TECHdotMN: News about Minnesota Startups

Get to Know #5: Kristofer Layon and Minnewebcon

February 27, 2010 | by Jeff Pesek Comments

Kristofer Layon is Director of MinneWebCon, the University of Minnesota’s annual regional conference about Web design and standards, content management and strategy, user experience, and social networking. Into its third year, MinneWebCon remains much of a grassroots initiative – produced by a core group of University staff & alumni who volunteer their resources to bring us a day packed with some of Minnesota’s finest minds and material.  Last years conference drew a crowd of 250 attendees with featured keynotes by Doc Searls and Bruce Schneier; this years keynotes are:

Kristina Halvorson

“Kristina Halvorson is the CEO and founder of Brain Traffic, an internationally-renowned content strategy agency. Her recently-published book, Content Strategy for the Web, is helping to shape and define the value of this emerging practice all over the world. Kristina has appeared as a featured speaker at Web 2.0 Expo, An Event Apart, Voices That Matter, and SXSW Interactive.”

Wendy Chisholm

“Wendy Chisholm is a Web developer, human factors engineer, and co-author of Universal Design for Web Applications. She was a staffperson for the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)  for 6 years where she focused on Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Wendy has also consulted for Microsoft, Google, Adobe, and the American Foundation for the Blind.”

The conference will be held on April 12 at the University of Minnesota’s Continuing Education and Conference Center from 8 – 5.  Tickets range between $100-$200 depending on one’s role and the format remains consistent with years past: two keynotes (morning/afternoon), four breakout tracks with three sessions each and three “unconference” facilitated discussions.  Lunch buffet is included.

By day, Mr. Layon is a web designer with the University where he works as part of an  “internal agency” on an estimated 30-40 websites.  In his personal time, he also develops  mobile applications for the iPhone, iPod Touch and (eventually) the  iPad.  His first release was ArtAlphabet followed by ArtKids.  His more specialized apps include OrthoTrauma and UrgentCare.

Jeff Pesek / TECHdotMN Co-founder

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A product of the net generation; consumed with the convergence of tech & culture. Pursuing technological innovations that seek to improve the quality of human life.

Tags: GTK, Kristofer Layon, Minnewebcon