We’ve finally locked down the initial sessions for the Web Strategy Summit. This is an exciting line-up — we’ve got people talking about web analytics, remote controls, social media, crowdsourcing and the role of the Internet Strategist.

More importantly, our speakers are deeply experienced in their fields and are bringing real stories and case studies to their sessions. (One of our goals as we were planning this event was that there would be no hand-waving.)

Here’s the starting line-up for May 5th:

• Crowdsourcing in User Experience Design - Russ Unger (Draftfcb)
  Wikipedia, Zappos, Twitter, Ziv, HP, crowdSPRING, Dell and other successful ventures are all crowdsourcing — letting their customers contribute ideas and work that helps their business. Almost any business, especially in the Web space, can find a way to extend their reach to their customers. In this talk Russ will discuss the big wins that crowdsourcing can help companies with, including design testing, research, quality assurance and concept validation.
• Measuring Success When Profits Are Not the Bottom Line - Emira Mears (Raised Eyebrow)
  Drawing on case studies from our non-profit and government sector clients, in this presentation Emira will look at different ways to help your clients (or your own organization) set up measures of success for online communications plans that use alternative metrics and evaluation tools. The examples used will help participant set up their own frameworks for determining a solid return on investment for your own online communications projects.
• How to Get Started with Social Media: A Focus on the Process - Mark Faul & Chris Wight (City of Ottawa)
  Many organizations face large obstacles to introducing social media, including technology capacity and knowledge, privacy, accessibility, and language considerations; and the single largest challenge: resistance to cultural change. The City of Ottawa’s e-Media team will share the how they created a business case for social media, the social media strategies they’ve used and successes they’ve achieved.
• Going Beyond Web Analytics to Dig into the Minds of Your Users - Dianne Howie & Heather Searl
  Logitech’s Harmony Remote Control division has collected so much data through web analytics that it is often hard to know what to focus on. This session will draw examples from three years of work on Logitech’s Harmony remote web-based setup application, and the Harmony remotes themselves, to show the value of adding a variety of qualitative research methods to your quantitative analysis. In this session we’ll share some of the cost effective and quick things that Logitech has done to get into their users’ mindset.
• Getting a Little Respect: The Maturing Role of the Corporate Internet Strategist - Dan Evans (Evans Hunt)
  The lack of strategic oversight for the Web at the senior‐most level in many organizations often means misaligned goals and missed business opportunities. Dan will present highlights from current research that examines the scope, structure, influence and challenges of in‐house Internet executives.
• Using Iterative Navigation Testing to Guide Strategy for Content Rich Sites - Karyn Zuidinga (Analytic Design Group)
  For information-rich sites — which encompasses most intranets, government sites, public agency sites, and large companies — the information architecture is the expression and foundation of that site’s web strategy. This talk will explore iterative navigation testing, a tool we designed to guide strategy for content-rich sites and sell changes to senior management.
• Rethinking Sharepoint - Toby Spendiff (nForm)
  Thousands of businesses rely on Sharepoint every day to manage information and collaborate. And yet their users struggle with the interface, customization requirements, and Sharepoint’s viral nature. For two years Toby has worked on rethinking the Sharepoint experience so that it works more effectively for business and their employees. He’ll talk about the results of his work and share ideas for more effective business collaboration in this session.

We’ll have a few more sessions to add in the next week or so, so stay tuned.