Category Archives: communications

OPERATION LONDON BRIDGE: What surprised and what worked well in public sector comms teams

There’s no doubt that the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the transfer of power to her son would be a challenge.

The last time a Monarch died, it was 70 years ago and old men and women who can recall it have retired years ago.

Operation London Bridge was the plan for how the Government was to react. A careful choreography of appearance and announcement.

“The Queen is dead. Long live the King.”

The age-old announcement of change in United Kingdom & Northern Ireland has its roots in avoiding a vacuum in the Medieval transfer of power. But in a 21st century country wired for minute-by-minute news the shock of the change powers through like electricity to bring a detailed communications plan alive.

This week, I asked the members of the Public Sector Comms Headspace to share what surprised them in the first five days of the 10-day Operation London Bridge plan.

What surprised

“Surprised – The lack of space to be part of the news unfolding. No time to watch, or reflect, or notice my own feelings – as well as aware that if I did I wouldn’t be able to do the job. I feel like I missed an important moment in our history.” – Sara Hamilton.

“Surprised we’ve not had more abuse and trouble from republicans – they turn up in large numbers online whenever there’s a Royal visit to decry us but they’ve respected this and don’t seem to be causing problems.” – Kirsty Craig

“The amount of work that is needed to do nothing. As a planner for one of the biggest Government departments it took us 10 hours on Friday just to check everything was paused, postponed or cancelled.” – Paul Fearn

“How many meetings you need to have about flag protocol.” – Sarah Foster

“There is a honeymoon period with residents before the haters tell you you’re doing everything wrong and are an embarrassment again. Enjoy that period.” – Kate Pratt

“Surprised that all the people who were complaining when they thought they wouldn’t get a Bank Holiday are now the same people complaining that making the day of the funeral a Bank Holiday will cost the country and businesses too much.” – Angela Hamilton

What went well

“Overall, it feels like the implementation of London Bridge plans went well.” – Sian Williams

“What can be achieved relatively smoothly when you have a fully prepared and rehearsed plan.” – Will Lodge

“Overall though it seems to have gone very smoothly and like others I think it reinforces the value of a good, well practised plan.” – Rosie Ryves-Webb

 “I’ve now done three bridges. I can see that lessons have definitely been learned.” – Clare Parker

“I think I would note the value of the comms team in being the eyes and ears of the wider ‘London Bridge’ team on Thursday as the news was coming out of Balmoral.” – Kirsty Groundwater

“My most memorable moment is being told that on being instructed to fly the flag at half mast, those despatched to do so found there was no flag on the pole to put at half mast so they just put the ropes at half mast.” – Andie Jordan

“That no matter how much you plan and practice things will never go 100 per cent to plan and you will always need to think on your feet, stay calm under pressure and adapt.” – Andrea Newman

“We’ll always have an answer for: ‘So, what were you doing when The Queen died?'” – Sharon Dunbar

“Really difficult to pitch it as there seems to be a huge spectrum of emotions and feeling about it all.” – Nykkie Burell 

“I’m surprised and perhaps fearful about how much of what we do can be classed as non-essential, and therefore shelved. I thought everything we did was and is essential. If it isn’t, why do it?” – Brendan McGrath

COUNCIL COMMS: Yes, The Queen has died… but what about my bin?

In the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death the heroes of the week are Windsor & Maidenhead Council.

With Windsor Castle on their patch I can only imagine the stress, the coffee, the hours and the graft.

With one of the biggest news stories of the decade step forward one resident.

Yes, it’s a bin complaint.

Sure, life also goes on.

But if you’re on your 6th Americano of the morning the temptation in the comms team to respond from the hip must have been overwhelming.

Bravo for keeping grace under fire.

VIDEO VIEW: Tips on how to make a Reels video

Vertical or portrait shaped videos have quietly become a huge part of the media landscape.

The driver has been TikTok who have built a billion users faster than any other digital platform with 15 million of them in the UK. That figure is rising.

Young people don’t search Google, they search TikTok.

