How to fix Ed’s communications problems
In case you missed it, a week and a half ago I wrote about the latest of Ed Stelmach’s communication’s gaffes. I almost felt a little sad in writing the post because social media was sort of Premier Ed’s last frontier of communication tools. He had tried speeches, scrums, Question Period, interviews, television specials – and I’m sure there was a long suffering carrier pigeon or two involved – all to very little success. So he turned his attention to the latest trend: social media. His last great hope. And I lambasted him for his hollow effort that missed the mark almost entirely. It felt like I was kicking a puppy. The man and his team are trying their best, but failure to effectively communicate their message has met them regardless of what medium they’ve tried.
And while I am 100% confident this is entirely coincidence, the day after I wrote my condemnation of their last ditch chance, the Premier’s director of communications decided enough was enough and it was time for him to step aside.
I can’t really blame him. Paul Stanway is a long-time journalist who, I imagine, understands two things really well: the newspaper business and the way public relations have been conducted for the past forty or fifty years. Sadly, neither of those two things are very relevant anymore. Newspapers are dying and public relations is a completely different game than it used to be. (Case in point, my entire AskEd argument.)
But talk is cheap. So I figured, why not give some free advice to Stanway’s replacement?
Lord knows they’re not going to ask me to fill the job, so I might as well give away the farm here for free. Besides, I’m just some punk anyway, right? Well, I suppose it’s true that my actual real world job is marketing and communications and I am a member of IABC, which does make me more qualified on paper than Stanway or Tom Olsen were before they started with the Premier’s office. But let’s put that aside. Despite the fact the Alberta PC party is the only party I’ve ever joined, I haven’t held continuous Tory membership for the last thirty years so I’m confident the job is NOT coming my way.
None-the-less, Mr. Premier, I want Alberta to be as great as possible. Right now you are our leader and I would be remiss if I didn’t don’t everything to help you succeed. (I’m post-partisan and don’t care who leads Alberta so long as they lead it with wisdom and to somewhere great.) I don’t profess to have all the answers or to be better than anyone else, but if I was your director of communications, here’s what I would do to get things back on track and restore the premiership to its former – and rightful – place of respect.
1. Ditch the suit – You’re a farmer for crying out loud. Surely you don’t feel comfortable in that tie and matching jacket/pant combo. I’m guessing you don’t because you don’t look comfortable. (And that’s kind of the problem.) We need to get back to what you know best – what you feel most confident in. We need to get your wife dressing you again; as she no doubt has for the last however many decades of your political career. Put some jeans on. Sure you can still wear a nice button-down shirt and sport coat but let’s go shopping for some new boots!
No doubt there will be a time when you will have to wear a suit. People will understand that. But guess what? The guys working in the downtown Calgary skyscrapers only wear suits when they meet with you because you’re wearing a suit. You are the trendsetter in this situation. I know that’s crazy, but it’s true. Besides, many of them don’t wear suits on regular days anyway. Most of them don’t like them either.
2. Start talking with people – I know you’ll protest “but I do talk to the people!”, but please hear me out. I know YOU know the difference between talking with people and talk to people. But a public relations person who can differentiate is a rarity. You’re staff has been having you do the latter, when what you need to do – nay, what you’re best at doing – is talking with people. Communications is a two way street. It’s time to open you up to the public more and start emphasizing the two way part.
Another benefit this creates? It allows you to stop the double-speak. People ask questions because they want answers. Reporters ask questions because they need info to fill pages or minutes of video. You can get away with dodgey answers with reporters if you run them in circles enough. The public on the other hand get seriously pissed if you do that. Personally, I think this is a much better benchmark to hold yourself against; because having the public leave a conversation satisfied means you’ve connected. Having the media leaving satisfied means you’ve either said something dumb they can nail you on, you’ve just spent a couple million dollars, or you’ve simply filled up a tape recorder. Which would you rather accomplish as leader of all Albertans? I vote for connection.
