it's time to fightback... I'm not scared

A discussion took place on Twitter shaped by predictions of worse to come for local government. But should we be downcast? Or fight back? Here the director of comms at the LGA urges for the fightback.

by David Holdstock

Local government is doing some remarkable things. If any major business continued to deliver services against a budget reduction of 40 per cent it would be rightly lauded as heroic. 

Well, that’s exactly what local government has done. 

At the same time, our reputation remains high and we are trusted by our residents to do the right thing. However, the scale of the financial challenges often means that we, in local government, are never able to pause for a moment to reflect on the scale of our achievements.

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even newspaper editors are ditching the press release

 If there's one thing that guarantees debate it's the future of the press release question. Thing is, while PR people are talking newspaper people have started to quietly turn away from it.

by Eddie Coates-Madden

I missed the apparently now annual @commscamp dust up over the Press Release this year. 

I may have inadvertently started it and run away last year, and I think I was supposed to kick off a brawl about it at an LGComms fringe event last year too, but sort of declined. Sort of. 

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a virtual trip to #commscamp14

It's never possible to get to all of the events we'd like to. But sometimes you can get benefits from an event from the comfort of your own office or home.

by Emma Leigh

Before I go any further, I must make a confession, I was lucky enough to get a ticket to #CommsCamp14, hurrah I hear you say, so why the flip is this blog about a virtual trip to CommsCamp? Unfortunately, the day before I was unwell and unable to make the journey. Right up until 7.15am on Monday morning I was challenging myself to make the train, but, alas it wasn’t meant to be.

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i love porto

We're always keen to get different perspectives on comms, especially from overseas. So when one-man social media machine, Helder Goncalves offered us a post we jumped at the chance.

by Helder Goncalves

“I Love Porto" is a Facebook page established in February 2012 with the intention of showing the beauty of living in a city as historic but at the same time as contemporary as Porto. The aim was to raise citizens' love for the city we lived in, sharing photographs of some of the most beautiful and iconic locations, such as the amazing Douro River.

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why I love local government comms

Over the past few weeks and months, there has been an emerging trend in local government communications – this trend has seen a number of really, really good people leave the sector and go onto other very impressive things...

by GUEST EDITOR Emma Rodgers

Now that has probably been a brilliant thing for those people individually but it got me thinking. What do we do when all the good people are gone? How do we attract new talent into local government communications at one of the most challenging times in it’s history? I’m not sure yet of the answer and it would be arrogant of me to think that I could come up with that solution alone. What I did decide though is that I would write down my top five reasons why I believe local government communications is a good place to be and here’s that list. I’m hoping it will spark some views and debate.

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step back and look at the view

We're all so busy racing around trying to get good at the latest 'next big thing' that sometimes we forget to take a step back...

by GUEST EDITOR Nic Davies Uley

Working in communications, reading about communications, communicating about communications, it can all get a bit too much. If working for myself has taught me one thing, it’s to step back and look at the view.

But you can’t look at the view, unless you take the step back.

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66 nuggets I picked up at #ComsAcad

The World cup may have kicked off this week but all the talk in Manchester was about communications at the inaugural Public Sector Communications Academy.

by Darren Caveney

I’m a little biased, but I thought that this was the best Academy I’ve attended and the collaboration with central government added a welcome extra dot-joining and learning dimension.

For many communications pros it is becoming harder and harder to get to events like this one. But I believe that it’s never been more important to continue to learn, to expand and to share.

That’s what’s so great about Government Director of Communications, Alex Aiken’s drive to invest in government comms people and their development – it is setting a tone and direction which other parts of the public sector can point to in their own organisational fights for investment in up-skilling.

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a day in the life of #seewhatwedo

We first came across Caerphilly Council's innovative use of social media in 2011. And they're still going great guns with it three years on.

by Emily Worthington and Jayne Catherall

 Why do local authorities embrace social media? Because everyone is doing it? At Caerphilly County Borough Council we might use a cartoon sheep ‘Nev’ to encourage people to follow us, but don’t confuse us with the fluffy creatures.

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the state of local government comms

Great work is being delivered, despite the huge challenges, but what is the state of local government comms in 2014?

by Dan Slee

Local government communications has always been a tricky gig but it's never been harder to deliver effectively than right now.

On the one hand there is £20 billion worth of cuts and on the other there is a need to explain the changes – and improvements – to residents.

We are staging a quick survey of local government comms people to find out more about the challenges they face.

We'll present the findings at the Public Sector Communications Academy taking place in Manchester from June 11 to 13.

So, if you work in the sector what are the challenges you face?

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communicating a utility network

Some public relations is pretty straight forward. You're an airport, say, and you'd like to tell people when you are open, when you are closed and where you can go. Or a car manufacturer - that's a pretty clear offer. But how about utility networks, the people who bring you things like power?

by Jonathan Morgan

Here’s a comms challenge. Everyone in your region uses your services – about 5m people – and some people literally can’t live without it. They don’t have any choice to use another company and they also don’t have a choice as to whether or not they pay you.

Most of the time they won’t even realise you’re there – unless there’s a problem. Then they may need to contact you, and fast, but that’s rare.

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could twitter be a weekly voice for local government?

Could a Twitter account passed between local government people help tell the story of their sector? One switched-on comms person thinks it could.

by Geoff Coleman

In December 2011, Sweden launched what it called 'the world's most democratic Twitter experiment' when the Twitter account @Sweden was born.

If you're not already a follower I can highly recommend that you check it out.

Basically, a new Swede takes over the country's official Twitter account @sweden every week, sharing their daily experiences and opinions and generally celebrating their nation.

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what’s in a MOOC?

In this exciting new development, Cardiff University tell us how they are building their brand and engaging with their audiences by sharing expertise online.

By Sara Moseley

Taking the education world by storm, there are over 5million people worldwide studying a Massive Open Online Course right now. Developed as a way of opening access, free of charge, to expertise from leading universities, MOOCs are also becoming key tools for engagement and reputation building. Still in the growth stage, this kind of on-line course is the subject of experimentation and evaluation - not least in terms of communications and relationship building benefit.

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why police and crime panels need some comms magic

Police and Crime Commissioners are in the news from time to time. But did you know that dedicated panels have been set up to scrutinse their work? And, as always, there is a communications job to be done.

by Helen Fincher

In November 2012, Police and Crime Commissioners were elected for every police force area in England and Wales outside London

Police and Crime Panels were also set up to scrutinise the actions and decisions of Commissioners and make sure information is available for the public, enabling Panels to hold Commissioners to account.

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e-book: what are the priorities of uk comms people?

What are the priorities for UK communicators? The good people at GovDelivery have looked and the results are in.

by Dave Worsell

As many of us are seeing, a public organisation’s ability to effectively engage with citizens and then motivate them to take action is playing an increasingly important role in achieving overall mission results.

Whether an organisation’s goal is to increase participation at community events, decrease the number of calls about bin pick-ups, or drive the public to use digital services, communication and citizen engagement is critical to achieving that goal.

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want to communicate? then market your message

You have a message to deliver but sometimes you need a good copywriter to cut through the noise and help you deliver it. This is why. 

By Simon Carroll

The main obstacles that face anyone trying to communicate with lots of people boil down to a single uncomfortable truth:

Just because what you have to say is important doesn’t mean people will listen.

People are busy, easily distracted and lazy.

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