Meta’s response has been to turn Instagram from a photo website to a video sharing one where portrait video rules. Users have baulked but the direction of travel is set.

Reels has also come to Facebook.

So, in short, if Instagram, beloved of under 35s or Facebook, the key to over 35s is part of your strategy then Reels needs to be, too. With 20 per cent of Instagram users’ time being taken up with Reels this makes sense. 

Reels and TikTok are not the same

While they’re both vertical, the two products are markedly different.

For starters, if you’re in the public sector your users will be different. Users of your Facebook page where you can post Reels are likely to be women aged 35 to 55. So, make content with them in mind. Your Instagram where Reels can also go may be slightly different. So examine your insights to make content with them in mind, too. 

The worst thing you can do as a communicator in 2022 is make one-size-fits-all content and treat your channel like a mailshot where everyone gets the Pizza leaflet. Unlike a 12″ cheese and tomato, content is not universal.

Aside from audience, the tools for editing on both have some marked changes. Whatever you do, don’t download from TikTok and post as a Reels. While you’ve been able to get away with it the algorithm is now marking down content with logos burned in. In other words, TikTok logos.

Embarrassingly, the most popular content on Facebook in the early months of 2022 has been TikTok videos. It doesn’t take a genius to deduce two things. One, people will watch upright video. Two, Facebook will shoehorn its audience to its own upright video, thank you very much.

One big difference is on TikTok remix culture, taking a video and adding your own spin by using the sound or a response, is key. On Reels it’s not right now.

Tips for Reels

Happily, Meta have published a guide for producing Reels ads which cuts to the heart of what works as video omn the platform. Unfortunately, its not on public release but it has been posted to the internet.

I’ve read it so you don’t have to. 

Make it vertical, stupid.

This feels like an obvious thing to say but with the platform being still relatively new it’s a handy reminder and a guide to stop chucking your landscape onto Reels – or TikTok – without thinking.

Watch the safe zone

Leave the top 12 per cent and the bottom 20 per cent. So, don’t be posting words onto these sections as you’ll clash with the text of the post that Reels will add.

Add sound

This is a real game changer. In conventional social video, 70 per cent of video gets watched without sound. Reels demand your attention and users are more happy to listen to what they are watching. After all, its a video platform first. An incredible 80 per cent of Reels viewers watch WITH sound turning things right on its head.

So, music plays a really big part. So does your voiceover or your piece to camera.

Add people who speak the language

The feedback from Meta is that people like people on Reels. Speak the language of your audience. Thai is a chance to use the Edelman Trust Barometer insight that people respond to people like themselves. So a new parent in a video will land with new parents far better than nobody in the video.

Add visuals

Make the video visually appealing with transitions to regular edits. The Reels editing tool can add effects. Right now they’re far more limited than TikTok’s native app Let’s see if that changes. 

Add emotion

This is a clear request from Reels. If you watch enough portrait video that’s unsurprising. People respond to emotion and that can be, they say, happiness, interest or amazement.

Add a voiceover

Adding a voice is recommended, Meta says. This is a real chance to add local colour. The strong Black Country accent can land well with a local audience. 

Add a hook in the first five seconds

In common with TikTok the first five seconds they say are critical. I’d go further and say the first three secomnds. Make a visual grab for attention but also add a hook. What’s the reason for watching the clip? What can draw you in? The example they give is ‘Three ways to style your product.’ That may feel a tad spammy but its worth experimenting with.   

Add bite size text

This is a handy tip and reflects a technique that news companies often use for social media packages. Here, they often tell the story in text on the screen cutting to soundbites to illustrate a point. Story telling drives the content rather than the interview.

Conclusion

As the platform develops so will Reels and other short video platforms. Right now taking part asnd experimenting is the right thing to do. Don’t wait. Do. Experiment in your own time on your own account first, as with anything new. That builds confidence to tackle the corporate account.

The tips in this post are not prescriptive. They give some pointers for you to start your journey.

