it’s the most wonderful time of the year: unawards 2015

December 7, 2015 Darren Caveney

There was real celebratory feel about the UnAwards15, which we’re pretty pleased about because that’s exactly what we hoped to achieve.

By Darren Caveney

The UnAwards15 saw 140 colleagues from across the industry descend on the very cool Everyman Cinema in Birmingham last Thursday. The mood was one of big event excitement - Christmas party meets trip to a posh cinema mixed with lashing of great communicators celebrating one another’s work.

Holding the UnAwards at Christmas is deliberate too – we wanted to add a little festive sparkle to the proceedings.

We’re a tad biased but we felt the whole day was a little bit special.

Sitting watching the fabulous Planes, Trains and Automobiles with what felt like a great big group of pals was pretty amazing. The film had a whole bunch of relevant messages and takeaways (and if you have ever watched the movie remember – ‘never assume you are cuddling a pillow’)

another nail in the coffin

December 1, 2015 Darren Caveney

The public sector has seen huge budget cuts over the past five years with local government cut more than most. One communications head ponders on what the latest cuts mean for those in local government communications.

by Paul Morris

The Chancellor’s spending review hammered another nail in the coffin of local government. As one commentator predicted, several councils will go bust in the next year because there are no more buildings left to sell, services to close, savings to capture or staff to slash.

Our resilience has been stretched to breaking point; enough is enough, was the tone of his message.

This paints both a worrying and confusing picture for our residents, many of whom depend on their local council in one way or another.

As leisure centres, children’s centres, libraries, museums, day centres and other community essentials shrink their offer, or stop completely, where does that leave those people who rely upon them?

There was a time when we offered so many services it was recommended we produced ‘A-Z of services’ guides to help our citizens navigate through them. Now we face the opposite challenge. How do we explain what’s left?

Our challenge as communicators in the coming year is four-fold, in my view...

test me baby one more time

November 29, 2015 Darren Caveney

Planning, planning. In the end it all comes down to good planning whatever the size of your activity or campaign.

We asked one of Scotland's top comms pros to share some insight and lessons on the extensive planning activities which local government and partners undertake in Scotland.

By David Grindlay

Local government is very good at making plans.

Big, bold and usually in Times New Roman, they sit majestically on shelves in offices across Councils ready to be thrown on to a table at a moment’s notice.

A plan for every eventuality, every scenario and for every type of situation that can arise.

Yes, we have a plan. It looks great and there it is on display for everyone to look at.

But wait.

How does a plan become a reality and make an impact?

#unawards15 – the shortlist

November 18, 2015 Darren Caveney

Well that was fun.

Yesterday saw the end of our public vote and the announcement of the #UnAwards15 shortlist. I went slightly bog-eyed watching it all unfold but we now know the runners and riders in all 15 categories.

By Darren Caveney

Over 140 entries poured into the UnAwards15 from across the UK and from as far afield as Norway.

Central government, local government, NHS, Police, Housing, Fire, Higher Education, third sector and the agency world all took part and our 14 external judges have had quite a task in getting down to our final shortlist.

The standard of your entries this year has been high. We know this because some of our judges are hard to impress, But impressed they were.

Our love and respect for this fabulous comms, PR, marketing and digital community, which we all exist in, just grows and grows and thank you so much for supporting the #UnAwards15.

internal communicators: here’s your guide to employee engagement, zombie style

November 18, 2015 Darren Caveney

BEAT THE ZOMBIES is back!

by Caroline Roodhouse

There’s been some spine tingly spooky goings-on down at Alive HQ as we’ve gathered together the latest stats, advice and best practice on all things employee engagement, and put it all together in this up-to-the-minute zombie tribute.

Peculiar irregularities…

According to widespread survey results across a stack of organisations, employee engagement rates are regularly coming in at 70% and above. That’s not to be sniffed at. BUT, the CIPD 2015 Employee Outlook Survey indicated that the employee engagement index within the UK is at just 39%. That’s quite a disparity. So what’s the score? Can we rely on survey results alone? The smart organisations are exploring alternative metrics, examining other areas of the business and considering the potential pitfalls when it comes to engagement surveys. And they’re well aware of what’s causing the problems too.

the role of mobile user experience in the digital communications plan

November 17, 2015 Darren Caveney

Here’s a quantitative look at how user experience and usability can influence user conversion on an organisation’s own website.

by Sarah Gill

The experience of your target audience when interacting with your app or website on a mobile device should be an essential consideration in every digital communications plan.

Users form their emotional reaction to your organisation very quickly and if their information needs aren’t met swiftly, abandonment will surely follow.

Not to be confused with usability, the consideration of the user experience represents a holistic approach to all aspects of a user’s interaction with a business, it’s service and products. User experience and usability are terms often used interchangeably but there are key differences...

prints not dead: what launching a print magazine taught a digital native

November 12, 2015 Darren Caveney

Print is dead, right? Maybe not. On the day the NME became a free sheet available at train stations and TopMan, Louder Than War expanded from their success online and launched as a glossy magazine. Editor of louderthanwar.com Sarah Lay shares her experience of growing from digital to include print.

by Sarah Lay

The first issue of Louder Than War magazine featured the Stone Roses on the cover and was titled ‘I Wanna Be Adored’. In truth it could have carried another song title from the band, ‘I Am the Resurrection’, and been just as fitting for Louder Than War’s bold move into print.

