The upcoming Social Media for Government Conference, taking place in Ottawa this February, is closing in. My colleague Jennifer Savage, from WebDrive Canada, will once again be presenting, this time a case study titled, “Understanding Key Policies And Standards To Maximize Your Web 2.0 Initiatives”. She’s up on day two of the conference, while I’ll be running a pre-conference workshop tited, “How To Use Social Media To Engage More Citizens - Planting Seeds Online To Cultivate Conversations And Communities.”

The workshop at the last conference was a great success, so I’m hoping to build on that and help more people get to know the basics of Social Media. Here’s a bit from the abstract:

By planting seeds online, you can help people discover you, get to know you and find common interests - all so they can form a solid relationship with your organization.

In this hands-on workshop, you will learn about some of the tactics, tools and websites you can use to accomplish this, including:

    “The importance of monitoring online conversations and the introduction of basic tools needed to help your organization achieve this
    ” Various ways to respond to the ongoing conversations as you start to dip your toes into the”social media” waters
    ” How to initiate your own conversations to help you better engage citizens
    ” A look at some key social networking sites and how you can start planting seeds by participating in these existing communities

This is the second time we’ll both be involved in the conference and I can honestly say that it’s an excellent opportunity to see what other goverment departments are doing, gain an understanding of their challenges and see what they’ve done to foster a culture of collaboration to further their goals. Seeing really is believing - that’s why it could be an excellent opportunity to bring key colleagues along so they can see the benefits of a social media platform.

You can check out the agenda here.

Also, there’s a discount rate if you register by December 19th. Just ask for the EARLY BIRD rate to save $400. Plus, if you mention “SPK”, you’ll get an extra $200 off.

Let me know what you think. It’s could be a good way to help sell social media + web 2.0 strategies and solutions to your organization.

Tags: SocialMedia For Governement, Government 2.0, Social Media, Advanced Learning Institute, #ALI, Planting Seeds, Planting Seeds Online, PlantingSeeds.ca, WebDrive Canada