Strategies for developing impactful annual reports—Part 3

NOTE: The nation's community of technology-based economic development organizations has entered the annual report season, and we've already seen several releases from SSTI members. All document TBED's impact on advancing research, moving it to market, and helping businesses improve their profitability and competitiveness.

To help the TBED community prepare their own annual reports, SSTI is speaking with a few of our members to learn more about their evolving approaches to preparing their annual reports. This week, we share insights from our third conversation based on an interview with Lizzette Arias, communications manager, and Arnold Liyai, program manager, from US Ignite. The first two parts of this series are available here and here.

A fundamental truth of communication is that you must target your message to your audience. But how can you do that when creating one universal document to address all your stakeholders, including military members, municipal leaders, startup companies, and university researchers?

US Ignite faces this challenge in producing its annual report, which covers its five programs: Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research, Smart Bases and Installations, Smart Cities Data, Startup Support, and US Ignite Communities. "The report needs to be written to talk to all those audiences," said Arias. "We have readers that are very interested in the communities and what communities are doing to advance their projects, and not so interested in how we're improving processes for military installations through technology. At the same time, we will have military leaders reading this who are keeping up to date with how technologies are helping improve military operations and processes." 

Liyai emphasized that, even when speaking to different audiences, all writing should be accessible to all readers. "We deal with a lot of technical jargon, especially within the TBED community," he said. "But the annual report does more than just reach those people. It reaches a potential wider audience. And some folks, even within the TBED ecosystem, might not be as technical as you are."

Arias reaches all these audiences by keeping it simple. Instead of describing the details of the latest technological advancements, she treats the annual report as a teaser, encouraging readers to go and find out more on the website. 

"Writing in a way that folks can understand makes it easier for them to engage with what you're putting out there and creates a sense of interest," said Liyai. “More technical information is always on our website. The report does a good job of pointing folks to the website and (showing) all the different fantastic things that (each) community team does ... to address their challenges."

Arias has weekly check-ins with most program groups year-round to discuss regular, day-to-day communications. She asks them to think about stories and features that would help them advance their project goals for the coming year and which should be highlighted in the annual report. Liyai, part of several program teams at US Ignite, notes that these meetings enhance the organization's communication quality. "I have the benefit of always running all my communication needs by Lizzette," he said. "She's good at understanding what we're trying to do." 

Although the various groups at US Ignite have different communication needs, Arias explains that their mission is the common theme that connects all groups. “We are an organization that helps communities use technology to improve the lives of the residents they serve, whether they are a research community, a military base, or a municipality. All our program areas flow from that mission.” 

Having gathered detailed knowledge of each group's communication needs, Arias serves as the primary decision-maker of what goes into the report. "The program teams give me creative control," she said. "That's super-helpful because when it comes to putting the content together and writing it up, I know what is going to go in there, and I don't have to fear that it's going to get pushed over by some other story or that it's going to get cut by a program lead somewhere down the line."

Arias creates a draft of the annual report and then works with the program teams to edit the content for accuracy. That part of the process, Liyai points out, involves "copious reminders for folks to look at and review the work that she's put together." Her supervisor, Mari Silbey, senior director of partnerships and outreach, does a final review.

Arias advises report producers to accept that they own the content. She admits that it can be overwhelming to develop an annual report, especially when comparing yours with what some larger organizations can do with a much bigger budget. "You have to start where you know you can deliver on the content," she said. "You are choosing what to put in there. You are the owner. You don't need to do what everyone else is doing."

You can access the US Ignite Annual Impact Report here.