Social Media Positions – January 2010

Posted on by
1

Occasionally I will forward emails or notes to friends whom I know are looking for jobs which call for Social Media as a main part of the duties and knowledge of the position.

Since I am the Vice President of Social Media Club – DC, I thought it fitting I post my most recent findings in a blog post.

I have no knowledge of these positions other than I have found them on various sites. Please do not email me to apply. I am not responsible for expired links or job posting.  However, if I happen to know you in real life and have worked with you in some capacity, I will be happy to provide a reference.

Who is the Most Influential Female In US Government?

Posted on by
12

Take the survey or leave a detailed comment please…

I am gathering opinions for preparations for future events. I am looking to your input to help me identify women in Government.

Submissions are anonymous and you can submit more than one response. Results will be posted in a few days.

NerdHerding for Fun and Profit

Posted on by
1

Today I am in Denver and I am going to be speaking this afternoon about how to have fun with Community Management at Defrag. As much as it is a business, its not all stuffed shirts and processes.

I believe I was born to be a community manager. At some level at least. When I was younger, I used to be the one on my street that organized all the kids together in the games we would play. If I had my scanner and photo album here with me, I would be sharing pictures with you of a bunch of kids rein-acting the Beatles “Help” in her grandmother’s front yard.

In high school, I wasn’t a loner, I was a connector. I didn’t belong to one specific group (grits, yo’s, preps, or jocks). I had friends in all these circles, but I didn’t associate with any specifically. However, I was able to work with all of them to get things done. I learned how to produce videos from the ideas in my head, using my associations to get the finished product to air on local television.

In the Army, while stationed in Germany, I used the old spaces in our barracks basement to throw parties. We would have themes and the parties kept the soldiers on the base safe and without having to drink and drive.

After the Army I created my own music promotions company, Emerging Sounds. In which I helped bands connect with their fans and get noticed by major record labels. Which, I can proudly say, several of the acts I worked with did go on to get signed. Some with big successes.

In recent years, as a Government Contractor with Navstar, Inc, I have been a community manager in a real sense being able to work on the Intellipedia project.

Taking my life lessons learned, I have been able to observe how people interact with each other in person and online in much of the same way. My talk today is a glimpse into that world and the dance of the community manager.

Continuation on Communicating With Social Media

Posted on by
2

Last Week, I spoke at the Potomac Forum’s session on “How to” in Social Media in Government. My presentation was on How to Write a Blog Post: The first steps of organizational blogging.

I have been blogging in some shape or form since 1999. I started blogging about concerts I attended and the occasional hi-jinks that ensued with my work as a music promoter. Over the years, I have transitioned to community management and supporting the Federal Government with Enterprise 2.0 best practices. Part of being a good community manager is to have a voice that can be heard above the rest of the noise of discussion in regards to presenting policy and guidelines, as well as mitigating wiki edit wars.

As such, I leverage my blog internally in my company and with the customers I support to organize the chaos. Blogs are an effective way to place a conversation or announcement you would normally send to a large email recipient list and can prevent those long chains of “reply all”.

This workshop is a follow-up to my previous talk at the last Potomac Forum I spoke at in August 2009, Hints for Communicating in Social Media.

To see the steps I have covered in my talk, please check out the wiki on GovCollab.

Blogs I contribute to on the open internet aside from this one:

I am also a guest blogger for ZDNet and Social Computing Journal on topics of Enterprise 2.0 and Government 2.0. Occasionally, I am also asked to guest post on blogs, which I consider an honor and will link on my website. If you would like me to be a guest blogger on your site you can contact me via twitter (@immunity) to connect for more details.

Communicating Through Social Media

Posted on by
12

Occasionally, I will speak in public, in groups at happy hours, or with customers in the office about Social Media and how to effectively use social software, specifically free and open sourced software when applicable. At the Potomac Forum Government Leadership event at the Reagan Building, I will be semi-formalizing this talk to suggest “Hints for Communicating through Social Media”

During my talk, I will be asking the following questions to those in the audience to think about:

  • What is your mission?
  • Who is your target audience?
  • How do you communicate now?
  • What social media tools are right for you?
What is the Difference in all this 2.0 Stuff?

