HUD's Web Management Operating Procedures

Section 2: General Procedures

G: Managing Web Clinics

Background

Web Clinics are free, one-day training courses that teach HUD partners how to create top-notch websites that deliver the services that HUD funds. Our goal is to help our partners create great websites to which we can link from our state pages, helping citizens find those local services that they want and need.

We've been doing these clinics since February 2000, and they've been a great hit. Not only do the clinics help our partners do something they want to do, they also create good will.

Clinics Agenda

Clinics cover 5 main topics:

• What can you do with the web? We share lessons learned in HUD's use of the web and show examples of partner websites that inform, provide services, and do work
• Managing your website: Practical tips for managing a website, including basic do's and don'ts and tips on making their websites accessible.
• Marketing your website: If they don't know about it, they won't use it. We give participants some low cost and no cost ideas for marketing their websites.
• Creating your website: 10 steps to developing their websites, complete with work sheets and a case study, as an example.
• Tips and tricks for low-cost websites: Finally, we tell them how they can get all the technical support for their websites - from computers to Internet service to graphics to web space - for free.

Participants receive packets containing complete notes on all the sessions. They also get the password to a special webpage that we've created for "Web Clinic Alumni." On that page, they can find the entire presentation we show at the Clinics, complete with links to the websites we show. That way, they can go back to their offices and review everything we covered. They also can download a free copy of our Web Clinic Wizard, an easy-to-use software package that lets them create a simple website in minutes

We've established a Web Clinics chat room, on the Alumni page, so that Clinic graduates can share ideas, seek peer reviews of their websites, and ask questions of the Web Team. We also maintain a Clinics alumni mailing list, and we use that list to let them know about new versions of the Web Clinic Wizard, upcoming clinics, and other related news.

Departmental Web Team's Duties

Members of the Departmental Web Team and designated Regional Web Managers teach web Clinics. Clinics are scheduled around the country, normally in HUD Field offices. The Departmental Web Team coordinates logistics with the appropriate Regional Web Manager and the local HUD Field Office Director. The Departmental Web Team provides all training materials.

Scheduling Clinics

The Departmental Web Team schedules the clinics on an annual basis. The schedule is coordinated with the Assistant Deputy Secretary for Field Policy and Management and with the Director of ODOC. Normally, we conduct 12-15 clinics each year. In deciding which cities to schedule for clinics, the Web Team considers

• HUD offices that have not already had a Clinic
• HUD offices that have not hosted a Clinic in at least 2 years
• Major cities or target areas (e.g., SW border) where Clinics could reach a substantial population of HUD partners
• Requests by HUD managers (if any)
• Travel costs

Normally, we try to make sure we cover the country, hitting as many different regions as possible.

The clinic schedule is posted on the web clinics page on hud.gov and distributed to Regional Web Managers and to Regional Directors.

Program managers can request special web clinics for specific customer groups, for example PHAs, in conjunction with conferences or other HUD meetings.

Trainers

Web Clinic trainers are designated by the Departmental Web Manager. To stay effective, trainers need to conduct a clinic at least once every 2-3 months. If they go longer than that, they begin to get a rusty. We want every Clinic to be the best HUD has to offer. So teams and schedules should be organized so that trainers do at least one clinic every 2 months. Trainers use the standard "script" for the clinics, ensuring that every clinic participant gets the same basic information; however, trainers also throw in their own personal experiences, to help underscore the points being made.

Duties Involved in Managing Web Clinics

Departmental Web Team:

• Coordinate training materials: Though the materials in the packets are time-tested and proven, we do occasionally update them. Periodically poll the trainers to identify any changes that they'd like to make. Changes must be approved by both of the Departmental Web Managers. Update packets and the Web Clinic Alumni website accordingly.
  
  
• Monitor evaluations: Collect and review evaluations from all web clinics. Identify any trends - both positive and negative. Positive trends might indicate a "best practice" that all trainers could adopt. Negative trends may indicate a need for more training for a trainer or other appropriate action.
  
  
• Maintain the Web Clinics page on hud.gov: Periodically review the content of the Web Clinics page to ensure that it is current and accurate.
  
