Latest / Modern Gov Matters / Making Crunchy Concepts Smooth with Chatham County, GA
Transcript
- Sarah Loyd: Welcome to Modern Gov Matters. I'm Sarah Loyd and this show is all about honest conversations with local government communicators about what's actually working, what's not, and the stuff that keeps you up at night. Modern Gov Matters is presented by CivAll, powered by Social News Desk. Today I've got not one, not two, but three guests from Chatham County, Georgia. Catherine Glasby is the Public Information Director. Abbigail Murphy is the Assistant Director of Public Information. And Will Peebles is on their communication team. Together, they run communications for 24 county departments, operate a TV station, produce a podcast called The Chat, create animated content for elementary schoolers, and as Will put it, explain the crunchy concepts of government in a smooth and digestible way. Catherine, Abby, Will, thanks so much for being here. Welcome to Modern Gov Matters. Catherine Glasby: Well, thank you for having us. This is so exciting. We're so excited to be here today. Abby Murphy: We really are. Will Peebles: Okay. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, thank you guys again. before we dive in, I want to hear a little bit about each of you. So Catherine, you've been in this business for how long now and how did you end up leading communications for an entire county? Catherine Glasby: I've been in this space about 21 years doing communications, kind of fell into it. Actually have a degree in criminal justice, started working with a nonprofit program that was a part of the city of Savannah ⁓ and police department and I was doing their communications. Met the director over here at ⁓ Chatham County. became a mentor and ⁓ six weeks after I got here, I inherited the position and I was like, ⁓ okay. And we were much county then as far as our departments. And we really have grown a lot. Sarah Loyd: you described yourself as the person who strategizes educational campaigns and makes the creative assets, everything from signage to motion graphics to billboards. So how did you get into this work? Abby Murphy: I did start out studying art initially in college, and then I switched over to biology to pursue a career in marine biology. And then I got a job with the Chatham County Recycling Center as the education and outreach coordinator and got to work with Catherine some. And then she asked me to apply to a job opening when she had one in her department. So it was all kind of a roundabout way. I ended up studying art and then kind of came back to it after many years. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, well, it's nice to have those skills in your pocket. And it's really cool that you got to put together the communication aspect with the art aspect from your background. So that's really neat. And Will, as I mentioned in the intro, you said that you explain the crunchy concepts of government in a smooth and digestible way, typically through video content. And I love that. is your background? Will Peebles: The background of that answer was that I had peanut butter yesterday and we were talking about crunchy versus smooth peanut butter and I guess that stuck in my head. So ⁓ college initially my plan was to be a music teacher and I pursuing a ⁓ choral music education degree from Georgia Southern. Sarah Loyd: you Will Peebles: then I moved over to journalism, ⁓ graduated with that degree, and I worked for News, one of the papers here in town, for seven years. ⁓ And then I left that job, jumped into the to public information pipeline, and it spit me out at Live Oak Public Libraries. I love my little library job. And then Catherine came along and said, hey, Will, I need you. the price was right. I've here almost two years. Still pretty new to the game, but ⁓ as you have learned already in this podcast, I've got great mentors and great people to ask about when I am throwing my hands up in the air worried. The Crunchy Concepts thing, I don't know, that's something I've always kind of strived to there is always something that is difficult that needs explaining, ⁓ especially in local government, started a series on it, but I'm sure we'll get to all that. Sarah Loyd: I love peanut butter analogy and you know, I was actually thinking more along the lines of like granola or salad, like the healthy things that we need that we don't always want to ingest, but they're really good for us. ⁓ Will Peebles: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We, love metaphors too much, ⁓ aim to be the delicious Greek yogurt that you put your granola into, you know. Sarah Loyd: ⁓ So yeah, get how you guys are producing your own content. Y'all are making Government 101, Chatty Chatham, which is an animated series for second and third graders. So, ⁓ Catherine, can you me a little bit about those? Catherine Glasby: Sure. They all came from a meeting that we had here in my office And were trying to out how to reach our younger generations. So we were kind of brainstorming some of those ideas and Gov101 came up first. I think it was actually Will. He was like, you need to just let me do a YouTube style that, you