Communications

Government PR Flacks: Focus on the long-term relationships

Public relations is an evolving industry and it is interesting, especially in government, where there isn’t always an obvious sell to be made and rarely a profit to be earned. Steve Radick, Vice President at Cramer-Krasselt, joined Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER to talk about where the industry is headed. Social media has, in someRead… Read more »

Sponsorship opportunities for NCDD Seattle — sign on now for the most benefit!

Plans are underway for NCDD’s 5th National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation, to be held October 12-14, 2012 at the Hyatt at Olive 8 in downtown Seattle, Washington. NCDD conferences bring together hundreds of the most active, thoughtful, and influential people involved in public engagement and group process work across the U.S. and Canada (andRead… Read more »

Guesting on #GovChat today

This week I am the guest on #GovChat, a Canadian operated weekly Twitter chat through PSLeader, featuring high profile public service and thought leaders from around the world. The chat starts at 10:00AM today for Aussie east coasters, 9:30AM in the middle and at 8:00AM if you’re in the west. For participants around the world:Read… Read more »

My thoughts on the Clerk’s 19th Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada

Even as an external consultant, every year I very much anticipate the Clerk’s Annual Report. It’s usually full of solid guidance quotes and it gives a good sense of some of the challenges faced in the prior year (albeit carefully written). This year, my favourite excerpts are as follows: “…the traditional relationship between government andRead… Read more »

Social Media Defined

Once in a while I like to go back to the basics. A while back I wrote a post clarifying the meaning of the word “marketing” and corresponding terms such as social marketing, social media marketing, and social media engagement. The key problem I see now is people using the broad term “social media” whenRead… Read more »

Should Teachers and Students Be Facebook Friends?

A few weeks ago I asked in “What About the Kids?” if schools should offer online safety classes. Here’s another justification for it. I just came across “Should Teachers and Students be Facebook Friends?” on Education Week. Right now I’m Facebook friends with a few high school teachers, one from college and a few fromRead… Read more »

Open Data Powers New Citizen Engagement Strategies

Code for America recently launched Engagement Commons to bring together information and solutions from across the country on innovative new strategies for government engagement with citizens. The landscape of tools and strategies for engaging citizens is changing rapidly, as more and more governments implement new ways for citizens to make their voices heard in theRead… Read more »

Federal Leaders Fail to Connect — Advice on how to correct the problem

Feds give government executives low marks when it comes to leadership. That’s the top finding from a new assessment of the Parternership for Public Service Best Places to Work in Government rankings. Tom Fox is the Vice President for Leadership and Innovation at PPS. He gave Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER a breakdown of theRead… Read more »

What’s Your Digital Community Engagement Score?

**This post is brought to you by CivicPlus – which has designed more than 1,100 local government websites serving 42 million citizens throughout North America*** Are you doing good at digital engagement? Poorly? How are you doing compared to your peers? Citizens everywhere are demanding better engagement with their local government. However, it can beRead… Read more »

NAGC Communications School Preview: Astronaut Mike Foreman, Carmageddon, Media Relations, Social Media, etc.

The upcoming NAGC Communications School will be my fifth in a row to attend and I am looking forward to the 2012 offering with great anticipation. This year’s theme, “Government Communicators-Telling America’s Story”, exemplifies the responsibility and challenge we face each day. As government communicators we must spread the word about the programs and servicesRead… Read more »