I’m back from Wise Traditions 2010, the 11th annual conference of the Weston A. Price Foundation, held this past weekend at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. I’ve been the webmaster for WAPF since 2001, maintaining westonaprice.org and realmilk.com, and had been to eight of the ten previous conferences and spoken at the Monday Chapter Leaders meeting last year to tell them about the redesigned website about to be launched.

This year, however, was the first time I spoke to the general attendees. I sat on a panel called “Effective Food Activism” with social media superstars Kimberly Hartke (WAPF publicist and Hartkeisonline.com blogger), AnnMarie Michaels (Cheeseslave.com blogger, Realfoodmedia.com founder, and Twitter expert), Kelly the Kitchen Kop (blogger), Jenny McGruther (Nourished Kitchen blogger and online e-course developer), and Kari Carlisle (Utah chapter leader and LinkedIn expert).

Left to right: Moderator Kim Hartke, AnnMarie Michaels, Jill Nienhiser, Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Kari Carlisle, Jenny McGruther. Photo by Alex Lewin.

Our goal was to educate attendees on how to harness social media tools to grow Foundation membership and support; mobilize grassroots activism for food causes; and promote local artisanal food, farming, and health enterprises. The audience was an enthusiastic mix of would-be bloggers and entrepreneurs wanting to market their food buying clubs, farms, cottage industries, and alternative health care services through social media.

AnnMarie Michaels kicked us off with a brief PowerPoint of the Top Ten Reasons to Use Social Media. Then moderator Kim Hartke asked each of us a few questions to get our best tips for using Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, as well as best practices and beginner’s guidance for blogging. We finished by opening the floor to questions from the audience.

Some of my tips:

1. Consider starting with Facebook as a great beginner’s social media tool that lets you easily share links, images, videos, and text (via Notes) in one place.
2. Use Facebook’s Edit Friends feature to group your Facebook “friends”–who you may not always know personally–to help keep track of how you are connected to them.
3. Determine how much time you can/want to spend on social media and make a social media “to do” list of the top things you want to check on and update in a given computer session. This helps ensure that you keep your content fresh and make the most of your limited time before getting sidetracked by friends’ posts.
4. Keep the purpose and tone of each social media tool in mind:
   • Twitter is great for sharing links to articles your customers may find valuable. Don’t use it only to market yourself; in fact no more than 20% of your tweets should market; the rest should be value-added information for your client base.
   • Facebook can be used for more casual and fun posts, such as trivia and personal stories about life on your farm or happenings in your store.
   • LinkedIn is meant for professional networking and asking and responding to questions. Use the Q&A and discussion areas to establish your expertise in your areas of interest.
   • Flickr is for photos and if you are an avid photographer, can be a good place to keep and share photos, as well as find royalty free photos to illustrate your blog posts.
   • YouTube and Vimeo are for sharing videos. A video channel for your small business or farm might make sense for offering video “tours,” illustrating food preparation techniques, or any “how-to” videos.
   • Blogging is where you can really develop a conversation with readers by posting short commentary and inviting comments and feedback.

The conference was so much fun, incredibly informative with three full days of lectures in several tracks (always so hard to choose who to listen to!), and DELICIOUS as usual, since each meal was lovingly prepared from farm food and artisanal food donations from the membership.

Next year’s conference will be in Dallas, Texas. Get details at westonaprice.org..

A few years ago, if you mentioned the use of social media in the federal government ecosystem, you would most likely get some polite but ultimately uninterested attention.  All of that has changed in the last couple of years and government, especially with the ushering in of the new administration in 2009, is rapidly adopting a wide array of social media tools to address a variety of issues.

Jobs

• OPM has released a new iPad and iPhone app that will make getting a job with the federal government LESS of a job (or at least a bit more entertaining): OPM App

How To Do Web 2.0

• Usability.gov is a site that offers great advice on how to design a website for the end user, in other words, the audience that you’re trying to reach.  Of course, their advice could just as easily apply to a Web 1.0 world but their site really acts and feels like a Web 2.0 site, full of easy-to-grasp advice and techniques.  And the focus, as the name of the website so aptly implies, is to provide techniques on building a website aimed at the end user…not one whose aim is to satisfy the demands of the geeks in the IT department or the one-way conversation that ol’ gov was used to engaging in.  Bravo for that!  Of special note is their blog, which enjoys robust participation from all kinds of web folks working at various federal agencies.

