a comms person's thoughts on leaving the sector

And so another good communications person leaves the public sector. But after 10 years what have they learned? 

by Ian Curwen

After more than ten years in local government – the majority of those in communications – I have recently left the sector.

When I started in local government, there was no Twitter, Facebook was only for college students in America, people didn’t blog, and local newspapers were your most important stakeholder.

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gamification - the next level for comms?

Communications – it’s a funny old game. Although many of us may have been playing for some time, the game itself has certainly changed. As technology continues to race ahead it seems making sure you level-up your comms is the key to staying ahead - but is gamification the path of the future, or just the latest passing fad?

by Adam Raistrick

Gamification – defined as introducing game-like elements into typically non-gaming tasks – is a rapidly growing trend, appearing in many facets of technology and media.

It has already been used as a tool for internal communications by Samsung, Deloitte and even the Department for Work and Pensions. The idea is that the more fun you make something, the more likely people are to be engaged by it.

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being first with the news

There's often a tendancy to clam up when something bad happens in an organisation, especially when the subject matter is truly sad and disturbing. But one local authority took a braver approach.

by Amanda Rose

As a council press officer there are issues you’ll face which initially will fill you with dread.

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comms disconnect in the bagging area

In an increasingly automated world, we consumers are being forced to channel-shift into more and more self-service shopping. But what's the impact on customer experience and reputation?

by Steve Finegan 

I was reminded again recently how important customer experience is to a company’s brand and the potential impact a single transaction can have on an organisation’s reputation.  This is particularly the case where brand communications aren’t joined up and both your customers’ and employees’ experience are not aligned.  

It all started at one of those high street self-checkouts.  You know the ones, “unexpected item in the bagging area” (we think you’re a thief) or “approval needed” (you’re how old?).

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tonight matthew, i'm going to be...

Professional versus personal profile and use. It's an on-going issue for comms folk. One of our brethren is doing more than most to vocalise and shine a light on the challenges we face.

by Phil Jewitt

The title of this post is taken from a TV series that ran for nearly 20 years. Called Stars In Their Eyes, it involved members of the public, sometimes celebrities, impersonating famous people from the music industry by singing one of their songs. At the beginning of each impersonation you got to see the person going about their own life and giving clues about who they were going to impersonate. Just before their transformation into the pop star, they would introduce themselves by saying the words, “Tonight Matthew, I’m going to be [insert pop star's name].”

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three things that make me cross

There really are some things that unite every comms person. In this post the chair of LGComms vents some spleen and raises a few things that will make more than a few nod in recognition.

by Cormac Smith

I love my work in local government.  Both in my day job as a senior communications advisor and in my national role of chairman of LGcommunications I get to work with some fantastic people doing work that I hope makes a real difference.

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wikipedia - open knowledge for all

If you spend any time at all online and want to know something in a hurry, where do you go? The chances are that you'll log on to Wikipedia, even if you get there via Google, but how much do you know about this vast knowledge base?

by GUEST EDITOR Stevie Benton

Founded in 2001, Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Its mission? To share the sum total of all human knowledge with everyone on the planet, for free. That's a lofty ambition and one that can never be fulfilled. But that isn't stopping Wikipedia contributors – Wikipedians – from having a real go at making it happen.

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five challenges that face a local government comms person

Challenges, challenges everywhere. So what do they look like for a local government communications officer? Here's one perspective.

by Kelly Quigley-Hicks

Like a friendly drill sergeant comms2point0 has asked me to drop and give him five challenges I face. Here they are:

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are you a social media blocker?

Blockers, Every organisation has them. But in communications teams, really?

by GUEST EDITOR Emma Rodgers   

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the rather brilliant, interesting and super helpful LG Communications Social Media session, organised by Darren Caveney, that was  held at the  hugely creative Antennae Centre in Nottingham.

Billed as ‘Everything you wanted to know about social media but were too afraid to ask’, it combined an immense list of speakers including David Banks [Media Law Specialist], Dan Slee, Paul Taylor, Sarah Lay and Richard Clarke from O2 with an equally inspiring un-conference session led by the Wikipedia legend Andy Mabbett. 

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organisational narrative

Once upon a time there was a local council in need of an organisational narrative. But how do you go about creating one? And what can be learned along the way? One communications officer at Swindon Borough Council shares their experience.

by GUEST EDITOR Kate Steel

When the now-familiar policy changes and funding reductions first began to bite at the heels of local government, we needed to make sure our employees were equipped – and inspired – to deliver our priorities with our residents and it became apparent that we needed a clear, consistent story about how our organisation was changing and why. So what did we do? 

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working in comms opens doors and we're recruiting

As one organisation looks to take on new staff their head of communications and engagement sets out a little of her own comms journey.

by Caroline King

This blog has been written to support Helena’s latest comms recruitment campaign. I wanted to talk about how comms as a career can really open doors for you and will do this by reflecting on my own experiences. It’s fair to say that Comms has and always will be my passion, regardless of where my career takes me. It has been an amazing journey against a backdrop of changing comms practices, channels a go go and a technological revolution.

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why trust is an asset organisations neglect at their peril

Just recently, one comms2point0 post asked us all to stop navel gazing and look to the stars instead. As part of this the writer  cautioned readers to be wary of any new 'trust' campaign and the Building Trust campaign in particular. One of the authors of that report now responds by arguing that trust is perhaps one of the most important assets we have got to get us to the stars.

by Neil Wholey

Steve Chu in his comms2point0 post here has set a challenge which I totally agree with that we must “make the case for communications to be at the centre of our organisations’ thinking”. One of Steve’s points is my number one priority to “show that communications can be a frontline resource, either by reducing the costs of service provision, improving frontline efficiency, or targeting declining resources more effectively... prove your £20,000 campaign has saved your organisation £1 million.”

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giving up facebook - new year predications

by James Baker

Well happy new year everyone. It's nice to be back at work after a bit of a recharge and absence from everything social and digital. I did pretty much abstain for the majority of the duration bar a bit of old school YouTube streaming of Christmas classic music vids. (East 17, Macca and Wham still being untouched by Maria's sorry sorry efforts...)

This did mean however that when I did eventually click the Facebook, Twitter, Vine and Instagram apps - I was feeling like I was playing catch up and had missed out on what seemed like loads of really important info and exciting stuff in both my personal and professional worlds.

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speech writing and 'the vision thing'

So, what happens when you need to write a speech? For someone else? And your words can help win the day... or lose it? Here are some tips.

by Will Mapplebeck

It's 1987 and then vice president George H.W Bush is starting to think about the possibility of taking over from Ronald Reagan as the occupant of the White House. 

There's an election to get through, but most analysts agree he's a shoo-in for the big job.

Only one problem, he's not sure what his presidency might look like.

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up for the cup - december's top posts

December was a busy month on comms2point0. Therre were presents to open. There was cake to eat. There was a clutch of posts led by one about a rave outfit and how they did pr that captured the imagination.

by Dan Slee

Okay, I'm a bit biased but I rather like the idea - coming from Stafford - of a Stafford rave group assualting the charts 20 years on.

Altern8 on Birmingham's Network Records launched a campaign to be number one after a fan's Facebook page suggested the idea.

Run entirely on a shoestring and powered by social media Mark Archer turned things on their head by making 33 in the charts with 'Activ8'.

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