Posts By Lauren Girardin

Humor Me: 6 Public Outreach Campaigns That Will Make You Laugh

When you start to plan a public outreach and education campaign, a sense of humor may not be the first tool you think to reach for. You may instead focus on hard facts, thinking that logic alone will be enough to persuade people. Without some pizzazz and personality, your public outreach campaigns risk being boring and forgettable.Read… Read more »

The 13 Most Bizarre .Gov Domains

What does the U.S. government need with 5,300 domains? Because that’s how many there are on 18F’s complete list of .gov domains. There are plenty of oddball URLs that will have you scratching your head and wondering: What were they thinking? Some domains have no website in place. We’re left to guess—or Google—if these parked domains were registered for campaignsRead… Read more »

5 Public Speaking Tips from the Oscars Speeches

You don’t need the promise of a golden statuette in your hand to polish your presentation skills. While you may never take the stage at the Oscars, the acceptance speeches can serve as examples of what to do and what not to do when it comes to public speaking. This isn’t about debating the politics in some of the speeches, though there was politics aplenty atRead… Read more »

9 Management Lessons From House of Cards’ Frank Underwood

What wicked wonders await us in the next season of the hit series, House of Cards?  If you’ve been binge watching, you know that the main character, Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, is a politician with some violently strong management methods. With Season 3 of House of Cards premiering on Netflix on February 27, 2015, it’sRead… Read more »

Federal Data Finally Gets Its Time in the Sunlight

What might be the largest index of government data in the world is about to come to light. How did this radical big data reveal come about? Back in May 2013, President Obama signed the Open Data Executive Order to make government data more accessible to citizens, companies, and entrepreneurs. The order required agencies to create indexes of the datasets theyRead… Read more »

The Best Government Conferences of 2015

There are so many worthwhile education, learning, and networking events for government employees in 2015. How do you choose? This list of the best government conferences will help you pick the ones that provide the richest professional development opportunities. Since GovLoop’s last roundup of government conferences in 2013, there’s been quite a bit of turnover in events and conferences in theRead… Read more »

5 Storytelling Best Practices at the Heart of Humans of New York

Everyone is talking about Humans of New York. It’s a success story worth the airtime. It’s also an inspiration that can help you find the heart in your storytelling and communications. Recently, Brandon Stanton, who runs the popular photography blog, shared a photo of a 13-year-old boy who attends school in one of the mostRead… Read more »

9 Valentine’s Cards for the Love of Your Life in Government

#GovLove is spreading this week. Send your co-worker the punny valentine of your dreams. direct.govloop.com/gov-vday-cards1 Love and government make strange bedfellows. What if the object of your infatuation happens to work for the government? These Valentine’s Day cards can help you win their love. There’s a lot of variety in these Valentine’s Day cards — you can find one justRead… Read more »