Jump-start your conference experience by attending these interactive and practical workshops. These information-packed sessions are a great opportunity to network with fellow attendees while taking a hands-on, common-sense approach to mastering social media strategies that will enhance your understanding of the informative, case study presentations throughout the entire conference.

Choose A or B or BOTH for Maximum Value and Learning

Social Media 101: Popular Social Media Tools - What They Are And How To Use Them In Your Organization

Attend a hands-on interactive course that will walk you through each form of social networks, help you set up accounts, and give you experience using each of the different tools. You will be provided with an overview of the dominant social media platforms with a focus on their audiences, strategic uses and the time and resources required to manage them effectively.

You will have an opportunity to express your own organization’s communication objectives and any metric or ROI goals that you wish to assign to social media efforts. You will then have the have time to work on creating (or refining existing) core account(s) (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin) to achieve these goals expressed.

Once accounts have been established or refined, you will be instructed of key messaging and maintenance best practices, including:

• What the Key Performance Indicators are for major platforms
• How to establish social media platforms
• Insights and tools for you to use for maintenance of your social media
• How to evaluate and document the success and results of your social media efforts

WORKSHOP LEADERS: Aaron Babbie is Vice President of Business Development at Sparkloft Media, a consultancy based in Oregon that focuses on developing social media strategies, social CRM, social videos, social meetings, social SEO and social media policies and procedures.

Jamie Kerr comes to Sparkloft Media as a Social Media Analyst. Jamie is a Gen-Y member of the team who can’t quite remember life before Google For Sparkloft, Jamie is the primary implementer of ConferenceConnect™, and is responsible for the further development of the product.
@Sparkloft

11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Afternoon break/lunch on your own

1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
PRE-CONFERENCE AFTERNOON WORKSHOP B

You Have Your Social Media Set Up – Now What? Learn Engagement Strategies And Techniques To Manage Exposure In The Age Of Open Government

In this workshop we will discuss the opportunities and challenges of using social technologies to open up the discussion between your agency and citizens. Far from an either/or option, there is a path that allows organizations to start in a way that is comfortable for them today but moves them toward more interaction over time. To do so, agencies must understand how to use both tools and a community management approach to change their organizations – one step at a time.

• Social tools and moderation features
• Culture audits and change management
• Evangelizing and developing open leadership
• Social content planning
• Policies and governance

WORKSHOP LEADERS: Jay Batson is the Co-Founder of Acquia. Acquia is a commercial open source software company providing products, services, and technical support for the open source Drupal social publishing system.

Jim Storer is Co-Founder of The Community Roundtable and operates TheCR Network, a peer network for community managers and social business strategists. He is an experienced community builder and social media practitioner. Over the last ten years he’s built and managed communities and consulted with both start-ups and large enterprises on how to effectively build lasting value with community and social media solutions.

@Acquia

These workshops are designed to take your conference experience to the next level. Post-conference workshops allow you to take the information you gained from the general sessions, and identify and focus on your individual needs and applications. Make the most out of this conference by attending these highly interactive, hands-on sessions. Space is limited to ensure interactivity!

Choose C or D or BOTH for Maximum Value and Learning

How To Blend Traditional And New Media To Strengthen Your Organization's Communication Efforts

There is no doubt now that the flow of information is not only instantaneous, but behaving more like a fire hose than a drinking fountain. From traditional forms of media attempting to provide verified and concrete information to opinionated but reliable sources to the constant flow of Tweets inundating us every moment; it can be difficult for an organization to make sense of it all.

How can you find the gold needle in the haystack of information overload? It is a critical issue that must be addressed for government organizations whose responsibility is to respond to issues of its citizens and stakeholders.

This interactive workshop will provide you with the opportunity to visualize the various and varied information sources and types. It will give you the knowledge you need to determine which traditional and new media environments will provide you with the information you need to make the critical decisions you must make on a daily basis.

• Organizational understanding of the speed of information
• Training your staff on the use of new media for both data gathering and collaboration
• Integration of systems and processes
• Best practices based on current examples

11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Afternoon break/lunch on your own

How To Monitor, Manage, And Measure Your
Organization's Social Media Efforts

Now that you have a social media program running, it is time to measure your efforts. How can you tell if all of your hard work is making any difference at all? A dynamic and successful social media program must be aware and flexible. What kind of communications goals should you set and how do you measure them in order to get actionable information?

This workshop will give you all of the important tools you need to measure your engagement on each social media platform. You will learn how to get the information you need, how to use “social media intelligence” to make sense of the data, and how to present it in order to demonstrate your successes.

• How to measure your social media engagement on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and more
• Techniques to find out who is talking about you and what they are saying
• Ways to utilize the power of Google Analytics to know exactly what is happening with your blog or website’s traffic
• How to develop a quick and easy daily routine that will make your social media evaluation easier

This workshop promises to offer plenty of question-and-answer opportunities and you will receive a USB flash drive of the presentation with many resources for further study.

WORKSHOP LEADER: Joseph May is Social Media Coordinator at State and Federal Communications, Inc., a company providing government compliance information and consulting services to many Fortune 500 companies; trade, professional, and labor organizations; legal and accounting firms; and corporate and contract lobbyists. For the company, Joe has built a vibrant social media presence. His blogging and social networking have quickly become the example in this field.

@stateandfederal