New Year’s Greetings from the NAGC President

Glen Thomas

I hope everyone had a terrific holiday season and that you
are entering 2013 on a great note. The NAGC Board of Directors closed 2012 in
positive fashion last month with our annual board retreat. The one-day planning
session helped to create a framework for the organization in 2013. Thanks to
all of my fellow board members and NAGC management staff for making this a
productive and successful meeting.

Our primary focus at the retreat was examining how we can
create new benefits for NAGC members and enhance existing ones.

In a nutshell, here’s what’s going on with NAGC. We’ve posted
the Board Retreat notes in the Members Only section of the NAGC website at www.nagconline.org.

Ask an NAGC Expert:
This is a new NAGC-member-only service that allows you to post a question, case
study or other communications scenario and get feedback from NAGC’s panel of
experts. We’ve just launched the subgroup on LinkedIn here: http://bit.ly/askannagcexpert.

Monthly Webinars:
NAGC is launching monthly webinars, which are free to NAGC members. The first
webinar will take place on Thursday, Jan. 31, when Rear
Admiral Vic Beck shares his experiences with engaging citizens in war-torn
countries. More information at nagconline.org.

Happy Hours and Regional Gatherings: NAGC is planning another happy hour in the DC area for the
first quarter. In addition, we’re targeting other areas of the country for
regional PIO meetings and workshops. We’ll communicate more about this as plans
solidify.

President-Elect:
Congratulations to John Verrico, the new NAGC President-Elect. John will serve
in this role until 2014, when he’ll become the next NAGC President. John is a
longtime NAGC member and is the Chief of Media Relations, Science &
Technology Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Communications
School: we’re putting the final touches on the 2013 Communications School
in Arlington, VA, April 16-19, and expect to send out a draft agenda,
descriptions of the sessions and registration information in the very near
future.

Blue Pencil/Gold
Screen Awards: The entries are rolling in, but there’s still time for you
to submit an entry.
Deadline is January 11.

Website Revisions:
We know the website is due for an overhaul and we’re working to identify
upgrades that will consolidate NAGC communications, improve navigation and make
more information accessible to members. More to come on that.


Outreach to International Communicators: NAGC is
exchanging information and interacting with government communicators across the
globe. Vuk Vujnovic, Head of Public Relations Bureau for the Government of
Montenegro, will be a keynote speaker at the 2013 Communications School.
Vujnovic led the efforts to establish the South
Eastern European Government Communicators (SEECOM) forum, where NAGC was
represented by John Verrico last September. NAGC Communications Director
Derrick Silas also recently met
with Russian delegates from the Open World Program.

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