LEARN SKILLS: Fresh training dates for 2018

fresh training

In 2018, our need to learn has never been stronger for PR and comms people.

It is said that when we look back, 2007 will be a landmark year. It was the year the iphone, iplayer and android was launched and we struggled to keep up.

What faces us is simple. Change.

What that change looks like is the more complex question.

·        Artifical  Intelligence can automate 16 per cent of what PR does right now. This rises to 32 per cent by 2023, a CIPR study shows.

·        More than 90 per cent of adults used the internet in the past 12-months, ONS stats show.

·        One in five adults are online for more than 40 hours a week, Ofcom stats reveal.

·        78 per cent of online audiences are already watching live video, livestream say.

·        80 per cent of internet will be video by 2019, say Cisco.

It’s never been a more exciting time to be a comms person.

Its also never been harder to keep track of how to best communicate and to sharpen skills.

What does good content look like?

And how can you create it?

For the past four years, I’ve been working on comms2point0 full time. One of the great joys has been to offer training. Over that time I’ve ran a range of sessions from social media, comms planning, social media as an elected member, story telling, media training, photography, digital comms and video skills. At each session, I’ve learned something.

I’ve launched a new range of dates for workshops. They’re ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS FOR COMMS, ESSENTIAL DIGITAL SKILLS FOR COMMS and SKILLS YOU NEED FOR LIVE VIDEO.

You can use your attendance for CIPR CPD points.

And yes, there will be cake.

I hope you can make them.

ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS FOR COMMS With Dan Slee and Steven Davies.

This day workshop gives you all you need to plan, shoot, edit and post effective video using just your smartphone or tablet.

We’ll look at where video sits in the big picture so you can plan your strategy. We’ll look at the optimum video length for each platform. We’ll look at how you can get the most out of your device when you are shooting. We’ll show you how to plan a video using BBC principles that also helps you politely reject bad ideas.

We’ll help you shoot a set-up video then guide you through how to edit it and tell you where best to post.  I’ll be joined by Steven Davies, a University lecturer and filmmaker who has worked for a range of people including BBC, Channel 4 and S4C.

16.10.18 LONDON full details and how to book here

18.10.18 EDINBURGH full details and how to book here

22.10.18 BIRMINGHAM full details and how to book here

23.10.18 LEEDS full details and how to book here

24.10.18 MANCHESTER full details and how to book here

15.11.18 EXETER full details and how to book here

Sold Out? Or do the dates not work? Drop me an email dan@comms2point0.co.uk and ask about arranging an in-house workshop or join the waiting list for a future event.

 

SKILLS YOU CAN USE FOR LIVE VIDEO With Dan Slee and Steven Davies

Live video is accounting for increasing amount of traffic and we spend eight times as long on live video than we do with recorded video. Facebook and Twitter’s algorithm favours it, too.

But how to do it? We’ll talk through the landscape where live video sits. We’ll talk through how to plan a video using BBC principles. How to stay GDPR-compliant and what content works.

We’ll show you some best practice examples and give you tips on how to start with your mobile and build-up to a multi-camera broadcast that will knock the socks off your audience.

I’ll be joined by Steven Davies, a University lecturer and filmmaker who has worked for a range of people including BBC, Channel 4 and S4C.

LONDON 8.11.18 full details and how to book here

Sold Out? Or do the dates not work? Drop me an email dan@comms2point0.co.uk and ask about arranging an in-house workshop or join the waiting list for a future event.

 

ESSENTIAL DIGITAL SKILLS FOR COMMS

Back in 2008, I set-up one of the first 100 public sector Twitter accounts in the world. Since then, I’ve looked at best practice and what works best.

We’ll look at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram and Snapchat. We’ll look at the algorithm to maximise the best chance of making effective content. We’ll also look at what audiences use each platform.

We’ll  look at dedicated Facebook research on Facebook groups and how to navigate them and reach a new audience.

Lastly, we’ll look at how to write a comms plan that will help you achieve effective results.

BIRMINGHAM 6.11.18 full details and how to book here

LONDON 9.11.18 full details and how to book here

Sold Out? Or do the dates not work? Drop me an email dan@comms2point0.co.uk and ask about arranging an in-house workshop or join the waiting list for a future event.

