So as you know we’re in Milwaukee this week for the ICMA’s  97th Annual Conference. I’ve never been to the city before so thought I’d do my homework. I knew it was the home to Harley Davidson and some great breweries but that was about it. Turns out it’s the US’s 28th largest city by population and has one of the highest per capita student populations in the country.

Now clearly Milwaukee has a proud industrial heritage. And walking through the city a lot of its history is very much in tact. But as with any industrial city it’s had its challenges as manufacturing takes up a smaller proportion of our GDP. But Milwaukee has also seen a cultural renaissance with the building of the new conference centre and the Riverwalk.

So what better place then to hold the conference?  All of the city managers gathering here this week have faced challenges over the past few years. And let’s be honest – continue to face them. Every community is focused on jobs and providing better services to its citizens against a backdrop of continuing economic uncertainty.

But don’t mistake that for doom and gloom. If you look around you’ll find a lot of innovative approaches to these issues that people in central government right around the world would do well to take notice of. So I’m really looking forward to the week. Time to interview lots of really interesting people, talk to old friends and meet some new ones. Not to mention the trip to the brewery! But what I’m looking forward to the most is the opportunity to witness this pioneering approach first hand.

Watch all our conference interviews and reports on www.icmatv.com.

Follow us on twitter @ICMATV and the conference using #icma11

It’s a beautiful day here in Washington D.C. And an exciting one too. Because it’s the start of a packed digital mission organized by Chinwag. And WebsEdge is very proud to be coming along.

It’s quite an agenda. We’re meeting with government bodies at both a local and federal level to find out a little more about what their challenges are. And hopefully what we can do to help.

Now given we have an office here – in beautiful Georgetown – I’ve been thinking a little about government communications on both sides of the ‘pond’. At WebsEdge we’ve worked with about a hundred city governments here in the US – both large and small – and a similar number of local authorities back in England.

On the surface there are quite some differences. Just look at the funding mechanisms. But I’ve really been drawn to the similarities as well. On both sides of the Atlantic local government suffers from an image problem.  And the reality is that it’s getting worse. Whilst people value the services offered they don’t always rate the service provider very highly.

Which is a shame. Because the reality is that towns and cities are providing excellent public services that also provide good value for money. And those are the stories WebsEdge has helped to tell through The Local Government Channel, ICMA tv and now IAFC tv as well.

So we’re all set for a busy week. Lots to learn, new people to meet and, who knows, the odd cold beer along the way!

Follow all the action on Twitter:

@digitalmission

@stephenjhorn

@WebsEdgeTV

#dm2dc

Coming back this autumn from the International City and County Managers Association Conference in San Jose was a good opportunity to look at the challenges facing community leaders on both sides of the Atlantic.

WebsEdge/Government produced a series of programmes for both the ICMA and Britain’s LGA earlier in the summer. We interviewed a wide variety of politicians and community leaders and visited towns and cities throughout the two countries. There were clear similarities of approach to the problems caused by the global economic slowdown but there also some significant differences in emphasis.

In America it’s fair to say the harsh economic climate has been a reality longer as far as local government is concerned. Cities get a chunk of their funding from states and that has been cut back in recent years. So there’s a feeling that to some extent they have weathered the storm. They have made the necessary cuts to spending and are in better shape for the upturn when it comes. Whilst in England we’ve just had the Government’s Spending Review, which heralds substantial cutbacks to council grants. And whilst plans have been drawn up there is a distinct feeling of unease in town halls throughout the country.

The big worry in the United States is unemployment. At 9.5 % of the population it has remained stubbornly high. That has a profound effect on city government – both from a financial and a community cohesion point of view. So the focus now is on creating jobs.

As with many other facets of the relationship between the two countries there is more that unites us than divides us! There is a big emphasis in both the UK and US on professional management in town halls. If we can recruit, train and motivate the best minds into local service we’ll do the best we can for our citizens.

There’s also a focus on community. It goes under different names, ‘total place’ ‘big society’ and many others. But the sense is the same. If we coordinate the efforts of the entire public and voluntary sectors we can eliminate waste and provide better and more efficient services. What started out as a response to financial hardship has become a clarion call for better services and community engagement. And you never know, it may just work!

How’s everything in your business? Getting back to normal or still stuck in the recession? Indeed does anyone know what normal is any more!

Well it’s our busy time of year here at WebsEdge. We’re currently working on tv projects ranging from university admissions to crime and law enforcement. And we’re on our travels too – Liverpool in September, Beijing in October and New Orleans in November amongst many others.

To kick this season off I’ve just come back from Montreal where, for the fourth time, we’ve been producing a series of tv programmes for the International City Managers Association Annual Conference. Before and during the event we talked to city managers from all over the world. And of course the main subject for conversation was the recession.

What really surprised me was the amount of consensus. Everyone it seems has been effected by it. Everyone feels the worst is over and yet everyone is wary about the recovery. What shape will it take and how will we even know it’s here?

Not surprisingly being in Montréal we worked with quite a number of Canadian cities. And it was really refreshing to do so. Canadian cities, it seems are investing heavily in their communities future and they can afford to do that because the recession in Canada has been less severe than in many other countries. And that I think says a lot about their desire to build a sustainable future without getting too involved in economic bubbles that all too often leads to economic bust.