18Aug 2022 by Lauren

TAMIO is growing. What about our board and regions?

Change, Leadership, Organization, TAMIO
Over the last decade, TAMIO has seen substantial growth in membership and in the organization’s programming. That growth is exciting, but it brings with it a few challenges. Certain parts of the state have seen record population growth, which means those TAMIO regions have also seen the fastest membership growth. This has resulted in some regions with 24 members and other regions with more than 150 members. Additionally, all of the new programming TAMIO is producing requires people to implement it and facilitate it. These are all normal growing pains, and we have a proposed solution for your consideration – a reconfiguration of our TAMIO regions. What will that look like? First, it’s important to note that our TAMIO regions need to align with the boundaries already created for TML’s…
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02Feb 2022 by Lauren

Other duties as assigned can lead to professional growth.

Change, Organization
The time is January 2021, and in the thick of month eight of COVID-19 communications, it happened. All of the responsibilities for the City of Bryan’s 150th Anniversary of Incorporation – the largest celebration in the city since the mid-1990s – were bestowed upon my department. Oh, and that official 150th anniversary date was just around the corner. So, with 10 months and an extremely small budget – in the middle of a pandemic – we set out to plan and execute a year’s worth of historical celebrations and events worthy of a sesquicentennial. Only one small problem: I’ve never been an event planner, and knowing the immense amount of details and skill that go into planning events, I wasn’t sure how we were going to pull this off. But,…
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19May 2021 by Lauren

Is Accurate Coverage About Your Proposed Budget Even Possible? (It is.)

Budget, Media Relations, Organization
Tell me if this sounds familiar. You’ve developed a thorough plan to educate citizens about your city’s or county’s draft budget. The plan is so good, in fact, that it just might be a TAMI Award contender next year! But wait — your killer efforts were just scuttled by local newsrooms that didn’t get the story right. Stories so mangled that Nextdoor groups and social media comments are beyond repair. City management is under fire, and your elected officials are being criticized before they’ve even discussed or voted on the proposed budget and tax rate. In one reckless news cycle, your TAMI dreams are dashed and you’re now the meme-worthy hat-wearing dog surrounded by fire saying, “This is fine.” I wish this was a far-fetched scenario, but we know it’s not.…
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21Jan 2021 by Lauren

Learning to Juggle: How to Get Organized

Organization
Raise your hand if you find it difficult to juggle all your tasks and projects? Without a doubt, communicators are being asked to do more with less every day. While writing this blog, my team and I (which is limited to me and my multimedia producer), have approximately 100 tasks and projects on our to-do list and it seems like every time we complete one task at least five new ones are added. Plus every project has multiple moving parts that have to be taken into consideration. For example, when writing a newsletter you have to brainstorm ideas, gather content, write copy, fact check, take photographs, optimize photos, design graphics, format assets, edit copy, check links, review content and copy with staff, correct copy, run tests, schedule, publish, cross post…
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