  
• Maintain the Web Clinics alumni page on hud.gov: Monitor the Web Clinics chat room, make sure that handouts and the presentation are current, and add links to good examples of websites done by our clinic alumni.
  
  
• Maintain the Web Clinics instructions: Periodically review the information and instructions in this document to ensure they are current and accurate
  
  
• Communicate Web Clinics successes: Periodically summarize Web Clinic successes to include in State of the Web, accomplishments reports, the Web Team work plan, and other reports.
  
  
• Respond to queries from past and future clinic participants: Respond to or route comments and queries, both via email and phone, from Clinic participants. Typical queries are: "I've finished my website - would you please review it?" and "I'm trying to use the Web Clinic Wizard, and I need help."
  
  
• Appendix D is a checklist for the Web Team to use to manage clinics.

Regional Web Managers

• Coordinate With Local Staff:
  • Before we announce each clinic, you should contact the Field Office Director to let him/her know about the clinic and to contact the local Web Coordinator to go over the duties associated with the Clinic.
  • Make sure to link to the Web Clinics page from the front page of the appropriate state page.
  • Follow up with the local liaison to ensure that all activities specified on the checklist are completed.
  • Work with the Field Office Director to develop an invitation list. Though the Clinics are advertised on the website - and registration may be done via email - the FOD will need to send invitations to local partners and prospective partners. You may want to develop a cover memo from your Regional Director to include with the flyers, encouraging partners to participate in the Clinic.
  • Monitor registration. If responses are low, the week prior to the Clinic, work with the FOD to mobilize the local office staff to call their partners and invite them personally.
  • The day before the Clinic, contact the local liaison to double-check that all logistics have been planned. If the local office manager is acting as "host," contact him/her to reconfirm.
  • If at all possible, Regional Web Managers should attend the Clinics in their jurisdiction, to assist the Clinic training team and to establish relationships with the local partners.
    
    
• Follow Up to Clinics:
  • 3-6 months after the Clinic, work with the local Web Coordinator and FOD to see if they would like to organize a follow up "show and tell." All they need is a room with an Internet connection, a computer, an InFocus, and a screen. They can invite their clinic participants to come together again to show what they've accomplished. Invite each participant to show his/her site, and let the other participants offer their critiques. It's as simple as that! If you can be there to run this session yourself, that's even better.
  • Provide feedback to the Field Office Directors and to the Regional Director about your Clinics. Brief them on the number and responses of participants. Show them the websites developed as a result of the Clinic. Show them websites of partners who don't come to the Clinics and urge them to encourage those partners to attend a future Clinic.
  • Show managers the value of helping our partners create good public service websites.
  • Let the Departmental Web Manager for Field Operations know how your follow up sessions go.
  • Provide URLs of websites that might serve as good examples for future Web Clinics.

Web Coordinators

Appendix E outlines procedures for the local Web Coordinator.

Some tips on Clinics

• When developing the invitation list, don't stop at the borders of the local office jurisdiction. The most successful Clinics are those to which partners were invited from neighboring Field office jurisdictions, as well. Contact the FODs from adjacent Field offices and encourage them to invite their partners to the Clinics.
  
  
• Based on experience, the ideal size for a Clinic is 50 participants. But we have done Clinics for as many as 125 participants - and certainly we don't want to turn folks away! We normally see a 20-25% "no show" rate at Clinics (when it's free, folks feel less compelled to tell you they've changed their minds), so over-book.
  
  
• Clinics work best - and become cost-effective - when there at least 20 participants. If you are not able to attract at least 25 registrations 3 days before the Clinic (keeping in mind that you are likely to lose 25% of those who registered), we may cancel the Clinic.
  
  
• Though the Clinics are for HUD partners and prospective partners, we typically don't turn other folks away, as long as there is space in the room. Who attends, though, is your call. Just use your own judgment.
  
  
• If HUD staff would like to attend the Clinics, they are welcomed to observe, as long as they don't displace partners who would like to attend. Please remind the HUD staff that the Clinics are aimed at our partners - not at them.