NATURAL COMMS: Being human is an outside-of-London thing and what I’ve learned after 51 days blogging human comms

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Back in 1999, when a mere 200 million people were using the internet some big thinkers gathered on a web forum.

They debated about what the internet would look like and came up with a list of 99-points they called the Cluetrain Manifesto. It’s an amazing document. It predicts the future of the social web.

The third of the manifesto’s 99 points is that the social web will work best through conversation. And those conversations will sound human.

Why your organisation needs to have a human voice

So often, when I’m helping organisations use the web better to communicate I hear frustration that their social channels aren’t working. Almost always, the fault lies in a lack of human voice in what they post.

A good social channel should look, feel and be human.

If you do this 80 per cent of the time it earns you the right 20 per cent of the time to make a call to action.

Break this balance on the web and you come across like a pizza delivery company stuffing pizza menus through people’s front doors.

Why I’ve gathered a list of human comms

Gradually, its something that bright people in organisations have woken up to but as I’m training I’m struck by the struggle some people have. So, I decided to gather together examples of organisations sounding human.

What I learned

Starting a while back I thought I’d find a handful of examples and leave it there. Instead, I found a trend for people in organisations to want to sound more human. When I stopped and thought about it, the answer is obvious. Why would they not?

Being human isn’t a London thing

One thing that struck me in the examples that bubbled to the surface was the wide variety of places  that were experimenting with an approachable tone. But one thing shone through. Very few were in London or were large corporate accounts.

It is the police officer on the frontline, the Mayor or the member of the public who loves something that the organisation does. In the argument for devolved accounts, the ability to be human and connect is important.

Being human needs common sense

The farewell tweet from the railway company or the Mayor who books a cinema seat and asks others to join in with an Abba sing-a-long has something in common. Being human is good. But knowing when to be that informal is just as important. Announcing the death of the Mayor needs to be done with common sense not a row of sad faced GIFs.

Being human leads to rewards

I get absolutely that comms people need to evaluate what they do and make an appreciable change to the organisations. The blood donations, the foster parents, the library users need to increase. It’s what finance listen to. So they should. But the 80 per cent human content earns you the right to do all that.

It’s not messing about on the internet. It’s a hard-headed data-driven approach to using the web in 2018.

Day 1: Dudley Council’s spoiled tea sign.

Day 2: Jake the 5-year-old sweeper driver.

Day 3: Place marketing Finnish style.

Day 4: Edinburgh City Council’s out-of-hours Twitter.

Day 5: Virgin Trains new poster.

Day 6: Sydney Ferries name their new boat Boaty McBoatface.

Day 7: The basketball playing officver from Gainsville, USA.

Day 8: Hampshire fire crew rescue a bench in a church fire.

Day 9: The BBC respond to The Sun.

Day 10: Doncaster Council’s gritter World Cup.

Day 11: Remembering the Kings Cross Fire by London Fire Brigade.

Day 12: North West Ambulance Service’s response to a man abusing a paramedic.

Day 13: Sandwell Council as car share for #ourday.

Day 14: Burger King tackle the bullies.

Day 15: Sefton Council’s message about women.

Day 16: Queensland Ambulance Service take a dying patient to see the ocean one last time.

Day 17: Thames Valley Police’s drugs find.

Day 18: The busking West Midlands Police officer.

Day 19: Bath and North East Somerset Council’s singing food hygiene certificates.

Day 20: A Welsh hardware shop’s Christmas advert.

Day 21: A missing dog pic from the New Forest.

Day 22: Cardiff City Council’s GIF traffic warning.

Day 23: The human railway manager on the tannoy.

Day 24: Dorset Police’s Christmas song.

Day 25: The Yorkshire Motorway Police officer and his wife.

Day 26 The @FarmersoftheUK Twitter account.

Day 27 Lochaber and Skye Police talk to someone who may be a victim of domestic violence.

Day 28 A newspaper interview with medics who treated Manchester Arena bomb victims.

Day 29 Kirklees Council use a GIF to remind people their drivers are human, too.

Day 30 London Midland Railways signs off.

Day 31 Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust respond tp an earnest research about Peppa Pig.

