The Best of 2014, GovLoop Style

2014 was a stellar year for GovLoop. We hired a bunch more amazing people, redesigned our web site, introduced Featured Bloggers to the community, produced dozens of the guides and online trainings that you rely on, and much more. 2015 is looking to be an even bigger year — we’re moving more into online learning (stay tuned for a special launch!), changing up office space to accommodate our growing team, and continuing to support you, our audience — the amazing public servants that are doing great work day in and out.

To mark 2014 as we close it out and run, headfirst, into an exciting 2015, we wanted to round up a few of our top resources for you to peruse (especially if you’re working over the next few days — take some time to absorb all of this info and use it to plan your career growth in 2015). Below, find our top 10 blog posts (by page views); our top 10 guides (by downloads); and our top 10 online trainings (by attendance). Enjoy — and here’s to your best year yet!

Also, don’t miss this: We’re wrapping up our top 12 resources from 2014 and tying it with a bow for you to give your coworkers. Enter up to six email addresses and we’ll send our best guides, blog posts, infographics, and online training videos from 2014. Click here to do it!

GovLoop’s Top 10 Blog Posts of 2014

Netflix’s 5 Tenets of HR
Silicon Valley is known for its technology, not its management, innovations. But some of its management innovations are worth looking at. Netflix’s HR policies rank right up there when it threw out the standard playbook!

Some of the Best Federal Employee Discounts You Can Get
There are few people who wouldn’t mind saving a dollar here or there, and a number of companies offer federal employees discounts on a variety of essentials, from computers and cell phones to flights and hotels. But the best advice? Before you buy something, ask if a discount is available for federal employees—the worst you can hear is “no.”

Jack Dangermond on the Future of GIS
At GovLoop’s recent Esri meetup, we had the privilege of listening to Jack Dangermond, Esri founder, give a presentation and conduct a question and answer session. Dangermond shared his vision for GIS going forward, and how critical it is for government agencies to learn how to connect geography into their workflows and decision-making process.

How to Get People to Like You
Imagine for a moment, what your personal and professional life would be like if you knew that every room you walked into people wanted to hear what you had to say, wanted to help you, and were eager to gain your approval?

9 Learning Tips We Can All Use
How can we make our trainings and presentations more engaging?

Keep Your City Running With GIS
At GovLoop’s State and Local Innovators Virtual Summit, we spoke with David Totman, Global Industry Manager for Public Works at Esri, and Gary Wong, Principalof Global Water Industry at OSIsoft. about how cities can better manage their constantly changing infrastructure.

How to Create a Success Portfolio That Will Win Over Interviewers
What is a success portfolio? A collection of tangible materials that validates your qualifications and proves that you would succeed on your target job.

9 Government Apps You Need to Know
Here are nine government-produced apps that are making a difference.

Three Letters That Could Boost Your Career
We learned more about Individual Development Plans (IDPs), how to create one, how to get your boss on-board, and all of their potential benefits.

We Need a Facebook Exit Strategy
This is an important topic and one organizations across the world are having right this very moment, from government agencies to high-powered marketing firms. Bottom line, we need to change the way we think about Facebook.

GovLoop’s Top 10 Trainings of 2014

Nearly every week, GovLoop puts on at least one online training for our community. Below are the top 10 we hosted this year. Many are no longer available so we have the recaps or slides — we only archive the live versions for three months past their air date — so stay tuned in 2015 for more! 

Work Smarter, Faster, and With Less Stress: 20 Government Productivity Tips

Public Speaking Tips and Tricks

Virtual Gov Innovators Summit

Creating a Great Individual Development Plan to Grow Your Career

Making Your IDP Training

Maximizing Your Early Years

Does Government Need an Exit Strategy from Facebook?

Moving On Up: Advancing Your Government Career

State and Local Virtual Summit

An Open Health Data Approach That Just Works: Improving Our World Block by Block

GovLoop’s Most Commented Posts

The Best Advice We’ve Ever Received 
83 comments featuring your very own pearls of wisdom!

You Know You’re a Govie When…
Lots of gifs, and lots of funny comments about how you know when you’re a public servant. 

In 7 Words or Less…What’s Your 2015 Prediction?
We turned to the GovLoop community’s crystal ball for some 2015 gov predictions.

GovLoop’s Top 5 Guides of 2014

Internet of Things: Preparing Yourself for a Connected Government

GovLoop has put together our guide, The Internet of Things: Preparing Yourself for a Connected Government. More even than the consumer-facing sector, government is set to be completely transformed by this new, futuristic technology.

Your Citizen Engagement Checklist: 18 Strategies for Success
We all know the landscape of engagement has drastically changed. The evolution of technology has radically disrupted citizen engagement, and it’s often a struggle for agencies and government employees to keep up with all the ways they can interact with the public . Sending e-mail and participating in social media don’t necessarily cut it anymore – but what else should you be doing? To help you brainstorm, GovLoop presents our latest guide, Your Citizen Engagement Checklist: 18 Strategies for Success.

30 Innovations That Mattered in 2014
In this end-of-year issue, GovLoop analyzed the 30 best innovations in government in six different categories.

Engaging the Digital Citizen
Our new guide on citizen engagement, Innovations That Matter, Engaging the Digital Citizen, will walk you through the new trends and technologies reshaping citizen engagement.

Innovation that Matter: Big Data
We’ll explore how organizations are using big data technologies and solutions to transform their organizations. We’ve talked with thought leaders and experts in government and industry in order to understand the best practices to leverage big data as a mission-centric tool, driving innovations for the public sector.