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Sunday, March 24, 2013 
It's tricky. There's potholes in the ground. People are complaining. But how do you tell people what you are doing? Isn't it making a boring subject interesting? Sometimes creative thinking is needed.
Last week we released our video, "At Work in Highways", starring our Highways Manager, Jon Fraser, clad in his tuxedo and singing his own pothole-centric version of Frank Sinatra's My Way.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 
Fed-up of working for an organisation? Fancy setting-up on your own? Before you do take a look at these pearls of wisdom achieved the hard way by someone who has spent four years as a freelancer.
With four years under my belt spent failing as a business owner, I feel amply qualified to share with you the experiences of a freelancer.
It’s not that all freelancers have an aptitude for failure - far from it. Yet perversely, what with there being so much good in failing repeatedly as a gateway to success, it’s hardly a badge of negativity being in the glass half-empty camp.
Monday, March 18, 2013 
Cuts are here or cuts are coming. Across the public sector and the private. But what happens when an axe gets taken to your budget and your headcount is reduced? By lots? Here is some advice from one who has been there and emerged the other side...
By 2015 the Civil Service will be around 23% smaller than it was in March 2010.
Most central government departments and agencies have already been through restructuring programmes and communications teams have typically been hardest hit.
Monday, March 18, 2013 
So, how do we crack social media customer services? Is that a comms thing or a customer services? We'd quite like it if you dropped in for the #lgovsm chat and helped us shape some solutions.
by Dan Slee
A survey on brands showed that 30 per cent of them are now using Twitter to deal with customer services queries.
That means that a third of big institutions are now using the 140-character platform as a way of listening and reacting.
Sunday, March 17, 2013 
There's been a discussion recently on the future of communications and pr. But as this post shows it's also wrapped up in the future of journalism too.
When invited by Dave Windass, leader of the FdA in Digital Media Journalism and BA (Hons) Journalism & Digital Media courses at Hull School of Art and Design to address a conference - Journalism Day - on the future of journalism some weeks ago, I thoughtlessly said 'yes'. I said yes because Dave's a really top bloke, and we try to support him when we can, because I'm mostly happy to help, and I assumed it was to be a low-key local affair.
Two days before the 'gig', I found out I was closing the show, and following Martin Bell, Alastair Brett (the former Legal Director of Times Newspaper Ltd) political journalist David Torrance, and BskyB's senior news editor Dave Betts, and frankly it all got a bit 'squeaky bum time', as I believe Manchester’s old people say.
Friday, March 15, 2013 
Apprentices are an increasingly important asset in the workforce, and maybe more than ever for the PR industry.
by Stuart Baird
One of the most rewarding aspects of my work in the media and public relations over the last 20 years is seeing new starters grow in confidence, take more and more responsibility and then go on to greater and better things. And that is why I and my organisation are supporting National Apprenticeship Week between 11 – 15 March.
My employer, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) has recruited 140 apprentices since 2009 and more than 75% have remained with us for fixed term or permanent roles. Roles have included healthcare, business administration, finance, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and school nurse assistants. And crucially for me, public relations and communications.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 
There's a repository of case studies you may have come across. It's useful if you are starting out or a hardened geek with a range of links that you'll find helpful.
by Dan Slee
One of the great things about the web is the amount of good case studies shared.
One of the worst things about the web is that it's so hard to find them.
Step forward the Digital Engagement Guide which aims to be a veritable storehouse of good examples across government and local government. Much of it is transferrable to the private sector too.
A quick disclaimer I submitted a handful of examples to Steph Gray of Helpful Technology when the idea was first mooted. Since then the site has grown into a rich seam of content. The idea is simple. A screenshot. A link, some tags to help you search and a brief summary all grouped under headers. Brilliant.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 
There are challenges facing PR no matter the organisation. In the third sector these can come in different ways.
by Mark Morton
I love that there are no two days the same in my job.
I'm the digital media manager at Epilepsy Action, and I work to make everything we do the best so we can support people with epilepsy, their families and friends and anyone with an interest in the condition.
My role in the digital media team (there's three of us in total) is to work with colleagues to show them how can we achieve our aims online. And then, we work with everyone to make it happen.