I deliver ESSENTIAL PORTRAIT VIDEO FOR TIKTOK & REELS workshops online. This can help give you the basics to help your video making journey. For more information and to secure a place click here.

ELIZABETH II: When actions not words is the comms lesson

If it’s a choice between words and action then action wins every time.

I’m not a Monarchist. The idea that you get your parents’ job is ridiculous if you’re a binman let alone Head of State. The institution is an 11th century anomaly.

That said, a woman dying was a mother, grandmother and great grandmother too and I’ve known the bleak sadness of grief.

But reflecting, two images of Queen Elizabeth II stand out. 

The first is Elizabeth shaking hands with Martin McGuiness. She lost an uncle to the organisation he belonged to. He would say he lost people, too. Shaking his hand wasn’t a physical act. It was an act of reconciliation.

It said: ‘if I can, so can you.’

The second image is alone in church during COVID grieving her husband. By doing so, she observed the rules that 160,000 other families observed. She could have side-stepped these rules but didn’t. 

It said: ‘if I can, so can you.

Both are profound moments of leadership. 

Sometimes, its not the framing of the words in the Facebook post or the edit of the viral video that makes all the difference but the actions of leaders.

As a communicator that impresses me.

DIP IN: One tip to start to understand how TikTok works as a new user

Of all the useful things to emerge from a pilot session of my new workshop on making video for TikTok and Reels was speed.

By speed I mean the speed of TikTok threw a few people.

At first, it feels fast and the edits within each clip are fast, too.

If Facebook is your chosen platform it can feel dizzyingly fast at first.

We’re getting used to faster delivery. YouTube say more people are watching video faster.

As a user, I can scroll quicker through TikTok than I can navigate through YouTube. At first, that’s disarming.

One tip to understand TikTok as a new user

Download it and spend some time with it. Within a day or so the algorithm is working out the stuff you like from what you watch and what you don’t. Very quickly you’ll start to get onto the wavelength.

Academic Kimberley Hall, associate professor at Wofford College, has come up with an intriguing theory. 

“TikTok changes the relationship between user and content because there is less control. You are moving through this stream and letting it wash over you. It changes the relationship between the user and content because they’re in some ways in less control. They’re being carried along by this stream of content by others. 

“Operating behind that is the algorithm that’s deciding what content to present to them. On the surface, it feels like a live performance. You’re there to enjoy and participate rather than control and orchestrate yourself.”

The feeling of being passive takes a few moments to get used to.

The advice I was given when I heard about Twitter is 2008 was to join and create an account in your own name. Spend some time with it and make some mistakes under your own name.

That advice is timeless for any new channel, TikTok included.

With Twitter, yolu have to go looking for your interests.

With TikTok they’ll pretty much come to you so watch and like the things you like the look of and scroll past those that don’t catch your fancy.

FUEL SURE: 22 things for public sector comms to worry about in the winter fuel crisis

Okay, I tried not to use the planning quote cliche but in the end I couldn’t find a better one, so…

‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.’

Benjamin Franklin

It was this that I thought of reflecting on the impending doom of the fuel crunch.

If we do nothing, then millions will default on their bills, people will starve and freeze to death. For the second time in two years society risks falling over.

It made me think about the impact of the impending winter on public sector comms.

We can start with people worried about paying their own bills and maybe be more reluctant to work from home. If it costs £7 to travel and £10 to work from home for the day then the sums don’t work.

We already hear of nurses using food banks, firefighters also using the emergency food ration as well as civil servants. It’s no longer shocking news that food banks exist in modern Britain.

So, what things do we have to plan for?

Well, there’s a series of things some that will effect every sector and others that are sector specific.

Police, local government, NHS and fire

Here’s things everyone needs to think about.

  1. Theft and petty crime is likely to rise.
  2. The risk of civil disorder.
  3. Staff being the victim of crime.
  4. Buildings being the victim of crime.
  5. The organisation not being able to heat all buildings.
  6. The organisation not being able to pay staff.
  7. Mental health deteriorates amongst staff.
  8. Retaining and recruiting staff.
  9. Working from home when it becomes unaffordable.

