Integrate Communications

01/10/2020

The power of the Presser…….
Why has Victorian State Premier Daniel Andrews got up day after day for 6 months (or more) to give a press conference? It’s a great communications case study and I am not going to comment on the perceived leadership overtones. The reason is that it allows him to control the message. TOTALLY.
Having one single point of delivery to every media outline – traditional and online alike, allows the same message to get out to every outlet that cares to participate at the same time. And participate they have. It also is a way to claim no favouritism to any particular media organisation.
The press conferences (pressers in media lingo) have been streamed live on many traditional media outlets online services and free to air TV. The pressers have also corralled the questions. Have you noticed two things.
The first is that Daniel Andrew’s has used every opportunity when answering questions to either take the high moral ground, or not answer the question and either make the “inquiry” excuse, or just deliver a response that repeats a message he has already given. He is very skilled at this.
The second is that he stays until there are no more questions. He leaves nothing on the table and therefore it is very hard to get any other later questions /interviews, because he has already “dealt with” all the days business.
So solid strategy and good comms advice if you want to control the message. You can be the judge on how effective it has been in INFORMING Victorian’s.

18/09/2020

Here in Melbourne we are hopefully in the final weeks of our second crushing lockdown. We have a worrying cluster now developing in the SE of the city, an area with high migrant, English as a second language communities. I am hopeful lessons have been learnt and we are doing a better job of engaging with these people though their trusted sources, than we did in July. CALD programs must be well resourced and involve the community leaders.

16/09/2020

Been working hard on my new website. Just google Integrate Communications and be happy for constructive feedback from my network!

21/08/2020

Very excited to be attending the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience Knowledge Week beginning next week! Looks like a great program as always and this year from the comfort of my home (alas the four walls are closing in). Looking forward to having my brain stimulated and stretched

Australian Disaster Resilience Conference presents Knowledge Week explores disaster risk reduction in action. Register to attend online, 24 - 27 August 2020.

14/08/2020

Sharing this for a friend but it is important and the media are in a quandary on reporting on this. One school of thought is that it leads to increased su***des, the other side is that we must talk about this more openly to address why and to prevent.

The next added 6 weeks are going to be the killer. ... in VIC... 100 people in the first lockdown committed su***de in the first week alone.... That was only in Victoria. ... and 3000+ nation wide since the "panicdemic" ... yet we seem to hear nothing of this ... “because you can’t catch Suicide”, I have had some people respond... just repeat that a few times and think about it .... yes it is viral it’s growing at faster rates than COVID up 50% in Aus alone .. yet nothing... no media ... nothing...
The mental health issues related to lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. People need human contact/interaction...
The wonderful charity MIND have a 24 hour helpline: 1300 554 660
Please could any two of my Facebook friends just copy and repost to share the helpline far and wide. Just two. Any two. Say done! 🙏🏼💖

13/08/2020

Something I have been banging on about for a while. Just translating a poster framed up for one cultural audience is NOT good communication. And in this case even the translation seems suspect!! Communication must come from a trusted source. Where are the community leader advocacy and ambassador programs/ direct adverting - potentially on SM platforms?

"Nonsensical" and "laughable" language translations of COVID-19 public health messages are being distributed to multicultural communities, prompting fears migrants and refugees will lose trust in the Federal Government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

08/07/2020

I have been following the issues surrounding the Victorian response to COVID 19 with the same interest many of you have. I was particularly interested in the criticism of communication with the largely migrant communities where for a number of reasons COVID 19 cases are the highest in the City. We would all be very aware of the posters and TV and radio ads to communicate to people, but that is not really communication, its just broadcast. Broadcast relies on a) people being tuned into your station b) understanding the message and being prepared to follow the action, and that in turn relies on c) them thinking the messages are from a trusted source.

One of the biggest problems was that the people getting sick from the hotel quarantine situation were also part of communities who were finishing a huge festival called Eid al Fitr. At this festival it is traditional for people to come together to celebrate. Eat food, dance, sing, play games. Big, big, families from tiny babies to old, frail grandmas.”
Good communication MUST be based on knowing your audience. What's important to them, what are the best ways to reach them, who do they trust, who will they follow (be influenced by) if you are trying to get behaviour change. Broadcast is only one communications tool. You can't just change the language and expect people will get your message, understand your message and buy-in to your message in the form of taking the action you want. This does not abrogate personal responsibility.
I am asking everyone to be mindful and steer clear of the four "S's". Stupidity, selfishness, self-absorption and suspicion.

20/05/2020

Integrate Communications has been fortunate to work with the fabulous staff and VICSES volunteers on a number of projects over the years. Happy Wear Orange Wednesday (WOW) to you all. Storms in Melbourne to celebrate!! An sincere THANKS

06/05/2020

Good communication (or should that be information) comes in many forms. This timeline sequence is simple but effective in understanding the spread, our reaction and the consequence of that. An overlay of world timeline would be useful too.

We dodged a full-blown coronavirus crisis — for now. This data shows what happened.

05/05/2020

In these Covid-19 isolating times communication where we share ideas, experiences, memories and perspectives is so important. Real communication is interaction and engagement. Call someone, set up a virtual board game or quiz session. There are some wonderful ideas circulating and you don't have to be alone. No you are not going to be a bother, yes it's fine if you call them again. People are happy to help especially if they know you live alone, have lost your job or are trying to juggle a whole lot of roles.