How to Open Up

• We’ve given them big kudos via various of our social media channels already but another nod to a big step forward for Veterans Affairs is definitely worthwhile.  Their recently launched blog, VAntage Point, is worthy of special notice because they have a totally open comment policy AND are inviting guest bloggers to participate.  Their very first blog post has received 239 comments (so far…and counting) and most of them are pretty positive…although you do get some negative and sometimes quirky (I’m being polite) comments as well.  Hey, it’s all part and parcel of being OPEN and I commend the VA for being courageous enough to allow it to happen.  Like the Cluetrain Manifesto says, it’s a conversation, and sometimes it can get a little strained but as long as it’s real, it’s humanizing.

These are just a few of the many examples that can be found (far and wide) of the federal government adopting social media and a social media attitude.  Do you have any other examples you’d like to bring to our attention?

Mind & Media’s Chris Ammon explains how you can develop e-Learning courses that keep your audience in their seats and awake.  Learn about what details  you should consider when building a course and why your old college professor may have taught you the most important lesson of all.   Watch Now.

Kudos to OhMyGov.com  for creating an easy-to-read infographic about the Hatch Act and social media. Politically active folks considering federal employment should be aware of the restrictions it imposes regarding political activity at work AND at home. But in the world of smarphones, teleworking, and portable computers, what constitutes “at home” or “at work”? Are we talking about the person’s physical location, the ownership of the hardware they use, or maybe even the activity they were doing in the moments leading up to the political activity?

According to the infographic, federal employees may advocate for a political candidate via Facebook status updates from home, but not from work. Ok, but if I use my personal smartphone, while in the cafeteria in my federal office building, during my lunch break, to post such a FB status, am I at work or not? If I use my federal-government-supplied laptop, on Saturday in my backyard, to post that status, am I at home? What if I’m teleworking, now I’m both “at work” and “at home”!

At least some of the rules have zero grey area. For example, if you look up “Solicit political contributions via Twitter” column one, for Less Restricted Employees indicates, “Not on your life”, and column two, for Further Restricted Employees simply says, “Nevah!”

Well that’s pretty clear.

October was a busy month for Mind & Media!  This past month, in addition to our regular script-to-screen video productions and audio podcasts, website building and branding campaigns, e-learning tools and communication consulting services, we produced a number of live webcasts for our clients.

The biggest of these webcast events was a three-day live webcast event for the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.  In conjunction with iStreamPlanet, we provided three-camera coverage of their conference and streamed it on the web while simultaneously broadcasting their PowerPoint presentations side-by-side in a custom-designed website interface.  We also closed-captioned the event live (for Section 508 Compliance).

With well over 100 viewers per day of the conference, our clients were able to reach a larger audience and disseminate their message quickly and successfully, while remote viewers were able to participate in the discussion live via email by asking questions of the presenters.

Following each day’s live webcast, we were able to give our clients an on-demand version of the event before the next day’s broadcast began.  This gave anyone who arrived late or forgot to tune in during the live webcast an opportunity to see the event in its entirety, PowerPoint slides and all.

Do you have a live event that you would like to share globally? Do you have remote participants who you want to bring “in the loop” during your next conference event?  Do you want to save your organization thousands on travel expenses by webcasting your next event?  We’re here to help you get your message out to your audience.

With our “first to show, last to go” way of handling live events, we’re quick to set up and we’re always ready to shoot, whether we’re in a studio facility (like the Kaiser Family Foundation Studio) or on location at a corporate conference center (like the 20 F Conference Center). We’ll be there through the end of your event, and we’re on hand to answer any technical questions that may arise.

Give Mind & Media a call before your next conference event to see what we can do for you!