Talking to people, two years ago there was enough in reserve for people to face the impending problem.

Some of these people went above and beyond in the pandemic now face in the inflation spiral effective pay cuts and the sack.

With 161,000 dead, burnout, tiredness, exhaustion, austerity and quiet quitting there isn’t the bank of adrenaline to fall back on.

Cracks exposed by bad management at all levels have opened up over the last two years and with a labour shortage it’s possible to take the gamble of walking off the job one month, take a rest and go back to work when you’re good and ready.

Social media staff facing more online abuse

Across the public sector, around a third saw online abuse weekly and 10 per cent saw racist abuse in the same period. This takes a toll. Spread the burden with a rota that shares access. Adopt a collaborative approach.

Fire and rescue

  1. Communicating about the risk of using candles.
  2. Communicating about the risk of stealing gas and electricity.
  3. Dangerous cooking, such as camping stoves in the house.
  4. Cutting back on fire safety.

Local government

  1. Public health in a time when willingness to follow advice is reduced along with the money to comply.
  2. School meals.
  3. Emergency food support.
  4. The permanent social care crisis.
  5. Stay warm advice.
  6. Budget advice.
  7. Council tax arrears.
  8. Declining income from venues.
  9. Instituting warm banks.
  10. Social cohesion.

Police

  1. Spiralling crime rates.
  2. Risk of civil disorder.

NHS

  1. Stay warm advice.
  2. General health declining.
  3. Health information aimed at the vulnerable.
  4. Nutrition advice.

None of this would fill anyone with joy.

There is far less joy in failing to plan for what is coming.

What planning can you do in advance?

GREAT IDEA: Yes, you can use remix culture. Here’s how

I’ve been reading a lot about remix culture just recently in preparation for a TikTok and Reels workshop I’m launching.

What is remix culture? It’s the taking of existing content and putting a new spin on it and it’s far, far older than you can possibly imagine.

What does it look like? Go back to the First World War, soldiers would make up new lyrics for popular hits of the day. That’s remix culture too.

Cassetteboy remixing content to create something new is remixculture.

Using a meme would be that.

The tricky part is when the law – namely copyright – comes into play. 

Here’s a blog around what can be done and what can’t. Usual disclaimer: this is not legal advice. Go seek legal opinion.

So what do comms people need to know about it? 

In short, comms people need to know that remix culture is a licence to be creative as well as to be careful of the long shadow of copyright.

Lawrence Lessing in his 2008 book ‘Remix’ spoke in praise of remix culture and railed against the tight copyright laws that stifle a lot of creativity. 

For example, Mickey Mouse who was first appeared in1928 should have been out of copyright in 1984. Then it was extended to 2023 after aggressive Disney lobbying. It’s a reality we have to navigate around.

But how can we? 

Just this week, Doncaster Council were praised for using a meme to launch a public consultation. The meme is a girl shouting into the ear of a disinterested boy. 

This particular meme comes from 2019 from a Spanish-speaking internet user. The girl in the original was shouting to a boy that quick nutrition fixes should not be trusted. The pair are Argentinian. 

It’s been used in lots of places. 

So, Doncaster Council using it was treading a well-used path.

All they’ve done is used a meme and adapted it with their own message. That’s refreshing.

Mind you, I say ‘all they’ve done.’ But that would minimise the not inconsiderable leap in local government culture that usually demands that the elected member is quoted in all comms. How every New Labour. Nothing against New Labour, but that’s not the way to communicate today. We’re not in 1997, anymore.

But why do people on the internet use memes?

Almost three quarters of people send a meme to make others smile or laugh. At a time when the internet can be an angry place and messages struggle to cut through this is really important. For Generation Z especially but Millenials also the use of memes is part of their currency of conversation.

Do all age groups use memes? In differing ways, yes. But I don’t think anyone should be too hung-up about them not being universal. Nothing in com,munications is universal and thinkling that it is is an out-dated concept.

