GovComms: The Future of Government Communication

Public participation (P2) is a core principle of contemporary politics and policy and is used to involve people and communities in problem-solving and decision-making discussions. In order to understand the importance of P2, we talk with Kylie Cochrane this week on the role it plays in infrastructure projects, the future of P2 in the digital age and ways governments can do public participation effectively. Both an International Board Member for the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) and the Global Lead for Communication and Stakeholder Engagement at Aurecon, Kylie is a bit of a rock star in the world of public participation. Discussed in this episode: Social Triangle Theory at the heart of infrastructure projects Trust decreasing in Australia and how public participation can save it Building a community and making them stay Effectively using storytelling and creating a strong narrative The future of IAP2 Australasia working with the United Nations Find contentgroup on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Read more about best industry practices from our blog and weekly newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Originally nicknamed the ‘Hay Capital of the World’, the City of Gilbert is now a leading example of what it means for a government to go digital. Wanting to engage their residents, they struck gold finding one crucial aspect of their demographic – the average age of Gilbert is 32. Why is that important? Well, because they’re young and digitally aware. Dana Berchman, Chief Digital Officer for the City of Gilbert, attributes this one factor to the success of Gilbert’s digital transition. Understanding where her audience was lead to using resources in a more efficient, measurable way and increased government transparency. The City of Gilbert now boasts over 25 channels across all major platforms and over the last five years has even reached viral success. By giving her residents the ability to directly contact their government for news and updates has been a major success and an example of effective government communications. Listen to David and Dana go into great detail of how the City of Gilbert turned into a digital hub known throughout North America. Discussed in this podcast: The demographics of Gilbert and how it pushed for digital reform Building a digital roadmap – “Willing to try, willing to fail” The importance of transparency and accountability in government and how social media helps Drawing inspiration from New York City and their digital presence How storytelling strengthened Gilbert’s community A local governments responsibility to its residents Read Case Study: The City of Gilbert. Find contentgroup on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Read more about best industry practices from our blog and weekly newsletter.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachael Sweeney is the Director of Collective Position, a boutique communications agency that specialises in stakeholder engagement. Collective Position pride themselves on bringing clients closer together. With her extensive experience in the field, hear Rachael and David discuss the importance of stakeholder engagement and how you can build your own skills today. Collective Position has worked with local governments across Australia as well as Wine Victoria. Rachael studied public relations with a politics major at Deakin University before starting a career in government and stakeholder relations, working on two major rail infrastructure projects in Victoria. Discussed in this podcast: Perfecting government communications How to find stakeholders and mapping their influence Transparency with antagonistic stakeholders Tips on delivering information Managing the consultation process Getting the public’s attention early with content Find contentgroup on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Read more about best industry practices from our blog and weekly newsletter. This episode was originally aired November, 2016 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lisa Ronson is the Chief Marketing Officer at Tourism Australia. With extensive history in marketing, Lisa brought a unique approach to her position after working alongside national and international brands. This includes Carlton & United Breweries, Visa, David Jones and Westpac. At the start of the year, Tourism Australia disguised a movie trailer for a Crocodile Dundee reboot as the launch for the next tourism campaign. Aiming to target high-end consumers in the USA, Lisa takes us behind the scenes of getting the $36m project off the ground and what the future holds for Brian Dundee. Discussed in this episode: National branding and marketing Australia Value behind building personas Tracking audiences and putting them at the heart of planning Tourism Australia shifting focus from southeast Asia consumers to US The results of the campaign – 250,000 mentions on social media, and more What happens next to Brian Dundee Watch the trailer here. And watch the ad here. Find contentgroup on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Read more about best industry practices from our blog and weekly newsletter.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martyn Wallace is the Chief Digital Officer for the Scottish Local Government Digital Office, aiming to assist local Scottish Governments in their digital transformation. Similar to what the DTA is doing nationally in Australia, SLGDO seeks to do the same but for regional and rural Scottish councils and citizens. In this episode of InTransition, Martyn speaks with David about the challenges of coordinating change across multiple local government bodies and the importance of continuing to move forward digitally to engage and inform citizens. Noting the negatives we have seen when private companies have not embraced the digital transition (Woolworths UK, Blockbuster etc.), Martyn discusses the role digital media plays in connecting citizens with their government, especially those outside major cities. Discussed in this episode: The growing need for government communications Using digital media to connect citizens with their governments Convincing local governments the importance of going digital What happens when you don’t go digital The role content plays in transitioning from traditional to digital Creating the comms team of the future Transitioning from the private sector to the public Find contentgroup on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Read more about best industry practices from our blog and weekly newsletter.   