8:00 a.m.
Registration & Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m.
Chairperson's Welcome & Opening Remarks

Hillary Hartley, Director of Integrated Marketing
NIC INC.

8:45 a.m.

Starting A Social Media And Communications Effort From Scratch

Who?  What?  Where?  When?  How?
 
Organizations that are looking for ways to maximize their communications budgets by employing social media and other advanced communications efforts often find it challenging to know where to begin. With more competition daily to capture your stakeholders’ attention, starting a new communications program that employs social media can be a challenge for even the most seasoned outreach professional. However, when a new communications effort is organized and developed properly, social media can be an excellent addition which can level the playing field, maximize your resources, and provide your organization with the unique ability to communicate with a specific, highly-targeted audience.
 
In this case study session, you will see how the U.S. China Business Council launched a new communications program by employing a variety of public relations tools and methods. From indentifying key stakeholders to measuring the success of your efforts, this session will allow you to be better prepared by hearing firsthand some of the challenges and successes of this effort.
 
Specifically, you will take away lessons learned for:

• Your message – what is it and why should people care?
• Activity - Offline activity drives online activity and online activity
drives offline activity – the web is not a one off solution. All marketing
and advocacy efforts must work in concert.
• Participation and Engagement - You must be willing to participate and be
  engaged for social media and advocacy to be effective.
• Integration - You must seek ways to integrate and add value to
  your marketing activities.
• Looking for ways to reinforce your message and marketing efforts.
• Maximizing your content, product and ideas – ask yourself “how else can I use this?”
• Flexibility - Hear what is happening; be open to discovering and failing.

9:35 a.m.

Break-Out Blitz! Network And Discuss Social Media Challenges With Your Fellow Conference Attendees

This session will open the conversation by connecting you with other conference participants and gain greater understanding into many similar issues, concerns, and challenges that your peers are also facing. Become acquainted with your fellow conference attendees in this fun and fast-paced forum!

10:50 a.m.

Utilizing Web 2.0 To Increase Citizen Participation - - Results And Lessons Learned

The City of Owasso has a very good track record in obtaining public support for initiatives that positively impact services or lifestyle issues for residents.  However, as with most cities, there is concern about the low turnout at traditional public meetings to gain input from residents. The City has been successfully utilizing social media to convey important information to residents for a few years. Therefore, when a Quality of Life planning project emerged, the City turned its attention to Web 2.0 technologies as a means to increase participation. Several options were explored and Wikiplanning was determined to be a comprehensive instrument to engage citizens online, when it would be convenient for them to participate, as well as a tool to compliment public meetings, not replace them.

The Wikiplanning site has provided a way for the City to present project information to residents, and gain feedback through comment pages, an online survey, and uploaded photos of things citizens would like to see more of in the community, or perhaps less. All postings are visible for residents to view, providing the transparency desired by City leaders. While the survey can only be completed once, residents can return as often as they desire to view or post additional comments. The Wikiplanning site has been the most effective online tool used by the City to obtain citizen input.

In this compelling session, you will gain knowledge on the:

• Project background and steps leading to Wikiplanning selection
• Examples of features available on the Wikiplanning site
• Coordinating social media and conventional public information
  avenues to drive traffic to Wikiplanning
• Expectations and lessons learned

In addition, you will gain a comprehensive review of Owasso’s experience using Web 2.0 technology to increase citizen participation in a public planning project, plus results and lessons learned from using the Wikiplanning application in conjunction with traditional public meetings.

Teresa Willson, Director of Information Technology
CITY OF OWASSO, OKLAHOMA

11:40 a.m.

Harnessing The Power of Mobile Applications, Web Sites And Social Media - - How This Intersection Will Take Your Communications Strategy And Message To The Next Level

Mobile computing is a major new trend in eGovernment. This session will examine the use of mobile applications and web sites for government and how they intersect with social media. You will learn what Arkansas.gov and other government organizations are doing with mobile applications, best practices for mobile development and strategies for engaging users through social media.

This cutting-edge session will cover what you need to know about using social media and mobile computing together. Sharpen your understanding of this growing trend in government communications and learn how you can:

• Use mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) innovatively in your communications strategy
• Determine if your site should have a mobile landing page
• Implement the three key strategies for engaging mobile users
• Choose the right approach on whether to go native or web-based

This session will also provide an overview of current mobile devices, capabilities and quirks.

Bob Sanders, Director of Development
ARKANSAS.GOV

12:30 p.m.
Lunch On Your Own -- But Not Alone!

