Program

With Jason Richardson

As communicators using the internet to deliver information we are faced with a plethora of channels to choose from and more seem to appear with increasing frequency.

It can be bewildering for us but consider how challenging it must be for our audience.

Earlier this year Leeton Shire Council embarked upon a series of workshops to guide tourism operators online. This short presentation will discuss this endeavour to increase digital capacity among locals.
 

With Michael Bourke

In 2007 Tamworth Regional Council updated its strategy for managing websites from using a single one-stop-shop website (Portal) for the Tamworth Region, by dissecting content and functionality to build custom websites for the range of facilities, services and events offered throughout the region.

The Internet Development Project (IDP) was formed with an objective to achieve a modernised web presence that is user friendly and reflects best practice. The difficultly in achieving the project objective was compounded as there was minimal internal experience and expertise in building large-scale websites. Furthermore, after much deliberation the project team selected the largest and most complex website (Tamworth Regional Council) as the first site to be completely re-developed.

The business imperatives for the re-developed included improving the accessibility and usability of information, whilst moving to a modernised technology platform, as the existing CMS was obsolete and unsupported.

Sounds great, but how was this achieved? The following presentation will provide a brief snapshot of the Tamworth Regional Council redevelopment project, with key lessons learnt in the following areas:

With Sally Williams

One of the biggest hurdles in adopting social media in government is resistance at the top. Sally Williams will discuss some of the ways to break down that resistance, plus paint a picture of Pittwater Council's experience with social media tools - what works, what hasn't worked quite so well and how the community has reacted.

With Bernard de Broglio

We've all heard the whys and wherefores of web 2.0. It's big numbers, buzz words and Fatboy Slim. But it's also your local Probus group, the mums at the library and your colleagues in waste services. Bernard will share some of Mosman Council's experiences with community engagement online.

Lightning talks allows more conference attendees to share their experiences. Anyone attending the conference can put their name down to do a 5 minute talk on an interesting experience, a new project, or anything relevant to government and the public sector in relation to the web. This is a great way to share your experiences and hopefully inspire others. Lightning Talks will be just before lunch during the conference so that the people watching can come up and ask you more about your experience during lunch!

Thanks to Contented.Com we are giving the winner 4 course licenses for their Online Diploma of Web Content. This means not only do they get to do the course, they can have three other staff also do the course from the comfort of their desks!

With Martin Boyce

In 2010 Sutherland Shire Council undertook a project to redesign and build their website in a new content management system. In this presentation we will share the process undertaken, highlighting both the successes and failures, in the hope that it may provide some insight for other councils undertaking similar projects.

With Anne Bransdon

Have you ever wondered what happens when Mad Max moves into your street?

In the old days, it may have made the front page of tomorrow's local paper.

Now it makes Hollywood's news headlines in a nano-second.

Broken Hill’s international reputation as a destination of choice for film makers came of age in 2011, when Broken Hill City Council opened the doors to the fifth largest film studio in the world. The City known mostly for its mining and tourism was thrown into the international spotlight.

Suddenly, there was a new range of stakeholders to be considered and when your mandate is to ensure that your organisation remains consultative, participatory and well managed, planning, monitoring and analysing the internet becomes a primary activity rather than an adjunct to the media monitor.

This presentation looks at the impact of speed-of-light communication on a community that has less than 50% internet access in the home and the inevitable impact on how Broken Hill City Council has started to negotiate the obstacle course created by its new sexy online identity.

With Eric Dinkin

Earlier this year a thought occurred to me while browsing an online shop website, why not provide customer service through chat? Online shops have been doing this for few years, but how would organisation such as council deal with it.

This presentation is about trial of Live Support at Parramatta City Council and what we learned.
 

With Anita Hulm

“It’s definitely not sexy but boy can it deliver for an organisation.”

Yes, e-newsletters. In our rush to be on the latest social media channel, some of us might have overlooked the fact that we have some wonderful existing communication channels - what are we doing to improve and enhance them?

Coffs Harbour City Council has launched a new website - with no budget. But we did spend money on an e-newsletter system to make sure we could reach more people and target information to them. More people read our e-newsletters than the local newspaper - now that's got to be good!

I also want to explore the connection between e-newsletters and online booking. We have had some great successes this year.