GCS Aspire Course Outlines
Introduction to Strategic Communications
This course will equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to design and implement strategic communication campaigns. It is based on the Government’s model for Strategic Communication called OASIS (Objectives,Audiences, Strategy, Implementation and Scoring) and you will have the opportunity to explore its 5 stages in depth.
The course will suit you if:
●Youarereadytomovetoamoreproactiveandstrategiccommunicationrole
●You know part of OASIS, but want to understand the whole campaignplanning process
●You will be involved in campaign planning and implementationsoon
●You have to advise non-communication specialists oncampaigns
What will be covered:
●the context of governmentcommunication
●why planning communication strategically isimportant
●strategic planning and strategicplans
●settingobjectives
●identifying audiences and obtaininginsight
●developing strategy andideas
●implementingplans
●evaluation
What you will be able to do as a result of attending the course:
●understand and follow a strategic planningcycle
●understand and use the OASIS frameworkconfidently
●define the aim, objectives and tactics of a strategicplan
●write SMARTobjectives
●identify research needs and ways to sourceinformation
●categorise audiences and design comms relevant tothem
●identify influencers andpartners
●recognise and scoperisks
●know what can be evaluated and how toevaluate.
The will include exercises and have real Government campaigns as examples to help you consolidate your learning.
Insight and Evaluation
Course Summary:
Thiscoursewilldemonstratethevalueandimportanceofgoodaudienceinsightasyouwork through every stage of the OASIS model. This will give you the knowledge, tools and tips that you need to identify, gather and analyse data and apply insightful thinking that will improve your planning and evaluationskills.
Audience:
Although primarily aimed at SIOs working in planning, research and evaluation roles who are looking to improve their strategic analysis and insight capabilities, this course will also be useful to G6/7 and IOs who work in similar roles.
Horizon Scanning
How will I benefit?
●Communications Horizon Scanning enables communicators to be betterprepared and to take the opportunity to alter plans in light of potential risks and emerging issues.
●In this half day training course, you will hear what Horizon Scanning is and learnhow to implement it with a strong process of intelligence gathering, filtering andreporting.
●You will also learn some of the academic models that back up the concept and putit into practice in interactiveexercises.
Is it for me?
●This course is aimed at professional communicators who are carrying out activities thatwouldbenefitfrombetterforesightandwhoareabletouseinformationonrisks and opportunities to influence communicationsplans.
●As all communications disciplines including internal communications,marketing, press office, digital and stakeholder have a part to play, attendees from any communications area are welcome toattend.
●With the introduction of the Modern Communications Operating Model, this short coursewillputyouinabetterpositiontointegrateorintroducehorizonscanninginto you and your team'swork.
Communicating Locally
Research has shown that we need to communicate more effectively with local audiences. By tailoring our messages according to locality, we can reach even more people and make an even bigger difference.
How will I benefit?
By the end of this intensive half-day course, you will have learned the value of local communication, and why it’s essential to campaign planning.
The course will introduce you to the essentials of local campaign planning including:
•building successful local stakeholdernetworks
•listening to the voices in yourarea
•working with key partners (including devolved and nationalgovernments)
•identifying effective localchannels
•tailoring your campaign messaging for localaudiences
•making the most of traditional and digital low and no costplatforms.
The course will include a number of interactive workshops as well as real-life case studies of successful UK Government local campaigns.
Is it for me? Yes if:
●Youareaprofessionalcommunicatorwhowantstolearnmoreaboutcommunicating effectively on a regional and locallevel
●You want to understand the importance of local, regional andhyper-local communications
●Youwanttodevelopsuccessfullocalandregionalcommunicationstrategiestoreach more people with a more trustedmessage
●You want to develop strategic partnerships and collaborations with partners todeliver tailored, relevant and engaging comms to localaudiences.
Behaviour Change
Candidates will be introduced to different behavioural techniques and how they can be used as the foundation for effective marketing campaign. This course will also outline how using evidence based insights are invaluable in creating marketing campaigns which affect behaviours at a national scale.
