On October 31 we had a great Stakeholder Network Leadership Team meeting. (see detailed Minutes below). Here are a few key points:
We will present a webinar (webinar only) before the end of the year. The webinar would be 60-90 minutes. Since we want Jeff Sobotka, the State Broadband Manager, to be a featured presenter, we will schedule the webinar around his schedule, and the members of the Stakeholder Leadership Team. Based upon Jeff’s availability, we are tentatively looking at the afternoon of December 11, maybe around noon time. Please Doodle HereASAP to confirm your availability on Dec. 11.
I have been tasked with coming up with a draft agenda and other suggested presenters. I will be developing a program that features a mix of government and private sector presenters. This agenda will be presented to the leadership team for approval. See a draft here.
I plan to send a “Newsletter” soon. Any suggestions for “news” that I should include. Events, funding opportunities, etc.? The Newsletter will have an option to op out of the mailing.
We are considering the use of the “Mobilize” CRM and Membership Community Platform. They have provided GAZEL a lifetime grant for free use of the platform. It is the most comprehensive platform I have seen allowing flexible communications to various sub-groups. Mobilize is a membership community platform for membership-based organizations that provides a modern approach to discussions, chat, events, files, networking and more that was purpose-built for driving engagement. Steve will send a Doodle Poll to schedule a Mobilize demo for any AZBSN members, and others, who are interested in seeing how it operates
We will initially use Mark Goldstein’s Send-In-Blue platform to e-mail AZBSN communications, such as newsletters event announcements, etc., to the overall list of contacts. There will be an option to opt-out of future mailings
Steve will continue working on the email list. Since most organizations cannot provide us their membership list, Steve will draft an email invite that the leaders of those organizations can send to their members
We will develop a detailed plan for 2020 before the webinar.
See additional details below
October 31, 2019 Meeting Summary
Attendees: Steve Peters, Oris Friesen, Henry Goldberg, Mark Goldstein, Janet Major, Mala Muralidharan, Graham Taylor, Nan Williams
Update since 10-7-2019 Teleconference Henry Goldberg over-viewed what was discussed by Steve, Mala, and Henry at the brief Oct. 7th Arizona Broadband Stakeholder Network (AZBSN) leadership team teleconference: Steve’s work on putting together a contacts database and evolution to a CRM, plan to organize a roundtable before the end of 2019, and Steve’s modification of the AZBSN sponsorship request document
Steve explained that after further investigation it is not possible to do a roundtable before the end of 2019 because a venue is not available (the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) and Rio Salado College conference rooms are not available) and the difficulty of scheduling this event with the upcoming holidays. As will be discussed later in this report, a Webinar will be organized instead.
Contacts Database Steve has been working on constructing a new contacts database as a Google Doc spreadsheet (that will later be migrated to a CRM platform). This will be used to attempt to contact all key stakeholders in the state about AZBSN future events and send them newsletters.
Steve has a list of most economic development specialists in the state. He has been speaking with Chuck Boyer, CIO for Oro Valley and Chair of a statewide CIO group, to get his list of the CIOs in the various municipalities and counties.
Steve asked Janet Major if she could share the Arizona Telemedicine Program list of contacts that may be interested in the AZBSN. Janet replied she supports the AZBSN but has to discuss with the Telemedicine Program whether there are concerns about this or AZBSN soliciting funding from their contacts. Mark Goldstein commented that AZBSN funding should not be competing with the Telemedicine Program for funding given that is mainly communicating about broadband events of interest.
Karen Ziegler has provided a list of attendees to some of the rural stakeholders’ focus groups. Mark stated Bill Bolin has a list of 35-40 contacts he works with on rural broadband, and Steve has received a list of city & county managers from Bill.
Mala Muralidharan says a list of the county librarians is available, but she can also forward AZBSN e-mails to them.
With respect to broadband service provider contacts, there are several potential sources for this. Mark Goldstein has a complete list of contacts for all the 78 broadband service providers that were operating in the state as of 2014 (when Mark was working on state government broadband projects). Steve has talked with Jeff Sobotka (State Broadband Director) about getting the list of service provider contacts with whom he is working.
Mala has been in touch with the state government procurement office to get their list of service provider contacts. Mala offered to coordinate from all of the above lists the best list of service provider contacts and provide this to Steve.
Steve will initially use Mark Goldstein’s Send-In-Blue platform to e-mail AZBSN communications such as newsletters to the overall list of contacts. Mark suggested making the initial e-mail simple allowing people to opt-in to receiving further AZBSN mails, and Steve replied he can incorporate a link to the Google sign-up form on the AZBSN website.
Steve added the “Mobilize” CRM donated to GAZEL is his preferred choice to which eventually migrate the contacts database because it is the most comprehensive platform he has seen allowing flexible communications to various sub-groups. Steve will arrange a demo of Mobilize to ATIC members who are interested in seeing how it operates. Mobilize is a modern approach to discussions, chat, events, files, networking and more that was purpose-built for driving engagement
Webinar as Next 2019 AZBSN Event Steve stated he was thinking about holding an AZBSN networking event in Phoenix with online participation before the end of 2019. However most of the attendees at today’s teleconference favored holding a well-designed webinar (virtual event) with select presentations as a better alternative.
It was agreed that one of the presenters at this webinar should be Jeff Sobotka giving an update on his broadband activities and rural broadband grants applications.
Other possible presenters could be an E-rate presentation (such as the Annual Report from the Education Superhighway delivered by Josh Chisom or their CEO), a presentation on the Arizona Telemedicine Program, a presentation by a company working in the 5G space (Steve knows a couple of such companies that recently won awards from the Arizona Technology Council). Jeff Sobotka’s presentation should be longer (allocated up to 20 minutes), and the other presentations may be short Ignite presentations.
It was agreed the Zoom platform should be used for the webinar since it has been used by ATIC and the Telemedicine Program, can support a large number of participants, and has various potentially useful features such as enabling polls to be taken interactively during the webinar, inputting bios/contact information, and enabling breakout group discussions. Steve will discuss with Janet Major the features of Zoom that may be used in the webinar.
The webinar will be 60 – 90 minutes long and start at noon. Steve will arrange the date for the webinar, which should be no later than mid-December, after talking with Jeff Sobotka about his availability and then doing a Doodle poll of the AZBSN Leadership Team.
Next Steps Steve will lay out a proposed agenda for the webinar by the middle of next week. Any other suggestions of Ignite presenters should be sent to him immediately.
Steve will also arrange another AZBSN Leadership Team teleconference to discuss this webinar agenda as well as plans for 2020 and soliciting sponsorship funding. He has modified the AZBSN sponsorship request document and is in the process of talking to potential funders.
Henry Goldberg and Oris Friesen will write up a summary report of today’s leadership team meeting.
Draft Webinar Program
I have created a Google Doc with a draft webinar agenda. See a draft here.