Day 32 Essex County Council respond to snark on Facebook.

Day 33 Dorset Police respond to snark on Facebook.

Day 35 Visit Wakefield or your man will leave you.

Day 36 A gang of geese in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire and the police who tackled them.

Day 37 KFC parodies Donald Trump

Day 38 Hampshire Police tweet a video to encourage girls to be cadets.

Day 39 The stylish Merseyside police dog’s hair and his proud owner.

Day 40 The Mansfield Police officer playing the piano in the home of the victim of crime.

Day 41 Lidl Ireland ask how your weekend was after they had a weekend from hell

Day 42 Customer service at New Street station in Birmingham

Day 43 A Down’s Syndrome video that uses a chart hit to tell a story

Day 44 Gateshead Council shoots down an urban myth about street lamps.

Day 45 The University of Reading call out racism against immigrants.

Day 46 Anti-littering posters in Bray in the Republic of Ireland.

Day 47 The Mayor of Sheffield turns a cinema into a party

Day 48 Hertfordshire County Council’s tweet acknowledging the horror of rush hour.

Day 49 Barnsley Football Club write a letter to a fan who they saw on social media was having a hard time of it.

Day 50 Newcastle City Council celebrate ‘A’ level results with students on Facebook Live.

Day 51 Devon and Cornwall Police use a picture from the film Hot Fuzz

 

 

 

50 days of human comms #51: Devon and Cornwall Police and a Hot Fuzz image

Sometimes, the mix of image and text works brilliantly.

So, step forward Devon and Cornwall Police for using this image of a swan in a police car from British comedy Hot Fuzz.

(Full disclosure: I’ve delivered training for Devon and Cornwall Police.)

Why is this good? I’ll recap.

Because it says police are human.

It reaches a different audience than that which tunes into every day crime issues.

It paints a picture of the challenges they face.

It builds an audience who are attracted by the pop culture and stick around for the missing person appeals.

Bravo.

Spotter’s badge: Anne Mountjoy.

30 days of human comms: #50 students celebrate A level results on a council Facebook Live

A level results are here. A date in the calendar that has moved from the traditional newspaper to Facebook Live.

Back in the day, newsrooms would have sorted the jumping for joy results picture.

There’s still a bit of that around but its interesting to hear that some news organisations don’t cover it anymore. That means a chance to celebrate good work from students by the council comms team.

This short Facebook Live from the trailblazing Newcastle City Council team does just that:


It’s interesting to see the news values operate just as well online as they do in print.

In print, students’ Mum, Dad, family and friends would have been the audience.

In digital, the same audience is true. Rather than heading to the paper shop for the pic the audience now likes and shares.

Refreshingly, the live video here doesn’t have a councillor. Why? Because this is a day for some students just to celebrate.

There are risks inherent in a live broadcast and this navigates this by having it with students who have pre-opened their results away from the risk of others sobbing with disappointment in the background. There’s also little chance of it being gatecrashed by less happy pupils.

The council page isn’t called the council page at all. It’s ‘Our Newcastle, Our Great City.’ I love that. The aim surely is to reach an audience and give them information. There is a lesson here.

30 days of human comms #49: Barnsley Football club contact a fan by letter they saw having a hard time on social media

Good human comms doesn’t have to be digital. It can be a letter, too.

Good work, Barnsley Football Club.

30 days of human comms #48: Hertfordshire County Council’s Monday morning tweet

Be human. Always. Even when you are a highways account looking to talk to commuters on a Monday morning.

Well done, Hertfordshire. Travelling on a Monday morning can sometimes be grim. We know this. There’s no point pretending otherwise.

What does it say? We’re here. It’s early. We’re human. Traffic can sometimes be grim, can’t it?

PARAMEDIC HUMANS: How Ambulance crew are using social media and lessons you can learn

lottie

Be human. Always. There is something beautifully human about the ambulance service and their approach to social media.

The corporate account is fine. But increasingly ambulance services are also give access to staff with their own official accounts.

It’s surprising how rare this approach still is but there is something about it that just works.

What does the approach of staff accounts say? It says that they work for an organisation that employs real people and trusts them. It shows them what paramedics are doing day-to-day. It shows that they are forward looking organisation. There’s no need for obvious calls to action with this approach. Being human is quite enough. If there are occasions when a vital message needs to get out, do it. But don’t be driven by it.