Some interesting events are taking place over the next couple of weeks…events that you might want to attend (right?):

FotoWeek DC 2010 Festival: Nov 6 – Nov 13

Founded in 2008, FotoWeek DC has evolved from a city-centric photography festival to a multi-season tribute — with international appeal– to photography in all its forms.

FotoWeek DC celebrates the transformative power of photography through the exhibition of inspiring and provocative images, diverse programming, and collaboration with the local and international community.

Whether through photojournalism, fine art photography, or the work of emerging artists, FotoWeek DC provides a dynamic, evocative, engaging experience for photographers, cultural institutions, galleries, curators, schools, area residents and tens of thousands of visitors to the Nation’s Capital.

In just three short years, FotoWeek DC is Everywhere You See.

Find out more about this event here.

PodCampEDU 2 – Washington, DC : November 15

The PodCamp for educators and those interested in education and multimedia.

Find out more about this event here.

Meet the New Media: November 16

In 2010, the Washington region witnessed a rebirth in local media. We experienced a complete changing of the editorial guard at the region’s alternative weekly, a new business newspaper from the Washington Post and an entire new online local news enterprise from Albritton Publications.

Capitol Communicator invites you to Meet the New Media on November 16. Find out what the reporters and editors at the Washington City Paper, Capital Business, TBD, Washington Business Journal and Citybizlist DC Edition have to say about the future of media in Washington and the convergence of traditional news and social news media.

Find out more about this event here and RSVP if interested.

The Government Video Expo 2010: Nov 30 – Dec 2

If you are a video professional in the federal space or working with federal clients, you might want to attend the Government Video Expo.  Vendors will be present to tout the latest and greatest gear, seminars and presentations abound, and networking events will give you the opportunity to mingle with peers and potential clients alike.

Find out more about this event here.

Today’s Mid-Week List brings you the top ten information resources in the federal space.  These are the mags, e-zines and web sites you ought to be keeping up with if you want to stay current on what’s going on in our federal government:

