VMC Web Development

Since budgets and evaluations are behind me, it is time to get back to my daily work.  One of the next projects I am undertaking may be important to one or more of you, it is online event registration.

My understanding is that the medical center used to use CVent but stopped because of the cost. Well, I have had a number of inquiries about online event registration and wanted to hear from everyone else.

Since it is early in the process, I am open to reviewing whomever people suggest.  I plan to contact CVent and I have already opened a conversation with Certain Online Registration.

I would also like to know how valuable this is to your departments and what specifics you are looking for in an online event registration software program.

My thought was to purchase the software for the medical center and charge users  for use. So, I will need an idea of the size of your events and how many your department would use per calendar year.

I would appreciate your input as I am not real familiar with this area, but plan to get that way very soon. So please email me your comments at: terry.smith@vanderbilt.edu.

The more information you provide me the better job I can do.

Thanks!

I want to thank everyone for coming to the VMC SiteBuilder 2.0 Preview.  We had right at 60 people attend.

I want to apologize for the stuffiness, normally we are a very laid back group.  Somehow standing behind a podium made it more formal. I can only blame myself and everyone who sat in the back row so we had to use the microphone.  Just kidding!

I will be sending out more information about the VMC Web Council, a new forum for VMC Web developers that has been blessed by administration, that I mentioned at the meeting.  Anna Belle Leiserson is making the final tweaks to the blog.  I will send it out when she is done.

This is an awesome time to be a Web developer in the medical center.  The new initiative, free resources, administration’s support, and now a group to help you even more and carry your needs to people who can help us affect change.  Life is good.

Don’t forget to give me me a call at 3-1659 if you need to chat.

I want to thank everyone who came out for the VMC Sitebuilder 2.0 new functionality demo yesterday.  We enjoyed sharing the new stuff with you and answering your questions.  If you did not get a chance to come, let us know if you would like us to do this again.  If we get enough responses, we will.  Or if you would like to set up an appointment with Jason Coles to update your knowledge base, you can email him at jason.coles@vanderbilt.edu and he’ll get you setup.

The new Web Initiative was mentioned in Friday’s Reporter.  We even made the front page, thanks Bill Hance.  The new initiative is so exciting.  For the first time in my ten years of being involved with the VMC Web presence, we will have a consistent, awesome Web site that we all own.  How cool is that?

I’m sure you can tell by the new SiteBuilder, that I am blessed with an awesome team, but without you, the user, it would be for naught.  I was just trying to find a way to use the word “naught”, so here it is.  Anyway, thanks again and keep in touch, we will.

I will be sending out more information about the first VMC Web Council meeting; it will be held in early August, but no date has been set.

Ta, Ta for now.

All,

Today is a very special day. Today the VMC Web Team, VMC Creative Services, and VMC Marketing launched the new Web site for faculty/staff, research, and education. Please go visit it at www.mc.vanderbilt.edu and let us know what you think.

We have been working tirelessly to launch this site with a huge amount of effort by Ryan Huber, Jonathan Dees, Jason Coles, and Melissa Carro. Congratulations to all.

The launch of this new site coincides with Dr. Jacobson’s State of the Medical Center Address this afternoon. It is part of the VMC Web Initiative that will bring a new consistent design to all VMC Web sites that started with the launch of the new consumer site (www.vanderbilthealth.com) last September.

As you can imagine, this is a lot of work that began almost two years ago. Separating the patient site from .edu was a huge step. We held several focus groups and talked to researchers, educators, and medical center leadership before we did anything. This is truly a joint effort.

It is funny how this also coincides with our annual evaluations. More money for all, whoopie! Just kidding.

Finally, just a quick reminder that we will be hosting our VMC SiteBuilder 2.0 preview tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. in Light Hall, room 214. And yes, the new SiteBuilder is part of the aforementioned initiative.

Have a great day. I will be at the State of the Medical Center Address, so stop me, say hello, and tell me in person what you think about the new sites.