The Workshop with a Winner
Saturday, short (but intense) afternoon session

at the ASIST IA Summit in Montreal, Canada, March 5, 2005

Moderators/presenters/referees: Lynn Boyden, Chris Chandler, Matthew Fetchko, Eric Reiss (Who the heck are they?)

What’s a “slam”?
The IA Slam has its historical roots in performance poetry reading, takes several important cues from interactive theater, and then blends in its own special mix of practical know-how and business savvy to create a unique and challenging competitive event for information architects and user-experience experts.

Get specific. What’s it all about?
In this hands-on collaborative workshop – an IA Summit first (or second, depending on how you define things) – we're not looking for another damned IA definition, we're looking for results – and we promise a clear-cut winner. The Internet was founded on the concept of collaboration, and this session adds the rhetorical spices ethos, pathos, and logos, coupled with a deadline from hell. (See our Rules of Engagement for details).

You call that “specific”? Get on with it!
During the workshop, participants will be teamed and introduced to a full-fledged hypothetical project, including appropriate client-side deliverables. They’ll then have an opportunity to interview key players on the client’s team. The session will conclude with proposal presentations from each of the groups to the "clients" and the assembled audience.

The outcome(s) of the workshop will be presented to the rest of the conference attendees the next day, when the winning presentation will be named by the moderators and bragging rights will be awarded.

Goals
This exercise gives participants a chance to share their techniques, ideas, and points of view - and allows people with a passion to "put their money where their mouth is." The "point" is not the point, the point is the information architecture.

What’s in it for me?
This is a chance for interested IAs to extend (or end) some of the more volatile online discussions - to get their hands dirty working side by side with colleagues from around the world as they tackle tough business problems. Knowledge transfer, technique sharing, and a social atmosphere makes this session stand out from the garden-variety “lecture-and-powerpoint” presentation.

Hey, I thought good web writing meant lots of bullet points
In a nutshell, this is what it’s all about:

• An interactive adventure for IAs and UXs
• Fun
• Educational
• A chance to strut your stuff before colleagues and potential employers

I still couldn’t care less

Then see what folks had to say about the first Slam:

"It was a blast, a great way to spend an afternoon, and highly applicable to "real-life". I agree with Dick Hill - this needs to be offered every year. It was a great way to get thinking about the subject and meet some new colleagues."

     - Laurie Gray

"I agree! It was a great way to meet people, plus I really appreciate the natty gray suits worn by "the clients" - as well as their fake business cards. Conceptual art in action."

     - Joy 

"It was a lot of fun and I was so impressed by the quality of everyone's input. It was a bit ironic for me that several years ago the concept of the screen fridge came up in the context of a project and I laughed it off at the time. Of course I had to take it seriously today - the CEO was in the room after all."

     - Chris Farnum

"The IA Slam was a blast—definitely the funnest conference session, and the conference highlight for me. It was a great break from the usual format: hands on and got groups talking about how they work on real projects."

     - Jess McMullin

Yeah? Testimonials are for wimps...
So check out who’s running the show. Or the Rules of Engagement.  

Ready to come to Montreal? Check out the full program at the official ASIST conference site.