Win Strategy Opposition Research: Political War Room to Business

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 – 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Cannon House Office Building, Room 121 Washington, DC

Click here to register.

Working in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, political professionals are very savvy and well-rounded intelligence gatherers.  Accusations fly. Candidates make mistakes. Natural catastrophes happen. When your boss lives in the public spotlight, lightning quick research and response (with zero room for error) are part of the daily routine. No one wants their professional obituary written by the Washington Post.

In the wake of the economic crisis and subsequent recession, government is taking a more active role in a number of industries.  Recent rumblings from the Department of Justice suggest a more activist interpretation of its anti-trust role.  CI professionals need to add the ability to read the weak signals and interpret the early warnings to advise executives on how this active government role in the private sector is going to impact their industry and their company.

Come join the Greater DC Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals on July 28, 2009 for an interactive panel discussion with two of the best political minds in the business, John Feehery and Jim Barnett. We’ll be talking political war room tactics and the lessons CI professionals can learn from them.

• Political Opposition Research 101. Learn the basics of strategic planning, background research, messaging, reading tea leaves, etc.
• Powerful Communication Techniques: Learn how to best distill complex conclusions into clear, concise messages for effective communication inside and outside your organization.
• Current political environment: Six months after the 2008 election cycle, discuss the current political priorities and realities (amid the chatter) in the White House, Congress and state capitols.

Jim Barnett is a senior analyst with the competitive intelligence group at AARP, where his duties include developing political intelligence. He also serves as an in-house consultant to AARP Publications, including AARP Magazine and AARP Bulletin, and is responsible for generating intelligence and insight on the nonprofit publishing sector. He edits a blog on this topic, “The Nonprofit Road.” Jim has 20+ years of experience in newspaper reporting and editing, including 10 years as a Washington correspondent for The Oregonian, the daily newspaper in Portland. Previously, he worked as a business reporter for The (Raleigh) News & Observer. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and has a master’s degree in journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill. He currently is pursuing a master’s in nonprofit management in the M.P.A. program at George Washington University.

The Feehery Group is a boutique advocacy firm that focuses on communications and government affairs strategy.  Founded by John Feehery in February of 2007, The Feehery Group has an impressive list of Fortune 500 companies and trade associations, including Newscorp, Ford Motor Company, PHARMA, and the United States Chamber of Commerce, among its clients. John Feehery has spent close to 20 years in a variety of influential positions inside the beltway, both as a key advisor to leading members of the Congress, as an executive for the Motion Picture Association of America, and as lobbyist and public affairs strategist for Barbour Griffith and Rogers, a leading government relations firm in Washington DC. Feehery is a regular guest on CNN’s Situation Room, MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, and Bloomberg Television’s Money and Politics program. He holds a double graduate from Marquette University, with both a BA and MA in history.

Location
Cannon House Office Building (Room 121), Washington, DC
First and C Streets, SE
Washington, DC 20050

Directions
http://www.thecapitol.net/MapsAndDirections/natldemocraticclub.htm

Registration Fees
SCIP Members – $35.00
Non-Members – $45.00
Students – $25.00 (Non-SCIP Student member, please contact Robyn Reals)

Please click the link below to register:
http://www.scip.org/training/EventsDetail.cfm?itemNumber=8002

Cancellation Policy
Cancellations not received in writing by Friday, July 24, 2009 will not be refunded.

Agenda
Registration & Networking – 5:30 PM
Food & Beverage – 6:00 PM
Presentation – 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Q&A / Networking – 7:30 PM – 8:00 PM

Contact Information
Jeff Trexel, Greater Washington DC Chapter Chair
jeff.trexel(at)infoition.com
703-556-0027

Robyn Reals, SCIP Educ. Mgr.
rreals(at)scip.org
703.739.0696 x107

“Be Proactive: Media Analysis for Near Term Scenario Prediction”

We’re happy to announce an upcoming DC chapter program.  You can register for this event at the SCIP website.  Here are the details.

Program Description

Few dispute traditional and non-traditional media outlets publish information that matters to the competitive intelligence professional. The question then is how to be proactive in finding, digesting and quickly applying relevant information to your near-term scenario predictions. Good data will slip through the cracks unless you have a smart system in place to catch it.

There is a right and wrong way to monitor the media. One is comprehensive and sharp, while the other is sloppy and littered with holes. Join Jeff Trexel, CEO of Infoition News Services, and Steve Lunceford, Director, Global Communications, Deloitte, for a session on building your own internal media tracking system. They will analyze press coverage surrounding the stimulus package – referencing real data and metrics collected from products customized over the past few months for the White House, key congressional committees and several top government contractors.

