Building Organizational Trust – the Foundation of Communication Success

School PR can’t succeed without cross organizational trust and support, especially from the top.  Learn to build that trust through cultivation and training before problems arise. Find out what district leaders need but won’t necessarily tell you. And learn to tell the boss, “you can say/do it better,” while building confidence and trust. Explore how to become the “go-to” person for planning and problem-solving and gather ideas for making staff and Board training more than a “necessary evil.” In this Action Lab, you’ll learn how to create a culture of communication effectiveness and leave with tools to mold better communication district-wide and provide all staff and departments with the foundation they need to succeed.

    
Presenters: Keith Imon, associate superintendent, communications and technology services; Philip Kavits, director of communications; and Steven Walts, Ed.D., superintendent, 
Prince William County Public Schools, Manassas, Va.

Opening the Doors to Public Decision-Making: Participatory Budgeting

In a time of widespread budget crises and plummeting trust in government, community members and public officials are searching for more democratic and accountable ways to manage public money. In 2009, Chicago Alderman Joe Moore tried a new approach, based on a model developed in Brazil. Through a Participatory Budgeting (PB) process, he invited residents to directly decide how to spend his ward’s discretionary funds – over $1 million annually. Since the success of PB in the 49th Ward, four city councilors in New York City have launched similar processes. In this Action Lab, you’ll learn about the benefits and challenges of the PB process through the experiences of Chicago’s 49^th Ward, hear how it is being implemented in school districts, and take part in hands-on activities to begin outlining your own process. Come learn how school districts can benefit from changing the way decisions are made about school funding.

        
Presenters: Joe Moore, 49th Ward alderman,
Chicago (Ill.) City Council; and Maria E. Hadden, project coordinator,
The Participatory Budgeting Project, Chicago, Ill.

Great Schools, Great Teachers: Economic Security in the 21st Century

Here is a great opportunity to take part in an interactive discussion with an influential member of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s leadership team about communicating education reform at both the national and local levels. This Special Session will help build your understanding of federal education priorities and initiatives, and how they are impacting, or may impact in the future, students in your school system, state and local community. Take advantage of the chance to give your input and provide feedback to the U.S. Department of Education’s top communicator about federal education issues, and hear stories about local successes and challenges. There will be plenty of time for Q & A and dialogue, so you won’t want to miss out on this unique opportunity.

         
Presenter: Peter Cunningham, assistant secretary  
communications and outreach, 
U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.  

How Would You Solve an $8 Million Budget Shortfall?

In 2009, Carroll ISD’s superintendent was asked to create an Expenditure Reduction Plan to address a significant budget deficit. With help from the PR staff, he presented a two-year ER plan to engage all employees and the public in finding expenditure reduction and revenue enhancement ideas to address an operating deficit. This Action Lab will outline what went well and what went wrong as the multi-year Expenditure Reduction and Balance the Budget public engagement plan was implemented. You’ll learn about the PR foundations that are key to the success of any public engagement process, how to establish ground rules for all participants, and how to organize and present the expected public input results and outcomes from the process. Take part in a hands-on activity to develop a plan and explore the pitfalls and successes of Carroll ISD’s five-year process to engage the community and build financial support. You’ll leave with copies of the plan, survey questions and other resources to duplicate the process.

   
Presenters: David Faltys, Ed.D., superintendent; and 
 Julie Thannum, APR, executive director, communications/marketing, 
Carroll Independent School District, Grapevine, Texas

Community Engagement – Connecting Pieces of the Puzzle

Successful community engagement is like a puzzle – there are multiple pieces in every community and each piece is needed to complete the picture. In this session you’ll learn how to match up the pieces and successfully engage your community in creating support structures around kids and staff in the midst of heavy budget cuts. Hear how one district effectively brought the business, social/human services, and faith-based sectors of the community together through a model program – Bright Futures...Connections for Success – with one focus in mind; creating a culture where kids can learn and education is valued. The support structures for kids and staff that were created in the midst of heavy budget cuts also served as the foundation for helping the Joplin community rise from the rubble in the aftermath of last year’s devastating tornado that destroyed the town and impacted the lives of all students and citizens. You’ll learn how to: evaluate your needs and resources; get key people on board to carry the message; gain buy-in and educate the public to the real need without creating a dismal picture of your district; determine ROI and reevaluate so you can refine for the following year; and keys to continued engagement. You’ll have an opportunity to discuss best practices and marketing materials and a sample implementation plan/timeline will be shared to help you start a program in your district.

        
Presenters: C.J. Huff, Ed.D., superintendent; 
and Kim Vann, director, community development, 
Joplin (Mo.) Schools

Great Communicators Media Training

Whether you are a principal, superintendent or communications professional, you likely remember how terrifying it was to have a reporter stick a microphone in your face and demand answers to the latest incident in your school system. You were probably wishing that sometime in your career you had been given the guidance and training to meet this media challenge. This Action Lab offers just that, and is led by two former FOX News Chicago broadcasters who are now part of MediaPros 24/7 preparing clients for television, radio and print interviews. This Lab will focus on the types of education content questions school administrators are often asked, but hate to answer. Both content and presentation skills will be discussed. Mock interviews with participants will be conducted “live” on screen and you will learn how to make your message “sound bite friendly.” You will also be given transitional tools that allow you to stay on message and deflect the tough questions you can’t or may not want to answer. In this Action Lab you will learn how the media operates and what reporters, editors and producers are looking for when they conduct live interviews.

                            
Presenters: Anne Kavanaugh, president, MediaPros 24/7, and Emmy Award-winning 
TV reporter, Chicago, Ill.; and David Viggiano, media consultant, MediaPros 24/7, 
and former entertainment and arts feature reporter at FOX News Chicago

Exploring Best Practices Through Crisis Exercises

Knowing what to do when faced with a crisis can be the difference between chaos and calm – or even life and death. In this Action Lab, participants will work as Crisis Response Teams using table-top scenarios to explore best practices in school emergency management. You will examine the roles, responsibilities, tasks and overall logistics associated with managing a real-life emergency situation and learn better methods for managing common crisis elements, such as parent-student reunification, mobilization of support staff, and parent and media communications. Come practice, refine and expand your crisis response skills under the guidance of a veteran PR pro who led the crisis communication response effort during the Columbine High School tragedy and as the lead PIO for FEMA following Hurricane Katrina.

Presenter: Rick Kaufman, APR, executive director, 
community relations/emergency management, 
Bloomington (Minn.) Public Schools

Using Social Media to Improve Your Communication

This dynamic Action Lab will provide you with a step-by-step guide for using social media in your school district and walk you through the process of building a social media plan. In addition to learning from the experiences of the presenters, participants will start work on their own social media plans. This lab will be very interactive, providing opportunities for brainstorming as well as planning as you develop your social media strategy. The Lab will cover: how to use social media; lessons learned from how one school district is using social media as a communication tool; and the true benefits realized by adding social media to the communication toolbox. You will leave this session with sample policies and procedures, a social media implementation model, a better understanding of the time commitment involved and how social media fits onto an already full plate, and the outline of a plan to implement social media in your school district.

Presenters: Annette Eyman, communications director;
and Kala Morrissey, communication specialist,
Papillion-La Vista School District, Papillion, Neb.

Gold Mine Session

Long a favorite session of Seminar participants, the Gold Mine roundtables let you gather a treasure-trove of best practice ideas on a variety of topics to try in your district. Here’s your chance to attend four mini-sessions of 20 minutes each (Seminar session speed dating!). Plus, you’ll receive a resource CD containing tip sheets from all the roundtables at the end of the session. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to capture the best ideas from your colleagues in a time-saving format.