Creative Campaigns
The aim of this course is to:
●Giveparticipantstheknow-howtocreateeffectivecommunicationscampaignplans focusing on addressing policypriorities
●Present a best practice model for campaigning(OASIS)
●Give space to practice and experiment with themodel
This course is for:
●GCS members who may not have had experience of the campaigningapproach
●Those who have been responsible for the implementation but not necessarily forthe planning of communicationscampaigns
Digital campaigns in government
Target Audience:
This course is for you if you already have a good grounding and understanding of social media and digital channels, use these digital skills as part of your day-to-day work and are keen to learn more about how they can be used to deliver engaging and innovative communication campaigns.
Description:
The course will give delegates the opportunity to explore how digital and social media channels can be used to deliver successful comms campaigns and will show the different ways in which a digital approach can spread the message and really engage with audiences.
Objectives:
By the end of this course, delegates will learn how to choose the right digital channels for their comms campaigns, gain awareness of how to think about the personas of their audience; pick the right partners and influencers to support campaigns; learn to create effective calls to action.
Online Crisis Response and Media Relations
Course Summary:
Government has to deal with issues (problems, mistakes, accusations) and crises (emergencies, tragedies, widespread disruption) on a regular basis. Communications professionals need to be able to tell the two apart, and implement handling strategies rapidly under pressure.
Knowing when to respond and how to frame messages online can help you reach and mobilise your audiences and keep control of hostile situations to protect public safety, as well as the organisation's reputation.
Social media has accelerated not just the pace at which incidents escalate, but also the potential for groups to mobilise online and to do their own detective work. The news gather process has also changed, with more voices available to journalists and a more direct relationship between journalists, politicians, and citizens.
This practical full day course covers both the strategic and tactics needed to handle a range of tricky situations with a focus on digital channels.
Audience:
This course is designed for a broad audience of professional government communicators including those who manage media relations, work in strategic or internal communications, or are responsible for corporate communications channels.
Outcomes:
After completing this course participants will be able to:
1.Understand how crises issues play out online, as well as the widerstrategic opportunity in effective crisishandling
2.Identify steps that could help head of potential issues and crises before theydevelop
3.Produce engaging content for a variety of audiences, channels and outcomeswhich is effective at different stages of anincident
4.Confidently handle online crisiscommunications
5.Integrate online communications in their crisisplanning
Course content:
This course will include real life examples from the public private sector as well as some useful models and checklists. In three phases spread through the day participants will be
asked to work in teams to handle an unfolding fictional crisis scenario using our private online crisis simulation platform, Crisis90.
Participants will be guided through three stages where they will be able to compare their strategic responses, key messages and tactical approaches.
Understanding the nature of crisis
●Defining crisis and issues, and the need to manageexpectations
●Identifying and prioritising onlineinfluencers
●When and how to respondonline Crisis response in a digitalworld
●How crises unfold online: psychological factors, rumours andhumour
●How mainstream media use digital tools and channels duringcrises
●Rebuttal and verification in a social mediaworld
●Community resilience and harnessing onlinesupport Crisis preparedness andresponse
●Thecorecomponentsofacrisisplan:teamroles,checklistsanddefaultstrategies
●Political, professional and personal: the civil service role in acrisis
●Assessing digital vulnerability: reviewing risks and expose for the organisationand keyindividuals
●Sustaining a response throughrecovery
Advanced Campaigning Masterclass
Purpose and Eligibility:
The aim of this course is to substantially raise the capability, quality and effectiveness of campaigning throughout Government so that it is worldclass. This discipline is not broadly well understood or recognised and there are few outstanding practitioners within HMG at the present. GCS need to breed a new cadre of intelligent, agile, committed and influential campaigners who can deliver complex policy challenges using advanced tools and techniques as well as demonstrating values and behaviours that enable firstclass delivery.
The course will give future Head of Campaigns and future Directors of communication an immersive and hands on programme to help them develop as individuals.
Sessions will be limited to 10 delegates to allow enough time for individuals to deliver presentations and receive feedback as part of the sessions.
To be eligible for this course, potential delegates must: · Be actively involved in campaigns as part of their current role (these do not have to include paid for marketing campaigns) · Be fully familiar with and regularly use the OASIS framework · Fully familiar with EAST and Behaviour Change principles · Be aware of procurement and the work of agencies (although hands on experience is not required) · Have read ‘Campaign it’ by By Alan Barnard and Chris Parker – available from
Working with agencies
Who'sitfor:ThisGCScourseisforanyonethatwantstobuycommunicationsservices using the new frameworks and would like to learn about the changes and improvetheir knowledge.
