Well that was lovely thing. And a great way to round off a pig of a year.
by Darren Caveney
Well a video call, whilst an incredibly bit of useful tech in 2020, can never replace gatherings in real life. But, the ceremony for the post of the year was a lovely way to spend an hour.
There were some brilliant people on the call – some I know really well, others only a little. Some were shortlisted in the UnAwards post of the year, others not. It didn’t really matter though – this was an end of year reflection session amongst a group of talented comms pros.
A treasure trove
The comms2point0 site is over nine years old now and truly is a treasure trove of comms insight and wisdom.
In 2020 there have been almost 100 posts published – that’s one post every 3.5 days. I’m so pleased and grateful that all these years on the community still shares in this way. It’s exactly why I wanted to create the website.
Second and third
I believe that the UnAwards are the most accessible industry awards around. The peoples’ awards, if you will. So having the public vote element is important. And the great British comms public chose the top post of 2020.
In third was debutant Jane Harris who shone some fascinating behind the scenes insights on the work to create a Nightingale hospital.
In second place was Laura Skaife-Knight and an inspiring tale of the journey from comms officer to deputy CEO – one year on.
A special word too for Alex Mills whose post, Be more Shelby: 6 comms lesson from Peaky Blinders, makes him the equivalent of The Killers Mr Brightside – it’s been in the comms2point0 charts for 18 months now and is officially the most read post in the site’s history.
And on to the winner
It was only the second post to be published in 2020. I’m lucky because I see these posts land in my inbox first and I usually have a real sense now for which ones will be really popular.
The winning post was a breathtakingly honest piece of writing. It’s brave to put yourself out there in this way. But when senior comms leaders do this it encourages team members to speak out too. This is so vital if we’re to genuinely tackle some of the issues still present in our industry.
Jude Tipper’s winning post is an important piece of writing and we can all take inspiration from it in terms of being honest with ourselves and others.
And by the way – it’s has 3.5 views this year too. Wow.
It was the third win in a row for Jude – matching Emma Rodgers’ feat. The chasing pack will be challenging hard in 2021.
2020 – the year of speaking truth to power
This has become a popular phrase. A bit over-used to be honest. And if we’re really honest we don’t always do it.
If we started speaking truth to power about some of the things we’ve witnessed in 2020 we’d never stop.
But when I re-read the 10 shortlisted posts of the year it really did emerge as a theme. A kind of intelligent and balanced calling out of bad behaviours. This year’s most read posts covered everything from bullying to racism, inequality to covid.
On the call, each of the writers talked about the story behind their posts. Just take two – bullying and barriers to employment. How are we still in this place?
We have a lot to do as an industry, it’s clear. Let’s agree this: less talk, more action.
Through comms2point0.co.uk I will continue to let people tell their stories and between us we can help to generate the actions needed. If there is more I can do from my little corner of the world I will. And if you have ideas for any of this let’s make them happen in 2021.
But for now, thanks to the shortlistees, to everyone who wrote a post in 2020 and to everyone who has visited the site this year. I wish you all a safe and peaceful Christmas x
Darren Caveney is creator of comms2point0 and owner of Creative Communicators Ltd
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