1. Government Executive:  GovernmentExecutive.com is government’s business news daily and the premier Web site for federal managers and executives. Government Executive in its print incarnation is a biweekly business magazine serving senior executives and managers in the federal government’s departments and agencies. Our subscribers are high-ranking civilian and military officials who are responsible for defending the nation and carrying out the many laws that define the government’s role in our economy and society.  Government Executive’s essential editorial mission is to cover the business of the federal government and its huge departments and agencies – dozens of which dwarf the largest institutions in the private sector. We aspire to serve the people who manage these huge agencies and programs in much the way that Fortune, Forbes, and Business Week serve private-sector managers.
2. Washington Technology:  Washington Technology is the brand for government contractors, systems integrators, and solution providers. For more than a quarter century, government systems integrator and solution provider management has relied on Washington Technology’s coverage for the key issues facing contractors: government initiatives and their effect on spending priorities and RFPs, procurement regulatory changes, technology evaluation and analysis for proposal preparation, as well as merger & acquisition news, business trends, and arrivals and departures within the government integrator community.
3. Federal News Radio:  Federal News Radio covers both the Federal Government and those who do business with the government concentrating on management, procurement, technology, security, policy and pay & benefits. Federal News Radio features the talents of some of the best federal minds in the industry. Starting the day off it’s “The Federal Drive” weekday mornings with Tom Temin and Amy Morris. Then, tune in for “In-Depth with Francis Rose” middays Monday through Friday. Keeping you company on your afternoon commute is “The DorobekInsider” with Chris Dorobek. Add to that veteran reporters Jason Miller, Max Cacas and Mike Causey (the ONLY place to read and hear Mike Causey every day) and Federal News Radio is a one-stop, up-to-the-minute source of news and information. Federal News Radio’s mission is to untangle the complex world of the business of government and build a sense of federal community by looking at lessons learned, best practices and exploring and talking to the people themselves who make the government work. We interview policy makers and government contractors one-on-one to explain, in their own words, how their news affects federal agencies. FederalNewsRadio.com is your source for federal news…now.
4. Nextgov:  Nextgov.com provides news, interaction and research for government and contractor executives and managers in the information technology community. Our readers are high-ranking civilian and military officials who are responsible for providing IT support to those who defend the nation and carry out the many laws that define the government’s role in our economy and society. Nextgov.com’s essential editorial mission is to cover the IT and business processes that the federal government deploys to meet agency missions — dozens of which dwarf the largest institutions in the private sector. We aspire to serve the people who manage these huge agencies and programs in much the way that large consumer and business-to-business technology magazines serve private-sector managers.
5. Government Computer News (GCN):  GCN is the IT brand for federal and state and local government IT professionals who are directly involved with the acquisition and implementation of technology products, services and systems. A technology source for government, GCN focuses on how to buy, build and manage the technologies that run government. It covers how government agencies integrate, implement and manage technology; technology developments that impact IT programs, projects, purchasing and compliance issues; and the tools, products and solutions required to achieve agency missions. The popular GCN Labs put hardware, software and peripherals through the paces, providing expert analysis, laboratory tests, performance reviews and product briefs.
6. Federal Soup:  FederalSoup.com is a free online community of forums dedicated to serving the information needs of active and retired federal employees. FederalSoup.com provides users with a place to chat about news and current events. It also facilitates an environment for discussion and information exchange on the ins-and-outs of federal employee benefits, financial/retirement planning and career planning/development.
7. Government Video:  Our stories — and readers — reflect the diversity of the government video market, including state and local government, law enforcement, and federal agencies. Don’t worry, we’ve got the men and women in uniform, too. Only GV is dedicated to providing comprehensive coverage of video professionals in the public service each and every month. GV magazine is part of the same company that produces the annual Government Video & Technology Expo in Washington, DC. We also publish the GVExpo Daily News.
8. GovLoop:  GovLoop is the “Facebook for Government” – the premier social network connecting over 30,000 government innovators from federal, state, and local government. The community is a great resource for all people in and around government, whether they are looking to connect with peers, collaborate on projects or discover career-building opportunities. GovLoop is the place to be for today’s government leaders.
9. Young Government Leaders (YGL):  YGL is a professional organization of men and women employed by or for the government who are “young” in their service and/or “fresh” in their perspective. Our mission is to educate, inspire, and transform the current and future leaders of government. Our membership consists of over 1800 (and counting) young feds at almost 30% of the approximately 435 U.S. departments and agencies. Our organization is committed to serving as a coordinated voice for the current and future generations of young government leaders by providing a community of leadership through professional development activities, networking opportunities, social events, seminars, fellowships, and scholarships.
10. Federal Daily:  Over the past half-century we have published and sold more than six million copies of the Federal Employees Almanac to America’s civil servants, helping them navigate an increasingly complex maze of federal protocols, regulations and opportunities. The volume’s success continues to demand consistent, reliable news reporting to help federal workers understand government regulations, recognize their rights and obligations, keep abreast of the major and minor changes affecting their jobs and get all the benefits due them. Lately, quick change has been the order of the day for our country, for our government and for our federal work force. The writers and publishers of Federal Employees News Digest, the Federal Employees Almanac and FederalDaily.com strive to keep you, our customers, up to date and fully informed on the events and actions that matter to you. We are grateful to you, our readers, for your continued patronage. We welcome your suggestions on how we can continue to serve you better, how we can remain the premier source of federal news for federal workers. We thank you for your business and will continue to do all we can to merit the trust the federal employee puts in us and in our products.

There’s a lot more out there but these publications, web sites and forums are a good place to start.  Good luck!

The CDC has recently published a handy guide for the use of social media in health communication which does an excellent job of describing the nuances of social media, such as the philosophy behind it but even better, it also delves into the details of both defining some terminology as well as describing the tactical implementation of successful techniques.

I would definitely recommend reading it as it will give any newbie a good intro and will remind many experts of things they may have forgotten.

Hope you enjoy The Health Communicator’s Social Media Toolkit: “A guide to using social media to improve reach of health messages, increase access to your content, further participation with audiences and advance transparency to improve health communication efforts.”