Join LinkedIn and connect with other communicators!

LinkedIn is like the grown-up MySpace or Facebook, only very, very driven towards networking for professional adults and utilizing it as a career resource. Visit LinkedIn at http://linkedin.com and sign-up for a profile today. Here are ways it can be beneficial:

• post your online resume and experiences for others to see your areas of expertise
• use it as a way to connect with colleagues, friends, former college or high school classmates, potential business and industry partners, and experts who might be able to assist you or answer your questions
• Ask questions and get answers and advice from experts
• see job postings or post jobs

There are lots of ways to utilize this social networking tool. Another reason to get on LinkedIn now more than ever is because professional organizations that directly benefit communicators and marketers and those of us in career-tech are now on LinkedIn Groups. Who is on there?

• National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA)
  
• Association for Career-Technical Educators (ACTE)
• Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
• And our very own group for CTE communicators in Ohio, the Ohio Career-Technical Education Communicators!

CTE Communicators encouraged to attend OACTE Leadership and Empowerment Summit

2008 Ohio ACTE Leadership and Empowerment Summit
Friday, September 19, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm(Registration at 8:00 am)
Dublin Embassy Suites
There is no registration fee*, but you must register online at www.ohioacte.org. Meeting details and tentative agenda are also available on the Web site.
Purpose:
It’s time to embark on developing our shared vision for the coming year. Ohio ACTE is ready to plan for the future and become a better resource for Career Technical Educators.
Come hear Ohio ACTE’s strategic plan and vision for the future and how your leadership is needed to further the goals of Ohio ACTE.
SPECIAL KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
What makes associations effective?
J. Clarke Price, CEO, Ohio Society of CPAs
“7 Measures of Success – What Remarkable Associations Do that Others Don’t”
Expected to attend: Ohio ACTE Committee Chairs/Members, Division Presidents and President-elects, Division Treasurers, Division Secretaries, and Division Conference Chairs, Ohio Department of Education Career and Technical Education staff, anyone wanting to take a leadership role in Ohio CTAE.
*This meeting is being supported by several of our business partners who will be in attendance. Their generosity is appreciated!
Questions? Contact Ohio ACTE at 614/890-2283.

Public information and transparency in Ohio

Volume #77, Report #155, Article #3--Monday, August 11, 2008
NEW THINK TANK SITE CATALOGS PUBLIC RECORDS, INVITES PUBLIC TO EDIT INFORMATION
Lawmakers' capital budget requests and public employees' collective bargaining agreements were among the first documents posted on a new website the Buckeye Institute launched on Monday.
The website (http://www.ohiosunshine.org/index.php/Main_Navigation_Page ) will not only post data about state and local governments, but allow the public to edit data and create new entries as they see fit, according to the free market think tank.
Michael Maurer, director of the institute's new Center for Transparent and Accountable Government, said the "wiki" site was designed to provide information on government business in s format that is accessible to the public.
In addition to data already available but hard to find on government websites, the institute will make public records requests for additional documents, Mr. Maurer said. Also on the site: e-mail addresses of school district superintendents and treasurers and local government public record policies.
"With very few exceptions, everything the government is doing should be accessible to us," he said during a news conference to publicize the organization's government transparency initiative.
Other states have made better efforts than Ohio to improve government transparency, he said, noting West Virginia has posted its entire public employee payroll online.
While acknowledging that a publicly edited web site could present problems as to the fairness and accuracy of information, Mr. Maurer said the technology already existed and should be used for the vital function of monitoring government functions.
The organization is also asking candidates for public office throughout the state to sign a pledge for transparency and openness in government that expresses belief in posting financial data, labor agreements and other data online.

Pat Huston
Manager, Products & Customer Services
Office of Career-Technical and Adult Education
Ohio Department of Education
25 S. Front St., Columbus, Ohio 43215
(614) 466-3430

The Get Social Project: The List of 15

As a supplement to the presentation (see post below this one) on social media marketing given at the Ohio ACTE Conference on August 7, 2008, comes The Get Social Project: The List of 15. The purpose of the list is to introduce you and allow you to explore social media tools on your own time and at your own pace. If you complete the list of 15 you will be more aware of the tools and may even decide that they can be useful in marketing, communications, or recruiting. If you have questions or need help, you shouldn't hesitate to ask by emailing Shane Haggerty at shaggerty@ohp.k12.oh.us or by posting your question or comment on this blog. To get started, you have to understand the reason why social media can be valuable. View this video for an easy explanation.

