The second day of the IPPC conference focused heavily on political communication. In addition to presentations, two guest speakers also provided interactive workshops that gave students a better idea about what the field is like.
Caitlin Roper, who leads the digital campaigns team for the Labour Party, discussed common tactics the party uses to engage with their target audience. Caitlin said political content creators are always asking and finding answers to the question, ‘how’. For example, how can voters engage with content created by the party? Caitlin also took time to answer questions from the audience about her working environment and the future of digital campaigning.
To end the day, Laura Wileman, Head of Communications at Sheffield City Council presented her work in crisis communication. Laura talked about her experience contributing to the award winning “I’m Out” campaign, which tackles knife crime in London. Students were then divided into groups and given several crisis scenarios to mimic the responses of real council communication centres.
IPPC student Samuel Yue said: "I found (the sessions) useful for learning more about communicative strategies, especially the focus on engaging the potential voters in different ways - like email and SMS. (There are) real situations for political parties, and it can be a reference for me to use if I get a PR job.”