Join a group of your colleagues for lunch with an informal discussion facilitated by one of our expert speakers. Take this opportunity to join others in a small, interactive group setting to network and brainstorm solutions to your most pressing social media concerns.

2:00 p.m.

How To Strategically Engage Communities
To Action Using Social Media

For more than a decade the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency responsible for AmeriCorps, Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), Senior Corps and Learn and Serve programs, has strategically engaged citizens to action using social media. Social media has been a centerpiece for CNCS as many national initiatives, such as Martin Luther King Day of Service, AmeriCorps Week, The Communicators’ Institute and VISTA were implemented. In this session, you will get a peek at how VISTA is implementing a successful social media strategy for its outreach efforts.

• Traffic to the VISTA Campus (VISTA's online learning platform)
• Enrollment in VISTA e-seminars (webshops)
• Interest in the specifics of serving as a VISTA, etc.

In addition, you will learn how your own organization, like VISTA, can manage multiple social media channels while creating online support for current, past and prospective volunteers, by linking the many resources available to them, engaging the community and helping them to be resources for each other.

• Clarifying what your program needs to accomplish
• Where can social media best help your programs?
• Understanding your audience(s) and their interests
• Developing a social media strategy
• Transferability – what you can do starting now
• Lessons learned
• Beyond the numbers - what’s next for your community?

Zachary Jackson, VISTA Leaders Outreach & Recruitment Specialist
AMERICORPS VISTA OUTREACH UNIT,
CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

Michelle Bond, Project Manager
CAMPAIGN CONSULTATION, INC.

3:05 p.m.

A Tale Of Two Cities: Using Facebook To Build Awareness And Communicate With Stakeholders With Limited Resources, No Communications Staff, And No Regrets

Launched in the early days of Facebook’s expansion beyond college environments, the City of LaSalle, IL, page sat quietly waiting for fans to show up. It took several months and a municipal election before people arrived and the site grew into a community page. Like LaSalle’s page, the Facebook community page for the City of Geneva, IL, offers information and a gathering place for residents, businesses, and visitors. However, Geneva’s site grew out of a much more non-traditional foundation. Learn the story behind the creation and evolution of each city’s Facebook page and how city government fits into each effort.

Learn how to integrate Facebook - - one of the most popular social media tools - - into your own government social media strategy, including key steps and best practices for:

• Building an integrated Facebook implementation plan for an organization with limited resources and no communications staff
• Sharing lessons learned, best practices and tactics for reaching and engaging with target audiences on Facebook
• Integrating offline tactics with online tactics to communicate more effectively about your organization
• Taking advantage of Facebook as a tool without having to worry about the site’s terms of use, comment management, and archiving requirements
• Rethinking government’s role in online communities

Pam Broviak, City Engineer, Assistant Director of Public Works
CITY OF GENEVA, ILLINOIS

3:55 p.m.


How To Use Multiple Social Media Tools To Build Your Brand, Increase Communications With Stakeholders, And Streamline Communications Within Your Organization

The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is the only federal agency tasked with promoting the more than 4 million minority-owned firms in the United States. To build brand visibility and increase communications with stakeholders, including the 40+ grantees who run MBDA’s Minority Business Centers across the country, MBDA implemented a variety of social media tools, including a redesigned website with a new media focus (set to launch mid-August, 2010).

In this session, you will learn tactics and strategies from the MBDA,
as they discuss and highlight:

• Success stories from the thousands of clients both on websites and through blog posts (MBDA was the first Department of Commerce Bureau to launch social media tools)
• Communications strategies applied to their LinkedIn Group, as they are all business owners; Facebook page for information about the Agency; and Twitter, to highlight what the National Director is doing and share information
• The launch of a more collaborative tool for staff and centers to use to communicate and share best practices (MBDA PartnerNet)

MBDA will share with you the many challenges they overcame and the culture change that needed to happen to make these tools a communications success. The result was ultimately providing information to business owners who needed it and providing streamlined ways for collaboration to take place throughout the Agency.

4:45 p.m.

End of Day One

5:00 p.m.

Networking Reception: Please Join Us!

We invite you to join us for a drink as you relax with your peers. All conference attendees and speakers are welcome to join us for this special opportunity to continue networking. Don't miss this chance to benchmark new ideas over complimentary drinks!

Sign up during the day for dinner with a group. Take advantage of Chicago's fine dining while you continue to network with your colleagues.