know, in six minutes or under kind of explains a crunchy concept. Uh, and, makes it easy for people to digest. And I was like, I don't know about this. And he said, let me just film one. And I was like, all right, just film one. In that same conversation, Evan King, who works in our department said, well, you know, they don't really teach civics anymore. So people don't know coming up what, what government does. And I said, you know, you're right. Sarah Loyd: you Will Peebles: Thank Catherine Glasby: And so we came up this concept because Evan is an animator. by trade, he was like, Let's do ⁓ an animated series. And I was like, okay, tell me more. So storyboarded it out. He up with all these great concepts. He actually recorded the script and I was where did you get all these people to record this? I mean, you didn't ask any of us. And he was like, it's all me. He's like, it's the way you do the production. was like, holy crap. Okay. Will Peebles: you Thank Sarah Loyd: That's amazing. Will Peebles: It's good. Catherine Glasby: ⁓ So then I was like, you know, but we got to make sure that all of this fits in with certain educational component because we want to be able to push this to our homeschoolers and to our systems. And so we happen have a ⁓ friend here at the county whose daughter is a curriculum specialist for a school. ⁓ So she in and she evaluated it and she helped us to ⁓ Will Peebles: it it. Catherine Glasby: changed some of the programming just a little bit using the right words and the right concepts that we hit second and third grade level. ⁓ we launched it last year. We actually had a big rollout for it at a movie in the park night that our parks and recreation sponsors and it was the short before the Disney movie that they showed and kids loved it. And what we're finding too is that their parents are loving it. Their older siblings are loving it. Will Peebles: Thank Sarah Loyd: Nice. Catherine Glasby: We've only done one so far and it was on zoning. we've got our second one coming out this spring ⁓ hurricane preparedness. both of them are concepts for us. and really have taken off. When we launched Gov101, we actually had a resident tell us that it was like the best civic foreplay. And I was like, oh wow, that's a new one. Will Peebles: Thank Catherine Glasby: we actually had a resident tell us that it was like the best civic foreplay. And I was like, oh wow, that's a new one. Sarah Loyd: Yeah. Yeah. Will Peebles: just saying the civic foreplay thing. just saying the civic foreplay thing. Sarah Loyd: Hahaha Hahaha Abby Murphy: I was, knew what was coming. I was, knew what was coming. Catherine Glasby: No, well, you know, you gotta take your wins where you can get them, Will. You gotta take your wins. No, well, you know, you gotta take your wins where you can get them, Will. You gotta take your wins. Sarah Loyd: Absolutely. Absolutely. Will Peebles: Hey, it's a win, don't get me wrong. Hey, it's a win, don't get me wrong. Abby Murphy: won some 3CMA swag as a result of that. Will Peebles: Yeah. Catherine Glasby: Yeah. But I mean, it is resonating with our residents like that, that they're going, hey, this is this is some of the best way that we've seen government explained. You're taking something that's a hard concept like our taxes or elections or we have something here called a Stevens Day exemption, which is a property tax exemption. And you're breaking that down so that your residents actually understand what government is doing for them, that's a win all day long. All day long. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, yeah, totally. I saw the the Stevens Day exemption video and Will, that was that was your video. tell me a little bit about what it's like explaining those crunchy government concepts in a YouTube style. Will Peebles: ⁓ do consume a lot of YouTube, and typically, Razor kind of rules on YouTube, you know? If you can look at a camera and say something, and it is something that people want to watch, it will be successful. Or if it's information that people want, you know? And I knew it was the of the year with Stephen's Day, and a lot of people including myself would be looking into doing it. that was kind of my intention of putting it out there. ⁓ it's easy to get bogged down in all the details. And I think that this just kind of skips straight to the point. And it's just hey, here's what I'm talking about. Hey, I'm talking about it. All right. See you later. You know, it's just open and shut. It's not a big production. It's just we flip the camera on we go. I give it to Evan, he puts the graphics on it and it's done in a couple days usually. if you can just hone it in, I don't know. It's easier to understand than a lot of people realize. And that's really, yeah. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, yeah, for sure. I, I did notice, you know, you, you broke it down in a way that kind of made it feel like, like, what's in it for me? Like what, how does this apply to me? Will Peebles: Yeah, that's because like I said, that's the information that you're coming to it for. And if you can set up that kind of ⁓ watering of information, then people are going to keep coming, you know, or at least that's what we hope. Sarah Loyd: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So Abby, you worked on a traffic safety campaign with engineering that used humor and Catherine, Catherine mentioned some signs in particular. So tell me a little bit about that project. Abby Murphy: ⁓ yeah. So engineering reached out to me a few weeks ago and they were wanting to have some signs available for certain neighborhoods that, they don't necessarily need speed bumps, but there needs to be a reminder that, Hey, this is the speed limit. ⁓ And, for to be in a way that's like, eye catching, ⁓ they referenced something that Seattle did that said slow the flock down and it had birds. And so they were like, have fun with it. So we did. We were just around here in our department. We love puns. So we were trying to come up with all sorts of stuff. we did everything from just like kind of a little silly snail to slow your bass down because the freshwater is the state fish of Georgia. So and then Will Peebles: I love that we have the receipt, you know, and that is the same thing. Sarah Loyd: Hahaha Abby Murphy: Yes. Yeah, it's educational. And also slow your peach down because we're the peach state, but it also means something else. So we ⁓ a lot of fun with that and it was well received. it definitely like, I was like, this is really getting me amped up ⁓ I just love combining education and like humor and silliness. It's really just, makes me so happy. So it's like, I've been floating on a cloud since we've been doing this project. Sarah Loyd: That's awesome. And it makes it so memorable for people too. If you just have a sign that says slow, that's just noise as you're driving down the street. But if you can catch someone's eye with a little joke or a pun or something, yeah, that makes it stick so much more and makes it so much more effective. Abby Murphy: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Catherine Glasby: Absolutely. We've tried to use humor quite a bit in some of our videos. We did one right at the beginning of COVID and I have to brag on my team because they are so good. I literally left them to go to a meeting and this was like maybe like day two of our activation for COVID. So it was March of 2020. And I said, y'all, we got to get a message out there that people have to be at a social distance of so many feet apart. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, see you. Will Peebles: Okay. Okay. Catherine Glasby: And this was even before all the masks and everything. And I came back and they had already filmed it and edited it. And they were putting it to music and it was great. It was, you know, here in our building, it was our coworkers Abby was, the, I'm going to say the host of the video. She was the one that was being the hypochondriac. And she was like, actually had a tape measure and was measuring how far people could be from her to keep her safe. Will Peebles: Okay. Okay. Catherine Glasby: ⁓ and it was just, it was a great video and we did another one a couple of years later that was, ⁓ about tip and toss. ⁓ we have, we have mosquitoes here. We, we could not live if we did not have mosquito control. but, but one of those things where it, we people to throw out standing water in their yard. ⁓ And Abby and of our ⁓ other staff members to her backyard and they Abby Murphy: Shout out mosquito control. Catherine Glasby: created this great video of her karate chopping all these different pots and play stands and stuff like that. it was a great educational message, but it made you laugh while you were watching it. I think that's a great way to ⁓ resonate our message with our If they can laugh about something, they're more likely to remember. Sarah Loyd: It sounds like you guys have a really deep bench and, ⁓ you know, use of ⁓ the skills everyone has brought from their diverse backgrounds. That's, you know, that's, that's the dream, right? Is, you know, making it, helping everyone ⁓ work and fulfilled, but putting out a really great product that, that elevates what you guys are doing and, really communicates with the public and gets the public kind of on your side as well. Catherine Glasby: Great. Sarah Loyd: Abby, mentioned collaborating with engineering on those traffic signs. ⁓ Tell me what it's like working across departments like that. Abby Murphy: ⁓ I feel like it's seamless. we you know. someone will reach out to us from a different department and ask if we can help out. We're like, absolutely. Or we'll reach out to them like, hey, I know in this case, we know you have this award. Do you mind if we do all this? To me, never any friction. It's just super easy. We all collaborate really well together. I think it's because we all know we have the same ultimate goal, and that's just to our residents and to let them know what we're doing. So I ⁓ really love of the relationships that we've built across different departments. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, and not for nothing. mean, there are definitely municipalities out there where the communication department has to really fight with other departments to them be heard. It's like, trying to tell your story. Help us help you, basically. So it's great that you guys have built those relationships. Abby Murphy: Yeah, I think they know that, that we really are just, trying to help them. Yes, absolutely. