Vanguard Communications InSites | Blogging for Social Change » Online Marketing

Why the SOPA Blackout Worked

Crystal Borde — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:15:42 +0000

Photo courtesy of acf_windy on Flickr

When we first posted about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) blackout protest scheduled for January 23, we had no idea that Wikipedia and Reddit (which had planned a January 18 blackout protest) would persuade other sites to join their effort yesterday. According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 10,000 sites participated in the SOPA protest by either making their sites inaccessible, or “blacked out”, on Wednesday or posting messages to encourage visitors to contact Congress about SOPA.

It appears their bold effort worked.

By the end of Wednesday, at least three lawmakers withdrew their support for the legislation – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) withdrew as a co-sponsor of the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and Reps. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) withdrew from SOPA, which is the House version of the bill. A few more may be added to that list this morning.

Google reports that at least 4.5 million people signed their online anti-SOPA petition during the protest. Even the White House received nearly 104,000 signatures on a We the People petition calling for President Obama to block passage of bills like SOPA and PIPA.

It is still too early for SOPA protesters to get excited, as support remains for PIPA and SOPA in the Senate and House, respectively. However, the success of the SOPA blackout protest thus far demonstrates how understanding your audience and using what they value to make them take action can spur policy change.

Internet users are constituents, and removing their access to content or interrupting their Web routines with SOPA and PIPA protest notices compelled them to get involved in the protest in their own way. It just goes to show that reaching your audiences where they are is an effective way for communicators to raise awareness and encourage action on an issue. Plus, it doesn’t hurt your cause if you get support from an opinion leader like Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

While time will tell if signatures to online petitions and increased calls and emails to Capitol Hill on Wednesday changed the outcome of the January 24 vote in favor of SOPA and PIPA protesters, it is already evident that the reach and response to yesterday’s Internet blackout will definitely impact it.

Beware: Monday, January 23, the Internet May Go Dark

Crystal Borde — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:01:20 +0000

: Flickr photo courtesy of Redjar

While I may not be able to foresee the future, my media savvy crystal ball is suggesting that Monday, January 23, 2012, will be a dark day for communicators.

If you haven’t heard the troubling news already, Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Paypal and other major Internet mainstays will be staging a “blackout” on January 23 to protest proposed federal legislation that will make them liable for lawsuits for content posted on their websites.

Congress is considering a new bill – called the Protect IP Act or Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) – which would allow companies to sue websites for posting protected content without permission and force them to go dark. For example, if I posted a video on YouTube of my friend dancing at a party with our favorite Adele song playing in the background, the record company could sue YouTube and force them to close their whole website for my infraction. There will be a hearing on Tuesday, January 24, to consider this legislation, hence the January 23 protest that could endure for a few hours or an entire day.

For communicators, the uncertainty of the blackout compels us to find and plan for alternative ways to do our online-heavy tasks on January 23. It is rare for a public relations activity to have less than one Internet-related tactic, so, word to the wise: Avoid scheduling events or releases for January 23. It is likely to be a day when our world is narrowed to those we can communicate with in traditional ways so that protesters can enlighten us about our dependence on the World Wide Web and social media.

UPDATE 1/17/12 12:15 P.M. – Wikipedia and Reddit announced that they will blackout their sites on Wednesday, January 18 to protest SOPA. Be prepared as other websites may follow suit. However, it may be unnecessary now. Due to White House pressure over the weekend, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa announced this morning (on his website, ironically) that his committee is postponing a hearing on SOPA, essentially shelving the legislation and postponing a vote on the House floor on the bill. Time will tell if communicators need to be concerned about Internet blackout protests actually occurring since the bill seems to be old news now.

UPDATE 1/18/12 9:20 A.M. – Wikipedia and Reddit kept to their threat to go dark for 24 hours today in protest of SOPA, but other big Internet sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and AOL, have declined to participate. Google is just placing copy on their homepage today asking users to contact Congress about the bill. Looks like a widespread Internet blackout as predicted earlier this week will not materialize after all. However, the potential blackout did raise a lot of interesting questions for communicators and Internet users.

InSites for the Future

Rachael Siefert — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:36:07 +0000

Source: Roland Tiangco photograph on CultureHall.com

Vanguard will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2012. We’re proud of our accomplishments, but we’re also excited about what the future holds for social change communications. Through the end of the year we will be sharing our predictions for 2012 and beyond under the title, “InSites for the Future.”