Hang on, are memes legal?

Sharing memes is legal in the UK. The country has not followed the EU in enforcing legislation which requires tech companies to ban memes.

Delving into it, in UK law a substantial part of copyrighted material needs to be taken for it to be a breach of copyright to have taken place.

Not only that, but there are exceptions to copyright which UK Government has been clear to explain. Parody, caricature and pastiche are all exemptions as is fair dealing which you have to be satisfied that your use hasn’t ruined the original use.

So a meme of Sean Bean saying that ‘winter is coming’ does not ruin the Game of Thrones franchise. 

Is music free to use?

The issue of music is less happy.

Copyrighted music should not be used without permission. You’re unlikely to have your video with the offending music hosted by the main channels, firstly. Platforms like Facebook will disable your upload, for example. Secondly, you run the risk of being pursued by rights holders who will demand money with menaces.

What you’re basically after is Royalty Free music namely that the copyright is owned by someone else but you don’t have to pay to use it. 

The solution to this is the range of Royalty Free music sites that range from giving away entirely free to those that are free if you acknowledge where it came from. I’ve blogged about this here. Be careful how you use the tracks and always read the small terms and conditions.

How else can it go wrong?

Well, if you steal stuff by right clicking an image and passing it off as your own.

Or even if your idea closely resembles another great idea.

This week, Quorn Foods pulled imagery that was a little too close to the badger, badger, badger website.

Music, TikTok and Reels 

One area where creativity and remix culture can thrive is Reels and TikTok.

TikTok has hundreds of thousands of tracks cleared for use on TikTok itself.

TikTok allows you to use the music they provide. However, business is being encouraged to go down the route of having a business account if they’re using TikTok. This reduces the amount of choice. But it does clear a path for you to use cleared music for commercial reasons. That’s a big win. You can add it to your TikTok video.

However, don’t think you can export that TikTok clip with the music and re-use it on other channels. You don’t have the licence for that. You can only use it on TikTok. 

Similarly, creating video using the Reels functionality means you can add some limited tracks that are cleared for Reels and Reels alone.

@rnli

The St Catherine’s crew rescued a duckling which had fallen down the grate in front of the station and reunited it with its mother #RNLI #fyp #animalrescue #ducksoftiktok

♬ Finally Reunited – Saban, Gabriel & Versnaeyen, Anne-Sophie

Conclusion

Yes, you can use remix culture with a modicum of common sense.

RESULTS DAY: Universities nail A level results day comms

I’ve noticed this for years but having an 18-year-old with ‘A’ level results really has brought it to the fore… University comms.

When I was heading to higher education, it was the phone and some disappointing results that secured an eventual place.

Today, UK Universities have really nailed the idea that their students need help online and through a raft of different places. Why not? Each student brings with them the best part of £30,000 in fees.

It’s a UK industry that sees 2.5 million students studying at UK institutions and more than 20 per cent come from abroad with an income of £39 billion a year. You can see why in a crowded market comms is at the forefront.

In 2022, my son got a place elsewhere but I decided to take a look at Keele as tghey’ve created some really good content over the last few years. They were also named best University in a student satisfaction poll.

Here’s what I learned from the University of Keele’s comms on A level results day.

A website that’s geared up

There’s nothing worse than a disjointed campaign where the socials are on fire and they point at a website that tells you nothing. Keele have their web home page geared up for clearing where students with A level results but no course find a port in the storm. Having quick to find information at this moment in time is valuable.

Individual messages

Scrolling through Twitter, the University spots tweets that mention it and they respond with a word of celebration. It’s beautiful human comms. What does it show? A University that rates the human touch in what it does.

Celebratory video asset

What tickled me was a short clip shot in landscape that worked across several of their channels of students celebrating next to a sign showing they’d got the grade for Keele.

In this link they’ve posted to LinkedIn but it was in several places. Next year, I’d expect to see a portrait as well as a landscape version for TikTok and Instagram.

