Videos to promote the EUSBSR
In the beginning of the seminar, "Let’s communicate!" project coordinator Miitta Eronen offered a short introduction to the project and its state of play. As supporting different stakeholders in communications is the project's key actions, the seminar had good news to everyone trying to explain shortly what the EUSBSR is about: brand new EUSBSR promotional videos are soon available! The participants of the seminar had the chance to enjoy the world premiere of these videos.
“Good communications starts with good listening”
The second part of the seminar, a panel discussion, focused on tackling the question in the title: How to communicate the EUSBSR as simple as possible but not simpler. The panelists were Maxi Nachtigall, EUSBSR Policy Area Coordinator (PA HAZARDS), Joanna Wojtkowska, National Coordinator in Poland and Dr. Lina Marcinkute from Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy at European Commission. The moderator of the panel, "Let’s communicate!" project manager Kirsi Ahlman, asked the panelists to share their experiences on how it is possible to communicate the EUSBSR simply, without cutting corners. Some of the answers included:
- branding of communications with the use of logos and mentioning the strategy
- imagine the person you are communicating to
- target group specific messages
- use simple language
- good stories make people participate
- good communications requires good listening and identifying different needs
- Communicating the EUSBSR can be playful too, let’s not take ourselves too seriously!
Another common challenge with communications is lack of resources. The panelists were no strangers to this, but had found some good practices how this challenge can be tackled, for example:
- we are all communication officers: have the courage to try different things, f.ex. videos, regardless the imperfections
- communicate regularly and continuously, baby steps will pay off eventually
- cooperate and involve colleagues: sharing information leads to multiplying
- structured and organized communications
- develop common messages: “more convincing when everyone is telling the same story”
Key message of the 10th Anniversary of the EUSBSR?
The seminar addressed also the upcoming 10th Anniversary of the EUSBSR. The participants had a chance to brainstorm what, where and to whom could be the best ways to highlight the achievements of the EUSBSR during the anniversary year. It was also a good reminder that communicating the EUSBSR is everyone’s task and a shared responsibility.