I hope your new year’s celebrations were filled with laughter and rest – getting you ready for another year of projects and adventures!
Last year I offered some ideas for when creative block strikes, as well as some ideas for generating meaningful online content (other than a blog post). I thought I would revisit those ideas, especially for folks interesting in contributing to this blog in the coming year.
Rad Resources: Just like the saying goes, sometimes images speak volumes more than text. There are some beautiful free stock photo sites out there, and even more free and user-friendly design sites. Can you convey some of your information via an infographic or graph? This may free up some space for your to dive deeper into a concept or offer background on a project. Images also help create white space (a good thing!) and a more readable screen.
Hot Tip: For those brave souls, try getting in front of a camera! Vlogs (or video blogs) are a fantastic way to share your knowledge and expertise with readers or followers. Videos don’t have to be long and can include visual aids and graphics to make them even more appealing. There are a number of affordable video editing apps – I’ve used iMovie for personal projects and it could not be easier to use. Videos can be hosted on sites like YouTube or Vimeo and then embedded in blog posts or on websites.
Lesson Learned: Did you (or will you) host a Twitter chat or hashtag campaign? Share your insights without having to revisit every tweet using curating tools like Storify. You can pull together the highlights and evolution of an online conversation, offering you a chance to have a reference point for synthesis and historical perspectives.
Creating engaging content is not all about getting more page views or Likes or Retweets (although that’s a part) – it’s also about getting out of your comfort zone in order to share your perspective with the world. People learn and absorb information in so many ways. Sometimes reading an evaluation report isn’t feasible, but listening to or watching you talk about the project is! Different types of content connect with different types of people.
How have you experimented with different media? Or do you have a goal this year to try something new?
Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.