Maximizing Government Communications

In this informative and hands-on session, you will learn how to create a training film that moves and inspires your audiences by building a project proposal that has all the critical elements to success. We will work through an emotion-first methodology, which science proves enables people to better remember your message.

Participate in an exercise to plan your cinematic training project proposal within a government environment. Learn how to build consensus, follow established laws & policies, satisfy a diverse group of stakeholders, and make a real difference with the finished product.

Following the interactive discussion, you will learn how to:

1. Assemble the building blocks of your storyboard for your training project: introduction, “movie trailer”, content, emotional call to action, and reflection.
2. Identify your team members - both contractors and internal personnel who will make the project move from concept to reality.
3. Build a script that works; one that is rooted in the latest intelligence and sector-wide best practices, and is adaptable if your project’s goals change.
4. Adapt to limited budgets and resource constraints, in order to best steward taxpayer funds
5. Tips for addressing key creative pillars: story, cinematography, music/sound, emotion/drama, graphics, diversity, project length, and pacing.
6. Build an effective communication strategy to ensure a successful launch and socialization of your end product. 
7. Successfully distribute your work using the best channels to engage your audience.

You know your organization’s presence online is critical to raising its visibility and profile, but which platforms should you target, and how should you change your approach for each? What are the pros and cons of adding video, stills, and audio podcasts to your online profile?  How do you write posts and blogs to maximize engagement, and how do you measure success and return on investment?

This 2-hour workshop will explore the diverse opportunities offered by digital and social media, explain how to choose which multi-media and social-media platforms to prioritize for your target audience, and offer experienced advice on headline and blog-writing, handles and sharing, and how to time your post releases.

You will also have the opportunity to discuss where to find, and how to interpret, the data analytics available for each platform – essential in making informed decisions about where, and how much time and human resource, to invest.

You will learn how to:

• Understand the profiles of the various social media platforms so you can decide which ones to target in your market or field
• Choose cost-effective strategies for deploying and utilizing video, audio and image production 
• Write attractive and compelling scripts, headlines and blogs for maximum impact on each platform
• Utilize storytelling techniques 
• Market, share and tag your posts for targeted and viral distribution
• Data-mine, gather and analyze your digital and social media audiences
• Make choices about future strategies interpreting the data, and calculate the return on investment

No matter if you are using social media, paying for advertising, or just mailing letters to spread information about your organization there are 4 key components to getting more traction to your advertising.  We will embark on a fun and interactive discovery on how to drive more awareness and get more return for your investment. And best of all we will do it in a way that you will leave the sessions with more information about who you should be talking to, how to talk to them more effectively, and how to keep them engaged with your company, branch, or department.  

After this session you will be able to:

• Understand what social media is at its core
• Identify the difference between Owned, Earned, and Paid Content and how to use them
• Leverage new tactics for communicating with your key audiences
• Use data to become more effective in your advertising

• Utilize new, intriguing ways to look at storytelling and “content”
• Learn from the constant storytelling happening around you every day
• Harness the power of storytelling to create engaging visual content such as videos, infographics and social posts

Every day, Transportation Security Administration employees screen nearly two million travelers across the United States. As the number of people traveling increases, the TSA has even more opportunities than ever to interact with citizens.

See first-hand how the TSA has effectively used social media for customer care to help achieve TSA’s mission of protecting the traveling public, inclduing how: 

• You can change the world of customer service using social media channels
• To launch a social care effort from scratch
• A social care program can benefit your customers AND your organization
• Waffles can teach you everything about social care

David Johnston, Social Media Strategist

Transportation Security Administration

Your communication efforts should be comprised of simple news releases and social media posts. However, creating and publishing useful content that fits within an overall communications strategy, incorporating the needs of multiple stakeholders with varying goals and objects, requires careful planning.

In this session you will learn how to leverage a content communications -- commonly called content marketing -- strategy to connect your organization’s goals to your audience communication and engagement efforts.

Four key techniques will include showing you how to:

1. Develop a connection between strategy development and execution using strategic

   communication.

2. Identify the essential components of a strategic communications plan.

3. Understand the time and personnel commitments required.

4. Learn methods for generating and repurposing content.

Shannah Hayley, Director of Communications & Community Outreach

City of Plano, Texas

In this session, learn how Anticipate Media and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation are collaborating on a series of dramatic, cinematic-style training films with topics ranging from Active Shooter mitigation, to See Something Say Something, to Incident Response. In this overview you will learn about this unique private/public partnership that informs, inspires, and empowers first responders, employees, and members of the traveling public.

• Uncover stories within your organzation to share externally
• Identify brand ambassadors to help spread your video content
• Recycle and re-use content you've already created in a new visually appealing way

Paul Antico, Film Producer

Anticipate Media

Each government entity has a unique and important message to get out. However, it can be challenging get the right message to the right people at the right time on the right channel. 

During this interactive session, you will assess your current digital communications strategy and learn new ways to effectively get your messages out. Leave this session equipped with the skills to:

• Assess what digital communication platforms and channels are available to you
• Design mobile and online communication strategies to increase citizen, employee and stakeholder interaction and engagement
• Create an effective content calendar to help you organize and streamline your digital communications

Naitik Vyas, Account Executive

Granicus

Meghan Jaquier, Digital Engagement Strategist

Granicus

An all-encompassing digital-first approach was used for the Marine Corps’ latest ad campaign, which launched during NBC's live stream of the Super Bowl. The first teleivsed ad from the Marine Corps in 30 years proved a success.  The expansive supporting content and web experience developed, combined with paid and earned media strategies, resulted in immediately appreciable positive results. 

Discover how the decision was made and what went into creating this all-encompassing digital -first approach, including how to:

• Achieve remarkable returns on detailed planning and adaptive execution
• Leverage earned media to maximize the effectiveness of a paid media launch
• Exploit opportunity; the value of engaged leadership

John Caldwell, Lt. Col, National Director of Marketing and Communication

Marine Corps Recruiting Command

Learn from General Services Administration best practices for content marketing. See first-hand how the GSA content marketing strategy has helped develop a process to capture leads and grow the subscriber base.

Journey through successful digital media and content strategies, analyze key lessons learned and explore trends in content marketing moving forward, including how to:

• Build a content marketing strategy
• Increase your engagement and subscriber base
• Find the right mix of digital media channels
• Trends in content marketing that you can apply to your engagement stratey

Kristy Lockhart, Marketing Communications Manager

General Services Administration (GSA)

Fully leveraging digital communication is extremely important. To effectively engage with today’s audience you need to use all available tools at your disposal. Learn how the Digital Comms Team at the DHS Science and Technology Directorate navigated the complexities of government communication requirements and created an award-winning, engaging interactive digital version of an annual report and other products.

You will learn:

• How the team designed an interactive website from the ground up highlighting the recent achievements of the directorate
• How creative writing, video and animation, graphic design, UI design and programming were used to create an engaging experience
• How the team navigated the requirements of 508 compliance, sensitivity concerns, etc.

John Verrico, Chief of Media Relations
 

Tim Shephard, Creative Lead

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Jaclyn Cotugno, Art Director

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Jennifer Schwed, Interactive Designer

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Colleen Dunn, Writer/Editor

U.S. Department of Homeland Security