Discussing the Integration of Social Media Tools at MACo Symposium

I had the pleasure of speaking at the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) 2013 Spring Symposium yesterday, on the topic of: How to Integrate New Media, Tools and Techniques into your Public Outreach Plan.

We had a wonderful group of over 50 government communicators who participated in the symposium. We talked about how to strategically drive public outreach using traditional and new media, reviewing the pros and cons of different communication tools, discussing best practices around leveraging social media to build a community and help drive your mission. The session was dynamic, and I had a great time interacting with the group throughout the presentation, learning as much from my participants as I hope they learned from me!

MACo is a non-profit and non-partisan organization that serves Maryland’s counties by articulating the needs of local government to the Maryland General Assembly. The Association’s membership consists of county elected officials and representatives from Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore City. Yesterday’s symposium was one of the many opportunities offered by the organization to provide government officials and representatives the ability to improve their capacity to serve their residents.

The organizers did a great job of keeping the day moving, the discussions lively and the information relevant. This was a great opportunity to talk about specific outreach methods used by various agencies, and to get information firsthand from Maryland PIOs on how they’re using social media now, as well as how they hope to further integrate these tools into their future communication efforts.

I appreciate MACo inviting me to speak at this valuable symposium – it’s clear that most government communicators, as I’ve always believed, truly care about doing the best job they can, and understand the importance of the message they are often tasked with communicating. Technology is changing and evolving at a more rapid pace than ever before, which makes it essential to balance the importance of traditional methods of communication with the value of being open to trying new techniques as well. If you’d be interested in my providing this presentation, or this service, to your organization, please contact me at slevine@adviceunlimited.net.