West Midlands Ambulance Service are doing brilliantly at allowing staff to be human on their own corporate accounts. There is no sense of them rocking up at an incident and thinking smartphone first. Whatever is posted has a feel that it is done in downtime and with regard to personal data.

On Twitter

This is a great example. Lottie Stubbs is a paramedic in the West Midlands with more than 6,000 followers. She talks about what she does day to day but also posts advice.

Staff can also feature on video through the corporate account.

But rather than just think of the key message they also show a human side, too. That’s fine. In fact, that’s to be encouraged.

And in an emergency, the channel becomes a place where the right information can be published at the right time.

 

On Facebook

Pages are the place where ambulance services are on Facebook. But rather than a receptacle for the latest press release the better services use Facebook as its own thing. A quiz, for example, shows some of the work they are doing.

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Or behind the scenes glimpses. Here, a training exercise that looks to replicate a bloody incident.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FNorthEastAmbulanceService%2Fposts%2F10156026207549191&width=500

On Instagram

The approach is more corporate. The corporate account follows a handful of frontline ambulance crew with private accounts. But they do include real people, too, as here from Israel, through hashtags such as #paramediclife.

 

But also the paramedics as human beings point of view, first.

 

But there is still a place for the corporate account. This time from a submitted picture of staff in action.

What’s not being done so far

So far so good, but it would be great to see frontline staff using Instagram stories and Snapchat. It’s hard to see how live broadcasts would work routinely at the frontline in a changing environment.

But as the popularity of 999-themed TV shows demonstrate, there is a huge interest in the sector. Video as a recruitment tool with a Q&A for potential paramedics is a shoo-in.

SHODDY NEWS: How to complain about bad journalism 2.0

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Just lately, more than a few people have been complaining about journalists just recently.

It’s not critical stories that truly bother people, it’s not giving a fair crack of the whip.

As a former journalist, I get the Press needs to hold the organisation to account.

As a former press officer, I also get that that on occasion the journalist or news organisation needs to be held to account, too.

Taditional media. No longer the only show in town but as the Edelman Trust Barometer shows, in the UK 61 per cent trust traditional media.

Every generation blames declining editorial standards. But as news rooms have been hollowed out old heads have gone. There’s also less time to check copy and pressure to get the story online.

If the content is in accurate complain about it.

Here’s how.

Golde rule: get your facts straight first

One day when I worked in local government, the door flew open. An angry social worker demanded we I declare war on the local newspaper for the damning front page she was shaking at me.

“Calm down,” I said. “Let’s go through it line by line.”

Of the 14 paragraphs, all but one was accurate. It quoted her in a report she’d written. The sum of money was at issue. So, I picked-up the phone and spoke to the journalists about the inaccuracy.

Golden rule: Get your facts straight first. What’s the problem? If the piece is inaccurate, you’ve got a case. If you’ve not been given a fair say, too.

Do complain

Yes, you complained once and all you got was three lousy lines on page 17. What’s the point? You’re firing a shot across the bows. You don’t see is the pain stripping inquisition that may have led to those three lines. When I was a reporter, I made mistakes just like anyone else. I sure as hell I didn’t enjoy the process of explaining myself. At best, it’s time consuming. At worst, it can be pretty unpleasant.

Stage 1: the off-line conversation with the journalist direct

Sometimes, the offending headline isn’t the fault of the journalist themselves. It’s the sub-editor where they still exist. Talk to the journalist direct over the phone to air your grievance. Chances are most things can be sorted this way. But if the issue is particularly bad, just go straight to stage two.

Stage 2: the on-line conversation with the newspaper direct

You can talk to your residents directly to set the record straight. So, why wouldn’t you?

The BBC Press Office have got really good at this. Annoyed at reporting they want to challenge they’ve taken to Twitter. Be straight. Be factual.

Top tip: some in the organisation will fear this is just having a row and hey, we’re above that. So, do a bit of homework first. Have a word with the people who know policy backwards. In a council, this is usually constitutional services. Ask them for chapter and verse of policies on transparency and accuracy. Frame your conversations in the light of these policies. You are not having a row. You are making sure council policy is carried out by being transparent about the issue, is all.