Your competitors, partners, clients and policy makers closely track the media to make better market predictions and decisions. Do you?

About the Speakers

Jeff Trexel, CEO of Infoition News Services

Jeff founded Infoition, an innovative news and information company, in 2003. The idea for the company came as he watched world leaders struggle to keep up on relevant news when serving as the communications director and chief spokesman for a United States Representative.  Prior to serving on Capitol Hill, Jeff worked as a corporate communications manager for American Management Systems and Hill and Knowlton’s public affairs and corporate practice groups. Jeff currently serves as the Greater Washington DC Chapter Chair for the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals.

Steve Lunceford, Director, Public Sector Communications, Deloitte

Steve Lunceford is Director of Public Sector Communications for Deloitte, a leading provider of consulting services to U.S. Federal and state/local governments. Mr. Lunceford has 20 years experience in media relations and corporate communications, working with key international, U.S., local and trade media on behalf of firms such as Sprint, Choice Hotels International, BearingPoint, RadioShack and the NFL.  He has broad-based expertise in corporate positioning and raising awareness for brands and business/consumer products and services; from enterprise IT and wireless, to federal contracts, broadband and hospitality/travel.  Mr. Lunceford is an expert in crisis communications planning and execution, and is an evangelist for the use of new media technologies to help achieve traditional communications objectives.  He is the founder of GovTwit.com, a listing of government using Twitter, and a co-host of Gov20Rado.com, a weekly podcast about the use of social media in government.

Location

Residence Inn Arlington/Rosslyn

1651 North Oak Street

Arlington, VA 22209

703/812-8400

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/wasrr-residence-inn-arlington-rosslyn/

Registration Link for “The Art and Science of Elicitation” Chapter Meeting

Here is the link for you to register for our next chapter meeting on March 30, “The Art and Science of Elicitation.”

http://www.scip.org/Training/EventsDetail.cfm?itemnumber=6875

The Art (and Science?) of Elicitation

We’re happy to announce the next program for the SCIP Greater Washington chapter: The Art and Science of Elicitation by Ms. Catherine L. Foley om CM2 Limited.

March 30, 2009

6:00 – 8:00 PM EST

 

We will also be meeting in an exciting new venue!

Restaurant 3

2950 Clarendon Blvd.

Arlington, VA 22201

Find directions and local information on Google Maps.

Program Description

There are numerous skill sets required to be a successful competitive intelligence professional in today’s environment. Among these skills, and possibly the most important is the ability to gain valuable information from human sources in a non-threatening form, without directly asking for it.  The technique for this is known as elicitation. Definitely one of the more difficult intelligence skills to master, elicitation is more of an art than science. It is a skill that needs to be learned, practiced and honed.  Elicitation techniques can be used to improve all primary research activities to get maximum value from telephone and in-person interviews as well as collection at trade, industry and professional events.

Ms. Foley will provide an overview of what elicitation is; what it is not; and how to use it in everyday intelligence collection.

Beginning with planning, she will cover the basic models of elicitation and several of the primary techniques to get the source to “open up”.  The program will cover the most common psychological tendencies of human sources and how to best apply elicitation techniques that are effective with them.

Please note that we will not be able to accept walk-in registrations for this meeting at the request of our speaker.

 

Catherine L. Foley, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of CM2 Limited

With twelve years of investment banking experience and fifteen years of intelligence experience, Ms. Foley has significant expertise in both disciplines. As the founding Director of the Competitive Intelligence Group of a privately held investment bank in Washington, DC, she designed intelligence collection and analysis methodologies that supported mergers and acquisitions for more than 80 projects. She also led intelligence and risk assessments for deals ranging from $10 million to $5 billion. She served four years as a member of the bank’s Board of Management. Additionally, Ms. Foley has extensive experience in senior executive search and recruitment.

Previously, Ms. Foley was employed by the United States Department of Defense for eighteen years in a number of human intelligence and counterintelligence positions, with a focus on strategic debriefing and collections. Her international experience includes operations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and Latin America. In her free time, Ms. Foley enjoys sea kayaking and volunteers her time on the Board of Directors of North Shore Paddler’s Network, a non-profit group that promotes kayak safety and training.

About CM2 Limited

CM2 works at the intersection of competitive intelligence, strategy, M&A and Enterprise Risk Management. By blending military and government human intelligence collection experience with global business consulting expertise, CM2’s unique approach yields tangible results for clients seeking to gain a competitive advantage.  See http://www.cm2limited.com for more information.

