Summit: CommunicationS strategy

Hi - in the course of the Communications sub-group call this morning Edwar provided feedback concenring the questions people have about why they should submit an abstract for consideration. There was a feeling that the Summit planning process had perhaps overlooked the "why" question as we got the "how" process out the door. Based on our discussion I promised some very draft language that we can use as a base for your review and critique in order to develop much better text that can then be adapted and used for each of your contexts. 

DRAFT text to use on abstracts including the scholarships link

(for your review and edit)

The What Works? Summit will be built upon the experiences, ideas, analysis, research and evaluation data presented at the  Summit by a wide cross-section of people and organisations engaged in work to shift norms, change behaviours and amplify voice for principled, effective and wide ranging development action. In order to build this crucial foundation the Summit organisers are asking people to submit abstracts that outline the knowledge that they wish to share with others at the Summit. Please do submit your abstract(s) at (insert link). As we may get more abstracts than there are time slots at the Summit, a review group will consider the ones to be presented.

Please note the connection between abstracts and scholarships - the financial support to attend the Summit. The limited number of available scholarships will only be awarded to some of the people whose abstract submission process are succesful. Sadly not everyone can be coveredThere are further details at this link (insert link) 

Hi - a quick follow up to the request for examples of abstracts from the Addis summit in 2016. 

1. A lot of the knowledge shared in Addis is gathered here. (We will repeat this process for 2018.)

2. That shared knowledge can be filtered and searched here.

3. A search for Abstract produces these results. These are summaries but hope they provide some guidance.

Thanks - Warren

Hi folks. We have all been working in the first phase of our communications strategy to focus on ensuring that there was content for the Summit (the abstracts) and people to attend (registrations). With the abstracts process have closed yesterday (December 6, 2017) I wanted to provide you with a quick update ... and to express the thanks of everyone involved in this process for your engagement and action that has made a huge contributio to the numbers below. Through your network and membership communications, as well as efforts from others involved in planning the Summit, we are in the following position:

Total Abstracts submitted - 1,287

This is a very healthy number - congrats! They will now be reviewed by the programme sub-group and selections will be made for the Summit. From a quick review a few days ago they are focused on a good cross-section of all of our work. I will try to udpate on this soon.  

Total registrations to date - 178

As the closing date is not until March 1, 2018 this is an excellent start. Of course lots of the people and orgs behind the 1,287 abstract submissions above may be waiting to see if those abstracts are selected before registering. There were also 192 people (memory - check) who started the registration process and left it. We are looking at this in order to understand. It could be related to the payment page! If you are amenable to sending further communications to your networks and memberships this week can I suggest that these focus on the early bird registration discount closing on December 15th. But I suggest at this stage that the numbers above are not communicated. The abstracts just closed and we will propose soon some substantive text re that number and registrations. 

Thanks again - tremendous effort by all. I will write again soon with a suggested next meeting date and time. Apologies that due to travel this has been a bit messy lately. When the early brd registration closes we can turn to focus on the fun stuff of the substantial communicatons strategy around the Summit that is inclusive of both those attending and not able to attend - networks, groups, comments, video streaming, debate, dialogue, ratings, social media streams and lots of others!

Best wishes - Warren

Hi - I got below on the 6th so the data is a little out-of-date but still interesting. This is data from Marla on use of the Summit web site from its launch to December 6th. Best - Warren

Hi Warren, here you go.
 

Since the Summit web site was launched:​

Total number of user sessions: 23,495
Total number of unique users: 12,794
Total page views: 55,008
Number of countries accessing: 173

Top countries are:

US (6,195)
India (1,556)
Nigeria (1,157)
UK (1,150)
Bangladesh (923)
Indonesia (902)
Kenya (830)
Nepal (706)
South Africa (685)
Uganda (681); detailed report attached​

Top sources are:

direct traffic
organic google searches
Facebook
Comminit.com

Top 10 pages:

Homepage
Abstract Submission
Oral poster presentations
How to submit an abstract
Registration
Conference themes
Scholarship opportunities
Preformed panel presentations
About the 2018 Summit
Conference Objectives

The mobile, desktop, tablet split 72.42% desktop; 24.73% mobile; 2.85% tablet
 
 
Marla

Hi - trust that all is well. There have been a number of developments with the Summit that provide reasons or hooks for any Summit related communications you may wish to send to your networks/members. We will be undertaking this as well related to The Communication Initiative network. These include: 

1. The Summit Secretariat has given permission to communciate:

(a) Registration numbers: That there are now 308 people formally registered for the event; the target number to attend is 1,000 - so registration progress is really solid esp given that there are still 2 months left to register, accepted abstracts have not yet been decided and speakers have not yet been announced

(b) Abstracts numbers: That 1,269 abstract proposals were received; this is double the number of abstract proposals submitted for the Addis Summit in 2016 and provides further evidence of the strong interest in this event.

