Creative Public Affairs

Blue heaven: 8 effective communication tips

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” George Bernard Shaw This quote speaks to me at the moment. Over the last month people who need communication help have been coming forward to get a bit of advice and support. Here’s 8 business4good tweets from last week all aimed at promoting…

Sofija Opacic

February 20, 2013

communication

campaigning, communication, public affairs

Some useful public affairs resources #1

Political round-up of the week (wb 04.02.13) Grow Your Charity Online provides free training+tools for smaller charities Jargon buster: select committees 14 campaign tips Helpful advice on planning a charity event Business tips to improve your copy New young philanthropists want to be more involved in the creation of charity projects Older people learn better reading…

Sofija Opacic

February 10, 2013

public affairs

campaigning, communication

14 campaigning tips: to help you out

Proud to share 14 group learning outcomes from a recent successful Creative Public Affairs workshop Create Impact: Campaign Training aimed at community groups and smaller charities in Reading. Make campaigning a key discussion in your organisation. Understand the impact you want to have as a starting point. Keep focused on that objective Have a good, strong, clear, memorable strap-line…

Sofija Opacic

February 5, 2013

campaigning

campaigning, communication, public affairs

We’ll start campaigning in the morning, Ding, Dong, the bells are gonna chime . . .

Looking forward to running Campaign With Impact Workshop next week on behalf of Get Involved Reading. One of the first challenges we’ll probably face together is to accept that campaigning means different things to different people. This may sound simple but 20 years of colourful, campaign experience has taught me that people tend to believe that it’s one of…

Sofija Opacic

January 3, 2013

campaigning, public affairs

campaigning, influencing, public affairs

6 tips: how to build your media contacts

A local charity asked for help around how they could set up long-term, viable relationships with key journalists. The advice was simple: Tip 1: Make their lives easier. Media professionals need up-to-date, concise and accurate facts and statistics. They can’t keep up-to-date on every issue, so they tend to depend on a handful of people/organisations that…

Sofija Opacic

December 14, 2012

communication, lobbying, media

communicatoin, lobbying

What’s going on? The autumn statement

Quick answers to someone confused by Autumn statement. What is it? The autumn statement is an update on the government’s plans based on the latest forecasts from the Office of Budget Responsibility. How can I get on top of the main points quickly? BBC news And if I need a bit more detail? Treasury documents and regional…

Sofija Opacic

December 5, 2012

policy, public affairs

Stakeholder mapping: it sounds scary but it ain’t necessarily so

Someone recently came for advice on how to design an effective communication plan to manage a new project. A good place to start is to draw up a stakeholder map. This is a map of people, groups and organisations who might be interested in your project. For instance, a list of stakeholders for a medium-sized charity might have…

Sofija Opacic

October 17, 2012

communication, lobbying, public affairs

Oh let me in: social media and policy development

Lively discussion at recent Hansard Society event (11.09.12) around whether social media could be effectively used to develop public policy. General feel was yes – but be careful. A distinguished panel shared some of their thoughts: One fit doesn’t fit all: think about both the audience you want to reach and the output you want…

Sofija Opacic

September 18, 2012

policy, public affairs

public policy, social media

Can you see me?

Be honest. Hand on heart. Would you feel confident getting in contact with a government minister about a local issue? If the answer’s no, and you’d like a bite-size bit of advice, here’s six steps to help you build your confidence. Step 1: Believe it’s possible. Having a can-do mind-set goes a long way. Step…

Sofija Opacic

July 12, 2012

public affairs

lobbying, policy, public affairs

4 tips on how to make your press release statistics sing

Producing press releases is part of the public affairs professional’s job. Here’s four tips on how to make the stats in your press releases sing. 1. Paint a picture with your numbers and statistics. If those 7000 people were holding hands how far would that stretch? How many caravans would they fill? 2. Help people…

Sofija Opacic

March 20, 2012

communication, media

media, writing