3. Don’t put your head in the mouth of a hungry lion – It may hurt to hear, but it goes like this: you are terrible in front of a camera. Sorry, but you come across as a babbling fool who is out of his depth every time he’s asked a question that requires an answer. (And yes, that would be every question.) So why keep go in front of cameras like that? You’re just punishing yourself. I know this might be hard to hear, but it’s not the media’s fault their method of operating is so different than yours. So why keep playing their game? I hear from people all the time that you are GREAT to have a conversation with. I’ve had more than one person tell me you are a completely different man in person than how you come across on television. So let’s get you out of that Legislature office and start meeting people face-to-face. As a matter of fact I’ll even go as far to say, what you are planning on doing with all those AskEd questions, is EXACTLY the kind of thing you should be doing every single week.
I don’t mean you should stop doing interviews. What I really mean is stop talking the language you think we want to hear and start talking your language. If you’re awesome in one to one conversations, do the majority of your work like that. Let’s get out there in town halls. Let’s invite people to the Leg to have lunch with you every single day. Make AskEd and ongoing thing for crying out loud!
Another added benefit? Because people will have connected with you one-on-one, when you do stumble over your words in front of a camera they will be WAY more inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt.
4. Talk for yourself - Please forgive my language but I think it is important to underscore the importance of this point: No one gives a flying fuck what Tom Olsen thinks. People don’t want quotes from him, they want quotes from you. I’d bet 90% of Albertans don’t even know who Tom Olsen is. So why have him talking to the media? At the same time 90% of what Olsen says in the paper would sound WAY more convincing if it was coming from someone with actual power. Namely you.
You are the Premier. You’re the guy in charge, so get out there and show them that not only are you in charge, but you’re attentive and present on all matters. You can’t defer both the “listening” and “talking” parts of your job. Even if you don’t think this is what you’ve done, I’m telling you it’s what’s happening when a communications director speaks for you. It creates a barrier between you and the voting public. Why would you possibly want to purposefully create barriers like that?
5. Ignore your communications people – Yeah, yeah, I’m basically saying ignore everything I’m telling you too. But I hope you can see a theme in the previous four points: be true to yourself, be open and transparent. If that sounds familiar it’s because it’s what you promised Albertans after you became the Premier. And we feel like we’re still waiting for that. You’ve let us down and that’s surprising. You’re Honest Ed! You’re the guy everybody likes! You’re the guy who can tell us the truth and expect us to handle it. That’s what you used to be known for, so don’t run away from it. It’s not a weakness, it’s your advantage!
Besides, we already know honesty works in Alberta. Just ask your predecessor’s polling numbers after any time he was, perhaps, a little too honest. Trust your gut. You know what the right thing is to do. So do it and stop letting PR people synthesize everything into an over-thought puddle of communications goo.
So there you have it; five points to think about off the top of my head. I know there are many others, but I have my own boss to make sound good. You are welcome to take the advice for what it’s worth and what you’ve paid for it. Or you’re welcome to start implementing it and see where it gets you.
If it works, ‘where it gets you’ will probably be the opposite of where you are now. And judging by how things are going with your communications tactics up until this point, I’m guessing the opposite of what you have now would be a weight off your shoulders.
Calgary open data report delayed
I heard about this a couple weeks ago but didn’t get a chance to look into it any further until recently.
It looks like the City of Calgary’s Open Data report from Administration to Council originally scheduled for December has been delayed. Apparently it has taken a lot more work to put the report together than originally anticipated. I hear from the City’s eGoverment section of IT (who knew they had such a thing?!) that the plan is now to have the report come to the February 10 meeting of the Standing Policy Committee on Finance and Corporate Services. So mark your calendars.
This shouldn’t be too surprising given the way the open data suggestion came to the City of Calgary. (I suggested it to two Alderman.) I imagine there was a steep learning curve that resulted in a delay in the ball really getting rolling. I think of this like the Ironman: it doesn’t matter if you win the race so long as you cross the finish line it’s a victory.
One good thing to come of this is I have a meeting scheduled with the City’s IT department. It may not seem like much, but the fact they reached out to me is unusual for the City of Calgary’s Administration, in my opinion. Admin’s modus operandi in many areas is in strong contrast to what we’ve seen from the City of Edmonton’s IT department in regards to open data, who, being heavily involved in the Edmonton’s tech community, were the ones to bring forward the open data initiative there.
