The Bethesda Chapter’s Young AFCEA Council is featuring an ongoing webinar series focusing on Web 2.0 technologies. The Virtual Podium series aims at illustrating through successful examples how Web 2.0 can benefit the federal government.

The series’ development originated last summer, when Steve Krauss, chapter president-elect, expressed an interest in using Web 2.0 tools to the chapter’s advantage. Beth Maloney, a Young AFCEA Council (YAC) program chair, and Tchad Moore, YAC secretary, responded by creating a Web 2.0 strategy for the chapter.

Simultaneously, the chapter’s YAC was planning its events for 2009 and wanted to begin the year with a panel discussing Web 2.0 capabilities. Maloney, Alison Hoover and Mari Oh, YAC program chairs, helped organize the chapter’s executive breakfast panel session, “Web 2.0 in the Federal Government,” in early January. The chapter co-sponsored the event.

“As we gathered speakers for the panel, we realized there are great stories to tell and speakers to feature. We didn’t want the conversation on Web 2.0 to stop with the breakfast event,” Maloney shares.

The YAC decided to continue the discussion on Web 2.0 use in the federal government through a series of webinars, the first of which took place on January 28. The chapter promoted the event through Facebook, where the YAC has its own page, and on its Twitter feed, FedWeb. The YAC also has a page on GovLoop.

“I was frustrated that our traditional format of panels in hotels costs so much. I came up with the webinar series so we could get speakers at no cost to attendees,” Maloney says. The YAC is able to provide the series for free thanks to Microsoft, which is offering Live Meeting support at no charge.

“We had dozens of registered attendees spanning all corners of government, including nonfederal, as well as industry,” Maloney says. “We hope to increase interest and conversation of the topic by bringing together a diverse audience to see real live case studies of Web 2.0 in the federal government.”

Jeffrey Levy, director of Web communications at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was the first webinar’s keynote speaker. Approximately 80 people attended the webinar, during which Levy discussed how the EPA combined Web 1.0 and 2.0 capabilities to help promote Earth Month in April 2008.

The next webinar is scheduled for February 18. Guest speaker Lynn Dean, manager of strategic and Web communications in the Transportation Security Administration’s Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs, will be discussing the effectiveness of blogs.

Future topics and contributing agencies include the U.S. General Services Administration, which will discuss USA.gov and best practices; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which will share their experiences using Web 2.0 to promote public health; and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and its recent entry into Second Life to assist returning veterans.

The series also is becoming a platform for agencies to debut their Web 2.0 offerings. “NASA is planning to launch their internal Spacebook in late March, and they’d like to present in the series soon after that,” Maloney says.

She shares that both the YAC and the chapter have plans to expand their Web sites with blogs, wikis, integrated Twitter feeds and podcasts, which they will use to help promote upcoming events.

Check out the March issue of SIGNAL Magazine, in the mail to AFCEA members and subscribers March 2, 2009. For more information about joining AFCEA or subscribing to SIGNAL, contact AFCEA Member Services.

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