The reason for perhaps communciating this data to your networks is that it demonstrates the Summit will go ahead with significant numbers and substantive content. I am sure a lot of people hold off to see how the summit planning is progressing before registering.  So would be good to let them know.

2. Scholarships: The scholarship process has been re-scheduled. Scholarships will support successful candidates with travel and per diem support to attend the Nusa Dua Summit. The Scholarship application process will now open on January 22, 2018 and close on February 5, 2018 11:59 pm EST. Further details can be seen at this link Would be good if this could be communicated.  

3. Abstracts decisions and communication implications: The present schedule for deciding which abstracts are accepted and which are not accepted is that these decisions will be made by Friday, January 19, 2018. Notifications wiil quickly follow. I think we can reasonably expect that this will lead to a quick increase in registrations by those whose abstracts are accepted. But it would still be good to find ways to reinforce/encourage/support/motivate those whose abstracts are not accepted to still attend the Nusa Dua Summit. We are looking into the best ways to do this. As I am sure you will be. All ideas most welcome!

Thanks - happy to answer any questions and issues - Warren   

Hi folks - this is an update on The CI communications efforts related to the Summit over the past month. Please open the link above -  Please click to review, comment and access any attachments - and then click Reply and add updates from your organisation.

A few key points:

1. Overall Summit related user sessions on The CI platform - 40,080 user sessions

2. Overall page views on Summit related content on The CI platform - 72,787 page views

3. Summit specific posts and comments from the network submitted to The CI platform's networking processes - 83 - for example see Summit: What Works? Shifting Norms, Changing Behaviours, Amplifying Voice and a few of the threads within that space including Updates: The What Works? Summit - Nusa Dua, Indonesia, April 16 - 20, 2018 and Tackling Open Defecation (Please note that there are about 20 more posts and comments in the queue to publish)

4. The Summit specific group conversation space now has 995 people registered.

5. In January, The CI staff sent 11 Summit specific notes to the whole The CI network, the Summit specific group or relevant parts of the network - for example the India network and the HIV/AIDS network. 

6. We have commenced a strategy of sharing relevant posts related to The Summit from network participants with other The CI network spaces with the Summit highlighted - for example an HIV/AIDS post shared through The HIV/AIDS network - 10,357 members The principle here is that network participants sharing substantive knowledge and ideas with their peers, and referencing the Summit will both be more influential with their peers that straight promo notes from us and help to commence the dialogue process .

Just a few examples. Please do share your actions in order that we are all udpated.

Thanks - Warren     

Hi folks. I would very much like to continue the discussion we commenced on the theme of how we each harness the capacities of our organisations and networks to (A) enhance the Summmit experience for those present in Nusa Dua and (B) engage those who are intereested but not able to be in Indonesia for this event.

Just a quick reminder that we have already decided that we will not create a Summit specific central communications platform but will work through each of our capacities for the purposes just outlined. The 'connective tissue" for this process will be the hashtag #SBCCSummit that we are all asked to use in our communications. If the number of both abstract submissions (1,200 plus with 300 approx selected) and early registrations (350 approx) is any indication there will be considerable knowledge to share and issues to debate.

Below I have outlined some general categories of online action that can help to enhance the Summit experience for those who attend and virtually engage those who are not able to be present. It would be excellent if everyone could copy these categories and send a note in which they outline the relevant capacities that they will consider mobilising for the Summit. As examples, and to start the process, I have added some of the capacities we will mobilise within some of the categories. Feel free to add any categories. Thanks

A. Summarised knowledge

The CI Example: We have an editorial team and a platform (content types, taxonomy terms, theme sites, etc) that can ensure there is a long term capturing of the knowledge shared integrated into an overall SBCC platform (1.2 million user sessions) and network (91,000). Plan is to include the succesful abstracts, Summit presentations and key note speaches within the platform. 

