Behind the Scenes, Ahead of the Curve: Celebrating Government Communicators

On the inaugural Government Communicators Day, we honor the professionals who connect, inform, and engage

At long last, we government flacks get a day of our own.

Saturday, Feb. 24, is Government Communicators Day.

About damn time.

Aww, I kid because I love. Who among us doesn’t appreciate government workers who already have an official “Day”? Folks like (takes deep breath) Law Enforcement, Community Managers, Transit Drivers, K9 Veteran’s, Public Safety Telecommunicators, Librarians, Administrative Professionals, Municipal Clerks, Firefighters, Garbage Men, Receptionists, Lifeguards, IT Professionals, Community Planners, Code Enforcement, Accounts Payable and Water Professionals?

For years, all these government fields (and more) have been recognized and celebrated on their special “Day.” (Dutifully promoted by government communicators, of course.) And good for them. Public Safety Telecommunicators — also known as 9-1-1 dispatchers — have one of the most stressful jobs in government. Fittingly, they don’t have just a day, they get a whole week (April 14-18). Well deserved!

Then again, K9 Veteran’s?

Honestly, I’m not surprised it’s taken this long for my profession to shine a spotlight on itself. We tend to be pretty terrible self-promoters. So, god bless professional associations City-County Communications & Marketing Association (3CMA) and the California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO) for getting this party started and sharing the love for the folks Barry Manilow sang about back in the day.

Yeah, I went there. We write the songs …

In some cases, we do write literal songs. In fact, it was a song sung by and for garbage collectors that made me realize I could have some fun — and be effective — early in my career as a government communicator.

I attended a 3CMA regional conference in Tacoma, Washington, back in 1998. I hadn’t been in my new job for more than a couple of months. I knew how to be a newspaper reporter and editor, but I didn’t know jack squat about being a government communicator. At the conference, I heard a presentation by Dan Voelpel of the City of Tacoma on a program they had just launched to educate folks about changes to solid waste collection days. That’s a pretty typical — if not fraught — thing for local gov comms folks to comm about.

The atypical thing was they recruited and auditioned actual garbage men to sing a song about changes to residents’ pickup days to accommodate new curbside recycling service. They wrote the song — an adaptation of “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie — rented studio space and recorded it. The guys drove around the city singing the song as trash was being picked up to let residents know they would be back “Tomorrow” for recycling pickup.

Genius. Not surprisingly, it was a hit with the news media — the primary vehicle for carrying local government messages back in the dark ages — and with residents. The crazy idea worked. The city saw recycling increase 300 percent.

I was going to reach out to Dan to reminisce about the project, only to learn he passed away last year, at 63, from brain cancer. May his memory be eternal. To me, Dan was one of the giants of the profession. He proved you can get super creative, have some fun and still get the vital work of government communications done right.

I’ve been around long enough to know other giants of the profession, who are super creative and effective, so I reached out to No. 1 on that list. Who better than the GOAT, Michelle Bono, to talk about why it’s important to celebrate Government Communicators Day?

Michelle started her local gov comms career in Roanoke, Virginia, but really made her mark in Tallahassee, Florida. She’s won countless awards for her work, including Communicator of the Year from 3CMA in 2013. She retired from Tallahassee in 2016 but remains involved in the profession and has her own communications consulting and marketing company.

Michelle accepting in 2012 yet another 3CMA Savvy Award, this one from the late, great Robert Tucker of Johnson County, Kansas.

Like me, it was a 3CMA get-together that kickstarted Michelle’s career. She attended the organization’s first ever annual conference, in Charlotte, N.C., and was inspired by the professionals working for the host city.

“I was like, oh, my gosh, this is like a real city that does stuff,” Michelle said. “Like, they had a TV studio, they did direct marketing, they did newsletters … and I was a one-person shop in Roanoke doing press releases.”

The most important thing she learned? “We should be using private sector marketing techniques to engage people in having a say about their local government.”

“I came back so inspired,” she said.

She, in turn, helped inspired the thousands of local government communicators who followed her to 3CMA conferences in the ensuing years. There was the flash mob she orchestrated to build excitement about a road and community redevelopment project. Then there was the wake for an old Live Oak tree that had to be removed in front of City Hall. Who does that? Michelle, that’s who. She lived and breathed gov comms innovation at its absolute best.

