About this Blog
Welcome!
I hope you enjoy Inform! Engage! Inspire!, the blog for local government communicators. The reason I created this blog was to start a conversation among practitioners about how we can improve communications from local governments.
I’ve worked in public and arts administration for 23 years. Over those years, I’ve seen some truly amazing, cutting-edge work come out of government; and at the same time seen some truly awful examples of communications being distributed by local, state and federal governments.
My goal is to find ways to help government communicators use the principles of good design and strategic communications so that we can all produce quality work that stands on its own in the market.
Government communications doesn’t have to be lousy.
And we are the ones who are going to make sure it isn’t.
Please Note: The views expressed on this blog are mine alone and do not reflect the views of my employer, the City of Reno.
More About Me
Kevin Knutson in 2007
Kevin Knutson is Assistant City Manager for the City of Reno, Nevada, where he oversees Human Resources, Neighborhood Services, intergovernmental and legislative affairs, economic development, grants, and public information. This includes responsibility for media and public relations, Reno TV (channel 213 on Charter Cable), the City’s social media, website and intranet, the City’s call center, and the Community Liaison program. He has previously served as Reno’s Director of the Office of Management & Budget and Director of Community Relations.
Prior to Reno, Kevin served as the Director of Communications & Marketing for the City of Coral Springs, Florida. In that capacity, he provided creative and editorial direction of Coral Springs magazine, CityTV (channel 25 on Advanced Cable Communications), CityRadio (WQFL543 1670 AM), the City’s websites, the City’s intranet, advertising, public relations, media relations, in-house video production, and other print collateral.
Through 2005, he was the Budget & Strategic Planning Manager for Coral Springs for seven years, overseeing the award-winning strategic plan, business plan, budget, capital improvement and replacement programs, performance measurement system, and elements of the City’s quality initiative. He was a writer and the editor of the City’s Baldrige and Sterling applications and has served as a Sterling Examiner. The City was the first government and then the first two-time winner of the Florida Governor’s Sterling Award for Organizational Excellence in 1997 and 2003, and the first local government to be awarded the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2007.
Before entering public administration, Kevin worked in performing arts as a stage hand and sound engineer, specializing in live musical performances. He also was a gaffer’s assistant on Miami Vice and for Hollywood Squares when they were shooting at the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. He has served as a Box Office Manager, Director of Event Services, and General Manager for community arts centers, contributing to over 5,000 live events and meetings.
Earlier positions included being a mechanical designer for Motorola and performing freelance technical editing for IBM, Burnup & Sims, the American Welding Society, and the Vorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University. Kevin also served in the US Army, stationed in Germany.
In 1994, Kevin was the founding director of the Coral Springs Museum of Art and until 2008 served as the contract manager for the museum and the Coral Springs Center for the Arts. In 2005, he completed a four-year term on the Florida Humanities Council, where he chaired the communications committee, leading the organization through a brand redesign. Kevin also served as a trustee of the Coral Springs Firefighters Pension Board.
Kevin has an Associate’s degree in English, a Bachelor’s degree in English, specializing in 19th Century American Literature, and a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Florida International University. He has post-graduate certificates from UCLA, FIU, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a certified Public Pension Trustee. He has also attended Savannah College of Art & Design and the Center for Creative Leadership.
Kevin’s articles and short stories have appeared in several publications and he is co-author of the book, Images of America: Coral Springs. He lives in Reno with Kimberly, his wife, and daughters Zoë and Emi.
About the Blog’s Name
The title of my blog came from a strategic planning workshop with my communications team in Coral Springs. We spent some time brainstorming an update to our departmental mission, which had been:
To enhance effective communication between the City and its customers through creative strategies that promote, position and impact City goals and services.
Nothing wrong with that, but we didn’t really find any inspiration in it either. It failed to create a vision of where we wanted to go and set us free to be truly creative. It was really just a declaration of the status quo.
We spent a few minutes listing words that described what we believed our role was, our vision for ourselves. Then we whittled that list down to the three most important ideas, which we would base our new mission statement on.
And that’s when we saw it. We didn’t need to craft a statement. We just needed the vision.
Inform.
Engage.
Inspire.
Something to shoot for.