Nearly all my colleagues work in the same building as me, so I aim for talking to be the major component of my day. A meeting just a chat that happens so you don't disturb others, especially with our confidential helpline 20 feet from my desk.
Monday, March 11, 2013 
There are challenges in every field of communications. None more than those facing the housing sector.
First up, a confession - I'm a complete newbie when it comes to comms. I started my job at Chartered Institute of Housing - or CIH - just three months ago after six and a half years as a local newspaper reporter. I'm learning new things every day - not least from blogs like comms2point0 and the comms community on Twitter who are fantastically generous in sharing knowledge and content.
Monday, March 11, 2013 
Big financial slabs of text often make grim reading and even worse viewing. But do dry figures have to be dull? Not always...
by Jo Smith
It’s that time of year again.
Councils across the country are presenting their budgets. Decisions that impact millions of people for years to come will be taken in town halls over the next few weeks.
And apart from the major headline issues, who will actually understand the detail? Is it because no-one cares or is it because the process of presenting budgets just isn’t interesting enough?
Conspiracy theorists will argue that public sector budgets are deliberately opaque to provide a smokescreen for bad news. The devil is always in the detail – often buried on page 527.
But in most cases there is a genuine desire to be open, honest and accountable about the financial realities – especially as more services face cuts. No-one wants to discover by accident that a service they needed no longer exists.
So where are public sector budget presentations going wrong? With more channels available than ever before is the traditional town hall committee meeting format finished?
And if they have to follow the same old format could they be better?
Saturday, March 9, 2013 
Organisations are still getting to grips with digital communications. Is it a bolt on? Is it a specialism? Fundamentally, it's for everyone but you need a specialist to make it happen.
by Dan Slee
Right, I'm going to say something bold and then directly contradict myself. But just stay with me on this, okay?
We all need to be doing more of this digital communications stuff from the hard-bitten pr to the frontline officer.
There shouldn't be a digital comms team and a traditional comms team in a different part of the building.
Friday, March 8, 2013 
Just recently we saw a viral campaign to raise funds for a book to be published. Shared by someone we rate we ended up pitching in for a copy ourselves. Called 'Anarchists in the Boadroom' by Liam Barrington Bush we thought we'd ask the author to talk a little about the channels he's using to raise the funding. And about the book. He's a nice man so he did...
Last year I went to Mexico to write a book about what social change organisations could learn about organising and management from social media and social movements. It begins from the premise that the vast majority of our non-profit and voluntary organisations have taken-on the organising models of industrialism, often without realising it. Further, these models are both deeply at odds with most of our organisations’ values and are ill-equipped to face the increasingly networked world in which we find ourselves.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 
Never let it be said that we're not a broad church. Prompted by the debate around the future of press releases one press officer has written this defence of the channel.
by Kam Mistry
In a world obsessed with social media I’ve been asked to scribble a few words, well a few hundred words, in defence of the press release. Some argue that the ability to tweet and blog instantaneously means that traditional channels and methods are redundant – newspapers’ days are numbered. This is far from the case, and the press release as a tool in the professional communicator’s kit is far from humble.
True, twitter and other social media allow us to get messages out quickly, and as someone who works in local government I have found it invaluable, especially when we need to get messages out promptly, for example during flooding, heavy snow or during emergencies. People trust the information we provide, because it comes from a trusted source – and trust is important with all forms of communication.
Monday, March 4, 2013 
Digital comms has a perfect way that it can demonstrate it's worth. They can help tranform services. That's a bit exciting.
by Kathy Kyle
Among the many topics discussed at this year’s Communications Camp (@commscamp | #commscamp13), the one that resonated most with me was how to best demonstrate the value of digital communications. If we can’t measure our impact as communicators, how can we influence and transform our organisations?
Sunday, March 3, 2013 
Socitm Insight's annual survey of local authority websites always gets plenty of headlines, positive and negative. What's it like to be on the team who produce the influential report?
Today saw the publication of the annual Better connected survey of all UK local authority websites, produced by Socitm Insight, which identifies good (and bad) practice based on extensive evidence-based research.
