Web Manager University - Spring 2007
Class Title: Survey of Social Media: Blogs, RSS, Podcats, Wikis, and More
Rescheduling Note: This class was originally scheduled as an in-person seminar on March 30. It has been rescheduled for a later date and is now offered via webinar.
Webinar Description
The landscape of online communication has changed dramatically and irrevocably. No longer do organizations control their messages by pushing them one-way using online delivery tools like email and web pages. The former members of the audience are now equal parts creators and consumers of content; they are engaged in a conversation. In this dynamic session, online communication expert Shel Holtz will guide you through the meaning of this change and the tools you can implement quickly and easily to become part of it.
Why You Should Attend
As more and more people engage in the ever-widening conversation, organizations and institutions that continue to preach one-way, top-down, will lose audience share – and credibility. Research indicates that trust in such institutions is eroding while trust in “people like me” is on the rise. For your online communication to continue producing value, adopting these tools is not optional; it’s required.
What You Will Learn
Following a brief overview of how we got here and what it means, you’ll be
exposed to what works and what doesn’t with blogs, podcasts, wikis, social
networks, social tagging and ranking, and the other tools of the social media
space.
Who Should Attend (Target Audience)
The breadth and depth of this topic makes it relevant to strategists and tacticians alike. Come if you are a webmaster, a web content creator, a communicator or if your job requires you to communicate or interact with a constituent audience.
Level of Course (beginner, intermediate, advanced)
The degree to which you are knowledgeable about the Net and the web is irrelevant. This is all so new you’re bound to walk away with new knowledge.
Format
Lecture with PowerPoint, visits to websites, and audio. Q&A will occur as an
ongoing element of the session.
About the Instructor
Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology, which focuses on helping organizations apply online communication capabilities to their strategic organizational communications. His clients have included CIGNA, AT&T, IBM Global Services, Sears, the Alzheimer's Association, Kimberly Clark Corporation, Scholastic Inc., Aetna, Tennessee Valley Authority, BellSouth, General Mills, and Prudential.
Before forming Holtz Communication + Technology in February 1996, Shel was senior communications consultant and the communications practice leader for Alexander & Alexander Consulting Group in San Francisco, California.
Shel has nearly 30 years of organizational communications experience in both corporate and consulting environments. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, communicating business initiatives, and communications research.
He has also served as the director of corporate communications for Allergan, Inc., a Fortune 400 pharmaceutical company. At Allergan, Shel had overall responsibility for global media relations, corporate public relations, employee communications, and financial communications. He held the same title at Mattel, Inc., where he was responsible for employee communications, the organization's annual report, and regional media relations.
Shel has applied online technology to his communication efforts on behalf of companies and clients since the mid-1980s. Based on his knowledge and experience, he wrote "Corporate Conversations," a guide to employee communications, "Public Relations on the Net,” and "The Intranet Advantage." He also wrote the manuals, "Communication and Technology," "Communicator's Guide to Intranets," and "Writing for the Wired World."
He is a five-time winner of IABC's Gold Quill award (most recently winning in 1997 for external Web sites), and was named IABC/ Los Angeles's Communicator of the Year in 1988. Shel served six years on IABC's executive board. His other memberships include the Association of Internet Professionals, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
In addition to his consulting and development work, Shel is a regular speaker on topics surrounding the application of online technology to strategic organizational communication. He speaks regularly at IABC and Ragan Communication conferences and spoke regularly on the Lexis-Nexis touring seminar, "Communicating in a Wired World."