A timely Facebook Live that helps students with clearing

Here, Keele broadcast live from Newcastle College in nearby Newcastle-under-Lyme. It celebrates those who have a place but also talk through the clearing process.

Why Facebook? I’ll bet the fact that parents of children looking to navigate clearing may be one reason.

But as with most effective live broadcast the timing is everything. This advice is gold on the morning of A level results. In December, it’s not worth much at all.

A back story of TikTok videos

On the day, they didn’t go all in on TikTok and by the looks of things the channel is something they’re exoperimenting with. What they’ve created so far gives a sense of what Keele is about.

@keeleuniversity

Explore our 600-acre campus, tour our state-of-the-art teaching facilities, meet our academics, and learn more about what it’s like to be a student at Keele 📅 20th August 💻 Keele.ack.uk/opendays #uni #student #college #studentlife #LoveKeele

♬ Levitating – Dua Lipa

Instagram live gives a tour of the place

Over on the ‘Gram the pivot to video hasn’t fazed Keele University. They give a point of view (POV) tour of the campus that lasts more than an hour to give a sense of the place. “Many, many squirrels,” as their bio boasts.

International comms

Given international students are such an important part of the audience, there’s bespoke content.

Firstly, they have a presence on Chinese social network Weibo.

Beyond this, the website has clear pages for different countries.

Overall

Overall, University of Keele are using their channels in an intelligent and co-ordinated way. They’re creating a fair amount of content bespoke for each channel, too.

DIARY NOTE: Better start planning for the winter ahead

In one of the more sensible things I’ve heard economics, it is said, catches politics in the end.

In other words you can say something at the Despatch Box and eventually real life will catch up with you. 

And so to warnings of a £5,000 power bill in the New Year and if you stay with this blog to the end I will end with a joke, I promise.

Before that joke, aside from the pain of trying to find the money yourself for public sector communications this is also likely to land with the day job. 

Heating or eating? 

Council tax or heating or eating? 

Mortgage or rent or heating or heating? 

Candles or heating or eating?

The late Terry Pratchett told us that civilization is two meals and twenty-four hours away from barbarism.

The impact on the NHS, police, local government, central government and fire and rescue over the winter may be pronounced. Social housing and third sector too. 

Better start the planning.

Lastly, that joke.

Q: Why did the energy bill cross the road?

A: Because it was sellotaped to the chicken.

I’m here all week.

Do try the veal.

GUEST POST: Being part of the collective: volunteering at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games only happened in Birmingham because of 14,000 volunteers. Liz Marsden spent her time polishing her comms skills as one of that army of people who gave their time.

Early in 2021, my partner of the best part of 20 years passed away. That was a huge point in my life. Like many people who have been in the same situation, the first few months were a rollercoaster of emotions, but I’m not going to dwell on that, that’s just the context for what’s to follow…

In the middle of the year, about four months after the event, the call for volunteers to join the Games was released, and one evening, admittedly after a glass of wine, I decided that nothing ventured, nothing gained and wrote an application (thankfully, video evidence wasn’t required…)! It turns out that 45,000 other people also applied.

The process of being selected

Later that year, I had the ‘we’d like you to come for an interview’ email. I’d made it through the initial shortlist, and down to 25,000 or so. This happened in November (after a few failed attempts at getting there – the interviews were in Birmingham, I’m based in West Yorkshire). And the “we’d like you to be part of our Games as part of the “Commonwealth Collective” and this is your role” email landed, after what seemed like an eternity and multiple refreshes of the workforce portal a day for about a week in mid February.

Game on. (Along with 14,000 others)…

My task during the Games

My role – Media Operations, Mixed Zone. Erm…. What?

I could guess at the first bit thankfully, but ‘a mixed zone’? Not having done a major event like this before, that was a new term to me.

Turns out, there were four standard media roles:

  • Team member looking after the press tribunes at the individual sports.
  • Flash quote reporters Getting interviews with the athletes post-match and filing for national and international journalists to use.
  • Photo team member Both taking and looking after photographers on the field of play.
  • Mixed zone Essentially making sure that, as much as possible, the journalists in the post-match area got the interviews they wanted and liaising with the team attaches.