We’re kicking off our predictions with a look at the future of multicultural communication later today. What else will we be discussing? Check out our schedule below:

Monday, Dec. 19 – Multicultural Communication in 2012

Tuesday, Dec. 20 – The Future of Social Media

Wednesday, Dec. 21 – The Use of Visuals in Communication in 2012

Thursday, Dec. 22 – The PR Workplace of Tomorrow

Friday, Dec. 23 – Persistence and Audience Are Key to Messaging in 2012

Tuesday, Dec. 27 – Keeping People Interested and Engaged in 2012

Wednesday, Dec. 28 – Strategic Online Experts of Tomorrow

Thursday, Dec. 29 – Opportunities for Non-Profit/Corporate Partnerships to Grow in 2012

Friday, Dec. 30 – 2012 Will Set A New Standard for Green/Sustainable Events

Only time will tell whether the predictions we make come true, but in the meantime we welcome your own predictions and thoughts in the comment fields!

A Timely Communications Litmus Test…Courtesy of Google

Cameron Lane — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:05:14 +0000

Google recently announced changes to their search algorithm that could have dramatic effects on search results. The changes mostly have to do with improving the timeliness of results, giving “brand new” items, such as recently published articles, web pages and press releases greater weight in search results. So, what does this mean for professional communicators? It’s probably a really good thing, actually, if timely communications are already top of mind for you.

I remember my first encounter with a major Google algorithm change. It was my first job out of college, working on a small e-commerce site that was largely dependent upon static landing pages with high Google search rankings to draw in customers. When Google flipped the switch, sales ground to a halt. My boss went as far as emailing Sergey Brin directly (how he got Sergey’s real email address is another story) and pleading for mercy. Sergey actually replied, apologized and made a few recommendations for improvements to our website…none of which helped. A few weeks later, amid torrents of similar complaints, Google threw up their hands, issued a public apology to the world, and reset everything to the old “correct” algorithm.

Thankfully, we are past the era when such a change could make your organization effectively invisible overnight. In fact, I would venture to say that if you do your job as a communicator correctly, this recent algorithm change will actually improve your visibility.

Pieces such as well-timed press releases, frequently updated web pages, freshly uploaded YouTube videos and timely blog posts now have a greater chance of pushing to the head of the pack in search results. If your organization effectively produces and maintains these types of materials, your search standings will most likely improve. On the other hand, if your organization could use improvement with communicating in a timely manner, by the end of November, it will likely be clearly evident in your monthly web traffic report.

Does the AP Get It? New Twitter Rules Are Too Limiting

Andrew Overton — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 21:13:59 +0000

When the Associated Press updated its social media guidelines yesterday, it became very apparent to me and many other Twitter users that the AP fails to fully comprehend this important communications platform. Let’s take a look at the new Twitter guidelines for AP staffers:

RETWEETING

Retweets, like tweets, should not be written in a way that looks like you’re expressing a personal opinion on the issues of the day. A retweet with no comment of your own can easily be seen as a sign of approval of what you’re relaying. For instance:

RT @jonescampaign smith’s policies would destroy our schools

RT @dailyeuropean at last, a euro plan that works bit.ly/xxxxx.

These kinds of unadorned retweets must be avoided.

However, we can judiciously retweet opinionated material if we make clear we’re simply reporting it, much as we would quote it in a story. Colons and quotation marks help make the distinction:

RT Jones campaign now denouncing smith on education: @jonescampaign smith’s policies would destroy our schools

RT big European paper praises euro plan: @dailyeuropean “at last, a euro plan that works” bit.ly/xxxxx.

These cautions apply even if you say on your Twitter profile that retweets do not constitute endorsements.

Spend a few hours on Twitter and you’ll notice a phrase that appears on nearly every journalist’s Twitter bio: “RTs do not = endorsements.” Translation: “Hey! I only have 140 characters to work with here, so just because I share someone else’s thoughts doesn’t mean I agree with them.”

Still, AP writers are now required to insert a headline before each retweet. That’s not merely hard, it’s simply impossible for tweets more than 100 characters. Twitter users know the limitations inherent in the platform and are familiar with the “retweet rule.” So why does the AP need to make it explicit? It’s certainly not clear to me.

Sharing and resharing content is what drives all social media, and retweets are one of the main conversation-drivers on Twitter. Without a doubt journalists should be judicious in what they are sharing (see Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber rumors), but the AP is severely handicapping its writers. Changing the way we use Twitter is a losing battle. Don’t waste your time, AP.