Sally Church’s Observations of New Ways of Knowing 2.0

We were privileged to have Sally Church of Icarus Consultants join us for our New Ways of Knowing 2.0 session yesterday and share her experience using social media for competitive intelligence discovery.  Sally blogged about New Ways of Knowing 2.0, and here are some excerpts:

For me, I was curious to see how many other Competitive Intelligence professionals are using social media and cloud tools in their workflow and to gather relevant data.  There was also a bonus as several interesting ideas cropped up during the workshop and stimulated my own thinking further.  The first was asymmetry of information, the second was playmaking and how both can influence marketing strategy.  These ideas piqued some long lost thoughts I had from reading some excellent books such as Daniel Pink’s ‘A Whole New Mind’ about how right brain thinking will dominate in the information age and Don Tapscott’s treatise on ‘Grown up Digital’.  If you haven’t read either book, I would highly recommend them. 

Follow New Ways of Knowing 2.0 on Twitter

You can follow the proceedings of the SCIP DC New Ways of Knowing roundtable on Twitter here.

Systematic Threats in Finance and Cognitive Dissonance

In preparation for tomorrow’s New Ways of Knowing I wanted to share some of my thoughts I captured in a PowerPoint to highlight the complications of anticipating systematic risk based on established economic models and the negative impact of cognitive bias in executive decision-making that can make managers blind to said risk.

I hope this spurs a lot of thoughts and discussions.

See you tomorrow!

Embassy Suites Chevy Chase Pavilion Location

Use  Google Maps for directions to our location for the “New Ways of Knowing 2.0” event. The Chevy Chase Pavilion is at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue, Western Avenue and Military Road in upper Northwest DC.

There is plenty of parking available (for pay) at the Chevy Chase Pavilion. The Friendship Heights metro station (Red Line) has an entrance adjacent to the Pavilion.

Register for New Ways of Knowing 2.0

I’m happy to report that the SCIP registration link for our upcoming half-day session is now live:

http://www.scip.org/Training/EventsDetail.cfm?itemnumber=6053

Please follow this link to register for the event.  Due to limited room capacity the event will be limited to 50 attendees, so we will close down registration once we have achieved that number.  If we have more than 50 pre-registered attendees we are not going to be able to support walk up attendees on the day.  It’s going to be an exciting and interactive session.  Register today to secure your place.

New Year’s Letter to the SCIP DC Chapter

My fellow SCIP Greater Washington Chapter members,

Happy New Year! I’m glad to write to you today with three updates about steps we are taking to make your local chapter more valuable to each member.

First, I am excited to announce that our chapter has a new co-chair! Jeff Trexel, the CEO of Infoition, has agreed to transition into the role as Chapter Chair. This is an important step for our chapter because new leadership brings new energy and new ideas, and Jeff is already showing an abundance of both. I will continue to support Jeff, and we’re both committed to broadening the opportunities for volunteering and leadership within the chapter. This is an exciting time for the chapter, and we all wish Jeff the best as he takes on this new role. Please join me in welcoming Jeff to his new role.

Next, I want to take this opportunity to introduce the SCIP Greater Washington Chapter blog. Point your web browser to http://www.scipdc.org to share your opinion on the goings-on with the chapter, explore the topics raised in recent programs and interact with the chapter membership. In the coming weeks and months we’ll be adding authors to the blog, and any member or interested party is welcome to comment.

Finally, we are happy to report a successful completion of the recent member survey. Special thanks belong to Denise Baken for all of her efforts to move this survey forward. The survey report and results can be viewed at the SCIP DC blog here: https://scipdc.wordpress.com/2008/12/22/results-of-2008-scip-dc-members-survey/. Here are some of the highlights:

• Chapter members hold diverse roles in their organizations, and the majority of our survey respondents are not full-time CI professionals.
• We have an experienced membership.
• Tuesday at 6:00 PM is the best day and time to hold a chapter meeting.
• Locations in Arlington near metro stations with available parking are the ideal locations to hold meetings.
• Our members are not as satisfied with the chapter as we would like them to be. Hopefully some of these steps we are taking will move us in that better direction. We can’t stress it enough that specific feedback about what you would like to see is welcome. Volunteering to help make the programs you want to see happen is even more welcome.
• We received some great guidance on the kinds of programs you want to see in the future. Expect to see more programs on analytical frameworks, industry-specific events and programs about human source collection. If you know of local speakers on topics of interest please recommend them. We’ve received some great suggestions in the past few months.

The coming months are going to be very exciting ones for the chapter as we transition to our new leadership. Stay tuned and visit the blog often to share your own thoughts and feedback. You can also send questions, comments and inquiries about the chapter to chair@scipdc.org.

All the best,

August Jackson
Greater Washington SCIP Chapter Co-Chair