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, you're all on the same team. Yeah. All right. So team Chatham County, it is lightning round time. So I want some quick answers from all three of you. First up, your favorite local spot in Chatham County. I'm going to start with Catherine. Catherine Glasby: hands down my favorite place is the Mighty 8th Museum. love history, love World War II and it's a very peaceful place to be. Sarah Loyd: All right. Amazing. And Abby, how about you? Abby Murphy: So I have a seven-year-old daughter, so often my favorite places involve being able to take her somewhere and us both enjoying it. And is a cafe called Henny Penny, which combines doing arts and crafts with for kids. And you can also do it too, but there's also coffee. So I really love going there and it's also a great place for a play date. So that tends to be a top place for us to be. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, what a great combo. And Will, how about you? Will Peebles: I'm also gonna go with coffee. I love Perc Coffee very much. I actually brought my sticker Perc cup today. They're local coffee roaster ⁓ and used to live right down the road from them. I no longer live right down the road from them, but I still go a lot ⁓ and I love them so much. So shout out Perc. Sarah Loyd: All right, so next question. What's the most underrated part of your community, Catherine? Catherine Glasby: Um, I think it's, it's the, diversity of our community in and of itself. Um, we have a lot of diversity within the ethnic groups here. So we have, just to give you an example, top five, five languages, of course, English, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mandarin Chinese. Um, but we have a very large Jewish community here. We have a very large Muslim community here. We have a very large Greek Orthodox community here. when ⁓ thinking about all of those different things and how they play together and how they play into what we do in government and communications, I think it's for ⁓ our to really play into the strengths of that melting pot. I think doing a little bit better with that through economics, but still ⁓ still something that we don't do enough of. Sarah Loyd: Yeah. Abby, about you? What's the most underrated part of the community for you? Abby Murphy: Well, Catherine, you got very deep. was thinking a physical location. So that's what I'm going with. So there is a relatively Will Peebles: Yeah, that's not what I did. Abby Murphy: recent new playground that Chatham County Parks and Recreation finished at Ambuc Park. And it's a great location because it's right smack dab in the middle between all of these baseball fields, soccer fields, the Aquatic Center, a park like Mayor. And it's a playground for of all abilities. And I don't think it's underrated. I just think not as many people know about it. So I'll tell a of people about it. My daughter loves going there, but I see more and more kids using it. So I think it's becoming it's getting out ⁓ into community that that's there but I really do love that new playground that they built. Sarah Loyd: And Will, how about you? Will Peebles: Catherine was answering, I was like, dang, man, I misunderstood this one, I think. Catherine Glasby: Maybe I misunderstood it. Sarah Loyd: Hahaha Will Peebles: course, diversity, you know? But also, I really like the walking trails. We got some good ones out here. There's a lot that just run right up alongside the marsh or up alongside, sometimes, rivers. Maritime forests, I don't know. It's very cool and I think it's secretly one of my favorite things here, because we can just go and just meander. And it's like, oh yeah, I was in a city, metro area. five minutes ago, but now I am in the woods and I cannot hear anything but the birds, you know? ⁓ yeah, big shout out to Moon River Trail at Downing Piers, out on Skidmore. Abby Murphy: It's true. Sarah Loyd: All right, so my last question in one sentence, what's your piece of advice for someone just starting out in government communications? Catherine, how about you? Catherine Glasby: Don't give up. It's hard, but will get easier. Sarah Loyd: right, Abby, how about you? Abby Murphy: ⁓ Join organizations like 3CMA to see what others are doing and build your own community. Will Peebles: you Sarah Loyd: All right, and Will? Will Peebles: Find someone who knows more than you and attach yourself at the hip. Sarah Loyd: All right, that is all great advice. So Catherine, Abby, Will, thank you all so much for being on Modern Gov Matters. This was such a fun conversation. I wish I had two more hours to talk to you guys and hopefully will run into you at some conferences this year so we can catch up in person. Abby Murphy: Hope so. Sarah Loyd: Modern Gov Matters is presented by CivAll, powered by Social News Desk. If you found this episode helpful or interesting, please share it. And for more episodes, visit moderngovmatters.com. I'm Sarah Loyd, and we'll see you in two weeks.