Blogging for the [Government] Enterprise at WordCampMid-Atlantic

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. 

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