Open Working — Transforming your Online Comms
This is a pilot that we are hoping to run again after August. This work is funded as part of The Catalyst. It is only open to staff and volunteers of third sector organisations.
Third Sector Lab are offering free support, training and guidance for third sector organisations and funders to transform how they use online comms as a tool for more open, transparent working.
We are running the first round between now (June 2022) and August, and are hopeful to offer it on a roling basis from August into March 2023.
This programme is an excellent way of spreading the responsibility for comms across your organisation.
Why work in the open?
Working in the open has a lot of benefits. By learning how to communicate what you’re doing and learning, you’ll be able to do things like get buy-in from stakeholders internally, put together stronger funding bids or get input from your peers in the community.
What is in the programme?
This is an 8 week progamme. It includes:
- A free copy of The Agile Comms Handbook by Giles Turnbull.
- 4 workshops
- 8 hosted weeknote writing sessions
Workshop 1
Open Working & re-use workshop (90 mins) with Ross McCulloch.
Thu 23rd June, 11:00am-12:30pm
This initial overview session from Ross McCulloch will take you through why and how to work in the open, share work and reuse work from others.
- Why you should work in the open
- Open working as a way of showing impact to your funder
- How to do open working simply and effectively
- Re-using work that others have shared
Workshop 2
Writing for the Web workshop (90 mins) with Christine Cawthorne
Wednesday 29th June, 10:30am–12:00pm
Charities communicate through writing on the web all the time. This workshop will help you to make sure your writing is clear and meets the needs of your audiences.
- Understanding how people find and use information online
- How to write openly about your work in a way that’s interesting for others
- How to simplify and structure your content
- Writing effective headlines
- Helping google to find your content
- Blogs that help your charity engage more effectively
- Using Twitter for Open Comms (60 mins) with Alice Rath
Tue 5th July 10:00–11:00am
Workshop 3
Twitter for Open Working with Alice Rath
Tue 5th July 10–11am
Agile comms moves as fast as the work itself does. Twitter is an excellent platform to use for breaking the communication up into chunks, just as agile working methods break large goals down into smaller, more doable pieces of work.
Take a look at how you can use the 280 character limit to get things across in a purposeful, open way.
Workshop 4
Five Ways to get Started with Agile Comms Masterclass (60 mins) with Giles Turnbull
Wed 20th July, 9:30–10:30am.
Giles Turnbull is an expert on clear communication and working in the open. He literally wrote the book on agile comms and open working, so we are thrilled to have him running this session.
A former member of the Government Digital Service’s influential creative team, he has also worked for a number of UK government departments (including HM Land Registry, Department for Education, Homes England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs).
This masterclass will introduce you to five ways to get started with agile comms for your organisation, giving you practical tips on how to implement it and make it work for you. There will be a presentation followed by a Q&A.
Weeknote sessions
- We will host 8x weekly 30 minute weeknotes writing sessions hosted by Marlous Lang-Peterse and Ross McCulloch, giving you the confidence and practice to write openly about your work.
Thursdays 1pm, running from Thu 23rd Jun — Thu 11th Aug inclusive.
Resources
Access to the online Open Working Toolkit packed full of guidance, examples, templates, principles and more.
We’ll get you on your way!
