By Sophie da Silva, Senior Communications Manager – Campaigns & Communications Planning, Wandsworth Council
I first joined local government on a graduate programme, with no idea where I wanted my career to go beyond the next two years. The amazing thing about programmes like this is that they allow you to experiment with different roles and see where you flourish. I quickly realised that comms is what excited me most, and I was lucky enough to get a shot at a Comms Account Manager role.
As soon as I started, the imposter syndrome quickly set in. I had enough general comms skills to get the job, but when my colleagues started talking about OASIS plans or I was asked to pitch a story to the BBC, I felt well and truly out of my comfort zone.
I was incredibly fortunate to have some mentoring sessions with the fantastic Dan Slee who helped me learn some of the basic skills I needed to keep up and apply my transferable skills to the job. I’ll never forget those sessions and don’t think I’d have built up the confidence I gained without them.
When I joined the LGComms Executive Committee and thought about what I wanted to bring to the table, I reflected on my experience and thought about how to make it easier for others to access the same kind of training I was lucky enough to benefit from.
That’s where the idea for Zero to Hero came from. I wanted to create a series of bite-size training sessions where anyone—whether you’re a new or aspiring comms pro, a seasoned comms person coming into local government from another sector, or want to sharpen up the basics—can come for a crash course in how to succeed in a local government comms role.
They aren’t designed to cover every topic in minute detail. They will however serve as a helpful introduction, with speakers sharing their experiences, top tips, and learnings. Importantly, we’ll also be creating a practical training guide with a summary of each session that you can use as a refresher whenever you need it.
The sessions are free for those working in organisations that have LGComms Membership. If your organisation doesn’t, it only costs £250 per year, which is an absolute bargain for everything you get in return.
Details of the sessions are below:
- 9 Jan 12.30pm: Communicating in a complex political environment
- 16 Jan 12.30pm: Planning effective communications using the OASIS model
- 23 Jan 12.30pm: What does the Leader of the Council want from their comms team?
- 30 Jan 12.30pm: Writing and pitching a press release
- 6 Feb 12.30pm: Simple ways to embed a creative mindset and the case for being brave with comms
- 13 Feb 12.30pm: Using AI as a force for good in comms
- 20 Feb 12.30pm: Internal comms 101 – how to create staff advocates, how often to engage, and how to make information cut through the workload
- 27 Feb 12.30pm: Getting the most out of social media
- 6 Mar 12.30pm: Measurement and Evaluation skills workshop
You can come to as many or as few as you want depending on what is relevant. I’ve tried to keep each session relatively short at just 45 minutes, and they’re online so it’s hopefully not as much of a time commitment out of your busy day. If you can make it, I promise it’ll be time well spent.