10 things to do when your team is cut in half

March 18, 2013 Darren Caveney

Cuts are here or cuts are coming. Across the public sector and the private. But what happens when an axe gets taken to your budget and your headcount is reduced? By lots? Here is some advice from one who has been there and emerged the other side...

by Rebecca Crosby

By 2015 the Civil Service will be around 23% smaller than it was in March 2010.

Most central government departments and agencies have already been through restructuring programmes and communications teams have typically been hardest hit.

apprentices - the way forward for PR?

March 15, 2013 Darren Caveney

Apprentices are an increasingly important asset in the workforce, and maybe more than ever for the PR industry.

by Stuart Baird

One of the most rewarding aspects of my work in the media and public relations over the last 20 years is seeing new starters grow in confidence, take more and more responsibility and then go on to greater and better things. And that is why I and my organisation are supporting National Apprenticeship Week between 11 – 15 March.

My employer, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) has recruited 140 apprentices since 2009 and more than 75% have remained with us for fixed term or permanent roles. Roles have included healthcare, business administration, finance, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and school nurse assistants. And crucially for me, public relations and communications.

a day in my life: digital media manager

March 13, 2013 Darren Caveney

There are challenges facing PR no matter the organisation. In the third sector these can come in different ways.

by Mark Morton

I love that there are no two days the same in my job.

I'm the digital media manager at Epilepsy Action, and I work to make everything we do the best so we can support people with epilepsy, their families and friends and anyone with an interest in the condition.

My role in the digital media team (there's three of us in total) is to work with colleagues to show them how can we achieve our aims online. And then, we work with everyone to make it happen.

Nearly all my colleagues work in the same building as me, so I aim for talking to be the major component of my day. A meeting just a chat that happens so you don't disturb others, especially with our confidential helpline 20 feet from my desk.

the pr challenges that face housing

March 11, 2013 Darren Caveney

There are challenges in every field of communications. None more than those facing the housing sector.

by Louise Psyllides

First up, a confession - I'm a complete newbie when it comes to comms. I started my job at Chartered Institute of Housing - or CIH - just three months ago after six and a half years as a local newspaper reporter. I'm learning new things every day - not least from blogs like comms2point0 and the comms community on Twitter who are fantastically generous in sharing knowledge and content.

could budget presentations be better?

March 11, 2013 Darren Caveney

Big financial slabs of text often make grim reading and even worse viewing. But do dry figures have to be dull? Not always...

by Jo Smith

It’s that time of year again.

Councils across the country are presenting their budgets. Decisions that impact millions of people for years to come will be taken in town halls over the next few weeks.

And apart from the major headline issues, who will actually understand the detail? Is it because no-one cares or is it because the process of presenting budgets just isn’t interesting enough?

Conspiracy theorists will argue that public sector budgets are deliberately opaque to provide a smokescreen for bad news. The devil is always in the detail – often buried on page 527.

But in most cases there is a genuine desire to be open, honest and accountable about the financial realities – especially as more services face cuts. No-one wants to discover by accident that a service they needed no longer exists.

So where are public sector budget presentations going wrong? With more channels available than ever before is the traditional town hall committee meeting format finished?

And if they have to follow the same old format could they be better?

how an author is using small conversations and viral campaigning

March 8, 2013 Darren Caveney

Just recently we saw a viral campaign to raise funds for a book to be published. Shared by someone we rate we ended up pitching in for a copy ourselves. Called 'Anarchists in the Boadroom' by Liam Barrington Bush we thought we'd ask the author to talk a little about the channels he's using to raise the funding. And about the book. He's a nice man so he did...

by Liam Barrington-Bush

Last year I went to Mexico to write a book about what social change organisations could learn about organising and management from social media and social movements. It begins from the premise that the vast majority of our non-profit and voluntary organisations have taken-on the organising models of industrialism, often without realising it. Further, these models are both deeply at odds with most of our organisations’ values and are ill-equipped to face the increasingly networked world in which we find ourselves.

the press release is here to stay

March 5, 2013 Darren Caveney

Never let it be said that we're not a broad church. Prompted by the debate around the future of press releases one press officer has written this defence of the channel.

by Kam Mistry

In a world obsessed with social media I’ve been asked to scribble a few words, well a few hundred words, in defence of the press release. Some argue that the ability to tweet and blog instantaneously means that traditional channels and methods are redundant – newspapers’ days are numbered. This is far from the case, and the press release as a tool in the professional communicator’s kit is far from humble.

True, twitter and other social media allow us to get messages out quickly, and as someone who works in local government I have found it invaluable, especially when we need to get messages out promptly, for example during flooding, heavy snow or during emergencies. People trust the information we provide, because it comes from a trusted source – and trust is important with all forms of communication.

digital communicators: we are the change agents

March 4, 2013 Darren Caveney

Digital comms has a perfect way that it can demonstrate it's worth. They can help tranform services. That's a bit exciting.

by Kathy Kyle

Among the many topics discussed at this year’s Communications Camp (@commscamp | #commscamp13), the one that resonated most with me was how to best demonstrate the value of digital communications. If we can’t measure our impact as communicators, how can we influence and transform our organisations?

the year our business went social

February 21, 2013 Darren Caveney

Just under a year ago, Northwards Housing introduced Yammer to their organisation, changing the face of internal communications. One year on and Steve Finegan brings us right up to date with more fascinating insights into the benefits of implementing a social enterprise network.

by Steve Finegan

In 2012, my guest post described how Yammer had been an instant hit with our employees as we set about finding a replacement for our out-dated intranet. Our voluntary adoption strategy of simply allowing employees to join the Yammer network started us on a journey, quite literally, into the unknown. This journey was also reflective of the wider business of course, because we’re constantly evolving and responding to the environment around us. This is an area where Yammer is strong. It can be very responsive to change and discussions on the network regularly reflect live issues rising organically from literally anywhere across the organisation.

lessons from 'house of cards'

February 10, 2013 Darren Caveney

There's lessons on the re-make of the political thriller House of Cards. Not just that if you live tweet a row with your boss you'll become an online hero.

by Will Mapplebeck

"Power is a lot like real estate. It's all about location, location, location. The closer you are to the source, the higher your property value." - Frank Underwood.

What's so different about Netflix's House of Cards?

After all, it has everything we'd come to expect from a hit US drama - high production values, a razor sharp script and a Hollywood actor (Kevin Spacey) in the lead role.

But this one is different and it has a relevance for the world many of us work and communicate in every day.

Difference one is how the show has reached our screens. House of Cards, a remake of the BBC original, is made and broadcast by Netflix, a subscription based video-on-demand website.

Netflix is the first content carrier that has gone from simply buying up and broadcasting other people's programmes, to making its own.

picture this...

February 5, 2013 Darren Caveney

Move over crusty meeting minutes, forget scribbling in notepads and word documents are so yesterday. How about graphic recording the next time you run an event or a creative session...

by Claire Holgate

My name is Claire and I'm a graphic recorder. I draw pictures and graphics to help people understand things better.

I’ve worked in lots of different roles throughout my career and I’ve sat through my fair share of meetings and workshops in my time.

doing a newcastle: on balancing voices

January 26, 2013 Darren Caveney

Right across the public sector there are tough budget decisions being made. Some will make more noise than others but how do you give a voice to ordinairy people alongside the voice of a powerful lobby?