That’s right, as the increasingly hysterical cry of ‘print is dead’ resounds and on the day that stalwart of the music press NME moved to become a free sheet given out in train stations, Louder Than War made the dauntless move to swim against the tide and launch as a glossy, paid-for, magazine. While that sinks in let me introduce you to Louder Than War properly.

5 reasons why you should review your communications. And one reason why you won’t.

November 10, 2015 Darren Caveney

There’s nothing new in saying that we should review and evaluate work to see what works. It’s obvious and it’s important. The problem is that many of us don’t do it often enough.

By Darren Caveney

The chances of there being a comms person out there today who doesn’t think that reviewing and evaluating their work is important will be tiny.

Yeah, yeah, yeah – we know it’s important, but when there are 10 people asking for my help, three comms plans to write, the phone ringing off the hook and the impacts of a comms team which has been cut in half it’s a lot easier said than done.

Sound familiar? Yep, me too.

Amongst the many things I learned in 10 years of leading comms teams it’s that standing back and taking a good hard look at your work is 1. Absolutely vital, and 2. Something of a luxury to do often and well. Like wanting a brand new car but settling for paying the bare minimum to get the old car through another year’s MOT (and that sounds familiar too)

With the consultancy work I have been doing with comms2point0 I have had the incredible opportunity to review a dozen organisation’s communications activity in microscopic detail. This is fascinating work and I thoroughly engross myself in the detail of these reviews. They tell stories and give clear indicators to the ‘what should we do next?’ question.

the real reason why you should enter the UnAwards

October 25, 2015 Darren Caveney

There are several reasons for us running the UnAwards 15. Celebrating the work and efforts of colleagues across comms, PR, marketing and digital is right up there amongst them, of course.

But for me it runs a little deeper than that.

By Darren Caveney

We run the UnAwards to support and – in our own way - fly a flag for folks across the UK and beyond who are working in difficult circumstances and still delivering day after day. To sing for the unsung, to recognise the unrecognised.

I hear – and I hear it way too often, I’m afraid – of some less than great behaviours by some organisations and the way they are treating staff. To a degree this is to be expected with the enormous and ongoing cuts to the public sector – with 350k people leaving local government alone in the past five years there is unprecedented change taking place.

But this doesn’t excuse shoddy behaviour.

Lack of recognition has been a theme in much of the staff survey feedback I have seen over the years too. Sometimes your achievements will be appreciated by others, sometimes they’ll not be. That’s a fact of comms life, as it is in life.

And for me, part of the UnAwards is flying back into face of this and celebrating what you do and do well. We’ve been at, and are, at your coalface so we know.

So the real reason that you should enter the UnAwards is to celebrate you.

talking business – are you missing out on great stories about local growth?

October 19, 2015 Darren Caveney

A question:

Encouraging local growth: who is responsible for 56% of the sole contacts your council has with its business customers?

Answer

Your regulatory teams.

by Darren Caveney

If you didn’t know this, you could be overlooking a great opportunity to engage with your business customers.

And you could be missing an important narrative about how your authority is working for economic growth and local prosperity – a story your council leaders dearly want to tell.

Are you clear how your regulator colleagues can give businesses the confidence to grow by helping them comply with the law?

What are regulators talking to your business customers about?

And what are your business customers saying to them?

For an already stretched communications team you might be wondering what you can do to make the most of this opportunity and why this should be a priority.

Here’s where to start: You are invited to attend an all-new workshop in Coventry on 10 November at the three-day LGcomms/Government Communications Service Academy.

the future of local government comms leadership is... female

October 18, 2015 Darren Caveney

The Future Leaders programme run each year by LGcomms is a fantastic initiative. Each year it offers a dozen or so comms managers and officers the chance to join a development programme aimed at bringing forward our next wave of comms leaders, heads and directors. This year’s intake has one thing in common: They are all women.

By Darren Caveney

I have been mentoring comms managers in the UK for several years now and always enjoy the process - meeting new people, sharing ideas, jointly tackling issues and hoping to impart a smidge of what I have learned after 20 years in the game.

So I was very pleased when I was again asked to speak at the launch of this year’s Future Leaders programme in London last week and be a mentor once more.

What struck me instantly the moment I arrived in Hackney Town Hall was that I was the only man in the room.

an epic twitter chat – what we learned from #idealcommsteam

October 12, 2015 Darren Caveney

We thought it would be interesting to begin hosting a couple of Twitter Chats each month on key challenges facing the community. We kicked off with this great session on the 'ideal comms team' - it sparked a flurry of tweets and over 1.1million potential Twitter impacts.

by Ben Capper

You can always count on the comms2point0 to pitch in with ideas and thoughts when you ask them.

Last Wednesday's #IdealCommsTeam lunchtime Twitter chat was a true example of this.

The expertise, the experiences (good and bad), the challenges and the triumphs came thick and fast during a cracking hour of discussion in response to my comms2point0 post on the Ideal Comms Team last week.

Just as a reminder, there were a few key rules to the questions we asked during the conversation: