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Wednesday, October 16, 2013 
Every year hundreds of communicators gather in Brussels to listen, talk and share ideas. This year comms2point0 social reported from the event with a rolling Twitter, pictures and a storify to capture all the tweets.
by Dan Slee
So, there you go. Day one of Europcom and we end up trending in Belgium. Just goes to show that just talking about communications things can be popular.
Monday, October 14, 2013 
Twitter can lift the lid of what an organisation does. But how about a sector? Last year local government in the UK used a hashtag #ourday to give an insight into what they did. This year, they're at it again from library events and drain inspections to stray dogs and school dinners. Can you help?
Cllr David Harrington tweeted me late one night back in July: ‘How about it @LadyLeoLion?’ Turned out he was concocting ideas to celebrate local government and needed some collaborators.
One thing led to another and #OurDay 2013 was booked in for 17 October.
Sunday, October 13, 2013 
How an unlikely TV filming request can help with your comms. Or in other words, can the building that you sit in, the Army and rope help you connect?
I often get asked what the biggest challenges of my job are. I usually talk about varied audiences, digital, prioritisation, crisis communications and the like.
Then last April a very different challenge came my way in the form of a request that went something along the lines of ‘We would like to come and film at the DVLA and get the army to abseil off your sixteen storey tower block’. Okay. I wasn’t expecting that.
Sunday, October 13, 2013 
Public relations doesn't just have the people in the field doing it. It has academics. But is it healthy that much of what happens in academia is impeneterable?
by GUEST EDITOR Sarah Williams 
I have just returned from the Euprera Annual Congress in Barcelona, where PR academics from across Europe and beyond met to discuss current research into issues pertinent to the public relations industry today, or are they?
Tuesday, October 8, 2013 
How do you join the dots? How do you deliver the same message on the web and through the social web while using the comms team? Especially while talking to people. One company has some answers and has published a report too.
by Katie Bacon
A recurring theme shared with our team from local authorities, educational provisions, charities and private sector clients is:
“How do we integrate the online ‘organisational brand’ message in conjunction with the communication team while connecting online with our target audience in an transparent and inclusive manner?”
Monday, October 7, 2013 
Journeys. We're all on one in some way, shape or form - work or personal, large or small. One comms person shares her year-long social media journey with us here...
by GUEST EDITOR Emma Rodgers
I recently met up with Darren Caveney for a catch up. When we were talking about communications, social media, awards and other such things, he asked me when it was I first came to Walsall to meet him and Dan Slee.
It got me thinking and I realised it’s been just over a year since I started on my social media journey. I know that because I begrudgingly wrote about it here after Dan and Darren persuaded me to give it a go.
Sunday, October 6, 2013 
The beginning of this story will be the same as many council’s across the land so if you’re sitting comfortably I’ll begin...
by GUEST EDITOR Carolyne Mitchell
Once upon a time there was a council information officer who opened herself a Twitter account. After a few days of lurking she tweeted her first tweet and a whole new world opened up before her eyes.
She was lucky to have a boss who trusted her judgement when she suggested that the council should open a corporate account and so they did, under the radar, as a ‘pilot’, in case anyone asked.
Things went well and after a few months the council account had 300 followers. Then two things happened that would change everything.
Thursday, October 3, 2013 
Scotgovcamp was an unconference that drew people together from in and around local government. Ideas were shared. Here's what one comms person took from it.
As a traditional comms person, the pace of developments in digital and social media have at times left me playing catch up (or at least feeling as though I’m playing catch up) – an observer, rather than a participant.
I dipped a toe in the water of ScotGovCamp 2011 via Twitter and connected remotely with IslandGovCamp 2012 and so ‘in person’ participation at ScotGovCamp 2013 simply seemed right so that I could be part of the change.
The full event is summed up brilliantly by @marcommskenny here
Tuesday, October 1, 2013 
Our specialist team of engravers here at comms2point0 HQ are about to get to work. It's that time again when we announce last month's top post...
September can be a strange old month. It's the month that the schools go back, when the summer holidays are over, when shops begin taunting us with their Christmas tut. So it's important to read some great new posts to inspire us to get on with delivering our best work. And our marvelous contributors delivered that in spades.
But who wins the coveted 69p plastic cup...
In at number five...
Came Are we seeing a social switch in communications? by one of Cornwall's finest, Matt Bond
Tuesday, October 1, 2013 
Libraries, aren't they filled with people in buns shushing other people? No. Not in Halton in the north west. They're using technology as a way of connecting with their audience and authors.
by Mark Allen
#Haltonreads takes Halton's Libraries in 'One Direction' - forwards!
Halton Borough Council's libraries have been at the forefront of social media for some time, seeing the new methods sitting comfortable alongside the more traditional ones in attracting new readers and interacting with existing ones.
The service was early to use Facebook/Twitter as a way of engaging with its users, especially as more and more people use libraries for their IT facilities as well as to read conventional books.
Sunday, September 29, 2013 
Video can tell stories. It can engage. Vine is an application that allows iphone users to record six seconds of video and post to Twitter. With instagram you get a similar service but 15 seconds and smartphone users can use it too. It's the VHS v Betamax of mobile video. But here are two very contrasting views.
Monday, September 23, 2013 
There were 8,000 police officers at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland in 2013. The world's leaders gathered and key items were discussed. But what was the role of the 10 Downing Street digital team?
I was in a meeting the other week when it occurred to me that the beautiful round table we were gathered at was used by leaders at this year’s G8 summit at Lough Erne, Northern Ireland.
In addition to adding a slightly absurd twist to my otherwise fairly run-of-the-mill meeting, it quickly took me back to the fantastic time I had as part of the G8 digital team.
Monday, September 23, 2013 
At Scotgovcamp there was a discussion about how long local government will take to embrace technology. There were several comms people there. "Five years," came the most optimistic answer. By the magic of the internets a comms manager from Hull chipped into the discussion. Isn't technology great?
“It’s been too long since you blogged, man”, read the accusatory DM from that @danslee.
Foolishly I replied, ‘Give me a topic’.
Monday, September 16, 2013 
We're right at the start of learning how social media is changing organisations. But how is it changing communications?
by Matt Bond
Could the evolving relationship between digital technology and the requirement this is placing on us to become more social as organisations force a change in the way we think about communications?
That is the question I have been pondering of late as a picture emerges that increased social media use - and the fundamental shift this has caused in human behaviour - is stimulating the green shoots of a need for reflective change in how we as organisations communicate with our colleagues, customers and stakeholders.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013 
Maybe there's been a scramble for tickets. Maybe there's some people who just can't get there. So how do you make sure people outside the venue can take part too? Here's some ideas for remote participation.
by John Fox, Sweyn Hunter, Leah Lockhart, Lesley Thompson and James Coltham
Hosting an event? We'd like to offer some thoughts on enabling remote participation by folk who, for one reason or another, are unable to be present in person.
In May 2012 we staged Island Gov Camp (#IsleGC12) in Kirkwall, Orkney. The idea was to hold ‘an unconference for people working in and around government in islands, wherever they may be (including the big one with Cardiff, Edinburgh, and London on it); and for anyone with connections to islands, however tenuous.’
If you live or work in a remote location, or perhaps your mobility is restricted through disability, then it often isn't feasible to attend events which generally take place in centres of population such as Scotland's central belt, Birmingham or London.
