Virtually every university website eventually becomes a hotchpotch of microsites, each competing for attention, each shouting into a vacuum, and each taking pot shots at your brand. We will take you through the paths we took to deliver a cohesive suite of sites that follow the rules, and make your stakeholders think it was all their own idea whilst avoiding the gunfight at the OK Corral.

Key takeaways:

• Let your CMS do the heavy lifting - Your CMS should be your friend and your gateway into managing your contributors. Enabling them is key, but subtly shepherding them into the direction you’ve already mapped out.

• Talk is cheap but amends are expensive - Find ways to engage your stakeholders at the right time and on the right things, and they will love you forever.If you get their input early doors then they will be less demanding the day before launch.

• Rules are there for a reason - Training should include hearts and minds, not just the technical methods for chucking content onto a page. Get your stakeholders to think about their content before committing finger to keyboard. It is possible - honestly.

About Dougal and Lauren

Dougal Scaife is Head of Digital Experience and Engagement at Leeds Beckett (and has been for the past eight years.) He has a passion for UX, AI, creativity, great content, disrupting the sector and fixing formatting errors on the LBU website. Lauren Gale is LBU's Online Content and Search Editor and has been the driving force behind the development of the new Leeds Beckett site. She divides her time between marshalling fabulous content and keeping Dougal under control. And has more earrings than Pat Butcher.