Cross-org Comms 2024 Reflections by Crystal Williams

cwilliams638 — 2024-12-18 14:50:49 UTC

What success or accomplishments are you most proud of this year? What strategies helped you achieve them?

cwilliams638 — 2024-12-18 14:51:35 UTC

What challenges did you face this year? How did you address it?

cwilliams638 — 2024-12-18 14:52:04 UTC

Who/what teams did you thought partner/collaborate with? How did you foster collaboration this year?

glue3 — 2024-12-18 20:11:47 UTC

This year I collaborated with the Digital Equity team and the CII teams on separate projects. The DE team coordinated an amazing event for the White House that was lots of fun to support. And all 3 comms leads for LSR and CII collaborated on a back to school campaign that was successful and was just overall a nice spotlight for some of our researchers

2024-12-18 20:11:54 UTC

Gabby and I collaborated with Danielle on a research "back to school" campaign! We weren't sure how it would go, but we got great engagement and it helped to connect CII and LSR research. Hoping to do it again next year

League Recruitment

2024-12-18 20:13:07 UTC

I'm proud of the campaign I compile and led around League recruitment. There were a lot of moving pieces and experimental tactics, and in the end, we exceed our ambitious goal in terms of app #s!

2024-12-18 20:13:27 UTC

I enjoyed working so closely with Sarah, Carolina, and Marsha on creative projects - especially as it related to overall look and feel and templatetizing what we could!

Broader DP Social Campaign

2024-12-18 20:14:01 UTC

I'm proud of our broader Digital Promise social campaigns. This year we really focused on informing our audience about who we are and what we do. This was a big task b/c we do so much, but I think the key is working from our mission/vision and pinpointing the key elements that make us stand out!

2024-12-18 20:14:28 UTC

A clear communication plan set at the beginning helped a lot to disseminate the plan and move along with ease.

Age of AI webinars

2024-12-18 20:14:44 UTC

We organized a series of Age of AI webinars that involved folks from across the org, including Gabby, Emma, and myself along with speakers representing LED and Digital Equity. It was a real effort but we had great turnout and it all came together well!

Steady vs. Reactive Comms

2024-12-18 20:14:48 UTC

Still trying to hit my stride around balancing the amount of reactive comms requests vs. forward-thinking/strategic ones that ladder up to an overarching comms strategy/our priorities. Did this more with the League this year and would like to build on that in 2025 and support other NAPs initiatives in it.

dswong — 2024-12-18 20:15:43 UTC

This year, I got to collaborate with Gabrielle and KellyAnn for a joint LSR x CII back-to-school research campaign! I heard a lot of gratitude from the CII researchers, who felt like it was a nice representation of the frequent collaboration between LSR and CII. :)

LSR Blog Authors

glue3 — 2024-12-18 20:16:02 UTC

I'm really happy that we had over 6 new blog authors on the LSR team this year. We supported them to feel comfortable to write their first pieces and are hopeful to continue to have folks on the team feel comfortable sharing content in new ways.

2024-12-18 20:16:07 UTC

Volume! It can be a challenge to start on new projects when you're already feeling overwhelmed with what's on your plate. The Asana Board has been helpful for putting things in perspective.

mnguyen118 — 2024-12-18 20:16:45 UTC

I enjoyed collaborating across the organization this year, and in particular, with Shayla Cornick and the edtech and emerging technologies team on the VITAL Prize Challenge. There were so many different components of the work, but it was exciting to be part of a project that felt future-facing and directly impactful on emerging/start-up edtech development teams. I also felt like it was a project that really demonstrated Digital Promise's strength as a convener.

2024-12-18 20:16:58 UTC

An increase in work in general this year—especially for items with strict and/or short timelines. I feel we managed to make it work as a team, though. It helps when other teams supported us and were more flexible with their other project timelines. We also combated the volume by working with an additional freelance designer this year.

dswong — 2024-12-18 20:17:07 UTC

I'm grateful for every opportunity I've had to work with students this past year — from the post-League convening blog interviews with a Suffern student and educator, to the most recent LOIS webinar and student-written blogs that we got to share out!

