Transforming Public Sector Communications 2021
Online Event 26 May 2021, 9:00am - 4:00pm
Day 1
9:00am
Online Registration
9:40am
Chair’s Welcome Address
Gareth Nicholson, Assistant Director, Customer, Communications & Culture, London Borough of Havering
9:50am
Keynote Address: Developing Expertise In The Contexts, Concepts And Practical Tools Of Crisis Response In Public Relations In The Public Sector
- Understanding the impact of a crisis, how it can damage reputation and how it can be mitigated
- Acting appropriately before, during and after a major incident and becoming a powerful advocate for the organisation
- Developing the knowledge and tools to conduct an organisation’s risk assessment, crisis preparations and management
- Meeting what is expected of an ethical practitioner in complex situations
- Researching and implementing ethical crisis response strategies and plans to help organisations avoid or reduce the impact of crisis situations
Mandy Pearse, President, Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)
10:10am
An Audience-led Approach to Communicating Covid-19 Support Schemes
Rachel Forster, Deputy Director, Communications. HMRC
10:30am
Special Address: Reshaping Government Communication To Deliver Best Practice
- Responding to the need to deliver world class practice in communications during the Covid-19 pandemic and recovery phase
- Delivering the Reshaping GSC Programme to strengthen and unify government communications including standards, campaigns, careers, inclusion, technology, leadership and efficiency
- Lessons from the Public Health, economic communication and UK Transition to focus on the need for public sector communication to collaborate more across discipline, team and organisational boundaries
Alex Aiken, Executive Director for Government Communications, The Cabinet Office
10:50am
Questions And Answers Session
11:05am
Break And Networking
11:35am
Case Study: Using Storytelling To Celebrate And Showcase The Contribution Of Women To British Policing To Boost Applications From Women
- Targeting external stakeholders and potential female recruits as well as the Metropolitan Police’s internal audience
- Encouraging staff to support and participate in the campaign by creating a ‘story wall’ on the intranet
- Promoting social engagement through digital social media channels featuring interactive content
- Broadening media reach by targeting specialist, BAME and trade media as well as women-focused outlets
- Delivering value for money by conducting the campaign in house and achieving a fourfold increase in applications and strong levels of social engagement
Stephanie Day, Head of Campaigns, Metropolitan Police Service
11:55am
Keynote Address: A Mission to Explain
- The information gap
- Frontline intelligence
- Finding the right formats and channels
- Trust communication teams
Adam Brimelow, Director of Communications, NHS Providers
12:15pm
Reframing the Impact of UK Universities
- Over the last decade UK universities have been one of country’s success stories - their education and research is respected globally, which is reflected in growing demand for university places.
- Some politicians believe, though, that too many people are going to university and our own research shows some of the public are unaware of the sector’s value to wider society.
- Covid-19 has given us the chance to communicate how universities are playing a leading role in the national effort against Covid-19
- We now want to use our campaigning to position universities as having a central role in the economic and social recovery.
Michael Thompson, Deputy Director of Communications and External Relations, Universities UK and Nicky Old,
12:35pm
Questions And Answers Session
12:55pm
Lunch And Networking
1:40pm
Keep London Safe: Networked Communications in a Diverse City
- Mapping the territory at the start of the pandemic
- Drivers, insight and co-design of the Keep London Safe campaign
- Enabling diverse community engagement
- Learning and development
James Odling-Smee, Director of Communications. London Councils
2:00pm
Liverpool: The Pioneer
- Liverpool's community testing programme
- The tools deployed to connect in with the 'hard to reach' groups, otherwise known as the 'seldom heard' groups Strategic and partnership working The Impact
Camilla Mankabady. Director of Communications, Liverpool City Council
2:20pm
Engaging Intentionally in a Global City During a Pandemic
- Working with communities through targeted community partnerships.
- Our approach to engaging partner organisations, covid community champions, community and regional media partnerships, work with the faith sector.
- Using Instagram live chats, multiple bi-lingual Q&A sessions from BSL to Mirpuri, using arts and cultural based engagement approaches to link with new audiences
- Utilising citizen voices to drive action and adaptation whilst navigating the pandemic.
Modupe Omonijo, Public Health Consultant, Birmingham Council
2:40pm
Going ‘Back’ or ‘Beyond’: How Internal Brand Identity Can Lead Culture Change Post-Covid and Why There’s Only a Small Window to Do It
- The need for communicators to get to the top table and influence leadership behaviours
- Why organisations get this wrong
- A reflection on ‘public sector comms in austerity’ and why we need to think differently this time
- How we need to revolutionise the way we speak and listen inside organisations
- How comms should be the tip of the spear in leading that revolution
Gareth Nicholson, Assistant Director, Customer, Communications & Culture, London Borough of Havering
3:00pm
Questions and Answers
3:20pm
Chair’s Summary And Close