B. Face-to-face in-country meet-ups

The CI Example: None - only rarely do we engage in face-to-face meetings in countries so no real capacity. So no activities to contribute.

C. Social Media Presence - Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat

The CI Example: As strange as this may seem we do not have a huge priority on social media. There are feeds etc but we are not active in the facilitation of mainstream social media related to this field. Our focus has been to create the integrated platform for in-depth sharing and debate in a specific ecosystem for the SBCC community. So The CI will only be a small player on manistream social media when compared to others in this communication sub-group, There are 1,000 people already in the Summit specific network.

D. Online Groups, Forums, Networks

The CI Example: There are significant online groups and networks within the integrated The CI space - for example 14,000 on Health, 7,000 in Academic institutions, 10,000 on Social Change and 10,000 on Children amongst others. Our intention is to relate the relevant parts of the Summit content to the existing groups (with perhaps new groups created where there are gaps) in order to expand sharing debate and dialogue. When the Summit agenda is known we will malke the necessary Summit session to CI network link and have it included in the online agenda.        

E. Peer reviewed journal article writing capacity

The CI Example: Though we have produced peer reviewed journal articles that have been published we do not really have capacity on hand to do this. 

F. Magasines

The CI Example: The intention is to publish one or a series of editions of our leading online magasines (The Drum Beat - global - 48,000);Soul Beat Africa - Africa focus - 18,000; and, Son de Tambora - Spanish - 30,000) post the Summit.

Hi folk - trust that all is well. A couple of things if I could as the Summit looms ever closer!

1. Very much hope that we can have agood turn out at the next Communications sub-group meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 13th, 2018 at 9AM EST. Would be good to have everyone around the virtual table. Can you please confirm your  participation. Thanks.

2. It would be excellent if everyone could send the information and ideas to complete the planning process as outlined at Summit: Substantive knowledge sharing and online engagement. Feel free to complete  by clicking Reply at that link or sending to me by reply email to this note. If you can please complete by midday Monday your time that will give me time to compile. The main focus of the Feb 13th meeting will be to go through this plan. 

Thanks - much appreciated - please let me know if there are any questions - Warren

To: Summit Communications Group

Hi folks - the below people have been confirmed as keynote speakers for the Summit. I am providing in case you wish to share as part of your Summit related communications. Please note that this is not all of keynote speakers. Others will be infomed soon. Hope that this helps. We have provided some links with background knowledge on the understanding that the information you may wish to provide on these speakers will be tailored to the interests of your networks and membership. Formal profiles directly related to the Summit will follow. Happy to provide any further information - thanks - Warren

1.     Ayesha Farooq (confirmed) - background links here and here and here
2.     David Chiriboga, (confirmed) - here and here
3.     Anibal Gaviria  (confirmed) - here and here
4.     Miguel Sabido (Confirmed) - here and here

Hi - the second of two notes on  the Summit this evening to inform and support your communications - for which many thanks.

There is a separate sub-group working on the Summit outputs - the formal documents we will create from the Summit. This work - being led by Charlotte Lapsansky from UNICEF New York with a number of people from different agencies - are planning the formal Summit outputs highlighted below with full paper attached. Please note that these could be revised as we move towards the Summit but they are pretty solid at present. At this time this information is by way of background information to help with the preparation of your communication processes before, during and post the Summit. We will have an increasingly close relationship with the Outputs committee. Most happy to answer any questions of course - thanks - Warren

In Summary - please see attached for full outline

1. Special issue of the Journal of Development Communication - Suggested content includes: articles based on presentations at the Summit (approximately half related to SBCC and half to EE), as well as interviews with SBCC expert, viewpoints on the outcomes of the Summit, a research report and a book review.

2. State of the Field Paper - Paper analyzing the state of SBCC, progress, areas of stagnancy, potential opportunities and future directions for the field

3. Ten Top Pieces of Evidence - Compilation of the 10 strongest pieces of research/evidence that SBCC “works”

4. Brief on Communication and the SDGs - Analysis of the role of SBCC in each of the SDGs, with illustrative case studies from the Summit.

5. Summit Declaration - Statement of collective vision and beliefs

6. Letter addressed to high level stakeholders (e.g., UN Secretary General) - This is a potential alternative format for a Declaration. Like the declaration, it would be a collective statement of vision and beliefs, but with a focus on a call to action and directed to a particular high level influencers. Others can use the letter as a template to address it to high level stakeholders in their own contexts.