League Materials

2024-12-18 20:17:20 UTC

Carolina and Sarah absolutely killed it creating a new, cohesive look and feel for the League by designing multiple creative assets across projects (e.g., website redesign, events/programs, pitch deck, printed collateral, etc.). It's really helped to elevate the League presence and can't wait to build on it int he future!

cwilliams638 — 2024-12-18 20:17:28 UTC

Teresa and I collaborated on the Comprehensive Pathways work this year. It was a tough project to work on but we were in constant communication and very transparent about what was happening on our teams around the work.

Awards for our videos

gseger — 2024-12-18 20:17:33 UTC

We won Anthem Award, which celebrates purpose-driven work that drives positive social impact. This recognition is especially meaningful as it highlights the heart of the stories we aim to share.

Additionally, we won 10 Telly Awards, which honor excellence in video across all screens. These awards recognize the creativity, dedication, and hard work that goes into every project we produce.

Managing feedback and large projects

2024-12-18 20:17:51 UTC

Some projects I'm involved in have a lot of folks involved (both internal and external), and it was sometimes challenging to get everyone on the same page and gather feedback in a way that is productive. I'm always trying to work on this but this year I felt I got better at identifying effective ways to solicit feedback and knowing when to push forward.

New DP Overall Video

2024-12-18 20:18:14 UTC

This was on the To Do list for a very long time. Thanks to Sam and Ruth for kicking things off during our comms core week last February. Ginnie really knocked it out of the park with the edit! It was also great to work with Carolina on our Spanish language version.

ED Summit

jessicaschuler — 2024-12-18 20:18:20 UTC

This summer I collaborated with Gabby and My on a post-event blog post after the ED Summit. I don't have much opportunity to work with Gabby on projects, so it was fun to get to do this!

2024-12-18 20:18:20 UTC

For more extensive social campaigns that involve multiple assets it's super helpful to have a clear vision from the forefront. I enjoyed collaborating with Sarah, Carolina, and Marsha from the jump-sharing examples and ideas from across social to use as inspiration. It's great seeing these ideas come to life from a multi-page google doc plan to colorful, engaging graphics. We did so many well performing campaigns together, like our who is DP, back-to-school, and end-of-year.

External collaborations

glue3 — 2024-12-18 20:18:33 UTC

One of my biggest challenges has been collaborating with external orgs. We're increasingly working with universities and it's hard to find ways to successfully collaborate with them in ways that are consistent with how DP works. They often don't follow deadlines, take really long, and have more bureaucratic processes. It's an ongoing thing, but we've addressed it by having norm-setting calls at the start of our work, establishing RACI charts and SOPs

League Website

2024-12-18 20:19:04 UTC

TYSM to Sam for collaborating on our large website overhaul and redesign for the League! We worked over the course of many months to update the website in batches. Sam was super responsive and supportive throughout the process and the team was/is thrilled with how everything turned out!

Overall DP Video

2024-12-18 20:19:09 UTC

I'm thrilled that we were able to produce an updated video! It included a lot of positive collaboration across the Comms team and was staged out really nicely to incorporate more feedback from key individuals.

2024-12-18 20:19:30 UTC

I'm proud of the article I co-wrote with Pati on AI responsible use guidelines for AASA's School Administrator magazine. I really enjoy writing and it was fulfilling to use these skills, and also push myself in new ways (by interviewing superintendents!)

mchoc — 2024-12-18 20:19:49 UTC

I thought transitioning to Concur would help us have better visibility when working with vendors, but it still can be challenging to work on the platform.

Managing Time for New Projects

gseger — 2024-12-18 20:19:52 UTC

We sometimes are asked if we can complete xyz in this many days but if we have other projects it's not really about how quickly I can work. There is always an element of unknown in editing-- programs crash, footage is not what you expected, that can be a time suck.

Strategy Management

mnguyen118 — 2024-12-18 20:20:51 UTC

I also really appreciated the opportunity to collaborate with Carolina and Stany on the work to visualize our strategy management work. This is a new arena for me, but it really helped to increase my knowledge and understanding of the work we're doing with logic models and what the intended outcomes are, in relation to our Impact Goals. It was also a lot of fun to get a front-row seat to seeing Carolina's wonderful design mind in action. Everything she produced was so thoughtful and beautiful!

