There's always things to learn at an event. The lgcomms event at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff was no exception. For an audience of local government comms people there's plenty for all to learn.

by Emma Rodgers

Ok – first thing to admit, I missed the first three sessions. I’m gutted about that but I heard it was good… in fact the best yet.

From the sessions I was at, I learnt lots and know colleagues did too. For those who weren’t there, here are the top 20 things I learnt from day one of the LG Communications Academy.  

1. Jason Wakeford from the Environment Agency talked about the success of their Twibbon #floodaware and how it could be used really well across a variety of channels. They had lots of success going to where the conversations were and placing on major news channels.
2. When looking at likely emergencies top advice is ‘think big, act early & stick to simple consistent key messages with a clear call to action’
3. Some startling facts from LGA Chair Sir Merrick Cockell – 86 councils nationwide will be short of 15pm for every 100p that they spend. Others will be short of more than that. Local government communications role is to communicate this new reality to residents.
4. Future gazing: The reality for Local government communications in 10 years is that we’ll be communicating about a full range of public services [including fire, police and local government] all accessed around place.  

There's a major conference on communications in local government this week at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Part of it will see a debate on whether or not traditional comms is dead. Here is some background reading.

by Dan Slee

It's the LGComms Academy in Cardiff this week. A three day event looking at where we are, why we are and where we'll be going in communications in local government.

There will be some excellent speakers and there will I'm sure be much to learn. You can take a look at the line up from May 21 to 23 via a pdf here. The line-up is not available in a more a ccessible format, I'm afraid.

Last year, there was the profoundly depressing experience of a panel on social media being glibly introduced with the words: "There's only two things wrong with social media. It's not social and it's not media."

It seems a pretty easy thing to do, huh, writing and sending an email. We’ve all done it thousands of times, maybe tens of thousands of times. We receive a growing number of them with every passing day. Love them or loathe them, emails are important and they here to stay.

by Darren Caveney 

Email? Send them an email? But, hasn’t the world all shifted across to social media, I hear you cry?

The gov.uk website has been hailed for its design, simplicity and effectiveness. With good websites becoming more vital it has attracted praise. If you are part of an organisation you need to know how it works.

by Dave Thackeray

About a month ago I pinged an email (see how I’ve grasped the corporate babble nettle already?) to @danslee, one of the founders of the comms2point0 blog influential, among its local government readership, explaining why I thought GOV.UK would soon be regarded as one of the most important web creations of the year, if not the decade.

We know the landscape is changing. In this bold discussion paper one senior fire communications sets out his personal thoughts over how comms people in the sector should lead a revolution. First published here in it there is food for thought for the rest of the public sector. 

by Steve Chu

Today I’m publishing a discussion paper on the future of corporate communications in the English Fire and Rescue Service (FRS). I’m saying we need to achieve more with less. I’m saying that we need to find a more efficient model than the historic structure of over 40 press offices at individual FRS level. I’m saying that, as communicators, we need to prove our worth to the FRS beyond doubt. I’m saying that we, and the Service need to clearly set out what we should be aiming to achieve, and how that should be evaluated.