Public Information Commission Winter Meeting 2015
Meeting Notes | Thursday, January 29, 2015
South Puget Sound Community College, Olympia
Laura McDowell, SBCTC
Katie Rose, SBCTC
Sherry Nelson, SBCTC
Jim Hills, Shoreline
Brian Benedetti, Pierce
Katherine Schiffner, Everett
Chato Hazelbaker, Clark
Arden Ainley, Skagit Valley
Carl Young, Skagit Valley
Carolyn Casey, Spokane
Aaron Managhan, South Puget Sound
Kellie Purce Braseth, South Puget Sound
Rory Douglas, Clover Park
Melissa Mixon, North Seattle
David Sandler, Seattle Central
Lisa Skari, Highline
Niki Hopkins, Yakima Valley
Mary Vermillion, Whatcom
Allison Friedly, Green River
Dylan King, North Seattle
Shawn Jennison, Tacoma
Marni Saling Mayer, Bellingham
Kate Burrows, Pierce
Trisha Parker, Peninsula
Bart Becker, Bellevue
Meagan Walker, Cascadia
Regine Adams, Lake Washington
Emily Thurston, Seattle Central
Marisa Ellis, Whatcom
Doug Sly, Big Bend
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1. Welcome and Introductions
Kellie Braseth welcomed the PIC group to campus.
2. Roundtable
Participants shared one concern and one piece of good news.
3. Social Media in the Governor’s Office – Anna Bukowski, New
Media Coordinator, Office of Governor Jay Inslee
Anna spoke about using social media to tell a story.
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The governor’s office uses social media to meet people where they are, tell the
governor’s story, serve constituents, and to listen to conversations important to our
communities.
Tells the story with: governor’s office work, governor’s priorities, and governor’s
personal life.
Social media offers unique stories, unique access (allowing the reader/viewer to feel
closer to the governor, humanize him.)
Review: Everything she posts is looked at by at least one other person.
Selects platforms based on the message.
Example: Telling the story of Jay Inslee – a photo from his past for Throwback Thursday.
Shows who he is when he’s not working.
Serving Constituents: Need to be prepared (develop a policy for responding); the more
you answer questions, the more you’ll get; in addition to online response, do offline
response. Use the governor’s office account, not the governor’s personal account, for
answering journalists.
Listening to conversations: Will track events in real time. Watches social media for
sentiment, rumors, messaging about an issue. Uses TweetDeck and Hootsuite for
monitoring and posting messages.
Measure success: Gather data, not just data about likes. Look for are people engaging
(clicking)? What topics are working? What types of content is working (ex: photo vs
video).
Report out about value of social media. Put it in context, and share your successes.
Keys to success: Be timely, be human, gain institutional support.
Planning for social media: Doesn’t do much long-term planning. Reacting as needed. But
consider planning timeless content.
4. Legislative Update, Alison Grazzini Smith, SBCTC
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SBCTC tracking about 150 higher education-related bills.
Discussed four agency bills: Basic Education, Military Fee Waiver, Corrections
Education, and Statutory Streamlining.
Key issues this session: Dual credit, veterans’ issues, state employee compensation and
benefits, K-12 funding.
Review SBCTC’s Session Advocacy Plan for information about how individual colleges
can regularly engage with legislators.
5. SBCTC Communications Update – Laura McDowell, SBCTC
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Website changes are underway for SBCTC’s website. Change from agency focus
to college focus. Expects to launch new site in Fall 2015. Send Sherry Nelson
program web edits by Feb. 17.
Field guides are out.
Many media calls after President Obama’s community college proposal.
Katie Rose at SBCTC created a SBCTC style guide and is working on creating a
list of college requirements, such as the non-discrimination statement.
Contracted with a company to create a video for student recruitment and a video
showcasing awesome CTC students.
6. Changing Demographics, Changing Enrollments – David Prince,
SBCTC
See David Prince’s presentation in full at the SBCTC Winter PIC Meeting on Dropbox.
7. Storytelling and Speechwriting – Jennifer Waldref, Office of
Governor Jay Inslee and Guy Bergstrom, Message Coordinator for
Washington State House Democrats
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What makes a great speech? Short, emotional, descriptive and vivid, and they
include stories.
Example of how the governor’s speeches tell stories: either a personal story about
himself, a story about someone in the room, or a story about someone not in the
room connected to the issue.
Guy: The inverted pyramid doesn’t work for persuasion. All writing is used to
persuade.
Before you write: identify what you want the listener to do; identify who you are
talking to.
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Three steps of persuasion: Change of mood, change their minds, get them to act.
Three audiences: Friendly, Neutral, Hostile
For Neutral, include all three steps. For Friendly, skip to act.
Three kinds of debates: Facts (the past), Present (values), Future (risk vs
reward/opportunity cost). Most political debates focus on the future.
Look at screenwriting for examples of how to structure stories.
Include setups and payoffs. A good story must have both.
Don’t weigh down speeches with lots of numbers. Tell a story that explains the
meaning of the statistic instead. Every time a speech has a number, use an
example to illustrate meaning.
Write the speech exactly how it should be read (include pauses). Use all caps to
note a particular word should be emphasized.
Ideally, have the speaker practice the speech at least once. Encourage them to nail
the first and last line of the speech.
Delivery is important, but connection is more important. It’s not the words, it’s
how they connect.
8. Case Study: Crisis Communication – Doug Sly, Big Bend
Community College
A discussion about how Big Bend approached a situation with challenging communications
needs.
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