LSC newsletter template

2024-12-18 20:21:05 UTC

I collaborated with Gabrielle, LSR researchers, and our Creative team (s/o Sarah and Carolina) to redesign our LSC Newsletter template! Everyone contributed their expertise to help produce an amazing final product

jessicaschuler — 2024-12-18 20:21:07 UTC

I always appreciate the collaboration with our Creative and Video teams - and especially your patience with me (and the DE team)

League Videos & Audiograms

2024-12-18 20:22:12 UTC

We were able to significantly increase our content bench for the League thanks to support from Ginnie and Corinne supporting the capture of videos and creation of audiograms (and big shout out to Carolina for that template, too!). The content is evergreen and has multiple uses (awareness-building, recruitment, etc.). Thrilled with it!

Newsletters

cbelloc1 — 2024-12-18 20:22:49 UTC

I am proud of the updated newsletter designs we worked on this year. I think the process for each was smooth, and I hope others are happy with how these new versions look.

Constant Collab

gseger — 2024-12-18 20:23:50 UTC

We wouldn't have videos with the stellar collaboration with everyone throughout the org. Thanks for letting us share your stories!

dswong — 2024-12-18 20:24:05 UTC

Navigating fluidity of concepts, expectations, and decisions while also needing to provide tangible action steps, asks, and deliverables with the central Comms team. There are also certain processes that DP Comms has established to help with volume and work flow that I'm realizing some programmatic team members don't realize/understand. I hope that by continuing to use the monthly Comms time I have during CII whole team meetings to review Comms processes and invite DP Comms team members in, that will help with building capacity and awareness.

DE Framework

jessicaschuler — 2024-12-18 20:24:06 UTC

The Digital Equity Framework had its challenges, especially around receiving feedback and ensuring pencils were down with enough time for us to build the website given the short window. However, when all was said and done, the Framework was published on time, looked great, and has been well-received in the industry. And I'm taking a lot of lessons learned into Phase 2 as well as other projects for the new year.

2024-12-18 20:24:15 UTC

I encountered a challenge this year when asked to help create a large volume of research videos. Thank you to Corinne and Ginnie for their patience and grace as we navigated new expectations—this has opened up discussions around the types of videos we can create and I look forward to collaborating more next year

Video Process Doc

gseger — 2024-12-18 20:24:28 UTC

Writing this doc and sharing it will help us streamline and demystify our process.

2024-12-18 20:24:32 UTC

Who didn't Creative collaborate with? There are so many new things that got published this year that required cross-collaboration across departments and initiatives. I'm excited to see how that continues in the next year!

Press Coverage

mnguyen118 — 2024-12-18 20:25:06 UTC

Generally, I am proud of the media coverage Digital Promise received this year—including breaking out into some new-to-us outlets and also making more of a splash in local broadcast channels. Though we're still chasing the white whale of national broadcast coverage, I believe we've really strengthened Digital Promise's overall brand awareness and we have some clear ideas for how to continue doing so in the next year.

Elevating Student Voice

dswong — 2024-12-18 20:25:36 UTC

I am proud of how I have reflected CII's value of centering and elevating student voice in our communications this year and I look forward to continuing to do even more in the new year!

Storyboarding Presentation

dswong — 2024-12-18 20:27:02 UTC

I led a storyboarding workshop and created an accompanying slide deck + worksheet for the CII researchers, and felt that it went really well and I received feedback that it was helpful! It gave me an idea of what else the team is looking for capacity building in as it relates to Comms/processes, and I'm looking forward to continuing that work. :)

Spanish translations

cbelloc1 — 2024-12-18 20:28:08 UTC

This year I got to collaborate with different teams on translations. I'm excited to see some of our work in Spanish and I look forward to collaborating with other teams :)

VILS LinkedIn

jessicaschuler — 2024-12-18 20:28:46 UTC

We launched a VILS LinkedIn showcase page in March, and it has performed extremely well. We've surpassed 600 followers and have a high engagement rate.

Goal visualization/Strategy work

cbelloc1 — 2024-12-18 20:33:57 UTC

Working with Stany and My on putting this together for the all staff (and post-all staff) has been challenging but also fun, as I got to think outside the box. Working with a lot of information is always a huge challenge but I'm proud of the outcome :)

2024-12-18 20:40:53 UTC

Love collaborating with all of the Comms team!! Mainly, I collaborate with Marsha, Sarah, Carolina, Alisha, My, Ruth, and Sam. Thank you!!