It was never going to be like a robot invasion, was it?
There was never going to be a single cinematic moment when an AI UFO hovered over the town playing three notes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and then took over.
Instead, AI has quickly become part of the day-to-day almost seamlessly buried in the tools we use. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Canva and Kinemaster all have AI in them. That’s even before the explosion of more than 14,000 new AI tools that have become available for comms people.
There’s three challenges facing public sector communications people.
Firstly, there’s trust. You can burn through trust very quickly if you’re using AI in a place where people aren’t happy. Take cancer care. Almost nine in 10 people think using AI in cancer care is fine but this collapsed to three in ten for targeted political ads. Remember Kate Middleton’s problematic picture?
You can maintain trust by using just enough AI in the right time and the right space. There are some seriously useful UK Government guidelines that can help you with this. Applying them and knowing the best tools to use is the next step.
Second issue is knowledge. What to use and when? People often don’t have the time to invest. I’ve read, watched and tried out the tools so you don’t have to.
Third is the idea that AI won’t replace a comms person but a comms person who knows how to use AI WILL replace one that doesn’t. Imagine being the comms person who didn’t know how to use the internet or social media effectively. You won’t have a long career.
All this is why I’ve included an AI element into the training that I run. This post sets out the new round of dates but also what that means in practice.
Have a look at the dates.
ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER – UPDATED
Given what’s happened to X, formerly Twitter over the last few months, taking a fresh look at the channels you use should be data driven and strategic. I’m updating the training deck at least once a week now.
There are now SIX sessions which cover what a comms person needs to know. This includes:
- #1 Media landscape, comms planning and evaluation
- #2 Making the most of algorithms
- #3 Emerging channels – TikTok, WhatsApp, Threads and Nextdoor
- #4 Facebook groups and LinkedIn
- #5 How to deal with comment, criticism and abuse
And introducing:
- #6 Using AI safely and with confidence
This new session will look at the basics you need to get in place, the pitfalls to avoid and some tips on the best AI platforms that can offer you the best return. I’ve done the work so you don’t have to.
We’ll look at how to use AI tools as a force for good and give you some tools for responding to deep faked AI that can be aimed at you as a force for bad.
New dates:
- Programme #56 Starts on 9.9.24.
- Programme #57 starts on 1.10.24
- Programme #58 starts on 8.11.24
For more information and to book a place head here.
ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS REBOOTED
Video has been at the frontline of AI development as a force for good as well as bad.
The training will continue to show you how to plan, shoot, edit and post effective video. The data and insight is fresh to help you build and refine a case.
We’ll look at how to use AI safely as well as some tools that can help you from speeding up the subtitling phase to adding value by using AI to animate your cutaways. But we’ll remind you of how to mark it so as not to scare your audience.
New dates:
- Programme #32 starts on 9.9.24
- Programme #33 starts on 17.10.24
For more information and to book a place head here.
ESSENTIAL MEDIA RELATIONS
It’s been fascinating seeing how the media landscape has been evolving in 2024.
Riots across England and Northern Ireland fired by misinformation has underlined the need for good journalism. But the journalism many communities has is not what it was 20 years ago.
In this session, we’ll look at how to pitch a story idea for coverage as well as dealing with the incoming media query. Time was when every comms team was stuffed with ex-journos. That’s not the case now. That’s not such a bad thing but those skills are still needed by the effective comms team.
New dates:
- Programme #21 starts on 16.9.24
- Programme #22 starts on 5.11.24
For more information and to book a place head here.
Yes, you can book on to a public session and yes, I can run the sessions for you in-house so your whole team is updated.
Shout if you have a follow-up question. I’m dan@danslee.co.uk.