Member drive

All University of Minnesota employees with communication related job codes should be receiving the Communicators Forum annual member drive email on or near February 5. Please share this email with anyone you think would be interested in joining the Forum. 

Wondering if you need to renew your Communicators Forum membership? We will email you when your membership nears expiration.

Conference update

Keynote speakers announced

Our 24th annual conference is right around the corner, June 19 at the Carlson School of Management. This year's theme is "Craft the future" and we are excited to announce the keynote speakers: 

--Ellen Lupton: curator, author, teacher, designer

--Seitu Jones: Joyce Award Winner, visual artist, master gardener

--Dessa: singer, writer, rapper, producer.

Request for vendors

We're seeking vendors for the vendor fair at conference. The vendor fair helps make the low cost of conference possible. If you work with any vendors and think they might be interested in this inexpensive opportunity to raise their profile with potential clients, please contact Karina Carlson at carl2263@umn.edu as soon as possible.

2014 Communicators Forum Awards 

Our annual awards competition, the Maroon and Gold Awards for Communications Excellence, encourages high standards by recognizing excellence in communications at the University. You must be a member to submit an entry. This year's submission process will occur in March 2014.

Any work designed or produced by Communicators Forum member(s) and/or published / used by the University between March 1, 2013 and February 28, 2014 is eligible. Submission period is March 1-21, 2014. 

We revamped the award categories (Gold) and created several new sub-categories (Maroon) to better showcase the excellent and effective work being done by University communicators. 

More to come, but start planning what you want to submit for these 2014 award categories: 

--Design: Expanded the previous print category to include design for non-printed items; applications, infographics, web, video, and display items. 

--Interactive: Expanded the previous electronic media category to include interactive blog, application, single social media. Coordinated social media is now a part of the Campaign/Series category. The website subcategory has been broken into three subcategories: website, web section and web page.

--Writing: Expanded category to include writing for websites, newsletters, and messages. 

--Campaign/Series: The least changed of the four categories, added coordinated social media.

In addition a new maroon award has been added in each of the four categories: Innovator. The innovator award will be given to work in Campaign, Interactive, Design, and Writing that uses new media, techniques, tools, or combinations of communication tools in innovative ways heretofore unseen by the University of Minnesota community.

--Illuminate: Best use of this year's "Driven to Discover" campaign theme: "Discovery Illuminates Everyone." Any communications piece can be submitted for Illuminate award consideration.

--MIKE: The "people's choice" award. Any communications piece can be submitted for MIKE award consideration.

--Margo: Award for the highest impact for the lowest dollar amount. Any communications piece can be submitted for Margo award consideration.

Message from the chair - February 2014

Hello communicators!

Working at a university there's a cycle that feels warm and familiar-from breathing the back-to-school air in fall, to the get-it-done time before "break," to the cold but fresh start of a new year and then a new semester when the buses are back to running regularly and people abound, then to the spring and summer of bikes, bustle, music, sun, and such.

The Communicators Forum cycle brings regular activity each month through the Google group, educational programs, and informal brown-bags and mixers, then a flurry of major happenings in the spring semester and early summer.

This issue of the Communicators Forum newsletter shares updates on these signature activities that are coming together:

Member drive this month

--Awards entry process in March

--Member appreciation event on May 28

--Annual conference on June 19

The volunteers on the Communicators Forum board and committees are excited to see these take shape, filled with anticipation like a tulip bursting through the frozen tundra of a Minnesota lawn.

Thanks,

Rebecca Noran, chair, Communicators Forum, 2013-14

Member profile: Janelle Nivens

Web project manager and content strategist, Academic Health Center Office of Communications

Started at the University of Minnesota in April, 2002 until January 2006 and returned to the University in February 2012.

UMCF member since 2012. 

Connect with Janelle online: 

Instagram: http://instagram.com/janellie23

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/janellie23/ 

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/janellie23/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/janellenivens

What brought you to your current job? 

