Challenge:
Rework the existing chapter Web site to support branding and market positioning efforts as suburban Chicagoland's premier resource for public relations professionals.

Solution:
We started by auditing the existing site to provide a baseline. The audit indicated the site lacked the "polish" required to effectively compete for members and program attendees and more content was needed to showcase the chapter's strengths. In addition, the site required hands-on maintenance by a technically savvy Web committee chair.

The new site design included a scalable avigation scheme to allow the chapter to expand content slowly over time. The new design loads quickly, provides clear visual cues, and complements the national organization's branding. In addition, a Web-based membership management tool allows chapter leaders and individual members to update contact information and locate other members. This tool was an initial step toward a larger Web-based content management system (rolling out next month) that will allow site content to be updated and maintained by a Web chair and/or other chapter leaders with limited technical knowledge.