In fact, thanks to the Open Data Workshop put on by volunteers from the City of Edmonton’s IT department on November 21, I can officially say I’ve met more of their IT department than I can even name in Calgary. Hopefully my coffee meeting is a sign of a changing way of the City interacting with citizens. No pressure, right?
In other Calgary open data news, I think it’s time to get the Calgary tech community on board! The data won’t be very interesting if there aren’t coders out there willing to work with the data. To that end, I’ve enquired about presenting on Open Data, what other jurisdictions have done, and what kinds of apps we could build for Calgary at the next Demo Camp. I’m not sure when the next one is, but it’d be great to have some community support heading into February.
All-in-all, things are heading in the direction. Slow and steady. Stay tuned for more.
Baby giraffe marketing synergy!
Local Babies ‘R’ Us locations must be overly excited about a baby giraffe being born at the Calgary Zoo last weekend. Check our their cover ad in today’s Metro Calgary:
This is perfect marketing synergy! I’d bet it is completely by accident; making some graphic designers and advertising buyers look really smart in the process. But I say go for it! I hope someone from Babies ‘R’ Us contacts the Zoo – or vice versa – to see if they can’t work out a sponsorship deal.
(There’s a bevy of political posts on their way from me in the near future so I thought I’d lull you first by talking about baby giraffes.)
The #AskEd Accountablity Window ends tomorrow
During a question and answer session the Progressive Party AGM on November 7, 2009 Premier Stelmach – reeling from recent bad press over everything from the oil and gas royalty framework, to Bill 44, to Bill 50, to H1N1 vaccinations – announced to Alberta what “the biggest challenge we’re facing as a government” is. The answer? The media. Specifically he said, “I really do feel that the policies we have are the right ones for Alberta, but it’s difficult to get it through the present media that’s available to us.”
Yes, I laughed too when I heard it. Surely the biggest challenge could not possibly be that mistakes were being made on each of these issues, but instead it must be that the media was pointing them out.
But let’s put that aside and just say for a moment, that the Premier is right. If this is so, how the heck do you get around the media to give your message directly to the people? This is something many different companies are trying to figure out so they can reach consumers of their product too. Just like the Government is lamenting they’d like to do.
A few decades – even a few years – ago this might have been a problem, but with the advancement and building popularity of social media tools such as Facebook, a portal directly to the people now exists. And Premier Stelmach could rightfully take his message to the streets by using this grand new tool and bypass the mainstream media’s web 1.0 model entirely.
Yes! Now they’re starting to get it. The tools DO exist for you to actually have a conversation with citizens directly. All you have to do is open up and start doing it. The solution is so simple, but would be a groundbreaking change to the people of Alberta! A Premier who actually talks with the people instead of at us! It would be a revolution if undertaken properly.
So I waited.
I would have thought the first step in a process like this would have been the Premier taking over his Twitter account himself and starting to use it to actually interact with citizens, instead of allowing staffers to push out nothing more than 20th century-style public relations talking points and boring photos of him shaking hands with people I don’t know at uber-structured press announcements. (Seriously, how am I supposed to identify with a man that is only presented in such a way? No wonder people think he’s boring.)
But instead I was saddened by the reaction simply being a ramp up in the Premier’s online presence. His Facebook page and Twitter account increased the volume of craptastic PR available to the public, while he started a new e-newsletter. And nothing actually changed.
However a little over a week ago, the Premier’s office announced something new: a program called AskEd. The concept is so simple, but long over due: citizens can ask the Premier questions via Twitter or YouTube and the Premier will respond. It’s foolproof!
Well, it looks like the fools are running the program.
For those that don’t know, here is how Twitter works:
- You say something via Twitter.
- When I’m online, I respond via Twitter.
Here’s how the fools have decided the AskEd program on Twitter will work:
- You ask the Premier a question – but only before December 4 – via Twitter.
- A third party will vet the questions and decide which ones might be answered.