Stage 3: the off-line complaint to the news organisation

Now, this is where your homework comes into play. Twenty minutes going through documents line-by-line could save you hours and days and weeks.

This is the important part. You are looking at what holds the journalist to account.

You don’t necessary have to complain to the regulator direct. But you can cite where the breaches of the regulator’s code are then complain editor or news editor above the reporter’s head.  This makes the difference between the unstructured shouting and the constructive argument.

There’s plenty to choose from.

The IPSO editor’s code of conduct

There is a big debate over press regulation. That’s for some other time. The majority of newspapers opt to be regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation or IPSO.  There are 14 areas of the Editor’s Code of Conduct that you can complain under with the first – accuracy – likely to feature prominently.

1. Accuracy

i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images, including headlines not supported by the text.

ii) A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and — where appropriate — an apology published. In cases involving IPSO, due prominence should be as required by the regulator.

There was a handy webpage with a list of organisations governed by IPSO. That’s now got a 404 so you’ll have to make use of the old school contact page to check if the body is regulated.

The IMPRESS code of conduct

If the organisation you want to complain about are regulated by the official regulator IMPRESS the code can be found here. They’ve recently regulated their 1,000th organisation with a fair number of blogs and websites on the list.

The National Union of Journalists code of conduct

The NUJ – disclaimer, I’m a member – has 12 points in its code of conduct. If the journalist is breaching them, cite them. It doesn’t matter they are not members it is a nationally recognised code of behaviour for the journalist themselves.

The news organisation themselves’ own code

The news organisation themselves often pride themselves in upholding the highest standards. That’s great. Hold them to them. For example, Reach, the new name for Trinity Mirrior, has a complaints policy. The BBC has editorial guidelines. If you are complaining about a BBC reporter know what the guidelines so you can show whey they have been broken. Use them.

Stage 4: the formal complaint

If sticking locally doesn’t work, then do put the complaint in writing to the right regulator.

In a fast moving news cycle, you’ll need to act fast, accurately and fairly. If you don’t, who in your organisation will?

Picture credit: Ryan Adams / Homedust.com

 

FOG WARNING: Why looking at data – lots of it – gives you a clearer picture

 

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When I was a kid my Dad would take us walking in the Lake District. We would set off with a rucksack, wellies and a mac.

Every now and then we’d be caught up a fell by mist that would bring visibility to almost nothing. It was an odd feeling to know that off the path was a sheer drop hidden by the clouds.

One time we were were caught out and were about to scramble down a tiny path worn not by climbers but by sheep and rabbits. The cloud broke for 10 seconds and Dad spotted we were heading into the wrong valley. Of course, he only told us about this much later. Being Cumbrian he didn’t do drama.

Every 12-months the Ofcom communications market report acts as a break of sunlight in the mist. We are busy working not knowing the world has changed and then the clouds break and a pile of useful data emerges. I’ve blogged about it here.

One thing struck me listening to the debate and discussion of the Ofcom stats.

Firstly, that looking at the data always, always surprises and leads to a moment of revelation. That figure of 80 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds having Facebook? Surprising, isn’t it?

But that’s not the complete picture.

Almost every public sector Facebook page I’ve ever looked at has had less than 5 per cent of members as a teenager.

Don’t just rely on one set of big picture figures.

Look at your own local data, too.

Where can you get it from?

You’ll get a clearer picture if you do.

Pic credit: Alex Holyoake / Flickr 

 

 

 

 

 

30 days of human comms: #47 the Mayor of Sheffield turns a cinema into a party

You may have come across the Mayor of Sheffield. 

If you haven’t you can imagine a 75-year-old white bloke with a gammy leg and the knowledge of the council’s constitution and statins.

The current mayor of Sheffield, Cllr Majid Majid is none of those.

He came to Sheffield as a refugee at the age of five. He’s the first Mayor of Sheffield who belongs to the Green party and the first with a degree.

He wanted to go to see the new Abba musical. So he booked a ticket and posted the link to his Facebook page and encouraged others to come along for a sing song.

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Be more like Magic Majid.