What is the Difference in all this 2.0 Stuff?

Internal vs. External Communication

Excusing my crappy excuse for drawing on a flipchart, you can see from my “illustration” above what the difference with all the buzzwords that are floating around. This is the main focus of my talk that I give when talking to people who are interested in knowing more, have heard the buzz and think they need “Facebook” or “Twitter” as their answer. But it may not be that simple. I previously discussed this back in April on a guest post on ZDNet, “You Were Never 1.0, but Get Ready for Enterprise 2.0“. Fortunately what I wrote then still holds true months later.

My aim is to prepare organizations, be it business or Government to make a knowledgeable transition into effective communication and workflow using Software as a Service or other Web 2.0 applications in an Enterprise manner. While there is much good being done by Social Media/Web evangelists — myself included, those intrigued should not get caught in the glamour and glitz of something new for new sake, but strategically plan around what the problem is that an organization is trying to solve. The “Jeopardy Method”, of giving the answer then ask the question/dilemma seems to be how things are getting done now. When the case should be — the question/dilemma is “Our Organization is Having a Problem Communicating externally, internally, capturing workflow, answering requests for information, etc… and we need to fix that by?” Identifying the problems, in detail before you have a solution in mind will help you choose the right tool for the job.

Sounds a little old school right? It should — using social media is just a new way of doing old business. Now project costs are lower because the software is not dependent of End User Licenses and pricey volume purchases. Now, you can find the best fit to solve the problem and then customize it yourself, or with a company that specializes in customization of known solution like Mantech and Jive‘s software. For example, Jive Software develops and provides the software  platform that Mantech customizes and supports onsite for their customers. The result, “A-Space”, a social networking and productivity site for the US Intelligence Community.

So I am sorry for the late night post, but I was just told tonight that C-Span will be recording and covering live the conference at the Reagan Building, I am a little nervous and definitely will be coloring my hair tonight. After my presentation, I will publish my slides (which I normally don’t do slides), for review. Addtionally, I will add, I do have a finished White Paper on “Enterprise 2.0 for Government” available by request.

Protected: Ignite DC #2 and SxSW Interactive

Posted on by

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:


US AIR GUITAR FINALS IN WASHINGTON DC

Posted on by
2
I have been looking forward to tonight for some time. Back in June, I had the pleasure of judging the US AIR GUITAR regional at the 930 club. It was such a blast. Tonight, the madness resumes as we [DC] pick our representative to the World Finals in Finland.
I will not be judging tonight, I will be representing the geek girl/gov goth fandomonium in the crowd. I am looking forward to meeting up with the fast friends from last time and rooting for both “The Shred” and “Sanjar the Destroyer (STD)”.
Finals in Washington DC

Finals in Washington DC

NBC had some great coverage about the event I judged as a preview for tonight’s finals. Take a look, I show up in the video at the end showing my love for STD!!

The Washington Post also covers tonight’s debauchery…..
The US AIR GUITAR blog, also had an excellent recap of the June event. A hilariously fun read, but barely covers the insanity of the night. There are no words for what you experience in the crowd at one of these events.
And Mitt Umlaut, I will be looking for you tonight ;)
So come out, doors are at 8pm at 930 Club

Full-screen

930
815 V St NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 393-0930

Social Media Club DC – Mid-Summer Happy Hour (Tonight)

Posted on by
Reply
I am pleased to announce that my company Navstar, Inc. will be sponsoring tonight’s Social Media Club DC – Mid-Summer Happy Hour [July 29, 2009 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (ET)] at Bar Louie in Chinatown, Washington, DC.

This event is brought to you by Social Media Club DC and Navstar to introduce the new leadership team, including myself as Executive Vice President and Programming Director. I am very excited to be taking on this role for the team. I have already dived into the position and I can tell you great things are in the works for this fall, including a trip to wine country with DC Tech Adventure.

