QC
FEATURE
CIVIC TECHNOLOGY
Creativity at MuniMod 2021 The year of virtual events still produces connection by Chris L. Holley II Florida League of Cities
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his year’s annual MuniMod civic-tech competition, held for the sixth time, had a completely different feel. As with most interactions this year, participants were not gathered before a panel of esteemed judges (think ABC’s “Shark Tank”). Instead, almost 30 young men and women representing eight teams from six universities from across Florida piled into a Zoom gathering with dreams of winning the $15,000 grand prize. The state’s largest competition of its kind, MuniMod challenges its participants to think critically about municipal functions and create cutting-edge technology and service delivery solutions to address common issues. Teams were given videos ranging from “City Government 101” available at the Florida League of Cities YouTube page to presentations from some of the top communicators and innovators in their fields to prepare them for judging. After watching, each team submitted key takeaways and lessons learned. Steven J. Vancore , president at VancoreJones Communications, preached the important aspects of concise delivery, pivoting and redirecting, all-important techniques during a question-and-answer session. FLC President Tony Ortiz, a City of Orlando commissioner, spoke to the importance of getting 30 QUALITY CITIES | SECOND QUARTER 2021
involved in your community and “Building Stronger Cities,” a reference to his president’s priority. Matt Broffman, director of innovation with the City of Orlando, shared his team’s work to rethink the way citizens access the information they need from the city. Teams were able to take advantage of vetting their ideas with practitioners from across the state ranging from Hayden Brock Jester, deputy fire chief for the City of Pensacola; Jim Anderson, city manager for the City of Port St. Joe; James Dean, city manager for the City of Marianna; Mike Schentrup, police captain for the City of Gainesville; and Jeff O’Dell, police chief for the City of Kissimmee, among others. On the day of the competition, teams were given five minutes to make their product pitch and then allowed another five minutes to field questions from the judges. After the flurry of presentations and direct and challenging questions, judges’ scores were tallied. FLC Vice President Phillip E. Walker, commissioner for the City of Lakeland, congratulated all the participants for their hard work and dedication toward dreaming big ideas for cities of all shapes and sizes. In the end, Florida Atlantic University student
