-scale, decentralized environment. This session showcases a custom-built solution that seamlessly manages hundreds of websites through a centralized content repository, enabling robust customization at both site and page levels.
Designed around a standardized yet flexible template, this approach delivers the perfect balance of consistency and adaptability. The solution’s capabilities were rigorously tested during the successful migration of over 300 sites—achieved in an astonishing three months. With new sites continuously joining the platform, the system now approaches the 400-site milestone, demonstrating its scalability, efficiency, and long-term effectiveness.
Join Brad and Fernando to learn how this innovative solution empowers organizations to streamline web management while maintaining brand integrity and user satisfaction. |
Brad Kazmer & Fernando Blanco, Hannon Hill |
| 2:10 PM |
Strategies for Recruiting and Promoting Continuing Education Programs
In this session, we’ll dive into practical strategies to enhance the visibility and recruitment for your continuing education programs. Learn how Carroll Community College used recent web redesign to improve presentation and discovery of programs and courses on their website. Find out how they harness pop-ups, and use analytics insights to drive web traffic to key pages. We’ll also explore how to design dynamic marketing campaigns that resonate with your audience and engage your campus community in content creation, ensuring your programs not only attract attention but also drive enrollment. |
Maya Demishkevich, Carroll Community College |
| 3:00 PM | Break | |
| 3:10 PM |
From Program Finders to Degree Pages
After we created an awesome Program Finder on our site, we realized that the specific degree information we were directing users to was all over the place. In this presentation I will cover how we made sure to clarify how we spoke about programs vs degrees, decided on what our Bare Minimum Content was for degrees, and the challenges of gathering this for over 100 degrees. |
Jill Whitaker, Southern Utah University |
| 3:10 PM |
Creating Meaningful Pathways
Like many other two-year colleges, Mid Michigan College clusters academic and career programs into guided pathways—interest areas designed to help students explore. In planning and building a new website, Mid was challenged to:
• Introduce the pathways concept
• Encourage users to explore programs via pathways while continuing to offer direct routes to specific programs
• Using content strategy and behind-the-scenes tagging to cross-reference related programs
Stamats knows most prospective students come to college websites with this question in mind: “Do you have my major/program?” While guided pathways can help users unsure what they want to study, they can frustrate users who come to a college site with specific interests. Working together, Mid and Stamats developed site structure and content to serve both kinds of users and advance the pathways model. We created:
• An interactive program-finder tool that includes pathways as a filter option
• Pathway overview pages that offer alternative routes to relevant programs
• Main design that helps users choose the route best for them
• Easy-to-scan, outcomes-focused program pages • Related-program cross-links on every program page
• Clear, jargon-free language describing the pathways concept and what it means for students
|
Sandra Fancher, Stamats & Meghan Keen, Mid Michigan College |
| 4:00 PM |
How to Attract and Convert International Students Through Your Website
Join Day Kibilds and Kat Liendgens as they share actionable strategies to elevate your university’s digital presence and better connect with prospective international students. This session will explore how to craft personalized content that resonates with global audiences while improving your website’s SEO to ensure international students can find you.
You’ll also learn how to create an intuitive and engaging user experience that makes your website welcoming and easy to navigate, using clear, accessible language. Discover how to showcase the return on investment your institution offers while highlighting the support, community, and sense of belonging students can expect when they choose your university.
This session is perfect for higher education marketing professionals, admissions officers, website content managers, and international recruitment teams looking to strengthen their global reach. |
Kat Liendgens, Hannon Hill & Day Kibilds, Ologie |