7. Summary report of the Summit - Highlights of the Summit including steering committee, sponsors, key sessions, feedback from participants, declaration, etc

8. Video documentary - Documentary maker can compile footage, interviews, multimedia materials and other content to tell a compelling story about SBCC

9. Short video summary - Overview of conference featuring interviews with key summit planners, feedback from participants, highlights of plenaries
  

Hi folks - for your background and orientation purposes only - please do NOT distribute at this time - you can find the first iteration of the Summit agenda at this link. When that link opens please click AGENDA in top right. The initial days of the Summit will be visible. Scroll down for other days. There are loads of links to click. Happy to answer any Qs and just to reiterate that this is for your background briefing at this time and not for communication to others. The first formal agenda should be ready over the next couple of weeks.Best wishes - Warren

Hi folks - 3 things if I may

1. There are some addiitonal people who have asked to join this Summit Communications sub-committee thread. As we get close to the Summit there has been interest in learning more about our strategy and activities and to mobilse their capacities to support the communications efforts. If I could ask you to use the Comments process (click "Please click here ... above and scroll down)  to introduce yourselves that would be excellent.

2. Meeting times have proved difficult. But could I suggest that (a) we try to undertake as much communication as possible through this thread (feel free to just email reply if that works best) and (b) that we hold our next meeting at 10am EST on Wednesday 4th April, 2018. Please confirm your availability.

3. There is a Steering Committee call tomorrow morning at 8-30am EST. Based on our previous strategic agreements as we focused on different elements at different times I pulled together a synthesis of the Communications strategy from now on. As has been the commitment all along the strategy retains at its heart both using the Summit process to strengthen your work and platforms and ensuring we do not create parallel and disconnected processes that are for the Summit only and for Summit participants only. Please do review below and let me know any comments. I will be at my desk at 5am PST to review before the Steering Committee call commences at 5-30amPST (ouch!). 

 ***** 

Communications Strategy - Synthesis Overview and Update for Steering Committee

Hi - for this meeting of the Steering Committee I wanted to draw together the core elements of the What Works? Summit communication strategy. The work-to-date and next steps outlined below are the collective work of the C4D network, PSI, JHUCCP, ISMA, GFMD and Rita Widiadanda (in Indonesia).

1. Attendees and Abstracts

The initial laser-like focus of the Communications sub-committee was to work through their own networks and membership, and to encourage and support others to engage their networks and members, to attract as many relevant people as possible to the Summit and a healthy pipe-line of abstract submissions for review, consideration and selection as the content for the Summit. As I write we are very close to the 1,200 maximum for Summit attendees. There were 1,262 abstract submissions received from which 300 approx were selected by the Programme Committee.

2. Communications as a central part of the Summit.

The communications strategy is to act as a central component of the knowledge sharing, conversation and distillation of the Summit itself by engaging both people attending and those who can not attend but are very interested, through the actions that follow. We have specifically tried to focus on a very few strategic actions that have both maximum “spread” potential and will get at the essence of the Summit from the perspective and with the voice of the people participating. Guarantees have been provided that there is excellent wifi in the Summit venue. There is a working assumption that a high percentage of the people attending will have mobile phones with web access and photo functionality. There is an awareness that this could bias the process towards those from economically wealthier organisations and contexts. We will encourage phone sharing.

The core principle behind this strategy is that we do not want to create a separate communications process just for the Summit. The Summit provides an opportunity to integrate the work of the Summit into existing platforms and therefore to help strengthen and build those ongoing platforms. We wish to engage as many people as possible who for one reason or another are very interested in the Summit but can not be in Nusa Dua. The communications process should not be just for people in Nusa Dua.

For these reasons it is vitally important, in relation to discussion groups, video interviews and other aspects of the strategy below that we do not have a communications option that is exclusivly focused on and derived from the Summit itself.     
  

a. Existing platforms and networks:

There will be no central communications platform specific to the Summit. Instead we are seeking to engage and support the present range of platforms that exist - for example the C4D network, GFMD membership, social marketing association membership, the ICA and IAMCR research memberships and, most importantly, the social media accounts of the people attending and their organizations.

