GovComms: The Future of Government Communication

A highly sought-after keynote speaker, educator and author, Gabrielle has worked with thousands of high-profile leaders from around the world and helped several of Australia’s top 50 companies and multinationals to humanise their communications - These have included Telstra, EY, Accenture, VISA, Australia Post, National Australia Bank, ANZ, Vodafone and the Obama Foundation just to mention a few.  

She holds a master’s degree in Management and Leadership from Swinburne University, an associate diploma in Education and Training from the University of Melbourne, and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education in both the Art and the Practice of Leadership Development and Women and Power: Leadership in a New World.

Gabrielle is also the bestselling author of Real Communication: How to be you and lead true, and a finalist in the Australian Business Leadership Book Awards for 2019. Her other published books include Stories for Work: The Essential Guide to Business Storytelling (2017), Storytelling for Job Interviews (2016) and several other renowned works.

Discussed in this episode:

• Why storytelling is a skill in growing demand
• Finding a balance between vulnerable and professional
• How to influence without manipulation
• Using the heart to reach the head – the affective power of stories
• The benefits of keeping stories and data separate
• Why all leaders should strive to be authentic
• The risks of jargon and acronyms
• Keeping messages as simple as possible
• Gabrielle’s top tips for communicators

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Elise Davidson is the General Manager of Strategic Communications at the ACCC in Sydney. There, she leads a team responsible for the agency’s media, social media, content & digital production. Her team is also responsible for employee communications, speechwriting, library & research services.

Prior to joining the ACCC, Elise was General Manager of Corporate Affairs at Vodafone where she helped to rebuild its reputation post ‘Vodafail’. She also has a strong consumer advocacy background, having led communications and media teams at ACCAN from 2010-13, and Choice from 2007-2010.

Elise has a Bachelor’s degree in Media from Macquarie University, co-authored Weird and Wonderful Jobs, and was awarded PR of the Year (in house) at the Mumbrella CommsCon Awards in 2014.

Discussed in this episode:

• Using communications to overcome the ‘Vodafail’ crisis
• Communications as a crisis management tool
• Practical tactics for relationship building and public relations
• Elise’s advice for building a great team
• Operating in a dynamic, high activity environment
• An ACCC social media success story and the benefits of paid advertising
• Making a winning business case for more resourcing

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James joined Faster Horses Consulting in 2019 as head of its Social & Government Division after previous social & government research roles with Colmar Brunton, Ipsos & Eureka Strategic Research. He has over 20 years’ experience in the Australian Federal Government sector as both a buyer and a supplier to Government across nearly every portfolio at the Federal level. He is MBA qualified and has been granted Qualified Practicing Researcher (QPR) status.

James has been at the forefront of the evolution of market & social research over his 21-year research career, including pioneering the use of online research communities in government with the Australian Taxation Office, the Murray Darling Basin Authority and the Royal Australian Mint. Just as we’ve moved from paper to phone to online data collection, he sees advancements in artificial intelligence and the effective leveraging of ‘big data’ as rapidly reshaping the industry – not sometime into the future, but right now. He believes the key challenge for researchers lies in retaining their ability to connect with people in order to tell clients the true, evidence-based human story.

Discussed in this episode:

• The skills required to be a great researcher
• A new model for data acquisition – UBDI
• How technology has effected research, and where it’s going next
• The disruption of artificial intelligence
• Why the future of data will always require a human touch
• The importance of linking research to objectives
• James’s advice for government communicators working with researchers
• Developing a ‘no surprises’ mantra

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Kym has enjoyed an interesting career, beginning as a print journalist in regional New South Wales after a career advisor suggested she was cynical enough to be in the media. 

Her career has taken her around the world and given her entre into some of the highest profile political, public safety and disaster response incidents of her generation.

She started with the Department of Immigration on the day they opened Woomera Detention Centre, and spent the next six-and-a-half years dealing with a rather dynamic work environment.

Kym has since managed a range of impactful campaigns. One of which being the internationally recognised efforts of Queensland Police Services' use of social media as a public information channel in 2010-2011. Kym has always taken an integrated approach to issue and media management, public relations and reputation management, using new and owned media as a crucial and effective plank.

These days she is Director of her own public relations and communications agency: The Fasterhorse Company, where she deals with culture building within government departments, juggling niche clients, and running the occasional marathon or ultra and upsetting Spanish food Twitter for fun.

Discussed in this episode:

• Kym's early career as a regional journalist
• Being mindful of your energy when communicating
• The impact of democratised media
• Finding the right stories to tell
• Why content has to be connected to a strategic objective
• Influencing sentiment to effect mainstream reporting 
• Understanding your organisations risk appetite
• Finding authentic storytellers (and where to look)

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Dr Michelle Harrison is the global CEO of Kantar Public and the founding CEO of WPP Government and Public Sector Practice. She is responsible for the effectiveness of Kantar Public’s work around the world, and supports the delivery of major projects. Michelle has worked with government and corporate clients in every continent across all aspects of public policy and public affairs. Her career to date has included time in academia, international development, strategy, marketing and social research. She is a Davos speaker, book author and the founder of the WPP Executive Education Programmes in Public Communications and Behaviour Change. She has also led the establishment of WPP Government Practice Hubs in London, Brussels, Sydney, Beirut, Singapore and Nairobi.

Discussed in this episode:

• How great campaigns can fail without adequate research and testing
• Methods of combining policy and communications
• Why the best communications outcomes are produced through a united approach
• Learning to embrace rapid technological change
• Avoiding audience isolation
• Why there is no replacement for face-to-face interaction
• What behavioural change campaigns will look like in 5 years
• The pains and gains of working with multiple communications channels
• The current opportunity for government communications

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Nicole has had a passion for communications from a young age. At 13-years old, she developed a taste for the industry through a work experience placement at CLEO magazine.

