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MEETINGS

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Have a Public Interest Communications Challenge?

Want help from your peers in solving a public interest communications challenge? Contact Gisele McAuliffe about convening a Good Communicators Exchange meeting.


PAST GOOD COMMUNICATORS EXCHANGE EVENTS
January 2023

High Social Impact Storytelling

Most public interest and social impact communicators understand the principles of good storytelling--stories that inspire and persuade target audiences to take action. How many of us, however, know how to create stories that achieve quantifiable goals? High-impact stories that create significant change are uncommon. These are stories, for example, that markedly increase fundraising or community-wide changes in behavior. During the January meeting of Good Communicators Exchange, storytelling expert Kirsten Farrell, director of The Goodman Center, presented two high-impact stories and participants analyzed what made these stories so successful. We identified a few universal components of high-impact stories and discussed how they might be integrated into a variety of narratives to boost results.

November 2022

Measuring Communications: Methods and Metrics

Prove the full added value and return-on-investment of your communications activities by learning measurement strategies and metrics that ensure senior leadership will champion your efforts. Communications measurement maven, Katie Delahaye Paine, was the guest speaker for this event. She has spent three decades helping nonprofits, social enterprises and companies define success and design measurement programs for their public relations, social media and communications activities. 

 

Katie understands the measurement challenges faced by communicators working with a limited budget, no or few staff and competing priorities. To help individuals prepare and manage these hurdles, she provided an overview on how to effectively measure, evaluate and report on communications results.

September 2022

What Makes a Perfect News Story Pitch?

Today's news media landscape IS COMPLEX (to say the least!), but successfully pitching a news story shouldn't be. Social good communicators examined the latest research, best practices and tips for increasing the likelihood of "getting to yes" when proposing a story to the news media. We reviewed an example submitted by one member of the group of a very successful story placement and identified the #1 top ingredient of a perfect pitch along with five other vital components. We also learned:

  • The best method for pitching a story

  • The best time of day to make a pitch

  • How to artfully promote a published news story resulting from a pitch and simultaneously strengthen your relationship with the reporter who produced it.

June 2022

Listening, A Vital Communications Strategy

Strong listening skills enable communicators to understand the thoughts, feelings and ideas of the people they wish to influence. Essential information for creating messages that engage target audiences and convince them to take action. We were joined by an expert guest speaker, Lisa Dropkin, Principal, Edge Research, who explained how small stepped research, surveys, focus groups and other two-way communications can help nonprofit communicators craft messages that engage and convince target audiences to donate and take action. ​

May 2022

The Finer Points of Nonprofit Storytelling​​

Good Communicators Exchange members know how to gather and tell a compelling story, but what about all the other challenges and responsibilities that go with nonprofit storytelling? We discussed: 

  • Storytelling Ethics

  • Legal Issues

  • Building and Managing A Story Bank

  • The Complexities of Storytelling Across Cultures

  • Participatory storytelling as a force for community-led social programs and empowerment

April 2022

Pro Tips from a Master Planner. We discussed:

  • Myths and facts about the purpose of a communications roadmap. 

  • Failing before starting: The vital planning step most communicators fail to do.

  • Measurement: Gauge the return-on-investment (ROI) of communications activities.

  • Planning as a Leadership Skill: How to “manage up” and stop organization leaders from ignoring the communicators expertise by assigning tactics rather than presenting goals and requesting recommendations for communications activities to help achieve those goals.

March 2022

A Baker's Dozen Top Time Management Tips with guest speaker Ken Jacobs of Jacobs Consulting & Executive Coaching.

Here are a few highlights about what he shared:​

  • You can either manage your time and workload, or it will manage you.

  • How to find, reduce or eliminate the time wasters in your day

  • Consistently focus on knowing and completing that which is most important.

  • The benefits of a horizontal To-Do list.

  • Be amazed by what you can achieve by uni-tasking rather than multi-tasking.

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