Phil Hardwick

I’m developing a one-day workshop on the above subject. It is geared for elected officials who want to use the Internet to communicate with their constituents. Anyone can attend, but elected and public officials are who it is designed for. I’ll cover things like e-newsletters, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. and will focus as much on content, legal issues, etc. (Two etc’s in one sentence!) although there will be a how-to aspect. It will be offered by the Stennis Institute in June. We will be announcing it soon, but just thought I’d give you a heads-up. E-mail me at phil.hardwick@msstate.edu more info.

Success in the workplace is a complicated matter. Nevertheless, I have found that there are three basic things that are characteristic of people who have successful careers. Might as well label them as The Three C's. Competency - First and foremost, a person must be able to do the job, whether it's flying a plane, driving a truck or operating a word processor. Communication - The most successful people have an ability to communicate, especially to speak well in front of a group. Connections - My students want to argue with me when I tell them how important this is. For better or worse, it's a fact of life. A better job comes from knowing people, expanding one's network and especially displaying one's work to others.

Yesterday was municipal election day where I live. When I arrived home there were 10 messages on my answering device from mayoral candidates or their supporters. Actually, the messages were from a computer. No candidates personally called me. These messages were simply one manifestation of how technology is playing a more dominant role in local politics. Technology is also playing a role in political polling and research. If you’ve been following my blog lately you may have noticed that I have been posting Brad Chism’s Zatapulse surveys. When I posted the first one I received a couple of e-mails from people who told me how the validity of this type of polling was questionable. Well, the mayoral race is over and Brad is probably smiling. The Zatapulse polls proved more accurate than others. Judge for yourself: Candidate 5/2 Zatapulse survey Actual Primary Results H Johnson 26% 27.6% Crisler 26%