Discussion guide – communication activity
Introduction
This is a tool to help you structure your thoughts for a communication activity. It is a simple discussion guide that you can work on by yourself or with colleagues. Do not overthink it. Give it about 30–60 minutes of thought. If you would like some support in the process, please contact the Communications Division.
The most important thing to remember is that every activity (advertisement, website, brochure, exhibition, etc.) should lead to a change in the people who read or view it. They should know, think or do something new. This discussion guide will help you to find out what this change should be and to design an activity that achieves this.
1. What does the organisation need? What need should you help to fulfil?
Communication activities should be based on the needs of the organisation. Briefly describe the organisational need that this activity is intended to support. Examples of this include “more applicants to the programme”, “more money for research”, “simplify contact routes between student and teacher in connection with examinations”, “simplify registration for seminar series”, etc.
2. Who is the communication aimed at?
Describe the target group as well as possible. Avoid general terms like “the public” and “funders”, and try to be more specific. Examples of this include “private funders in biotechnology in the Mälardal region”, and “upper-secondary students in their last semester in Sundsvall”.
2b. What is the relationship with the people you will be communicating with like today? What points of contact already exist between them and the organisation?
Think about what natural points of contact already exist with the target group. Also try to describe what the relationship with the target group is like today. Do they like us and our activities? Do they think that what we do is unimportant? How interested in us are they actually? This is good to know in order to get an idea of how much impact you can expect.
2c. What do you know about the people you will be communicating with?
Think about what you know about the people in the target group. For example, where do they live, what opinions do they have, what do they know about us, etc.?
2d. What do you not know about the people you will be communicating with?
It is equally important to think about what you do not know about the people in the target group. Do they have a sense of humour? Are they in a rush when we want to reach them? These kinds of questions may need to be answered before deciding what to do. The disciplinary domain information officers and the Communications Division may have more information about the target group.
3. Are there others who communicate with your target group? What do they do?
Describe the other activities that you or someone else at the University uses to engage with the target group. Is there anyone else at the University who also works with your target group? The Communications Division and disciplinary domain information officers are a good resource for this type of information. Naturally, it is particularly fitting to describe activities that either lead to “your” activity or that “your” activity should lead to. Examples include an advertisement that inspires a person to visit a website, a brochure that results in a phone call, an exhibition that results in an order for printed information material, etc.
4. What should the people you communicate with know, feel and do when they engage in your activity?
In every communication activity, we want something to happen to people in the target group. We might want them to learn more about something, think something specific (change their attitude), or do something specific (go to a website, submit an application, call someone, etc.). Describe what you want to happen with people in the target group, i.e. what change the activity should bring about.
5. Describe what you are going to do.
Describe the activity that will now achieve this. Once you have done this, you can go back and think about whether it really achieves what you want it to achieve.
6. Describe which channel you will use to communicate.
Examples include an advertisement in Aftonbladet's supplement xxx, a new web section on the department’s website, the book fair in Gothenburg, etc.
7. Describe the most important aspect of what you want to say.
Describe the main message you want to send out. Examples include “You can be whatever you want to be at Uppsala University”, “Living traditions in modern campuses”, “World-class cell biology at Uppsala University”, and “Uppsala University is more than just traditions”. You can use the message as a headline if you wish, but this is not mandatory. The most important thing is that you are clear about the signals you want to send out. Is it exciting, fun, useful or world-changing? If you are not sure, the Communications Division may have some ideas.
8. Describe how you can find out whether the people you are communicating with are reacting the way you want, i.e. how you will know if you have succeeded in point 4 above.
Describe how you will measure the outcome of the activity. If you have defined a clear target group and a clear desired outcome, this is usually quite easy. If you find it difficult, go back to those points and think about whether they can be made more concrete. The Communications Division has access to both tools and knowledge of different types of measurement methods.
9. Specify who will be working on this and what they will be doing.
Write down who is in charge and who else is directly involved in planning and implementation. Also write what each person will contribute.
10. Specify the other contributors/collaborators
Specify which other people are involved or need to be contacted. Also describe what their respective involvement consists of. Include colleagues, resource persons (disciplinary domain information officers, Communications Division staff, etc.) and subcontractors.
11. Disseminate knowledge
It is important to disseminate information about how we all work with communication so that we can learn from each other’s successful as well as less successful activities. The Communications Division is happy to disseminate information within the University about the activities conducted and the thought process behind them. So, please feel free to send your material to the Communications Division so that others can learn from your work.