Quick! Grab Me!

Helen Mitternight — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 20:05:56 +0000

Last night, I decided to go shoe-shopping from the comfort of my sofa, so I whipped out my iPad and went to a popular shoe site. A screen popped up saying that the site had an app for shoe-shopping. Heaven! Three pairs of shoes later, my idle desire to go shoe-shopping had turned into a “need” for shoes. Why? Because the site grabbed me by making it so darn easy!

Photo courtesy of Steve Rhodes on Flickr

I thought of this as I read that mobile devices, such as my iPad, have outpaced PCs in using wi-fi bandwidth. Just as the shoe site reached out and grabbed me on my sofa, smart communicators are taking advantage of this format evolution to make sure their audiences receive their messages.

Studies show that our brains change when we spend more time browsing the Internet than reading books — our brains become “trained” to be flexible and grasp ideas quickly. So, it stands to reason that people who are using mobile devices to get their information need quick bursts of information and not the “War and Peace” of press releases.

Mobile isn’t just for youngsters anymore. Communicators wanting to reach adults can forgo in-depth prose, because the latest stats show that adults are using wireless more. The trend is even more striking among African-Americans and English-speaking Latinos, who not only outpace whites in cell phone ownership, but also in the use of the phones’ features.

So, the question for communicators:

Hw fst cn u commnic8?

Web-Literate Abramson Offers NY Times More Than A Broken Glass Ceiling

Andrew Overton — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 06:04:18 +0000

Many stories about Jill Abramson’s historic appointment as the executive editor of the New York Times have focused on her gender. However, Abramson has another quality that may prove to be even more important and critical to the success of the Times: Web savvy.

Photo courtesy of ReservasdeCoches.com on Flickr

Now that the Times has launched its paywall and rejected the increasingly popular belief that news should be free, it is no surprise that a changing of the guard was in order. By demanding that regular online readers pay for its content, the Times was drawing a clear line between its storytelling and the rest of the online news clatter. Will Abramson be able to navigate these uncharted online waters while ensuring that the Times remains the standard bearer for investigative reporting and non-fiction story-telling? Her writers think so.

Hours after the announcement, there was an outpouring of support from Times writers on Twitter. Jennifer Preston, the first social media editor in Times history, tweeted, “For all of you wondering about Jill Abramson and the Web? Jill gets it. And she’s fearless. We’re lucky.”

Back in 2010, Abramson temporarily stepped aside from her managing editor role to focus on digital operations and strategy. Bill Keller, then executive editor, said that they both thought that “one of us should really master the whole complicated machinery of an integrated newsroom,” and “Jill came up with the idea that one of us — i.e., her — should do a full immersion.”

Keller, often criticized for being resistant to the digital revolution, elaborated:

“We really want this to be one newsroom, and it is part of the way there, not all of the way there. There is still a digital rhythm and a print rhythm, and they don’t feel synchronized.”

If Abramson’s goal is synchronization, she’s taking the right steps. Shortly after the announcement, the current Times social media editor tweeted that she had made a “Twitter date” with Abramson. With the inevitable decline of the newspaper industry looming, Abramson has her hands full, and a simple Twitter handle won’t save the Times. However, I have faith that Abramson has the vision, experience and online training to throw the Gray Lady a lifeline.

As Preston said, “What’s most important is a commitment to devote resources and talent to innovation. That’s there.”

It Gets Better: The Video Heard ‘Round the World and in the White House

Crystal Borde — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:14:29 +0000

Is it possible for one video to launch a social change revolution? Can one YouTube video inspire others to take action and become activists?

President Obama proclaimed June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month and launched a new section on the White House website dedicated to the policies and issues impacting the LGBT community. Both are landmark civil rights statements never before made by a sitting President. One of the sections of this White House microsite worth noting is called “It Gets Better.” Sound familiar? It should. The section name is a tip of the hat to the successful It Gets Better Project launched to reach out to LGBT teens contemplating suicide due to bullying and prejudice.

The message discusses the happiness, potential and positivity that awaits youth after the difficult teen years. This project — started with a single YouTube video by columnist Dan Savage and his partner Terry in September 2010 — turned into an international movement, inspiring more than 10,000 user-created videos by world leaders, celebrities, activists and others. It has been viewed more than 35 million times and has inspired people around the globe. Watch Google Chrome’s recent tribute to Dan, Terry and their video:

What can we learn from the success of the It Gets Better Project for launching a social change revolution?

