Effective Communication Skills

Professor Dora Kingsley VertentenSpring Residency 2013 Presentation

Professionals who Communicate Effectively

Know the Rules of the Road

• Policy and Politics are Entrepreneurial, Not a Corporate Endeavor

• Goals must remain front and center, Keep asking yourself “So What?”

• Never expect privacy

Professionals who Communicate Effectively

Know the Rules of the Road

• Find people where they are, Don’t expect them to come to you

• Never forget that friends come and go but Enemies accumulate

Professionals who Communicate Effectively

Know the Rules of the Road

• Give others ownership, show supporters and encourage contributors

• Treat every medium separately for each is a different community

• Brilliant, stealth strategies are rarely either

Professionals who Communicate Effectively

Know the Rules of the Road

• Don’t fall for insider “realities”• Be a friend to criticism…

Respond, don’t delete!

Professionals who Communicate EffectivelyChoose the High Road

• Relationships still matter most• Authenticity counts!• Audiences are there for the messaging,

Your reach is unlimited

Professionals who Communicate EffectivelyAvoid the Low Road

• Engage citizens, Make friends, Win supporters!

• Reputations can be maintained; Approvals should be sought; Capacity must be built.

Professionals who Communicate EffectivelyAvoid the Low Road

• There is no such thing as lag time in delivery• Costs are related to your creative use of time• Be your own pollster,

Everything can be means tested.

Professionals who Communicate EffectivelyRecognize Potholes in the Road Ahead

• There is no G-O-V.org APP, therefore Social Media is but an augmentation

• Ideas are merely reinforced, Rarely are new people converted

• Reaching critical mass requires Seeing it through to the end

Professionals who Communicate EffectivelyRecognize Potholes in the Road Ahead

• Don’t undermine your message, Easy to say; Hard to do

• Mistakes are easily made, Impossible to erase and forget.

• It’s easy to dig yourself a big, BIG hole.

Public Policy Debates

• Standards of Conduct – Freedom of speech– Privacy– Security

• Subject Matter Examples– College Football

• Recruitment• Branding / Marketing• Legal Liabilities

– 2012 Olympics

Travel in Style

• Be Prepared• Purchase the latest equipment• Maintain a chain of approvals

• Personalize the talk• De-personalize your reactions• Means test everything• Never (ever) take your eye off the prize

Digital Logic

• Open Source• Algorithms and Authority• Web as Platform• Digital Governance• Paradox in Personalization

Social Media is a News Channel

A Communications Tsunami• 1997 Sixdegrees.com, First Social Network• 2002 Friendster launched 2nd Generation• 2003 MySpace launched• 2006 Twitter launched• 2007 Apple sells multi-touch interface I=Phone• 2008 Facebook surpasses as dominant network• 2010 Google sells open source Nexus One• 2010 Steve Jobs announces I-Pad launch• 2012 I-Phone 5 launches with built-in APPs

Shaking Up the Process

A Culture of Connections

• Expect challenges to the status quo• Support must now be visible• Crowd sourced wisdom surrounds us• Truth will be exposed• Democratization isn’t just a goal• Unique, inspired efforts are the norm• Respect is earned not awarded

Ask the “So What?” Question

We create the same amount of data in 48hours that once was the sum total of human knowledge from the beginning of time until 2003.

» Eli Pariser in » The Filter Bubble

Global• 4.8 billion own mobile devices• 4.2 billion own toothbrushes

U.S. • 55 million tablets current in use• By 2015, expect 108 million

2012: A Social Media OdysseyAverage mid-sized company has

178 “Social media assets” yet offers training to only 25% of employees.

77% will engage more with an organization whose “Top Dog” uses social media

82% trust an organization more when the leadership team communicates via

social media

The Citizens’ Revolution• Facebook has 250 million photos uploaded daily. U.S. users are becoming

less active in 2012, a 20% decline in joining, searching, and messaging.

• Twitter has 200 million users, half are active daily and 50 million are “extremely active.” 40% of Twitter users only consume content, rarely posting anything.

• Google’s search engine is used by 85% of global Internet users every month. Google+ will reach 400 million users by 2013. 63% are male, most in their mid-20s and only 17% are active.

• 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute and receive 3 billion views a day.

• Females visit blogs. 83% of Pinterest users are women. Men are the majority in only 2 of the top 10 social networks including LinkedIn.

Social Demographics

Disclosure Equality:• Real Names (87%)• Political Affiliations• Religious Affiliations• Favorite Brands (77%)

Men Share more:• Physical Address• Current Location• Phone Number• Income Level

Public Sector Exemplars

• Emergency Management

• Law Enforcement / Homeland Security

• NASA• Armed Forces• Diplomacy

Hierarchy of Research

5 Things to LOVE about Social Media Research

Results are almost instant

Data on hundreds or thousands more variables are available than can be collected via a 20 min. survey

Sample sizes are in the millions

You discover how people REALLY talk

It informs more traditional methods of research

6 Things to HATE about Social Media Research

There is no demographic data

It’s not a representative sample

Doesn’t measure awareness or incidence

Provides no insight

It’s not accurate

It doesn’t do laundry

Research Strategies using Twitter

• Scan trending or pre-selected key words• Use #hashtags for visibility• Identify your @Audience• Crowdsource your activities• Take an informal poll, Track the Metrics,

Create an Impact

Collaboration ClinicTwitter Tips & Techniques

WikispacesSocial Media Research Assignment