8:00 am – 10:00 am Online Communications Best Practices Of Corporate, Non-Profit And Government Entities Who Use Social Media Effectively

This session will cover how to strategize around and implement online channels and social media tools for issue campaigns and general corporate positioning. This includes examples on how corporations are successfully using social media to extend the reach of their message. In today’s economic environment, companies need thoughtful, targeted, and cost-effective online communication programs that are fully integrated with programs executed in other media.

Campaigns are executed through Web properties the organization owns, advertising placements, online public relations outreach, key referral agents such as search engines or a combination of these. They must adhere to a few basic principles, such as: a user-centered approach based on careful study of audience behavior, a distinctive online personality and the delivery of needed information.

What will be covered:

• Leveraged interactivity to entertain as well as inform
• Becoming visible in places audience members frequent
• Development, design, implementation, and management of online campaigns

How you will benefit:

• Learn web site design, development and optimization
• Investigate user testing, heuristic reviews, and needs analysis procedures
• Understand information architecture, search engine optimization, and accessibility

Session Leader:

John Cangany
Social Media Manager
APCO Worldwide

10:15 am – 12:15 pm Empowering Your Advocates To Use Social Media Through Education

Social Media is more than an aggregation of tools; it allows for a variety of functional benefits, including the engagement of communities, networking, and locating resources. In reaching these goals, the tools of social media give our communication a broader reach, and do so in real-time, and to an expansive and universal audience. So how can we empower our staffs to make the most of Social Media? In this session, we will discuss the importance of agency-wide education in social media in advancing organizational goals. We will also cover the theory and foundations of Gov 2.0 communication, and learn key change management and education strategies, to enable employees to act as advocates connecting with one another, and the outside world.

What you will learn about:

• Establishing social media strategies, guidelines and policies for your agency and communicating them with your staff
• Change management and education strategies
• Available genres of tools and how they can be leveraged for effective communication

How you will benefit:

• Learn key strategies for empowering agency-wide participation
• Learn best practices to effectively use these applications
• Understanding how to empower your employees/staff to serve as your agency’s advocates

Session Leader:

Janis Hall & Mahdi Gharavi
MetroStar Systems

1:15 pm – 3:15 pm Social Media: Minor Threat, Major Opportunity

The way in which we communicate is always evolving and who would have thought we would be “Tweeting,” posting to Facebook, connecting on LinkedIn, and more? The opportunities are endless when it comes to social media, but this transparent world can also be a bit challenging for government and military organizations. During this workshop we will first look at the opportunities in social media communication for engagement, recruitment, and marketing.

Next, we will examine ways in which to manage the social media flow when taking into consideration security risks, including policies to put in place in order to shore up your social media program. Finally, the workshop will detail the proper ways in which to interact with people outside of your organization on social media and how to handle online malice.

What will be covered:

• Exploring the endless opportunities of social media
• Examining benefits in communications, engagement, and recruiting
• Developing policies to ensure security

How you will benefit:

• Discover safeguards to protect your network while using social media
• Familiarize yourself with responding to negative conversation in the social media space
• Investigate the true opportunity that social media offers when it is used safely and correctly

Session Leader:

Kyle Flaherty
Director of Communications
BreakingPoint Systems

3:30 pm – 5:30 pm Linking Practice, Security And Policy In A Networked Web 2.0 World

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has been a leader in the development of community in the "New Media" global information environment. "New Media" is no longer "new," neither are the basic principles that guide conduct that communicates and protects your reputation as well as the network. In this session, you will learn DoD best practices in the Web 2.0 world. It's about working differently. This session will help you prepare your organization to join this new information and communication revolution, by using established principles and policies to open the door to new social media tactics and procedures and developing an understanding of the differences between how we have been working and how we could be working to maximize productivity and results.

What will be covered:

• How to implement a social media division
• Learning procedures in training and guidelines to manage social media presence
• Deciding what your online presence should be

How you will benefit:

• Discover how to implement a social media division effectively without breaking the bank
• Develop a plan to convince leadership of the importance of social media while alleviating concerns

Session Leader:

Joshua Salmons
Emergent Media Coordinator
Defense Information School