Be honest. Both Dan and Terry shared their personal stories regarding difficult teenage years. It was their personal accounts that made the video so engaging and inspired others to share stories.

Keep it simple. The majority of It Gets Better tribute videos have something in common — creators used a simple web or video camera to record testimony or a pledge of support. Most didn’t use fancy editing or production. The personal nature of this format eliminated those distractions, allowing users to just focus on the messenger and the message.

Use your connections. Dan Savage is a well-known journalist with a syndicated column, a weekly podcast and a spot on “This American Life.” To say that Dan is well-connected is an understatement, and he shared his video with as many people as possible, spreading his message far and wide. Like Dan, we all have family, friends, neighbors, co-workers or like-minded people in our lives who would be willing to share our message and call to action. Reach out via e-mail and social media to get your message to the right people.

Don’t overthink it – just act. Dan and Terry recorded their video in response to a wave of LGBT teen suicides headlining the front pages of newspapers around the country. To be responsive to the growing issue, they quickly acted by recording their video and posting it to YouTube. They were able to capitalize on a news cycle still covering this topic and received more exposure than if they had waited and posted the video a few weeks later. As my mom would say, “You have to strike when the iron is hot.”

Believe the sky is the limit. Did Dan and Terry know that a few months after posting their video, President Obama, Pixar employees or the World Series champion San Francisco Giants would make videos of their own? Probably not. They may have only intended their video to let LGBT teens in crisis know they aren’t alone, but by placing no limits on their efforts, their video led to a movement of love and support and a new non-profit organization focused on sharing that message of inclusion with others in need. Change is always possible with commitment, passion and a willingness to do whatever it takes to accomplish your social change goals.

Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said: “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” In the case of June’s LGBT Pride Month Presidential Proclamation and It Gets Better Project, a moving campaign to help youth live for a brighter future can begin with a single YouTube video.

Live Blog: What’s Next DC Conference Afternoon Session

Crystal Borde — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:37:50 +0000

Good afternoon! Today, we’re live blogging the What’s Next – Your Marketing Communications Roadmap event at George Washington University in DC. The morning session was jammed packed with great speakers and information on issues impacting the future of how we communicate social change. We will continue live blogging in a few minutes. Please stay tuned!

NOTE: All updates here should be considered notes on the information presented at today’s event, and not direct quotes from the participants.

12:45 pm: Debbie Weil, founder & president of WordBiz.com is up next.

12:47 pm: Tactics to finding your social media sweet spot: be transparent. The sweet spot is the congruent space between you, your audience and your employees.

12:53 pm: Experiment with social media. Try different tools until you find one that successfully reaches your targeted audience.

1:00 pm: The next speaker is Matt Goddard, co-founder and CEO, R2integrated.

1:03 pm: Rather than using the term “social media,” communities of interest or networks are places we go to make better decisions.

1:05 pm: Social media is nothing new as humans have always been social. The only thing that has changed is “how” we do it. Speed, access, storage and transparency has changed the way we make decisions.

1:15 pm: Audience’s communication journey has two key phases:

Discovery journey: audience considers and evaluates.
Loyalty loop: audience advocates and bonds.

1:20 pm: To implement a community of interest-based cross-channel marketing plan, communicators can follow these steps:

Identify the target communities of interest.
Identify access points for content and conversation.
Develop content strategy in the context of a network world.
Develop programs, outreach and campaigns.
Drive them and then optimize your activities.

1:22 pm: Communication resources that we use to have separate are combining now. Public relations, paid media and community management joined forces now for an integrated approach.

1:30 pm: Your social strategy shouldn’t be about social media its about the network world that we live in. Identify the communities of interest, build your loyalty and advocacy, create a strategy and enter your way in.

1:31 pm: Rand Fiskin, CEO and founder, SEOmoz.org is next up on the mic.

1:35 pm: Share + tweets = rankings on search engines. The things that get tweeted on Twitter and shared on Facebook impacts the ranking system on search engines, like Google and Bing.

1:40 pm: Search engine optimization (SEO) is still under-invested. Only about 20 percent was used last year.

1:46 pm: Key SEO principles:

Be accessible with quality content.
Implement keyword research and targeting.
Invest in link building.

1:48 pm: Be a link magnet. Build a platform so users can share on your site.

