NetSquared Meetup

Our always-popular Extreme Makeover event continues in November with Mike Kondratick, Director of Grassroots Advocacy for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF).

JDRF was founded in 1970 by parents of children with type 1 diabetes. The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research, and today it is the largest charitable funder and advocate of diabetes science worldwide. In more recent years, JDRF’s research portfolio has broadened to include translational therapies like the artificial pancreas project, which can benefit people living with the disease today, and groundbreaking prevention studies, which could potentially wipe out the disease in generations to come. In addition to a broader research portfolio, JDRF has also expanded its program offerings and outreach to adults with type 1 diabetes in addition to children and parents.

The challenge JDRF brings to NetSquared Extreme Makeover is a revamping of its enterprise website: https://www.jdrf.org . The site was last redesigned in 2003. As the organization has grown and evolved during this period, the website has not kept pace. Various programs, messages, and even logos are competing for space on the homepage, resulting in a poor user experience. There are additional navigational and style issues throughout the site, complicated by an old, custom-designed content management system. JDRF’s long-term goal is a complete overhaul of its site as part of a rollout of new branding and messaging guidelines over the next 12-18 months. In the short term, however, the organization plans to do a homepage refresh by the end of 2010. We hope that NetSquared will help provide valuable insight into both efforts.

From 7:00-7:30 PM, enjoy networking with other NetSquared DC colleagues: drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and snacks will be provided. Then around 7:30 PM, after attendees briefly introduce themselves, Mike will kick off his presentation. Please join us to give Mike and his JDRF colleagues your feedback and suggestions.

About NetSquared
NetSquared DC is a vibrant local community thriving at the intersection of social change and technology. We’re part of a global NetSquared movement that focuses on the exponential impact we can have when we combine our hunger for change with powerful new technologies.

We’re proud to be one of the largest and longest-running NetSquared groups around, and thank our amazing members who come out in force each month to share what they’ve learned and get to know each other better.

You can make sure you’re the first to hear about upcoming events by joining our Meetup or Facebook Group. We usually meet at 7pm on the third Tuesday of each month at the Affinity Lab, DC’s greatest entrepreneurial launch space.

A full archive of our past events is available here on our Meetup page at https://www.meetup.com... (https://www.meetup.com/net2dc).