In lieu of a formal event for July, Social Media Club DC is getting together for a little networking, a couple cool drinks, and a lot of fun.

Please join myself, colleagues from [@Navstar and @CocoNavstar] at Bar Louie on July 29. We’ll be in the back room, with drink specials available for Social Media Club members. As of the time I am writing this I have not yet decided what I will be wearing – but I will have a nametag. I promise, even though we are in the middle of a hot one this summer I will wear my hair down. And those of you going by my twitter avatar pic who have not met me yet, let me warn you, my hair has grown out longer.

Aside from being a fun way to unwind with fellow DC geeks [nerds and technoweenies too!] after a long work day, the July event will also give you a chance to meet and share ideas with our new leadership team.

To RSVP, you can go to http://smcdcjuly.eventbrite.com/ (If the RVSP is sold out, you can come anyways as a guest of mine)

I am very happy to mark this occasion as a kick off to the new leadership team, some of which I am also meeting for the first time. Looking at the list of RSVP’s I see many names of people I have been dying to meet for some time. If you are wondering if you are one of those people, you are. So come say hi, seriously.

As my company is sponsoring my first event as Programming Director of SMC-DC, there will be plenty to nibble on for snacks and drink specials. [HH specials: $3 draft, $5 wine, $7 signature cocktails]. We will be in the back room so look for the Navstar Banner. In addition, remember to bring your business cards for a chance to win tickets to a Nationals game. These seats are amazing. I love that you are right on the first base line and if you care to know, a short distance from the drink stand. Let’s hope Teddy wins at the game you go to.

As a reminder, here’s the information on the new club leaders, so you can feel free to connect with them prior to the event, as always you can follow @smcdc for all the news and happenings.

Larissa Fair – President

Twitter – @lyf108

Andrea Baker – Executive Vice President and Programming Director

@immunity

Anna Gabert and Travis Mason- Vice President & Sponsorship Directors

@annagabert @tgmason

Sarah Wurrey – Vice President & Promotions Director

@sarahwurrey

Nisha Chittal, Meg Roberts, Sara Burson – Event Managers

@nishachittal, @megmroberts, @saraburson

Maia Kotlus-Gates and Beth McNamee – Membership Managers

@maiakg, @bethmcnamee

Gabriel Key – Digital Scribe/Content Organizer

@gabrielmkey

Event Logistics:

Wednesday, July 29
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Bar Louie
701 7th Street NW #D
Washington, DC 20001
202-638-2460

Connect with SMC-DC

Washington DC has its own wiki-in-progress. Please visit: http://socialmediaclubdc.pbwiki.com/ for more details.

Washington DC Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/smcdc

Hashtag: #smcdc

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2419741913

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1820071&trk=hb_side_g

Friendfeed: http://www.friendfeed.com/smcdc

Starting Over, Yet Again

Posted on by
Reply

And no its not that book that is in the self help aisle that Charlotte was looking for in the “Sex in the City” tv show, but its about the newest chapter in my life as a Government Consultant. Last month was my last day as a full time wiki Gardener/Digital Curator for Intellipedia and other social software tools for the Intelligence Community. I am still doing project management for the contract as my/our vested interest of Navstar and Enterprise 2.0 work, in the bigger picture of Government 2.0.

When one does consultant work, especially in the Federal Government, as I do, you tend to rotate to new contracts on occasion. I’ve been on some contracts for years, others for months depending on the work. Sometimes I have been on a contract from inception, others I have taken to a close. But with each one, I learn so much and gain new friends and colleagues.

In fact, since I have been consulting in the same field since I left the Army in 1998, I keep running into the same familiar names and faces. Some even go back to those days when I wore BDUs.  I have worked with several kinds of contracting companies, from Small to Medium to Large. So now, with all this time under my belt, I can tell you my best experience so far has been with the small female owned company by Joanna Alexis, Navstar, Inc.

