The Office of the Chief Information Officer’s support and involvement in two conferences, IT Professionals Forum and Web Con, bring together people from across the university and beyond to serve web and IT professionals. Both IT Pro Forum and Web Con have had far-reaching effects since their beginnings. The Office of the CIO continues to partner alongside many other university units in its support of these conferences today.
The Office of the CIO supports the biannual IT Pro Forum as its largest sponsor and also as about half its planning committee. IT Pro Forum is a conference that aims to bring together IT professionals throughout Illinois to present innovative projects and solutions, to network and learn more about best practices surrounding IT. The conference provides learning opportunities for national and even international guests.
“I am grateful to the organization for its support not only of its own employees, but also of its training and collaboration opportunities for employees from all over campus. This is some of our community outreach,” said Dena Strong, senior information design specialist for the Office of the CIO and IT Pro Forum committee-member.
When the conference started, IT Pro Forum was fully in person and only allowed those affiliated with the U of I to participate. Dena explains how the conference has evolved to expand to IT Pros outside of the university over time.
“We discovered that places like Illinois State University, our local libraries and Carle were interested in IT Pro Forum, so we began to figure out ways to include them,” Dena said.
“We’d been struggling with outreach for several years; the 2019 event was designed to be regional, but we didn’t get as many regional attendees as we’d hoped, in part because at the time we were charging non-U of I people additional fees to attend. But when we needed to go fully online in 2020, the total number of attendees that year doubled while costs were cut by 95% and we allowed everyone everywhere to attend for free. Everything was online, everything was recorded, and everything was accessible. My brain just went eureka,” Dena said.
Moving online opened up IT Pro Forum to an audience outside of the university while also supporting accessibility. Dena explained she had been pushing for a hybrid or remote option for the university’s disabled and distant staff since before 2008, but it took the pandemic to make full remote access happen.
“I am a usability and accessibility advocate. As a disabled and full-time remote worker, any time something is online, I’ve got a much better chance of attending on an equitable footing. Now that ITPF is fully online (with some streamed hybrid events as the schedule and location permits), we’re more inclusive to people with disabilities, and people who live more remotely.”
Dena has served on the IT Pro Forum committee since the early 2000s, and over time she has seen how it has grown and changed, including how serving on the committee has benefitted her, too.
“One reason I stay on the committee year after year is because it’s one of the best ways to stay connected with the campus IT community, and to keep up with who’s learning what or doing what,” said Dena.
The most recent IT Pro Forum occurred this past Jun. 5-6, with the theme “All Systems Go.” Sessions included presentations about a new Access Rights Management security application, immersive media, campus network updates, AI trends, accessibility, and much more. The keynote speaker was Chris Tidrick, senior director of IT and CIO for Gies College of Business. See sessions list. See recordings of sessions.
The Office of the CIO sponsors IT Pro Forum twice a year, but members from the organization also help plan and run the event, present skills and experiences at the event, and are also attendees.
Another conference sponsored by the Office of the CIO that similarly brings together specialized professionals for networking and development is the U of I Web Con.
Web Con brings together web professionals to share best practices and innovative ideas. It is known for its affordability, interactive format, and strong community focus. Web Con attracts attendees from all over the U.S., including some international participants.
Started in 1999 at the U of I, it grew to expand professionals across higher education and other industries. Illinois has had deep roots in web technology advancement for decades. In the early 1990s, Illinois alumni developed the first graphical browser Mosaic, and Illinois alumni have since created YouTube, PayPal, Yelp, and many other web innovations.
“Web Con was born out of a need to create a community for web professionals to share ideas and learn from one another,” said Web Con co-chair Abigail Bobrow. “As the internet has grown, so have the number of interdisciplinary areas that people on campus work in, making us believe Web Con’s impact has been enduring and still relevant.”
Web Con hosts presenters and speakers from many different areas, such as web design, User Experience design, accessibility, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, graphic design, analytics, backend design, communications, and professional development. The topics change each year, depending on who is presenting.
The planning committee changes each year, too. “Our committee is made up of employees from all over campus who have the time and passion to commit to putting on the conference. We typically don’t have more than 20 people (on the planning committee) at one time. If we notice we need a specific skill set, we will make sure that’s clear in our recruitment efforts.”
Like IT Pro Forum, the Web Con committee consists of various professionals from across the university, and as the conference has changed over time, so have the needs of the committee. Since moving entirely online after the pandemic, the committee found they needed more members to support a large-scale online event with global speakers and attendees.
Luckily, it isn’t hard to find volunteers for the committee. The depth and wealth of knowledge and experience across the university enables Web Con to continue to happen year after year.
“Our collaboration across campus feels organic. Our committee comprises people from departments throughout the university who act as unofficial ambassadors for Web Con. We also host monthly campus workshops that feature people throughout the campus throughout the year,” Web Con co-chair Abigail Bobrow said.
This past Web Con was held Apr. 4-5 and covered topics such as designing content management systems, digital accessibility, AI opportunities and challenges, search engine optimization for content managers, user experience writing, and much more. This year’s keynote speakers were Jepson Taylor, AI strategist & innovator and co-founder at stealth AI Company; Terresa Moses, creative director at Blackbird Revolt and Lisa Elzey Mercer, professor of graphic design and design for responsible innovation at the College of Fine and Applied Arts at Illinois.
Web Con was held entirely online, with over 350 people attending from 21 states and three countries. In 2025, Web Con will be celebrating its 25th year.
Tech Points at Illinois continues to unify IT professionals
While conferences such as Web Con and IT Pro Forum have benefitted many professionals around the nation, the Office of the CIO also collaborates with IT professionals across the university to host a yearly event for Illinois students and professionals. Held the first three days of fall semester classes each year, Tech Points gathers the Illinois IT community into three locations across campus to host pop-up help desks.
University IT professionals volunteer at these help desks with the unified mission of assisting students, faculty and staff with technology or software issues to facilitate successful starts to the semester. The most common questions involve setting up NetIDs and passwords, university email, campus Wi-Fi, Illinois Anyware and Canvas @ Illinois, but the help desks can assist with much more.