The List of 15:
Phase one:
1. Read one or two blogs and post a comment on at least one. Here are some blogs you can visit: OHP Office of Communications Blog, DrTimTyson.com, OHP Superintendent's Blog, or do a Google search like "Blogs About..." Posting comments is an important part because it contributes to the online conversation. Read any blog you want and make a comment.
2. Once you find a blog or blogs you are interested in, subscribe to it by adding your email if it has that option. If you can't subscribe to it, subscribe to the RSS Feed on the page. Need more help on understanding an RSS Feed? Watch this video.
3. Create your own iGoogle page where you can host various blogs all in one section. Here you will be able to view the various blogs you subscribe to and see if they have been updated. An iGoogle page is just a way to host your RSS feed subscriptions.
4. Create your own blog! You can create a personal blog (maybe you have something to say!) or create one for your school district or organization. You can use WordPress, TypePad, LiveJournal, or Blogger.
Phase two:
5. Visit Flickr and search around. Then, create a Flickr account to share photos or videos.
6. Watch YouTube videos. There are a number of colleges, especially, that have their own dedicated channel on YouTube for hosting. If you are brave, create a video and post it on YouTube. The thing to remember about YouTube or all online video is that people want videos to be REAL. This means it doesn't have to be slick or have high production quality. People enjoy rough, grainy, unplanned, transparent, etc.
7. Visit other video sites like Viddler, VeOh, and SchoolTube.
Phase three:
8. Visit Wikipedia and see what a Wiki is all about. Also, visit WetPaint and see what you can do there to create a Wiki. WetPaint is a bit more user friendly and controllable, in my opinion. Wikis are great tools for classroom collaboration and for internal staff collaboration. You can use Wikis for long-term project planning, meetings, etc.
9. Check out Yahoo! Groups and Google Docs and see all the tools you can use there. Yahoo and Google Groups are also tools you can use for collaboration and planning. Google Docs also has web analytics, e-commerce options, chat, organizational email services, and other services that allow you to manage better and embrace collaboration and cooperation.
Phase four:
10. Join Twitter and start following people. You don't need to know people you follow, but rather pay attention to the field they work in or what they are interested in. Twitter is a great way to network and seek out advice or professional help. Also, many news organizations and corporations (airlines JetBlue, Southwest) are on Twitter and you can follow them and benefit from their updates. You can follow me @shanehaggerty or follow Ohio Hi-Point @OHPthisminute. If you still don't get it, watch this video for an explanation.
11. Sign-up for a Facebook profile. It's easy and fast and you can divulge as much info as you want. Once on there, search for friends, search for groups (most colleges have alumni groups) or professional interest groups. Many businesses and organizations (especially non-profits) have embraced Facebook.
12. Sign-up for a Linkedin profile. Linkedin is a place for adults and professionals and is a great way to network and seek out professional advice and services. Many organizations and companies have started using Linkedin (which allows people to basically post online resumes) for human resource purposes. There is also a group for Ohio Career-Tech Communicators you can join or create a group that applies to what you do.
Phase five:
13. Explore del.icio.us and sign-up. Use this site to easily bookmark websites you come across you'd like to use later for resources or for presentations or just for enjoyment.
14. Explore StumbleUpon and sign-up. Again, this site can easily help you explore the web and keep track of it all.
Phase six:
15. Visit Second Life and learn more. Visit the Ohio University Second Life Campus video on YouTube to see it in action.

Share what you create, how you are using social media, what works and what doesn't, and your opinions, by emailing shaggerty@ohp.k12.oh.us or by posting directly to this blog. Join our conversation within the Ohio ACTE PR Academy.
Of course, you may not want to do all 15 things on the list so you can pick-and-choose and explore what you wish. By completing everything you are guaranteed to at least educate yourself on what your students are experts at. Career-Tech is an innovative form of education and each of us who work in it should be proactive about these tools and embrace them to lead the world of education in innovative ways to utilize these tools.

Social Media Marketing: OACTE Conference Presentation

Social Media Marketing For Career Tech

From: shaggertyohp, 2 minutes ago

Social Media Marketing For Career Tech

View SlideShare presentation (tags: social media career-tech education)

Shane Haggerty, Communications Coordinator at Ohio Hi-Point Career Center, and Kelly Herzog, Public Information Coordinator at Miami Valley CTC, presented on social media marketing at the annual Ohio ACTE Conference in Columbus, OH, on August 7, 2008. For more information visit http://ohioactepr.blogspot.com


SlideShare Link

Ohio ACTE Conference this week!

The annual Ohio ACTE Conference is being held this week in Columbus on August 7-8.  The Ohio ACTE PR Academy will be meeting on Friday the 8th at a time and place to be announced.  Also, several communicators will be presenting sessions during the conference.  The program guide is now available on the OACTE website and features a listing of all sessions and events during the conference.

Brainstorming at Bob Evans

Today Peg Allen from Warren County Career Center, Monica Danseck from Penta Career Center and me, Shane Haggerty from Ohio Hi-Point Career Center, met at a central point in Wapakoneta at the Bob Evans for what turned out to be a three-hour meeting about the Ohio ACTE PR Academy. While relatively new, this group's purpose is for professional development, idea-sharing, venting, and bringing a sense of community and professionalism to the role of the career-tech communicator, marketer, recruiter or whatever your title. We just wanted to share some thoughts and ideas about how to increase membership (it's free, by the way!) and to collaborate more often in order to provide a support system. Moreover, the role of the PR person is sometimes lessened in the world of education and by growing this group and its image and speaking in a collective voice, we may be able to enhance how people view our roles and justify the importance of what we do! We shared a lot of things and will be communicating those to you soon!

Social Media in Plain English

Here's a helpful and brief video explanation of social media from a company called Common Craft.

Podcasting in Plain English

Today I attended a workshop at the Ohio School Boards Association in Columbus on podcasting. The three-hour workshop was conducted by Apple. So, obviously, we learned to do the podcasts on Apple's GarageBand software. Let me just say this workshop was great and the GarageBand software put a complicated process using a PC into the easy category by utilizing this software.
During the workshop the above video was shown to simplify understanding about podcasts.

Career-Tech Communicator Survey

If you haven't already done this, please click on the link below to complete a survey that will porvide some information to other CTE PR and marketing people. It will also help decide when the Fall CTE Communicators Meeting will be held at Ohio Hi-Point Career Center in Bellefontaine, OH.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=I0FDrm8wyyHKs_2fnJNpViIw_3d_3d