Jyll Smith Public Information Officer Major Projects Branch, Oregon Department of Transportation Presented at the IAP2 Cascade Chapter Public Meeting SOS 3.0 workshop Vancouver, WA, December 9, 2011

1. Social media in action: A virtual open house
for the Willamette River Bridge
Jyll Smith
Public Information Officer
Major Projects Branch

2. Replacing the Interstate 5
Willamette River Bridge

3. Design enhancements
Sculptures to appear
along the bridge’s
median and freeway
Build on the Whilamut
Passage theme
Designed with the
community in mind

4. The challenge
Introduce bridge
enhancement ideas
Increase
Modernize
public
outreach
access to
methods
information
Adopt new processes
and platforms

5. The opportunity
Engage an
active online
community.
Increase
opportunities Break new
for ground in
community social media.
input.

6. The solution:
A virtual open house
A first for ODOT.
Supplemented a
Hosted on The WRB had
one-time
project website two virtual open
physical open
for six days. houses; this
house.
was the second.

7. Research and planning
Explored
alternative
survey
methods.
Coordinated
with artists
and
facilitators.

8. Cross-promoting with social
media tools

9. Willamette River Bridge
YouTube videos

10. Willamette River Bridge Twitter feed

11. Willamette River Bridge blog
Puts human face on
the project team.
Provides public with
a look behind the
orange cones.
Drove traffic to the
virtual open house.

12. Results of the virtual open house
Required fewer resources than
a physical open house.
Received 10 times as many
responses as typical open
houses alone.
High-level input.
Positive feedback.
Strengthened our use of
integrated social media to
interact with our audience.

13. Lessons learned
An established Engaging online
online presence requires a
is key to driving heavy resource
traffic. commitment.
Project team’s ODOT will use
efforts were virtual open
worth the houses in the
investment. future.