Lisa Tallman, YMCA of the USA's Senior Director, Knowledge Management discussed the evolution of the Y's extranet that supports Y staff and volunteers across the U.S. In particular, she focused on the process used with subject matter specialists to create sites from defining goals through maintenance and measurement.

1. Lisa Tallman
lisatallman@gmail.com
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The Evolution of
YMCA of the USA’s Extranet

2. Agenda
Introductions
The Evolution
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3. Who AM I?
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4. My Career
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5. About The YMCA
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 More than 2,600 YMCAs branches collected
into~900 associations
 20,000 full-time staff
 200,000 part-time staff
 500,000 volunteers
 Serving 9 million youth and 12 million
adults in 10,000 communities

6. YMCA of the USA
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 National RESOURCE CENTER, not a
headquarters
 ~350 staff
 Chicago
 Small Washington, DC office
 Many telecommuters and field professionals
 Y-USA supports (just about) anything a Y
does

7. The Evolution
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8. KM at Y-USA
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 Hired in March 2011
 Officially a department of 1, but with one
person assigned to me
 Decentralized structure
 Subject matter experts and publishers
dispersed throughout departments
 Influence but no authority
 Steering Committee with cross-
departmental representation

9. 2010-2013 Strategic Plan
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 Develop and implement a robust
knowledge sharing and collaboration site to
enhance collaboration within the Y
Movement.
 Exchange should be the Movement’s online
resource for knowledge sharing and
collaboration to strengthen communities.
• By the end of 2013, 75% of surveyed
individuals who use the collaboration pages
on Exchange will report high levels of
satisfaction with their experience

10. Year 1 – 2011 Focus
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 Content migration
 Technology build
 Learn the Y and build relationships

11. 11

12. 12

13. Content Migration
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 20 working sessions with ~100 SMEs
 Working session agenda:
 Project overview
 Wireframe review
 Bucketing exercise
 Site landing page drawing exercise
 Content analysis and migration process

14. KM Chicago March 201414

15. Lessons Learned
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 First impressions mean a lot
 Relationships are key
 Know the important players
 Y-USA culture
 Welcomed knowledge management
 Decided shift from print to online
 Tendency to over-complicate
 Technology – level of customization is
relative to your starting point

16. The New Exchange

17. Learn. Share. Connect.
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Learn
•The best
practices, latest
thought
leadership and
research to
maximize the Y’s
effectiveness in
strengthening
community
Share
•Our experiences
and stories help
us all realize we
are part of one,
larger Movement
Connect
•Unlock the
incredible talent
and knowledge in
the Y – enabling us
to create and
innovative,
effective and timely
responses that
advance our cause

18. Site Review
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19. 2012 Focus
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 February Launch
 Finish content migration
 Internal training
 Transition to Exchange maintenance
 Communication to the Movement

20. 2012 Lessons Learned
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 Needed more communication and training
for the Movement, what we did was not
enough:
 Direct emails
 Promoted in other communication vehicles,
such as newsletters
 Emailed monthly digest of select content
 Y conference presentations
 Tutorial
 3 month survey results
 Looks great, but I still can’t find anything

21. 2013 Focus – Strategic Plan
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 Articulate a long-term vision
 Awareness and adoption
 Improve the interaction with online
communities
 Compelling and actionable content
 Integration with other systems for a “one-
stop shop” user experience

22. Long-Term Vision
22

23. What We Launched With

24. What We Create Today
24

25. Where we Are Today
25

26. 26

27. 27

29. A Dream Deferred – Mobile
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30. PLAN YOUR EXCHANGE SITE
An 8-Step Thinking Exercise
1
• What are Y staff looking
for when they come to
your site?
• What are Y-USA’s goals
for the site?
• What actions do you
want visitors to your site
to take?
Put Goals First 2
• What content will
visitors consider most
important?
• What content is
necessary to meet the
site’s goals?
• This content may or
may not exist already.
• Try to limit to
maximum of 3 pieces.
Identify Vital Content 3
• How can you grab
visitor’s attention?
• How can you encourage
visitors to take desired
actions?
• How can you use visuals
to make important
content more
interesting?
Examples: calls to action,
submit story/tool/template,
diagrams, webinars
Plan Engagement 4
• List all content that
needs to be present,
whether or not it exists
now
• Are edits/branding
needed?
• Can content be
simplified? Is it
appropriate for online
use?
• Is there related content
elsewhere on Exchange?
How does it fit in?
Take Inventory
5
• What pages do you
need?
• What should be on each
page?
• Sketch pages starting
with simple boxes, then
refine
• Consider where content
would be static vs.
dynamic
• After capturing ideas,
refine them into a
mockup reflecting visuals
and real content.
Choose Layout 6
Take time to review quality
and usability before you
publish and at regular
intervals thereafter.
• Is featured content timely
or out of date?
• Is text effective for online
reading (e.g., simple
vocabulary, short
sentences and
paragraphs, use of visual
indicators like headings,
bullets, and bolding.
• Do images look sharp? Do
they complement the
content?
• Do all links work?
• Does anything take a long
time to open?
Review Usability 7
• How can you help Y staff
find vital content?
• Where does crosslinking
make sense?
• How can you
communicate about the
site?
• How can you leverage
alerts?
Raise Visibility 8
• Get a baseline and set
measurement targets,
then measure regularly.
• Experiment to see what
works.
• Plan your content to
keep it timely. Think
ahead to what content
you want to feature in a
certain month or
season.
• How can you repurpose
existing content or
highlight user-generated
content?
Manage and Maintain

31. 2013 Lessons Learned
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 Overly ambitious communication plan
resulted in poor execution
 Experimenting with design team was great,
but
 Must maintain goal of consistency
 Less tech-savvy staff must be able to maintain
 Simpler process works
 Usability testing is invaluable

32. 2014 Focus
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 Communication, communication,
communication
 Major revamps with sponsorship by senior
leadership
 Internal training and consistent reusable
design elements
 Integrate online, editorial, and marketing
communication processes
 Mobile is back

33. 33

34. 2014 Communication Plan
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35. KM Chicago March 201435

36. A Dream Resurrected
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37. lisatallman@gmail.com
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Thank You