Club of Venice seminar on strategic communications

29 Mar 2021 03:36 PM

On Thursday 25 February GCS jointly hosted the fourth annual Club of Venice seminar on strategic communications.

Last years event hosted by GCS in London.

The Club of Venice is an informal group of Europe’s most senior and experienced government communications professionals. It convenes several times a year to provide members with an opportunity to discuss issues of mutual interest, share experiences and best practice, and offer mutual support.

The online event was titled Key challenges and future communication strategies: crisis management, effectiveness and trust. The aims of the event were to:

• discuss the long-term impact of strategic challenges on our work
• analyse communication trends and efforts in the light of recent social and geo-political developments, particularly in relation to the coronavirus pandemic
• explore ways and means to reinforce cooperation and work in partnership on capacity and resilience building

The seminar involved over 100 professional communicators from across Europe and the United States. Speakers and attendees came from a mixture of national administrations, multinational institutions, media outlets and third party stakeholders. Several GCS colleagues spoke in the plenary and breakout sessions which covered a range of topics including crisis management and public trust, current threats of mis/disinformation and nation building through communications.

The event produced eight main conclusions. These can be summarised as the need to develop a model of European communication practice based on educating institutions on the proper role of strategic communication including the importance of listening to communities and evaluating impact; countering disinformation with strong stories and industry co-operation, mobilising civil society and a new approach to digital communication.

At a time when strategic communications delivered by governments has never been more important, this seminar demonstrated the vibrancy of communication ideas and practice across Europe.

The attendance of such a great number of varied and experienced communications professionals reinforced the continuing importance of the role that the Club of Venice plays in the sharing of knowledge and promotion of best practice in communications in Europe.

Thanks to the Club of Venice and the GCS team that contributed in various sessions including Alex Aiken, Claire Pimm, Peter Heneghan, Caroline Holtum and Maddie Burns.