You know what a toast is. You know that it should have an intro, body, and conclusion. You know that a toast should leave people with a warm and fuzzy feeling. Can you remember one that WOWed you? Do yourself and your honoree a favor and get your act together! PREPARE for the toast andRead… Read more »
As someone who writes stories for a living, I spend a good share of my time reading them. These days, my reading time is mostly spent among news articles and opinion pieces so I can sharpen my skills in technical writing and see how personal and technical writing styles have merged thanks to digital spaces like Medium. Even ifRead… Read more »
Whether this is your first time hearing these tips or this is a refresher for you, conflict management is one of the trickiest areas for people to navigate successfully. Yet, conflict is inevitable and can take a toll on your effectiveness and productivity (not to mention your stress level) if not resolved. I recently attendedRead… Read more »
Originally posted on the GovDelivery Blog. Once you have developed key performance metrics – your agency goal, objective, and tactics – the next step is defining your audience. Identifying and analyzing your audience allows you to discover information and create a link to establish common ground with the people you serve every day as a governmentRead… Read more »
In the age of the empowered citizen, the age of trying to “control the conversation” is over. Well over. It’s taken us a long time to actually get that memo, and some of us are still processing the digital ink it’s printed on. What it means. Instead, there’s still a lot of focus on “brand-building”. Where a message is transmitted,Read… Read more »
As a manager, giving difficult feedback to an employee can be one of the hardest parts of your job. The conversation can be fraught with peril. If done well, giving tough feedback can help your team member grow – but if done poorly, you risk consequences like straining your relationship, or demoralizing him or her. SometimesRead… Read more »
It’s tempting to fall in love with the internet and all the ways we can get our message out without relying on local news. Be wary of that temptation. Local news outlets, especially newspapers, still hold a powerful attraction to the people in our communities. And reporters, although fewer in number and more overworked thanRead… Read more »
My agency has a whole team of people with the title “Storyteller.” They’re job is to make sure that analysts, managers and others communicate what they mean in a coherent way so that our customers can make sense of the products we give them. Storytelling can mean a lot of thing to different people. InRead… Read more »
Did the govies that got GIF game inspire you to think about making your own GIFs? Smart move. These eye-catching animated graphics can really gussy up your digital communications. Making your own GIFs is surprisingly easy. The toughest part is finding the right source material, whether it’s a video, a series of photos, or one image that can becomeRead… Read more »
By Stacy Surla The environment we work in matters. It gives us agency – the ability to affect things with our actions. As user experience professionals, it’s important for us to think about transforming the business – our environment – so Design Doing can happen. IA as commodity is stupid Let’s consider Jane, an informationRead… Read more »