By Ramon Robinson, APPAM Communications and Marketing Manager
APPAM kicked off four days of education, mentorship and networking yesterday at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park. Featured were several very informative Preconference programs, presented by the Urban Institute. Speaker highlights included thought leaders from the Urban Institute such as David Connell, Stu Kantor, Bridget Lowell, Jon Schwabish, and Kate Villarreal. They offered a number of great takeaways to attendees and everyone else following APPAM on Twitter. Some of their most memorable pieces of advice on exploiting technology to be a better thought leader follow:
"When you're creating your graphs, start with gray." - Jon Schwabish explaining how beginning graphs in the color gray allows researchers to decide what's most important about their research and color it accordingly.
"Blog posts are a great way to capture an audience's interest in your earlier research without having to get into the nitty gritty, because you have to be direct with a blog post." - David Connell on the comparable value of policy thought leaders creating standout blogs, whether through WordPress or other platforms, rather than relying exclusively on e-journals.
"Don't give up on a reporter if they don't use your research right away. Deadlines get pushed back. Don't stop contacting them." - an Urban Institute panelist on steadfastly pursuing coverage of ones research, including through Twitter outreach.
- "You can change minds dramatically with storytelling AND with that good, independent, unbiased data." - an Urban Intsitute panelist explaining the value of availing oneself of the latest design software in order to stand out as a thought leader.
Photos from the day's events appear on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.
The official conference begins today with a Fun Run, concurrent sessions, mentor matchups, poster sessions, the new "Super Sessions," and Equity & Inclusion events, and it continues into Saturday.