Communications

“You can’t fax a handshake”

In an article in this morning’s NY Times about the President’s meeting with bankers yesterday (“Putting Obama On Hold”) the article closes with this line about the unfortunate absence from the meeting of three of the big bank CEOs: “There’s an expression that many bankers already know…when people need to be reminded of the importanceRead… Read more »

Measuring Relationships From Social Media

I had an opportunity to meet Katie D Paine on July 22nd at an Open Government and Innovation conference in DC. Katie specializes in public relations and measuring their effectiveness. Her commanding presence underscored her depth of knowledge, and her open and friendly demeanor in a one-on-one situation proved to me that she practices whatRead… Read more »

Tactical Approaches and Governance relating to the Open Gov Directive

After combing through the Open Government Directive very carefully over the last few days, I transitioned from the strategic to the tactical and started asking the question: How are we actually going to get all of this work done in the next 120 days? Given, the directive calls for some discrete action within the nextRead… Read more »

Transparency and Accountability through Performance-Based Engagement

Interesting article by Ryan McCullough, Govplace VP of Federal Division, about “Transparency and Accountability through Performance-Based Engagement”. Ryan has firsthand knowledge of applying a performance-based engagement approach to federal IT projects. Of important note, Ryan was awarded 1105 Media’s Rising Star Award for his work in delivering a solution delivery methodology founded in a performance-basedRead… Read more »

The Dangers of Being Too “Positive” in a Team Building Process: Or Don’t Just “Have a Nice Day!”

“You’re being negative!” Recently I led a team building workshop, and that was a federal government Division Director’s reply to my questioning, “Why the ‘Front Office’ meeting had not been working?” Preceding my operational assessment a number of people noted: a) that for several months people were not bringing relevant agenda issues to the meetingRead… Read more »

Can We Have a Mobile City Hall?

I’m a huge fan of the potential of government moving into the mobile realm. I firmly believe that mobile is the future and it is a platform that government should be working on. One interesting potential connecting mobile and government is the idea of using mobile apps to report city blights (potholes, graffiti, etc). ThisRead… Read more »

To the USDA:

Barack Obama won the presidency, in large part, because of his ability to harness the power of social media. He did not shy away from Facebook or MySpace in fear of repercussion or negative feedback. He created an organic, powerful movement by engaging his supporters often, with the tools they already use on a dailyRead… Read more »

Public Records…Tools to Archive Twitter and Facebook

I have been a social media/networking advocate for the past year. I have really enjoyed seeing all the ways government has opened up and embraced using social M/N tools to enhance their communications with their constituents. However, many governments are still in the beginning stages of figuring out how to use the tools, create aRead… Read more »