Email. Tweets. Websites. Cell phones. Facebook. Tablets. Computers. Video streaming. All this and more means we are all more connected than ever, like it or not.
Information overload is rampant in everyone’s lives, and it’s really easy to discount many of the messages we receive daily because they begin to sound like white noise. City officials experience this when trying to engage residents, share information about city services or explain issues important to the people who live in your city.
The Municipal Association is no different. Our challenge is communicating with more than 4,000 municipal elected officials and city staff about training, legislative issues, insurance services and many other programs city officials can use. Every few years, we do an exhaustive evaluation of how we are communicating with you to make sure we are providing information through the channels and in the formats most useful to you.
Starting May 1, we have an online survey available and are asking every elected official and city staff member to take about five minutes to give us feedback about our emails, publications, e-newsletters and general communication with you.
Help us understand how you use technology. Tell us if the weekly Uptown Update email gives you the up-to-date information you need, or if there are other ways you would rather get reminders about deadlines and meeting dates. Let us know if you would like to get legislative "call to action" text messages sent to your mobile device or if you’d prefer to get a phone call from an Association staff member when we need help with a legislative contact.
Surveys over the past seven years have shown substantial changes in technology habits and internet access by local officials and have helped us adjust our approach to communicating with you. We hope you will help us again by taking a few minutes to share your thoughts and insights.