Prior to becoming a web project manager for the Academic Health Center Office of Communications, I spent twelve years in the field of career counseling. The last six years was at Capella University (online university headquartered in downtown Minneapolis) where I managed the Career Center's web presence, created online career courses and workshops and produced a number of YouTube videos. I grew more and more interested in web work and started a blog (now retired Minneapolis 81) and helped a Minneapolis business council revise their website and build a stronger social media presence. I regularly attended numerous professional development events and activities and eventually had enough confidence in changing my professional identity and applied for my current job. I knew that I wanted to return to the University of Minnesota and I am thankful that I was able to successfully change careers. 

 

What excites you about working at the University and for the Academic Health Center?

Because of its size and complexity, the Academic Health Center has unique opportunities and challenges. I am proud to be part of a web team devoted to making connections between all of the colleges, schools, departments, divisions, centers, institutes, hospitals and clinics. We are working on a number of exciting projects that will help external audiences find the information they need to make important health care and educational decisions. We are also working on ways to help AHC employees manage their online presence more efficiently and effectively. That said, above all else, I'm excited to help hundreds of web contributors pack up and leave UMContent and welcome them to Drupal with open arms. 

What is your favorite accomplishment at the U, so far?

Creating the Academic Health Center (AHC) Resource Hub (http://hub.ahc.umn.edu). This was done in conjunction with a redesign of health.umn.edu. We took this opportunity to extract the faculty/staff section of the old health.umn.edu site, which was in demand but difficult to find, since the site focused on health-related news. The new site provides a much needed, go-to source for employees to find key info and resources to do their jobs. I have created features create a sense of community and a dose of fun within the AHC such as the employee spotlights, screen wallpaper downloads, and announcements.

What is your favorite place on campus?

I love walking around campus and appreciate that we have access to so many beautiful spaces; many with views of the Mississippi River and downtown Minneapolis. Some of my favorites: Campus Club dining room and patio, Washington Avenue Bridge, Science Teaching and Student Services staircase, Education Sciences Building, and McNamara Alumni Center.

Your hometown and the first place you lived after leaving your hometown? 

I can't help but give the long answer. Fun fact: I've moved my belongings 17 times. 

I was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and moved to Sheldon, Iowa at the age of three. After high school, I left home to attend the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Go Big Red! The football team won three national championships while I was there. 

In 1999, I moved to Flagstaff, Arizona to earn a master's degree in counseling from Northern Arizona University. My first professional job was at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa and it only took 18 months to determine this fish needed to be in a bigger pond. Fortunately, the good people of the College of Liberal Arts agreed and hired me as a Career Counselor and pre-law advisor here at the University of Minnesota. 

I lived in St. Paul, St. Louis Park and Hopkins before landing in Minneapolis. I have lived in the City of Lakes for 10 years and feel like I'm finally home.

What is your favorite memory?

Visiting my sister in Namibia. I spent time in the capital city of Windhoek; watched big game in Etosha, dipped my toes in the cold Atlantic ocean in Swakopmund; and hiked the dunes of Sossusvlei. 

What do you do for fun?    

Take long walks. During the warmer months, I can be found on the Grand Rounds Trail with my husband, Scott. During our 10+ mile urban hikes, I enjoy taking photos of beautiful, curious, or unique gems of the city. A great benefit to walking all over the Minneapolis is enjoying its many watering holes. Craft beer is great fuel for more walking! Scott and I also take shorter walks with our Bichon Frise, Stewie.

Communities of Practice Expo hosted by Project and Change Management Collaborators (PCMC)

Thursday, January 9, 1-2:30 p.m.

312 Science Teaching & Student Services Building (STSS)


*While this event is not hosted by the University of Minnesota Communicators Forum (UMCF), they will be represented at the event.*

 

The Communities of Practice Expo hosted by Project and Change Management Collaborators is a professional development and networking opportunity for anyone interested in community leadership or participation at the University.

How can communities of practice around the University learn from each other? The goal of the session is -- through collaborative, small group discussions -- to develop and share best practices for organizing in a decentralized environment. Discussion topics include generating communities to solve problems, sustaining communities over time, and understanding when a community should dismantle.    

Tables hosted by leaders from University communities of practice including Communicators Forum, PCMC, Art of Hosting, Enterprise Systems Upgrade Project, Government and Community Relations, IT@UMN, and other IT communities of practice.