- In about two weeks time check our website and see if he responded.
Wow. I’m going to go out on a limb and say maybe Premier Stelmach should stick with mainstream media, he’ll probably have better luck with it because it sure doesn’t look like he gets social media.
So I’ve done what any responsible citizen could do. I conformed. I’ve asked three questions via the AskEd program. They may look tongue in cheek but I’ve asked them in all seriousness. We’ll see if I ‘make the cut’.
The questions are:
Ask @premierstemach a Q on Twitter & in 2 weeks he’ll answer on his website. #askEd: Do you understand why that is a social media #fail?
#askEd Can I still ask @premierstelmach Qs after Dec 4 or is that the end of the accountability period?
.@premierstelmach Why is #askEd not an ongoing thing instead of a short term marketing campaign? Can openness & transparency be the default?
Please feel free to re-tweet my questions (here and here and here) and to ask your own questions too. You have until tomorrow, after that, it looks like you can keep your questions to yourself.
PechaKucha Calgary #2 is tomorrow!
Do you know what PechaKucha Night is? If you do, I know you’ll be at the second Calgary PechaKucha tomorrow (Thursday) at 7pm at the Uptown. If you don’t, trust me, you have to come and check it out. You won’t regret it.
You won’t regret it because of the format. Each presenter is given 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide. Meaning they have 6 minutes and 40 seconds to tell you everything you could ever want to know about their topic. (Or at least enough to whet your appetite.) Generally this is enough time to only give you the really cool highlights of their project. No fluff. And beside, if it’s not a topic you happen to be interested in, just wait a couple minutes – there will be something more suiting to you along shortly!
The first Calgary PechaKucha Night was held on September 14 at The Grand Theatre. There wasn’t really a “theme” per se, but all the speakers were talking about great public spaces and how they were designed. Many of the speakers were from Calgary and a few were brought in from out of town. The list included:
- Tim Jones, CEO, Artscape
- Andrew Mosker, Executive Director, Cantos
- Bill Chomik, Principal Architect, Kasian
- Scott McTavish, Executive Director, Pumphouse Theatre
- Joe Lobko, DTAH, Lead Architect, Don Valley Brick Works Project Toronto
- David Scott, Associate, Peter Cardew Architects
- Billie Bridgman, President, Bridgman Associates
- Paul Dornian, Director, The Conservatory, Mount Royal College
- Jane Pendergast, Pendergast Collaborative Architecture
- Jeremy Sturgess, Principal, Sturgess Architecture
- Erik Olson, Artist and Spacemaker
- Mark Lawes, Executive Artistic Director, Theatre Junction Grand
Tomorrow night’s theme is “How We Live Together”. The speakers are architects, planners, artists and other great minds talking about exploring how cities become truly livable places and how the decisions we make today affect the future of our environmental, social and economic landscape. The speaker list includes:
- Eric Moschopedis, Interdisciplinary Artist
- Gian-Carlo Carra, Senior Urban Designer, T6
- John Frosst, Arbour Lake Sghool
- Tom Keenan Associate Dean Academic and Professor, EVDS, UofC
- David Plouffe, Acting Executive Assistant for the Director of Land Use Planning and Policy
- Xstine Cook, Artistic Director, Calgary Animated Objects Society
- Naheed Nenshi, Associate Professor, Bissett School of Business, Mount Royal University
- Lothar Wiwjorra, Senior Urban Designer City of Calgary
- Susan Veres, Communications Director, Calgary Municipal Land Corporation
- Jerrod Bitango, Pastor, Central United Church
- Quinton Rafuse, Partner, CoworkYYC
- Bernie Amell, Landscape Architect, Prairie Sky Co-Housing
While we’ve already started talking about what the theme for the next PechaKucha Night should be (I’m honoured to have been asked to sit on the Advisory Committee) – and it sounds pretty cool so far – I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. So, go get your tickets for this Thursday’s even now. They are just $10 and can be purchased here. And I’ll make you a deal, if you absolutely hate the event you can buy you a beer afterward and make as many suggestions as you like on how we can improve it. Sound good?
Hope to see you there!
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