This episode originally aired April 2017. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amelia Loye is the Founder and Managing Director of engage2, an organisation aiming to "help governments understand and engage with people and organisations in their community." At times, it’s hard to trust all the information we’re fed which is where Amelia's role of building trust between governments and communities comes in. Hear Amelia discuss with David how open data and “data from [the] community” are important ways to help shape and design government services and policies. At the heart of her work is building trust and reliability among all stakeholders. Discussed in this episode: The Open Government movement The expectation of transparency in today’s political climate Making information more accessible to the public Using creative treatments to engage Reaching people “where they are” What skills are needed to reach citizens Campaigns vs conversations How to get your management’s support Data about community, and data from community Distributing data to the broader government Building trust: change the conversation from consultation to participation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we bring you a special episode of InTransition, a one-on-one discussion with Genevieve Bell, cultural anthropologist and leading expert in artificial intelligence. Following her PhD in anthropology from Stanford University in 1998, Genevieve was offered a job at Intel through a chance meeting with a man in a bar at Palo Alto in 1998. This man in question had contacts at Intel who were busy setting up a social science research lab at the time and Genevieve was introduced to the world of anthropology in the high-tech industry. While Genevieve initially turned down this offer, as she was on track for tenure at Stanford, she later accepted. With a career spanning 20 years, Genevieve is now back in Canberra as a professor at the Australian National University. She has founded the Autonomy, Agency and Assurance Institute (3Ai), seeking to advance Australia’s knowledge of artificial intelligence and its role in the future. Discussed in this episode: Genevieve’s humble beginnings on anthropology sites around Australia and the world Her curiosity for change Her life growing up and the influence it had on her field of study “Accidentally” liking anthropology and later pursuing her PhD in that field Looking at her transition from working towards tenure at Stanford to corporate life at Intel A look at Silicon Valley in the late 1990s The importance of cultural anthropology in technology The role empathy plays in leadership and innovation People always come first, “if it isn’t meaningful, it doesn’t matter” “Why” is more powerful than “what” The future of AI Find contentgroup on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Read more about best industry practices from our blog and weekly newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do you do when a reality TV show takes the name of your town and uses it in a not-so savoury comment? Steer into the mess and use it as free publicity (and make the most of a Taylor Swift.gif). Shannah Hayley, Director of Marketing and Community Engagement for the city of Plano, TX, found this tactic useful in 2016 when a cast member of the Real Housewives of Dallas compared the city to an uncomfortable conversation. Knowing all eyes were on her, she used the opportunity to raise awareness for Plano, turning "it's a little Plano in here" into part of a clever marketing campaign. Hear David and Shannah discuss how local governments can benefit from such events and how content marketing can be used to increase social awareness for government. Find contentgroup on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Read more about best industry practices from our blog and weekly newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Initially aired in January 2017, today we hear Virginia Haussegger, highly regarded Australian journalist and champion for women's rights, discuss the importance of understanding your audience and using that knowledge to communicate from their perspective. With three decades experience in presenting for Nine, Seven and the ABC, Virginia is no stranger to audience-centric communication, having built a strong reputation for her approach to news broadcasting. In this podcast they discuss: The Order of Australia Dramatic changes in the news media The post-truth world How narrowcasting can be bad for the consumer Everyone needs to be a communicator, not just the comms team The continued use of formal language and jargon in government The first question you should ask at a press conference Understand your audience – stand in their shoes Find contentgroup on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Read more about best industry practices from our blog and weekly newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the podcast we reach into the vault to present an interview with James Kliemt, former Senior Digital Media Officer for Queensland Police, and discuss the role of social media plays in crisis management. After launching the Queensland Police Services Facebook page without a policy or plan in place, Queensland Police Service is now close to one million likes (population of QLD is 4.5 million). Though a risky move, especially as a government body, it has paid off and during the Brisbane floods of 2011, it was a valuable asset to assuring the safety of many Australians. If you're interested in reading further on the topic of government social media here's a piece touching on similar topics: The Importance of Social Media for Government. We hope you enjoy this episode, originally released April of 2016. Find contentgroup on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Read more about best industry practices from our blog and weekly newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.