1:51 pm: Reggie Bradford, CEO & founder of Virtue Inc., speaks next on social media best practices for communicators using Facebook.

1:55 pm: Facebook users are very active. Facebook users interact with over 900 million objects. In addition, they are connected to 80 community groups, pages and events.

2:00 pm: Facebook users can promote messages on multiple platforms. Facebook provides multiple options (i.e. fan page, like and plug-in discussion board).

2:13 pm: Bradford highlights Amway and State Farm as good examples for effectively using Facebook to promote their brand.

2:15 pm Geo-targeting is a growing tool that many communicators using Facebook can utilize to target their audience.

2:20 pm: The next speaker is Shonali Burke, principal at Shonali Burke Consulting, who will be discussing how digital and social technologies empower and redefine public relations in the 21st century.

2:22 pm: Public relations is still about building relationships. Public relations’ goal is to deliver information to your audience and hopefully empower them to do what you want them to do.

2:27 pm: Burke uses Eidia Lush shoe company as a case study. After months of waiting for shoes she ordered online, the president of Eidia Lush reached out to Burke personally and apologized for the delay and offered her additional coupons as a token for the delay. The personal outreach was an effective PR tactic and created a personal relationship. In today’s world of pr, the audience is the media. In addition to monitoring traditional media, we must monitor our audience.

2:30 pm: AJ Gerritson, founding partner of 452 Marketing, will talk about building a public relations in the digital world.

2:33 pm: Traditional public relations tactics are still key, but they have to be integrated with digital technology, because the communication landscape is changing.

2:40 pm: Essential digital public relations tools today include SEO, Google keyword search optimization, ProfNet, HARO (Help a Reporter Out), Toluna (survey site similar to Survey Monkey, but offers greater number of respondents) and PRWeb.

3:00 pm: Bill Lake, EVP and co-founder, ClicFlic speaks next. He will touch on intelligent media and how it is engaging audiences.

3:10 pm: Examples of intelligent media:

When buttons are added to video clips, there is a 4x increase in video viewership.
Viewers like to jump around when watching a video so by simply adding a navigation tab on the side that breaks up the video into snippets, it increases viewership.
Viewers like simplicity. If you make videos too complex then you will lose your audience interest quicker.

3:15 pm Goldy Kamali, founder and CEO of FedScoop is up next to talk about strategic government marketing and targeting decision makers.

3:18 pm: Citizen engagement will increase within the government agencies in the coming years. Government community thrives on technologies and causes.

3:20 pm: Trust, loyalty and tradition are three key components to make note of when dealing with the government IT community.

3:25 pm: Government marketing strategies are similar to what traditional marketing pros use. They are mainly using traditional media and events, but are gradually using social media.

3:26 pm: Steve Ressler, president & founder, GovLoop, enthusiastically jumps on stage and exclaims his sociology degree was not a complete waste. He will talk about online communities.

3:27 pm GovLoop is a social network for government employees. It like any other online community exist because of its usefulness, purpose and trust.

3:32 pm: Reasons why people join online communities:

To belong. People want to find people like themselves.
To share their story and experiences
To be entertained
To be leaders, but also to be led
To learn

3:36 pm: Tammy Gordon, Senior adviser at AARP, says social media is not just for kids. The 50+ community is the fastest growing community using social media.

3:45 pm: AARP has established a full platform of social media, including Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

3:47 pm: AARP’s social vision is not just broadcasting to members. They are listening and engaging with members daily. AARP has full staff across the country to engage in social media.

Well, that ends the What’s Next: Your Marketing Communications Roadmap conference. We enjoyed the great dialogue and glimpses of what’s next for the communication industry. Check InSites this week for a few more posts discussing some of the bigger ideas shared at the event.

Live Blog: What’s Next DC Conference Morning Session

Crystal Borde — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 13:46:12 +0000

Good morning! Today, we’re live blogging the What’s Next – Your Marketing Communications Roadmap event at George Washington University in DC. It’s an all day event, so we will be capturing the day’s insights in two posts — one during the morning presentations and one covering the presentations this afternoon. The day will be filled with great speakers discussing issues impacting the future of how we communicate social change. Everything will be starting in a few minutes, and then we’ll start regularly updating this post.

NOTE: All updates here should be considered notes on the information presented at today’s event, and not direct quotes from the participants.

