It looks easy until you try to do it, it can get really messy and you’ll always need to get your hands dirty to create something successful.

It turns out that pottery is a lot like public sector communication, as I learned from our resident wheel spinner Lisa Ward who helpfully framed the pottery/PR/Great Pottery Throw Down crossover during our lunch break.

The latest #CommsLeads session focused on strategic value, influence and demonstrating the worth of good communications which all seemed like important points after all the political excitement of recent times. Continue reading →

In my last blog I talked about the power of simplicity and how many of the communications fundamentals have stayed the same, despite the massive changes of the past two decades.

In the age of social media one of the key principles is still understanding what makes a good story and the best way of telling it. Continue reading →

As I celebrated another birthday last week I realised (with horror) that my career was 20 years old.

I got my first job in 1999 and since then have been a journalist, copywriter, freelancer and public sector communicator so it’s probably true to say I’m around half way through (give or take a few years). Continue reading →

As monsoon conditions swept through early morning London it was easy to see a metaphor with the political weather as commuters struggled against the elements.

So bad was the rainfall on the way to NHS Providers comms leads that I think this was the only conference where I’ve had to get a change of clothes before and after the event.

Continue reading →

It was the usual sun kissed and balmy day on Tyneside when the NHS hosted a session on communications strategy in Newcastle.

The theme was developing, delivering and evaluating a communications strategy that works and I was asked to run a session offering some advice based on my 5 years in the NHS so far. Continue reading →

Working life can often feel a bit like table tennis – as soon as you hit one over the net another one comes flying back at you – so attending a seminar held in a giant ping pong arena felt strangely appropriate. Continue reading →

Ever wondered how many people in the world are left handed, how virtual reality can prevent car sickness or how data helps build the marvel universe?

More than a week later I’m still processing so many things after the Thinking Digital conference, which has become a legendary tech and innovation event in the North East although shamefully this was my first visit. Continue reading →

As a lifelong Newcastle Utd fan and regular tweeter you’d be right to imagine that I’m well used to disappointment and defeat, so it’s nice to start the latest blog with some good news for the North East – I’ve been elected as the new chair of the NHS Providers #CommsLeads Network.

I’m a very regular attender of these meetings and often blog afterwards so I was genuinely pleased (and surprised) to take up the role and follow the excellent Carrie-Anne Wade who has built such a useful national network. Continue reading →

In the febrile world of social newsfeeds, real time updates, 280 character soundbites and our obsession with ‘the new’ we can sometimes be guilty of underestimating the power of more traditional channels.

A recent CIPR session on media pitching reminded me that more than 300,000 people watch the regional BBC Look North news every night and that local radio has a unique reach and reliability across communities. Continue reading →

The French philosopher Albert Camus talked often of the contraction of living life well in a universe that has no meaning, and that only by recognising the absurd could an individual truly experience freedom.

He would have rejoiced at the average 2019 social newsfeed where the absurd and meaningless seem to have reached their apex. Sadly existentialist philosophy only goes so far for the hard working public sector comms professional, where the more practical and prosaic is probably more useful. Continue reading →