Business
Kristina Halvorson Kristina Halvorson is to many the face and the voice of the content strategy profession. She came to prominence a dozen years ago with the publication of her book Content Strategy for the Web, and she had been practicing content strategy for a dozen years before that. Since 2011 she has organized Confab, the leading content strategy conference, and founded in 2020 the Button conference, which focuses on digital product content. She hosts the Content Strategy podcast. And she leads Brain Traffic, a top content strategy consultancy. She is working now on her second book, about customer experience leadership. We talked about: her forthcoming book on customer experience leadership her focus on people and culture and leadership whether "content strategy" is the right label for our industry how she's not mad at the content marketing industry for its use of the term how well her original definition of "content strategy" has held up the evolution of the Confab conference the new Button conference for content design practitioners the difference in her leadership approach between Confab and Button the arrival of the content design profession (and its surprisingly long history at companies like Atlassian) the recent alignment of many companies around the job title "content designer" Beth Dunn's approach to content design as set out in her book "Cultivating Content Design" the difference between content designers and UX writers the difference between job titles and actual roles and responsibilities content and design practice maturity models the number one thing on her mind about content strategy currently: increasing diversity in the field Kristina's bio Kristina Halvorson is widely recognized as one of the most important voices in content strategy. She is the owner of Brain Traffic, a content strategy agency; the author of Content Strategy for the Web; the host of The Content Strategy Podcast; and the founder of the Confab content strategy conferences. Kristina speaks worldwide about content strategy, educating and inspiring audiences across every industry. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her two teens and very good doggo. Follow Kristina on social media Twitter LinkedIn Video Here’s the video version of our conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iz7FNh3Kd4 Podcast intro transcript This is the Content Strategy Insights podcast, episode number 101. It's been a dozen years since Kristina Halvorson published the first edition of her book, Content Strategy for the Web. She would be the first person to point out that many had practiced and talked and written about the field before then. But it's also true that her book paved the way for a deeper appreciation of the practice of content strategy. She continues to advance the profession with the Confab and Button conferences and her always-sassy Twitter feed. Interview transcript Larry: Hi, everyone, welcome to episode number 101 of the Content Strategy Insights podcast. I am super delighted, beyond thrilled, just ecstatic in every way to have on the show today, Kristina Halvorson. Larry: Yay, happy, welcome, Kristina. Now, Kristina, maybe for the one or two of you who don't know she's the founder of Brain Traffic, big content strategy agency. She runs Confab and the new Button conferences, and she's just the public face of content strategy. So welcome, Kristina. Tell the folks a little bit more about what you're up to these days. Kristina: You just did a really great job. Right now in this very moment, we have just wrapped our second virtual Confab and we're getting ready to go on sale for our second Button conference. At the very same time, I am working on finalizing contracts for in-person Confab and Button next year so the whole thing is ... What is time anymore for anybody. So that's what's happening with me right now.