Since then, she has completed an undergraduate and postgraduate qualification in the field, and worked in a variety of communication roles across government, the private sector and the not-for-profit space. Her previous workplaces have included the New South Wales Government, Soldier On Australia and Dimensional Fund Advisors.

Today, Nicole works as a professional speechwriter. And she is keenly interested in understanding human cognition, because she believes it’s key to writing speeches that can better influence and persuade. 

Nicole also believes that in today’s world, with increasingly complex issues, we need some of the smartest people in the country working in communication... because good communication can help shape and change the world. 

Discussed in this episode:

• JFK and using cognitive understanding to underpin his greatest speeches
• Emotional decision-making at the crux of human beings
• Placing audiences in a threat or reward state, using the the NeuroLeadership Institute's SCARF Model®
• S: Status
• C: Certainty
• A: Autonomy
• R: Relatedness
• F: Fairness
• Finding the balance of art and science in communications
• The current opportunity for communicators to be creative

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Michelle graduated from Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland in 1991 with an honours degree in Sociology and German, before training as a journalist. She then worked for newspapers and magazines (both political and lifestyle) for more than 20 years, in Ireland, Britain and then Australia. Michelle’s most recent position as a journalist was at The Canberra Times, as editor of the Saturday edition’s news review and analysis section.

Michelle later moved into academia, joining the Faculty of Arts & Design at the University of Canberra as a Teaching Fellow in Journalism & Communication in 2011. Here, she educated students on political and strategic communication. She received a Communications doctorate in 2015, for her research into the Australian media's representation of Indigenous opposition to the Northern Territory Emergency Response 2007, also known as the Intervention.

Michelle then worked as a researcher for the University of Canberra’s News & Media Research Centre, specialising in media representation of marginalised groups. Following this, she worked as External Affairs & Media Adviser to Amnesty International Australia.

Her most recent role was as Capacity Building Outreach adviser to the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, a small government agency under the Australian Aid umbrella. She now works here with us, at contentgroup, as a Senior Communications Strategist.

Discussed in this episode:

• What makes a good journalist
• Finding the story for your audience
• Six tips for writing a great story
• Balancing creativity and consistency for campaign success
• The benefits of a simple approval process
• The challenges that come with everyone being a storyteller
• The importance of curiosity in the workplace
• Michelle’s advice for the modern communicator

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Kerry McCallum is Director of the News & Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra (UC) where she leads a team of researchers to advance public understanding of our changing media environment. Her research in political communication specialises in the relationships between changing media and Australian social policy, particularly in indigenous affairs.

Kerry is a lead professor on the ‘Breaking Silences: Media and the Child Abuse Royal Commission’ project which is the first Australian research document to explore the connection between media and commissions enquiries in the digital era.

Kerry is a major contributor to the field of communication and media studies in Australia and internationally, notably as former President of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA). She is also a member of the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Kerry has implemented a complex curriculum development and change management process at faculty, university and national levels, notably as UC’s inaugural Academic Director (Dean) of Graduate Research from 2017-19. Her career has been supported and grounded by nearly a decade of professional experience working in federal parliament, political and media advisory roles.

Discussed in this episode:

• Kerry’s transition into academia
• The combat sport of politics
• Reflecting on life in parliament, with David and Kerry
• Kerry’s advice for Ministerial Advisors
• ‘Breaking Silences’– The impact of digital media on modern royal commissions
• Why the commission into child abuse was so groundbreaking from a communications perspective
• How journalism is currently evolving, and the role of the modern journalist

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Brenda is an established communications professional for the U.S public sector. Prior to her role with the Los Angeles County, she held several positions throughout journalism, media, and communications domains. 

Brenda graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Arts (Journalism). She later worked as a staff reporter and writer for major U.S news and journalism organisations including:

• The Southern California News Group
• US Weekly; and
• The North County Times.

Later in her career, Brenda served as the Senior Associate Editor for MPA Media and went on to become the Head of Communications for the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder. Brenda has also garnered several prestigious communications awards throughout her career. These include the FOLIO Award for feature writing, the North American ‘Excellence in Communications’ Award, and multiple accolades for her work in public relations and public affairs.

Discussed in this episode:

• Why communicators need a love for people and storytelling
• Brenda’s process for simplifying complex information
• The latest digital insights: going mobile
• Making post-campaign data a bigger part of pre-campaign decisions
• Governments going social: the power of social media
• Brenda’s advice for government communicators
• Learning to use modern citizen engagement techniques

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Shannon Kenna is an experienced communications professional, specialising in strategic communications for the public sector. She joined the Treasury in 2015 to manage a major government advertising campaign and has since managed the delivery of five federal budgets.

As Division Head of Communications and Parliamentary, she manages a broad program of work, including oversight of a full suite of communication functions. These include media relations, social media, stakeholder engagement, corporate communications, speechwriting, graphic design, publications and web management. Shannon is also responsible for all ministerial and parliamentary business for Treasury.

Since beginning her public sector career at the Department of Immigration in 1994, Shannon’s career has included diverse roles in communication and program management. Shannon has also worked in the private sector in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Shannon holds a Bachelor of Communication (Public Relations) degree, majoring in Management, from the University of Canberra.

Discussed in this episode:

• Using internal face-to-face discussions to approach key message building
• The Intergenerational Report, featuring Dr Karl
• Factoring risk into campaigns and handling unexpected setbacks
• How technology is impacting the demand for tailored content
• The duties, timelines and challenges of communicating a federal budget (five times)
• The efficacy of a whole-of-government communications approach

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