Michelle still inspires today and has a great perspective on why Government Communicators Day deserves to be celebrated.

“When we think of Government Communicators Day, some of us are like, we don’t really need to be in the spotlight, right? Why do we need to have a day? We’re just doing our job,” she says. “And I think that the whole point of Government Communicators Day is, ‘No, you need people in your organization and your (city) council and your residents to know there’s this committed team that makes sure (residents) are in the loop.’”

Michelle recalls being in meetings with the city’s executive team when “some stupid idea” was floated. It’s in moments like these communicators prove their worth by speaking up and saying, “That’s a stupid idea.”

“We become the advocates of the citizens to say, wait a minute, that’s too complex,” she says. “How do we break that down? What’s that message? How do we make it creative? I mean, I just think we need to get over being humble and say we play a valuable role, and we ought to share that. So, to me, that’s what this day is about.”

Another reason to celebrate is the fact communications “is a core government function.”

“This is not the icing on the cake,” Michelle says. “This is the cake.”

It’s not just the public sector that has come to that recognition, according to Axios. Communication is the most in-demand job skill for the second year in a row, according to data gathered by LinkedIn. It’s even in more demand than — gasp! — AI skills.

“Human skills — like communication, leadership and teamwork — are particularly critical in this moment,” says LinkedIn Learning global head of content strategy Dan Brodnitz. “With a rise in remote and hybrid work, and now AI, the need for human connection and people skills have become even more important.”

So, all you communicators out there shouldn’t be shy about celebrating your profession and the vital role you play. Work up a proclamation (or borrow this one) and get in front of your elected leadership. The work you do is just as important as the work done by first responders, utility crews and GIS techs.

“Government Communicators Day is a platform to showcase the pivotal role that public communicators play in shaping public perception, disseminating critical information and fostering community engagement,” said Scott Lehtonen, Executive Director of 3CMA. “For 364 days of the year, these professionals work tirelessly behind the scenes, and on this day, we aim to bring them into the spotlight they deserve.”

Amen and amen.

If you’re looking for some great examples of gov communicators, check out this GGF post. Or this one. Oh, hey, this one showcased some amazing work as well. I could go on and on. And have.

If you’re in the government business and not a communications professional, reach out today to those in your organization who are. Let them know they are valued and appreciated. They deserve it at least as much as the K9s who have retired from police work.

Gov Ephemera: Hits & Misses

Fix the Dang Roads! Speaking of great communications, here’s a terrific video from Mikaela Hall, communications manager for the City of Alvarado, Texas. It meets the GGF comms standard of getting creative and having fun while still speaking plainly about the problems the government is working on. It’s (bleeping) awesome!

Fix the Dang Name! The Garland, Texas, City Council recently voted to rename its skatepark, nee The Boneyard, to the Jon Comer Skatepark. Comer was a professional skateboarder from Garland who died in 2019. The renaming occurred even though the skatepark opened just two years ago. Local advocates and skating legend Tony Hawk pushed for the new name to honor Comer, who lost one of his legs at age 4 and skated with a prosthetic limb. So, where did the original name come from? From the Dallas Observer article about the name change:

In an early 2022 meeting, former City Council member Rich Aubin and Assistant City Manager Andy Hesser proposed the name, forgoing a previously considered naming contest. To save time, the public was not consulted.

“We wanted to give it a kind of cool name that we thought would be attractive. Some park names are so stuffy,” Aubin says.

I’d never advocate a naming contest for public facilities — any Limp Bizkit fans remember this one? — but not even chatting up the skaters was an error that has now been rectified. We’re stoked, Garland!

Fix the Dang Internet! The good people in Pharr, Texas, got slow played by private internet service providers so the local government stepped in to get the community wired with blazing fast, citywide, fiber-to-the-home broadband.

The City developed broadband internet service as a utility. Mayor Ambrosio Hernandez said the goal was to provide a service that was affordable, reliable, and accessible to all.

“We lit a Pharr foundational footprint utilizing fiber optic cable with the goal to connect every family, every household, every business to Pharr Connect, which is powered by our very own TeamPharr.net network,” he said.

They’ve signed up more than 4,000 customers so far, averaging 430 new connections per month. Bravo to Pharr for paving the digital way!