EP #135 It's All About Tone - Australian Electoral Commission

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) played an important role in keeping the recent Federal Election in Australia on track.

Our latest two-part series features Evan Ekin-Smyth, director of media and digital engagement at the AEC. Starting at the beginning, host David Pembroke, CEO of contentgroup, walks with Evan through the early stages of his career.

"I think you spend, I don't know how much it is, but half of your waking time at work. If you're not doing something that you enjoy, you're probably doing it wrong. I had a look at the field of media and journalism. I thought it looked interesting, that we could do interesting things like having chats to your good self David, and that's a good place to be."

The AEC's Twitter account during the election became a major talking point. The account fought hard against misinformation and disinformation online and the team behind the witty tone were responsible for responding to 150,000 tags on social media through that six week period.

"I started the AEC's Twitter account. I remember writing the document to our executive who probably picked it up with a bemused look on their face and thought, "Do we really want do this?" Luckily they said, yes, because I think it's been a good thing for us."

Both episodes in the series cover the 6 key principles Evan and his team used to keep on top of the narrative. Some of the topics covered in part one include:

• The need for speed
• How the AEC produced content in real-time and why
• The importance of being open and regular online

Part two of our conversation with Evan comes out on the 7th of September.

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