9:10 am: First speaker is Brian Halligan, CEO & Founder of HubSpot. He opens suggesting that traditional rules of marketing are broken. People are sick and tired of being “sold” to.

9:14 am: What used to work in marketing just doesn’t work any more. Marketing is shifting, just as how we live is shifting, evolving.

9:17 am: Modern marketing is based on the width of your brain, not the size of your wallet. Inbound marketing, such as SEO, social media, blogs, etc., do not require large budgets. Effective marketing campaigns now requires more creative thinking than funding.

9:21 am: According to Halligan, there are six steps to e-viral marketing:

Create as much online content as you can. Each piece of content acts like a magnet to draw people in and offers a longer rate of return that online advertising.
Develop smart, catchy titles and headlines for content that is interesting and uses good SEO principles. Content should be remarkable so that people will remark.
Optimize and push your content on social media. When you contribute unique content in social media, you can boost interest significantly.
Create content that provides a call to action. Give your visitors something to do with your content.
Maintain and update your content to nurture it.
Analyze your content. Use tools like Google Analytics to adjust content based on benchmarks and data.

9:31 am: If you create interesting content on social media profiles, online advertising and other digital channels, you can draw more people into your website ten fold. These channels now sit at the top of the “funnel” of the modern marketing system.

9:40 am: Best social media policy is just common sense. Let everyone create online content, because you never know where the next great idea or content will come from.

9:44 am: Polarizing online content pulls in people and broadens reach. You may receive negative comments, but don’t remove them. Moderating comments will discourage people from participating in future conversations.

9:46 am: Measure often. Evolve fast. By keeping tabs on measurement benchmarks weekly, you evolve faster and can capitalize on trends more quickly to expand reach.

9:50 am: Marketing copy needs to be authentic and transparent to appeal to younger generations. They expect it. With social media, simplicity is key.

9:55 am: Bryan Eisenberg of Eisenberg Holdings is up next to talk about how offline is the new online.

10:04 am: Marketing has evolved from linking links to now linking people due to Internet innovations.

10:10 am: Mobile technology, such as the smart phone, iPad, etc., is the game changer in marketing. All media is digitizing, even advertisements. People now carry “computers in their hands.”

10:14 am: Mobile adoption is happening five times faster than any other technology. Communicators can use mobile technology to reach target audiences one-to-one basis.

10:22 am: Transparency is not your choice, but authenticity and “remarkability” is when developing content and communicating online. Need to find ways to create cross channel personalization on your websites, where the site acknowledges you personally and knows what you like just like Amazon.com‘s website.

10:28 am: When designing and positioning online content on websites, consider how different personality types and genders collect information differently and reflect those approaches in your design.

10:36 am: How do we keep up with technological advances in communications? We need to be nimble and start applying quality principles, like Six Sigma, to marketing.

10:38 am: Great communicators are intimate with your target audience, creates remarkable content; communicates authentically; strives to be nimble and willing to continuously improve as the industry evolves.

10:41 am: From KaBOOM!, CEO & Co-Founder Darrell Hammond will be speaking next about how creativity can change communities and communication.

10:45 am: Children need more opportunities to explore their creativity and movement to prevent chronic illnesses, such as childhood obesity and diabetes.

10:47 am: An organization’s culture is a reflection of their communication culture and vice versa. Communicators should strive to make them match.

10:49 am: According to Hammond, practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect. Once you establish the standard, it’s important to be consistent yet flexible to change.

10:52 am: When building partnerships with other organizations, be willing to be creative in determining what each side can offer. What a partnership can offer might not be funding, but other valuable in-kind opportunities or skills.

10:55 am: Today’s master of ceremonies, Paul Williams from Idea Sandbox, now shares how to be “remark-able” to help your communications stand out.

10:57 am: Being “remark-able” — creating content that prompts our target audiences to remark — seems to be the word of the day at What’s Next. It would lead us to develop messaging and content that is unique and appealing to our audiences.

11:00 am: To be remark-able, communicators must take risks, embrace change, find champions and take action. We must start asking “why not?” to identify new opportunities and encourage others to be a part of the process.

11:02 am: Messaging should position your organization to be first, best and only and showcase what sets your organization apart. Messaging should also be believable, relevant and genuine for a lasting impression.

Williams was the last speaker during the morning session of the What’s Next DC conference. We’re breaking now for strategy brainstorming sessions. Stay tuned for the next InSites blog post at 12:30 pm featuring insights from the afternoon session.