Hone computer skills at Third Annual Techie Festival

The Aug. 15-31 festival, which is open to faculty, students and staff, features two dozen morning and afternoon classes on a variety of topics, and two free "Tech Briefings." It is a great way to use STAP funds before the fiscal year ends.

There’s something for everyone – from novices to people with advanced computer skills – at the Third Annual Techie Festival , which starts today at Turing Auditorium.

The Techie Festival, which will be held Aug. 15-31, features two dozen classes on a wide variety of topics, including computer security, computer networks, web languages, MS Office applications, photo editing, web searching and social media platforms.

Registration is $125 for each three-hour lecture. For regular university employees working 50 percent time or more, it is a great way to use remaining Staff Training Assistance Program (STAP) funds before Aug. 31, the end of the fiscal year.

Participants may register online in STARS or at Turing Auditorium on the day of the class.

Nancy Baumann, manager of IT Services Technology Training at Stanford, said the "stellar cast" of lecturers for the Techie Festival includes IT professionals from Stanford; representatives of Rolling Orange Inc. (web design), People-OnTheGo (email management strategies, social media and business applications) and lynda.com (online training); and a consulting web developer who is an expert on HTML5.

"Participants will be exposed to the best and brightest people out there," she said.

Among the two dozen classes are:

Web Design with "Stanford Modern" Templates. (The web design templates are provided to Stanford schools, academic departments, research centers, administrative units and other official groups and programs to help promote a common "look and feel" across the university’s web presence, and to aid Stanford web professionals with the design process.) The co-founder and the senior art director of Rolling Orange, which provided the visual design of the original Stanford Modern templates, will introduce the latest revision of the Stanford Modern theme and discuss the best ways to use it. Aimed primarily at those with little to no design training, the class will cover the basics of visual design, current best practices for web design and how they relate specifically to web design at Stanford. The final hour of the class will be a live critique of existing sites and how they can be redesigned using the new techniques.

Creating HTML Email Newsletters. Learn how to create state-of-the-art-looking emails with colors, fonts and graphics, laid out into columns and sections. The class will cover the tools and steps you’ll need to create beautiful, professional emails, as well as some of the problems you might encounter and how to fix them. Bring your laptop to play along with the presenter. (Demo files will be provided to participants.)

Google Analytics and AWStats: Who’s Visiting my Website and Why? In this lecture, learn how to use Google Analytics and AWStats, common tools used by webmasters to view statistics on who’s visiting their webpage. The pros and cons of each program will be discussed using real-world examples.

Using PowerPoint as a Powerful Communication Tool. Learn how to build themes, use master slides and know how much animation is too much. You will also pick up tips and tricks to make your decks stand out and take less time to build.

Social Media and Business Applications. Learn about today’s social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere). If you are new to social media, this session will provide you with everything you need to get started, including demonstrations of each of the platforms. If you are already using these platforms, you will gain additional insights into how to use them more strategically and purposefully.

The Techie Festival will host two free Friday "Tech Briefings" from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

On Aug. 19, the Tech Briefing will focus on how to get the most out of lynda.stanford.edu , the online training library. On Aug. 26, the Tech Briefing will be an open forum on computer literacy, featuring a Q&A session with technology experts from IT Services.

All of the lecture classes and Tech Briefings will be held in Turing Auditorium, located in Room 111 of Polya Hall in the Jordan Quad at 255 Panama Street.