Course outline: is a three hour course and will cover details of what the new frameworks include, why you should use them and when. You will be taken through the process from issuing your brief to awarding the contract. There will be guest speakers from agencies and an interactive session on how to write a good brief.
The objectives are to:
●Ensure that GCS understands how to comply with the newcommunications frameworks and get the most out ofthem
●Improve the quality of briefing to agencies resulting in higher qualitycampaigns
●Help GCS to be better clients and encourage greater collaboration withagencies.
Content Creation - Photography
Do you know what makes a good photo in Government comms and why?
Do you have the kit but need to build your technical skills and gain the confidence to use them?
Or do you want to capture all those missed opportunities on your phone when you're out with stakeholders, staff or ministers?
This Photography 101 course comprises tutorials and practical sessions covering key photography skills, top tips for storytelling and lessons learned for those taking photos for Government communications.
At the end of this intensive half-day course, you will be able to:
●Build on your photography skills andconfidence
●Improve the quality of your visualcontent
●Find more opportunities for creativestorytelling
●Network with other photographers to pool resources andcontent
You'll need to bring the following kit:
●Camera - DSLR and/ortablet/mobile
●Clean memory card (and USB adaptor if necessary to download files fromit)
●Laptop (able to accesswifi)
Content Creation - Video
This is a practical, 2.5 hour course where you will film and edit video. Audience:
GCS members working in press office and digital communications, who don’t have a lot of experience (or any) filming and editing. This will show you how to film a short interview, how to set up a good shot, and how to edit and select video clips for use on social media.
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
●film and edit interviews and short videoclips
●understand the basics of production, e.g. lighting, focus,editing
●feel confident pitching video and where it's appropriate for use in yourdigital communications
What you need:
●somethingtofilmwith(canbeaiPhoneoryourownphone,ifyouhaveacameraor DSLR that you can use bringthat)
●ideally the laptop you will use with some kind of basic editing software, e.g. iMovie Whenbooking,pleasecanyouemailGCS()withdetails of the software you intend to use e.g. iMovie, Final Cutpro.
Branding
For many of the world's leading companies protecting and enhancing their brand is of paramount importance. But how is branding used in the Government context and why is it important to our work?
This course will give you the opportunity to learn about the purpose of branding and the Government’s approach to it. You will also hear from external experts on how some of the world’s most revered brands approach the subject.
The course will suit you if:
·You are involved in developing communications campaigns and need to understand whenistherighttimetouseanexistingbrand,orwhenitisappropriatetocreateanewone
·You would like to gain a better understanding of how brands can be used tobuild trust with ouraudiences
·You are involved in the design of marketing materials and need to knowhow Government branding should be included and the sign offprocess
·You work with external partners and need to understand how governmentbranding should sit with that of otherorganisations
·You work with external agencies and need to understand how to brief an agencyso that they adhere to our brand guidelines andvalues
What will be covered?
●The purpose of branding – going beyondlogos
●Government’s approach tobranding
●How brands can help increasetrust
●Whenistherighttimetouseabrand,createanewbrandorstretchanexisting brand
●How the Government identity system works and who to contact and where toget advice
●Which brands have the most salience with audiences and why and how we useand applythem
●What are the successful ingredients for a greatbrand
●How you should brief an agency on a project using a specificbrand At the end of this two-hour course you will be ableto:
●Understand how to get branding questions answered in a timelyfashion
●Utilise trusted government brands to enhance the impact of yourcommunications activities
●Applyestablishedbrandingprinciplesandtechniquesfromtheprivatesectortoyour work
Best Practice in Government Media Relations
This course will provide an overview of full set of skills necessary for media relations work at the highest level. It covers pro-active and reactive operations, along with
relationship-building, digital/content creation and evaluation.
Content Creation - Infographics
The most successful campaigns rely on visuals. In this course you will learn how to enhance your message by creating graphics and using them in the most effective ways. This course is for anyone who wants to develop their digital skills by the use of powerful imagery.