Let's talk about what changes in council control on May 7 might mean for communicators
New data insights revealed in free webinar this Thursday at 1pm | Plus... Does data matter in effective crisis comms? | Gender experiences in emergency response and comms
Webinar: What might changes in council control mean for communicators?
Free webinar on Thursday 30 April, 1pm.
With current polling suggesting changes afoot in the May 7 local elections - and parties like Reform and the Greens predicted by some to take control of councils for the first time - communications professionals across local government face a period of change and adjustment
For this session I’m delighted to be joined by Georgia Turner, a former local authority Director of Communications and specialist in local government reorganisation.
Georgia - an in-demand Local Government Reorganisation expert - will provide informed, practical insight into how comms teams can prepare for and adjust to political and administrative change.
And I’ll be sharing some of my work-in-progress that seeks to utilise public data for insight on;
How might leadership priorities be communicated differently?
What changes in tone, language, and messaging style might be expected?
Which narratives are likely to emerge—and which may fade away?
“Without data [in a crisis], you’re just another person with an opinion”
Big thanks to brilliant crisis comms specialist Dee cowburn for including me in her latest article for the CIPR’s Insight publication.
You can read what I had to say to Dee about;
the need for benchmarking to help you truly understand reputational change
relationships with the people who govern or own important data
AI as a tool for data analysis to inform decision-making
Her own Substack is well worth a read and subscription. Thanks Dee!
Data insights on gender experiences in emergency response and comms
It was a pleasure to assist Amanda Coleman (see her Substack, ‘Under Pressure’) with the data analysis for her important work on the lived experiences of those working in crisis management and crisis communications.
The project surveyed those working in public and private sector, in the UK and internationally, working in communications roles with a priority focus on crisis and issues management.
Amanda’s work suggests some stark differences in women’s experiences compared to that of men.
Her full report concludes that more work is needed to ensure that women are encouraged into the sector, and are given the support in the workplace and have the conditions where they can contribute without barriers.
You can read the full report and findings here.
I currently have availability for projects and support from May 2026 onwards, whether that is deep dive digital audits, AI and data literacy training for comms, or helping you tell better stories with data - drop me a line to arrange a chat.
Data Communications Chronicles is written by Alex Waddington (alex@whetstonecomms.com), award-winning founder of Whetstone Communications, which helps public sector and not for profit comms teams enhance their results and reputation using data and AI.