Message from the chair - January 2014

Hello communicators!

It's 2014, it's January, and even though it's unbelievably cold, you can start your Communicators Forum year off right with these three steps.

1. Attend the Communities of Practice Expo this Thursday, Jan. 9, 1-2:30 p.m. The Communicators Forum was formed in 1986 by a small group of communicators who took a hard look at opportunities for professional development and decided they needed more. This type of grassroots professional development and organizing around initiatives can be a rewarding part of working at the U. Another grassroots group, the Project and Change Management Collaborators (PCMC), invites you to a special event about University "communities of practice" with discussion tables hosted by group leaders. I'm looking forward to it. Details below. 

2. Think about what you want to enter in the 2014 Maroon and Gold Awards for Communications Excellence. The entry process will take place in March. More to come soon on the updated categories, including a new one for "innovator," but for now start asking yourself and colleagues: What is our best work from this past year?

3. Encourage someone who is not a member to join now. Did they let their membership lapse? No problem, it's easy to renew. There's a lot ahead for members like you in 2014. Monthly programs = for members. Awards = need to be a member to enter. Every month members are profiled on the blog. Who's on the Google group to receive and send insider emails? Members. The Member Appreciation Event on May 28 = a special time... for members. Communicators Forum Conference on June 19 = you must be a member to register. So why wait?

Thanks,

Rebecca Noran, chair, Communicators Forum, 2013-14 

Member profile: Sarah Oslund

Director of Communications and Public Relations, University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR)

Started at the University on July 28, 2008.

Sarah was nominated by Todd Reubold.

Connect with Sarah online:
Twitter: @sarahoslund
LinkedIn: Sarah Oslund

What excites you about working at the University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR)?
I love the unique nature of what's happening at UMR and in Rochester. Not only does UMR collaborate institutionally with the assets of Rochester to meet the needs of our students, but we are working hand-in-hand with the city, Mayo Clinic, and others to position Rochester as a destination for students, workers, and visitors. In the twelve years I've been in Rochester (almost six of those at UMR), it's been so rewarding to see the downtown become more and more vibrant. People can no longer say "there's nothing to do here."

Tell us about one of the coolest projects you've worked on for your job at the U?   
I've been told I have control issues (what?!) so having the opportunity to solely develop and manage UMR's mascot selection and naming campaigns was a dream for me... Community-wide reveal events, logo development, trademark and licensing, social media campaigns... it was one of the biggest and most enjoyable projects I have had the opportunity to manage in my time at UMR.

What is your best/more amusing U-related memory?
I spent months working toward the reveal of our mascot in 2009, engaging over 3000 people in text and social media campaigns, conducting focus groups about what attributes we did and did not want our mascot to exhibit, etc. By the night of the actual reveal, I had only one job left: on the Chancellor's cue, unclip the banner hiding the chosen mascot to reveal the new mascot and logo. The Chancellor was mid-sentence when I decided to make sure the clips were securely fastened and, incidentally, dropped the banner to the stage, revealing the new UMR mascot and logo to the hundreds in the audience but leaving the Chancellor, with his back still to the banner, clueless that there was no longer a cue needed. It was not my finest moment. Fortunately, he has a great sense of humor and rolled with it. I still get grief today from him, the students, and staff though.

My hometown:
Waldorf, Minnesota. Population: 179.
  
My dream job (besides the one I have!):
My college roommate and I have a shared dream: we are moving to Madeline Island to co-write a screenplay about the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Motto or personal mantra:
Make yourself happy. No one is going to do it for you. - Jodi Kelling (my sister who is 20 years my senior)

I'm happiest when:
I'm at our cabin in Chetek, Wisconsin. It is my own slice of heaven.

My favorites:

Favorite source of inspiration:
Pinterest. I'm an addict.

Word that annoys me:
"Glad" - why can't people just say "happy???"

Favorite food and drink:
Pizza and red wine

Favorite TV show and movie:
TV Show - Sons of Anarchy; Movies - Almost Famous and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Favorite musician or band:
Toss-up between Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac and Stone Temple Pilots

Favorite place on Earth:
Madeline Island

Pet peeves:

People who don't use the Oxford comma. And gum chewing.