On the latter if there are 1,200 people in attendance and they all have 500  contacts on average across their Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc accounts then that is an initial reach of 600,000, though of course there could be some overlap. If there is an average of 1,000 then that is an initial reach of 1.2 million.

Perhaps more important than those numbers is that this strategy ensures that the major communications by Summit participants tweeting and posting about their Summit experiences will by design be resonant with their issues and goals.

Prior to, during and post the Summit there will be regular prompts reminding people to send social media posts. Through the network of registered and interested people for the Summit we will suggest  themes and pose some questions in an attempt to maintain energy and help to provide some shape. 
  

b. Connective tissue

So, how is this all joined together? The “connective tissue” will be the hashtag #SBCCSummit. In all communications with Summit participants and those interested we are encouraging/imploring everyone to both include the #SBCCSummit in all of their communications and to place on their websites blocks or boxes that stream the flow of conversation that is tagged with #SBCCSummit.

This will also provide the Summit organizers with the capacity to check in on the Summit engagement as it happens - to take the temperature. Of course given the nature of this social media this will also enable people to connect. And we are doing so with the platforms they would normally use. We are not asking them to adopt something new.
  

c. In-depth dialogue:

By their very nature social media conversations and posts tend to be short and snappy. But there is also a need for more in-depth and substantive dialogue and debate. A number of the partners in the Summit Communications committee have network platforms. In keeping with the principle outlined above these partners will create relevant groups for more in-depth dialogue and debate. For example The Communication Initiative with its network of 90,000 people in this field will create threads around each day of the Summit and the themes of those days. Using this process also extends reach to people who for one reason or another can not attend in person in Nusa Dua. It provides opportunities for them to engage substantively in the conversation through virtual means. Others will do likewise on their platforms.

d. Phone video interviews:

As part of the communications strategy we want to ensure that there is a process for the participants in Nusa Dua to both give voice to their analysis, perspectives, ideas and to gather relevant insights from their colleagues. We wish to do this in a way that links to and enhances the strategies outlined above.

Therefore we are asking everyone at the Summit to conduct a minimum of 5 video interviews on their phone or on q phone that they can borrow. The Summit participants will be asked to identify people who in their assessment - maybe based on a poster they see or a presentation they attend or a question someone asks - can potentially add value to their work. The people they approach and the questions they will ask are of course entirely up to them. But we will provide some starter questions and ideas should they be helpful. Of course we will encourage participants to upload these videos to their social media accounts - youtube, Facebook etc for further distribution and comment. As with all communications we will stress the importance of using the #SBCCSummit.

This approach is also designed to mesh with one of the Summit Outputs being considered by the Outputs Committee. The phone video interviews will provide raw footage that will be helpful in creating their short, compiled video vignettes that outline this field of work and make a case for What Works? If we can get even 500 people to do the 5 phone video interviews then there will be lots of material.

    
e. In person meetings post-Summit:

One of the communication challenges for a Summit such as this is how to keep the connection and dialogue going. All of the above is designed for that purpose. But it is all social media and online engagement. There is nothing that relates to face-to-face in person connections.

The Communication for Development Network has an annual Network Challenge campaign where C4D network members and others come together in their cities for in-country meet-ups. The purpose is to discuss and share thinking and experiences of social change, behaviour change and other communication for development topics. They are offering this platform in support of the Summit by aligning the Network Challenge campaign this year with the key Summit questions. This will involve people who both attend and do not attend the Summit. We will all join to support and highlight attendance at these events. They will be post the Summit of course.

This also provides a connection point for people who attended the Summit.

            
3. Outputs Group connection

There is a close connection with the Summit Outputs committee. When they have finalized the set of Outputs from this Summit we will obviously provide the necessary communications to amplify those outputs.    

4. Media relations

This work is taking place now. The initial press release is being prepared. More soon

We wanted to provide you with this overview of the strategy. All questions most welcome.

Thanks - Warren on behalf of the Communications sub-committee

Hi and my apologies to Jackie and Nicola. I received below and attached (click Please review ... above when in the email) a few days ago and did not forward. Will place this on the Communications sub-committee agenda for tomorrow also. Thanks - Warren

Dear Warren

Hi there, as promised, please find attached our (C4D Network) concept note for in-country post-Summit meetups.

Best regards

Nicola

Nicola Sutherland  I   Editor, C4D Network

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