With Navstar, I have been growing up a lot. When I first joined I was still doing work as a billable employee as a Developer (I even learned a bit of Ruby on Rails). Even though I had previously done work as a Project Manager and even a small venture as an Independent Contractor. Over my time here at Navstar, I have pulled away from being just a developer and back into Project Management and Business Development.

As my mission to continuously grow the Enterprise 2.0 division of work, I have been scouting fine talent inside and outside of the Federal Government to work towards and more Open and Transparent ethos inside and out. Not only have I been recruiting great minds to our team, but I have been growing this business in the same breaths. Which brings me to where I am today and the subject of this post.

A few weeks ago now, back fresh from a mini beach vacation in Ocean City, I started back with the organization I was formerly a developer, in an Agile project management role. The team I join has a stellar background in delivering innovative work with the use of new technologies and agile business development.

Yesterday I spent some time in an Agile Refresher “talk” that was tailored to my work I will be doing with the team as a Project Manager. While in the “talk”, I realized that Agile falls right into some of the rethinking your mind and fits into what I am trying to evangelize when I am talking Enterprise 2.o to my customers. My role now as a PM is not only to be a liaison between the developers and the website owner and stakeholders, but it is also to innovate an agency, if not a community into bigger and better ways to achieve our over all mission. Because, its the mission that is the focus, not just the tools.

So today, I am opening my mind even more by attending Blog Potomac #blogpotomac in Falls Church, right down the street from Navstar Headquarters. And in two weeks, I am looking forward to meeting some of the Enterprise 2.0 luminaries at Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston. #e2conf

But no matter what the case, I promise I will still be a rockstar, realist, and edgerider to deliver quality work to my Government customers.

Blogging for the [Government] Enterprise at WordCampMid-Atlantic

Posted on by
Reply

Whether you work for the Government or a public business, it is very important for you to approach your blog content as a professional and with an established brand. Today (this afternoon) I am presenting my thoughts at WordCamp Mid-Atlantic about Enterprise Blogging, especially with regards to the recent efforts of Government 2.0. 

The day is energetic for a bunch of nerds to get up early on a Saturday morning with so much going on today in the area. We have the Preakness just up the road, the Joint Service Open House at Andrews Air Force Base, and right next door, one of my alma mater’s “University of Phoenix” is graduating next door, amongst the many other institutions that are holding their commencement ceremonies. 

But back on topic, today since I have been moved from the User Track to the Technical Track of the schedule, I want to focus a little on both. So I have prepared remarks about the technical needs of the Enterprise when it comes to blogging. My points are strongly specific to the Government 2.0 aspect of the Enterprise. 

The first aspect I want to touch on is culture – the User side of the story. When it comes to the culture part of the story, there is much to address when it comes to the behavior of how we share information. Recently I had published a lengthy guest editorial at ZDNet about the mindset of “You Were Never 1.0“. While not all of my Enterprise 2.0 colleagues agree with all my points, I believe strongly in the bottom line of my message. You need to practice your game before you step on to the court.

Anil Dash seemed to echo this sentiment about blogging in general. He mentioned that when he looked back on his earlier blogs (he and I both started blogging 10 years ago), he can see how much he has grown as a blogger. This is why I think just getting your foot in the door and blogging internally is a great way to practice your tone, demeanor and message. Once you have practiced a bit behind the firewall, you can almost anticipate the reaction and how you react. 

The second aspect is the technical nature. There is much to discuss when it comes to where the Enterprise will go with new Web 2.0 and blog widgets, I briefly touched on this earlier this year in an interview with Executive Biz. 

So I hope that my presentation today is more of a conversation, what we have learned in Enterprise blogging and what can the open community, especially the mid-altantic can do to help move ahead the blogging force of Government 2.0, inside and outside of the firewall.

I’m up against a big hitter this afternoon, so if you are at the camp today, I hope I can steal your attention away from the big dogs to have a robust dialogue. 

2:30-3:15 Twitter, Friendfeed and Social Tools: Extending the blog beyond the blog – Dan Zarrella [BC-AUD] Blogging in Government – Andrea Baker [BC-143]