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Every couple of months, our all-remote team joins together for virtual happy hours. Or, as my colleague Ashley calls them, snacky hours, since Forthright founder Katie sends us delightful snack boxes to enjoy during these get-togethers.

During our last snacky hour, Katie asked us to come prepared with our favorite ice breaker. Hilarity – and learning about each other – ensued.

Today, I’m sharing more about why community activities benefit your organization – and some of our winning ice breakers, too.

About Forthright, Hiring and PeopleKatie Test DavisAugust 29, 2022education

Easy & fast tips for your back to school stories

Honest question: How full is your inbox right now? Has it reached hundreds of unread emails yet? In the days leading up to the first day of school, it is totally normal to have an overwhelming amount of information thrown at you.

Buried in many inboxes are great story “nuggets” that deserve to be told. Maybe it is the student who learned to love science during the fun summer camp she took. Maybe it is a teacher who is bursting with fun, new blended learning ideas to engage his social studies class after the professional development session he attended in July.

An easy tip for writing for your community

I was in DC this spring, and I spotted someone wearing a tee shirt reading “words mean things”.

My husband, a software engineer, didn't understand why I instantly fangirled over this shirt.

But as leaders and communicators, you get it — words DO mean things. We have a responsibility to choose them wisely and understand how they land and how different people interpret them.

3 steps to win your next nonprofit campaign

I grew up the middle child – not the first born, not the baby of the family. Yet I can confidently say that (as a future communicator) I was still the best at convincing our parents to do what I wanted.

My secret? Thinking about what was personally important to them…and then matching what I wanted with what they valued.

And that secret, my friend, is the entire secret to good communications.

The power of 1

It’s overwhelming out there, these days, eh? A flood of news. Constant notifications. According to recent health data from OnePoll, we’re all feeling overworked and exhausted.

So as changemakers, how do we break through the tired and overwhelmed in order to move our work forward?

The answer is simple:

One.

Three simple questions you should ask about your audiences

Earlier this year, we asked you to share the skills you're most focused on building in 2022.

Many of you said that you'd like to do more around audience analysis for communications planning. You want to gain a better understanding of your audiences' values, motivations and their pain points – ultimately setting the stage for an effective campaign.

So, we put together an easy three question checklist to get you started on smart audience analysis.

3 recruitment tips to make your life easier

The teacher who knows how to make calculus interesting. The coach who took her team to state championships three times in the past five years. That team member – the perfect team member for your district – is out there. And they are job searching, seeking the perfect district for them.

But the competition is fierce. Here’s how your district can stand out in a crowded job market for educators.

School District Marketing, Hiring and PeopleNiki JuhaszJuly 8, 2022education

The Twitter rules all advocates need to know now

Twitter has made its intentions clear: to keep your feeds free and clear of this kind of “disruptive,” duplicative posting.

We waited a beat to see how this rule was playing out in our feeds, the algorithm and in our partners’ social strategies. Here's what *we know* this means so far for all of us and our Twitter experiences.

Stop doing this after a crisis.

I’ve scrolled past endless LinkedIn posts, tweets and Facebook comments these past few weeks -- all with the same sentiment. What we’re living through now isn’t acceptable, and we want it to be different.

Here’s the communication problem with the “something must change” posts: they unintentionally perpetuate the idea that the problems we face are too big.

3 questions to ensure your images center DEI

We’ve all heard the phrase a picture is worth a thousand words. And that’s true – but in marketing and advocacy, the images aren’t just about the pictures themselves and the words they represent. They are also about the feelings they evoke and the narratives they help shape.

How to get policymakers to actually hear you

We know your work – all of our work – is directly impacted by recent tragedies and crises. Dallas, Buffalo, Laguna Woods, Uvalde. The formula crisis, attacks on necessary equity efforts in our schools and child care shortages. These all signal the need for a major revolution.

So what do we want? Long-term, sustainable policy change to help our children and families thrive. When do we want it? NOW. (I mean, years ago, really.)

So that’s what we’re focused on today. We reviewed more than 10 peer-reviewed journal articles, book excerpts and research studies (in addition to years of experience working with policymakers!) to ensure that you have what you need to succeed in your advocacy.

3 tips for communicating tough topics

When talking about big issues that aren’t disappearing anytime soon, relying on sentimental language, grim details, or an instinctually emotional reaction from audiences can actually do more harm than good. Here are three things to think about when communicating about tough topics.

It's our birthday!

We’re celebrating Forthright’s 3rd (!) birthday this week.

Normally, people call us when they need to bring in the experts.

So we took a page out of that playbook.

To figure out how we should celebrate Forthright’s 3rd Birthday, we called in the professionals…

About ForthrightKatie Test DavisMay 9, 2022nonprofit, education

Your how-to guide on interviewing families for stories

When it comes to storytelling, you’re already sold. You know stories about your work help demonstrate your organization’s impact in a personal, relatable way.

Now, it’s on to actually telling the stories. That starts with interviews. And this – this is the step when even seasoned communications professionals can get a little nervous. From how to ensure you’re getting consent to asking questions in a respectful way, it can be a little tricky!

Here’s Forthright’s true-blue formula for asking for initial consent and asking questions.

How to lead better meetings

You’re not the only one feeling this weary. Our brains are stuffed. Our overwhelm is preventing us from thinking clearly and from making decisions in the way that we used to.

And yet…we’ve got real work to do. Fighting for change for children and families is necessary today. The time is now. Our work, our life’s work, it’s more important than ever before.

As consultants who work with busy brains every day, we have a few tricks up our sleeve that we use to focus and move our work forward. Here are a few of our current favorites.

Three questions to ask before chiming in — or logging out

When Jon Jon served as Forthright’s social media strategist, his wise counsel about how and when to use our voice on national issues was a guiding beacon for us. Today, Jon Jon joins us for special projects like this one – helping you decide if, when and how to chime in on Big Conversations.

3 email marketing strategies to revisit in 2022

Forthright Senior Advisor Ashley Peterson-DeLuca dug into the research about how our inbox-reading behavior changed during and after the pandemic. Check out her email marketing tips to make sure you’re following up-to-date practices.

How to write clearly.

The way we process information in a crisis – like, you know, an ongoing pandemic and wartime – is different. Right now, our attention spans are shorter, and we’re more forgetful, too.

This means that to best serve our audiences, we need to focus on delivering information as clearly as possible.

The key to this clarity? Breaking it up!

3 storytelling tips

Forthright founder Katie recently sat down with Elana Leoni, founder of Leoni Consulting Group, to chat about this exact topic: the power of storytelling.

We’re sharing a few key takeaways from the conversation here. (Or, listen to their podcast convo here!)

3 tips for teacher recruitment

I recently chatted with a central office staff member who was headed to one of her district’s elementary schools…to teach for the day. She shared that in the past year, everyone from the superintendent to school nutrition workers have filled in in the classroom.

As the national teacher shortage rages on, more and more districts are struggling to hire talented team members. As a matter of fact, a recent Gallup poll showed that 61 percent of superintendents strongly agree that recruiting talented teachers is a major challenge.

That’s why today, we’re sharing tips to help your district market your open positions so you can hire the right teachers for your district.

School District Marketing, Hiring and PeopleNiki JuhaszMarch 8, 2022education

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