communications

North East comms conversation: #1 “Garlic bread”

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In the first of a self-deluded series of so-called ‘state of the nation’ voxpops I’ve been catching up with PR people from across the North East to find out what makes the region’s comms people tick.

All joking aside our region is widely regarded as one of the best when it comes to media and PR and I hope this brief insight gives us a chance to showcase some of the emerging themes in an exciting area of work.

To get us started with a huge bang I spoke to the hard-tweeting, Jaws loving artist formerly-known as Bryn Littleton. The journalist, turned flack has worked for local authorities, One North East and is now at NECC as well as being the current recipient of the CIPR NE Ken Robinson Award.

To miss-quote cartoon secret agent Archer somebody better call Kenny Logins because we’re about to enter the danger zone……

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Leaving local government: my 7 PR highlights

True grit
True grit

Firstly, sorry about the title. It’s hardly Leaving Las Vegas I know but it’s the only thing I can think of.

As most of you will know I’ve now started a new role in the NHS, leaving behind the grit bins, potholes, landfill tax and all the other local authority issues that I’ve wrestled with over the past seven years. Continue reading →

Teaching new dogs old tricks: my year as an intern

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I’ve spoken many times about just how much our interns have brought to our comms team. Since setting up the scheme a couple of years ago I’ve been lucky enough to work with eight really talented graduates.

Ian Johnson (@IJohnson5555) is one of our current interns and he’s kindly written this guest post:

After finishing my Master’s degree in June, the opportunity to do an internship at Northumberland County Council was presented to me by an attentive lecturer. He told me, based on my interest and enthusiasm for democratic PR and my desire to move into Government communications, it was just the thing for me.

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My eight must-reads for 2014

I know that time is precious (or money, or of the essence, or whatever) but I always think I benefit hugely by setting aside a bit of time to read around the subject.

There’s some great resources out there that will help you do your PR job better, grow in your communications career but also just think a bit differently about how you approach the subject.

So many eureka moments come from reading something helpful that either challenges your ideas completely or – conversely – totally confirms your views of how things should be done. I find that some of the most helpful advice or interesting reading often comes from other sectors or subjects that have nothing really to do with communications.

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CIPR Trends 2014

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As we near the end of the year the temptation is always to look backwards at the last 12 months, so it was nice to be asked to look forward and write something on the trends in PR for 2014.

When it comes to making predictions I’m basically in the Paul Gascoigne school of thought – “I don’t make predictions and I never will” – but the CIPR asked for my views and I gave it my best shot. Continue reading →

TV Times

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This blog first appeared on www.comms2point0.com 

It’s not often that I’m nervously tuned into ITV right before Coronation Street, furtively waiting for a middle aged TV star and former hit-maker to wax lyrical about my patch.

I say not often, when of course I mean never. In fact,  last Monday is probably the first time I ever pressed the ‘3’ button on my TV.

But working in local government comms has taken me to some strange places in recent years. Continue reading →