So, fast forward a few months, role training followed – most of the media ops volunteers weren’t media people, the excitement of the uniform unveiling, the venue training a week before the Games opened – I was based at the NEC – and the first shift.

In between February and July, there were various Facebook groups set up by volunteers to support each other. Fielding countless questions around transport, uniform fitting, accommodation and hundreds of other enquiries is no small time commitment, I’ll warn anyone else! But thankfully, a small group of us banded together to admin them.

My first stint was on the last Saturday in July (Day 2 of the Games), then a break until the Wednesday, through every day to Sunday. 6 days in all.

First day nerves

I still got first day nerves (even at my ripe age!) Thought they’d have gone away by now, but no, they seemed to be omnipresent. But as the Games went on, you realised you were part of a family, and to be part of that was something special.

As I write this, my stint at the Games has just finished, and there’s a few reflections in case you’re still reading.

Liz’s Games volunteer story in numbers

  • 6 days of volunteering
  • 65,000 steps
  • 1000+ miles of driving there and back from Yorkshire
  • 1000s of people waved at, met and said hello to
  • 100s of athletes of all nations from the Commonwealth seen
  • Countless memories made.

What struck me

Being part of something

For most people, being a volunteer was the opportunity to be part of something special. I didn’t mind that I was making tea for international journalists one minute and shepherding international athletes the next through the media zones.

I was just happy to do my bit, as one of more than 14,000 of the ‘Commonwealth Collective’ of volunteers, without whom, the Games wouldn’t be possible.

However, for some people, the experience wasn’t what they wanted or expected – it happens.

These are real jobs

The jobs in volunteering at a major sporting event are as real as any job outside. And most are done while the Games are on by unpaid volunteers with a few paid ‘team’ who work from well before the Games actually start, and don’t finish for a long while yet. But that doesn’t matter. Everyone wore the same uniform and received the same respect as each other.

There were volunteer drivers, people to welcome athletes at airports people who provided information and directions, people with megaphones (lots of these), people who worked on the field of play like the ones who put the hurdles out on the track and field events, people who worked backstage, people who looked after the rest of the volunteers, medical help, and hundreds of other roles.

On the first day I met one of the flash quote reporters at the netball, who is at Uni and an aspiring sports journalist. He got to interview some of the top players in the world down in the media pens. That’s what volunteering is all about. Made my heart sing to see the opportunities being offered, and taken.

Some unique experience

At the Games, I had some really unique opportunities – I was based with the Netball and got to see lots of matches from some of the best seats in the house, but worked backstage afterwards to link up athletes with the various media outlets that wanted interviews, so also missed some of the best moments.

Never again, in my lifetime, I suspect, will the Commonwealth Games be held in Birmingham. I had no connection to the city before I started this stint, but it will have a place in my heart from here on in.

Birmingham, I love you

By the way, Birmingham, you looked amazing! As a comms person who normally works in the fields of regeneration and economy, seeing so much colour around the city, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the persuading it must have taken the planning department. And I admit to taking photos of coloured bollards, columns and various bits of buildings to show just what can be done.

What volunteering can give you

If you’ve a mind to spare a few hours, or be part of something bigger, my advice would be to go for it. There’s always plenty of local opportunities, or why not search out those special events in areas that you’re interested in: I think the volunteering selection for the Paris Olympics opens later this year.

Returning to the life-change I referred to at the start of this, the volunteering stint has taught me a lot. It gave me something to focus on when times were rough. It gave me a new outlet to find new friends. It gave me the confidence to dance in public – not sure how that happened – and it gave me another outlet to learn from.

Volunteers come from all walks of life though there were a lot of teachers there. You just never know who you’re going to bump into next and what their take on life is.

Volunteering is what you make it. It’s yours to make it as special as you want it to be.

Liz Marsden is strategic communications lead (economy and place) at North East Lincolnshire Council.