Credibility in formal occasion speeches is spent quickly and rebuilt slowly. Internal audiences learn about this part of communications and media practice from the news unless you reach them first. Participants apply the communications and media practice discipline to their own communications function throughout, so the output is directly usable. The programme takes participants through formal occasion speeches end to end, from framing the problem to closing it out. A common pattern is strong design of this aspect of communications and media practice paired with weak follow-through. Participants gain a realistic view of what the practice within communications and media practice costs and what it returns. Organisations that document formal occasion speeches properly resolve disputes about it far more quickly. It is pitched for practitioners with responsibility for this part of communications and media practice, not for observers of it. The course ends by identifying what the participant will stop doing to make this aspect of communications and media practice sustainable.
Expected Learning Outcomes
✓
Build relationships with media covering formal occasion speeches before you need them.
✓
Present the case for investment in formal occasion speeches in terms that a finance function will accept.
✓
Design the crisis response plan for formal occasion speeches with named roles and pre-agreed authority.
✓
Protect the personal reputation of leaders associated with formal occasion speeches.
✓
Prepare a short, evidence-based briefing on formal occasion speeches for senior management.
✓
Prepare the apology or acknowledgement for formal occasion speeches that is credible.
✓
Translate policy on formal occasion speeches into procedures that hold up under day-to-day pressure.
Who Should Attend
✓
Community relations staff engaging stakeholders about formal occasion speeches.
✓
Department heads accountable for the results of formal occasion speeches.
✓
Government relations and public affairs officers covering formal occasion speeches.
✓
Spokespeople and executives who speak publicly about formal occasion speeches.
✓
Marketing staff coordinating with communications on formal occasion speeches.
✓
Managers in small and medium organisations who own formal occasion speeches alongside other duties.
Course Modules
Open any module to see its sessions and topics.
01
Formal occasion speeches: media relations and the working journalist
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Who answers for formal occasion speeches, and to whom
Write down the assumptions underpinning the approach to formal occasion speeches.
Agree the smallest change to formal occasion speeches that would be visibly useful.
Plan the recovery sequence after a reputational event involving formal occasion speeches.
Confirm that contractual obligations around formal occasion speeches are understood.
Session 2Coordinating formal occasion speeches across markets and languages
Archive every statement issued on formal occasion speeches with date and approver.
Prepare the response for the most likely failure in formal occasion speeches.
Prepare the acknowledgement for formal occasion speeches that does not evade responsibility.
Define what success in communicating formal occasion speeches looks like, numerically.
02
Formal occasion speeches: internal audiences and sequencing
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Testing formal occasion speeches before relying on it
Assign responsibility for keeping documentation of formal occasion speeches current.
Plan the sequence in which improvements to formal occasion speeches will be introduced.
Debrief after each significant episode involving formal occasion speeches.
Agree who signs off statements on formal occasion speeches outside working hours.
Session 2Getting other functions to support formal occasion speeches
Review whether formal occasion speeches is aligned with the objectives of the communications function.
Build a stakeholder map for formal occasion speeches and the message each needs.
Identify where judgement in formal occasion speeches is legitimate and where it is not.
Localise messaging on formal occasion speeches without fragmenting it.
