Just a quick post to welcome new member of staff Jay Bassan to Don't Panic. Jay takes up a full time post as event manager today after working for us on a freelance basis over the past few years. Originally from Birmingham, her background is in PR and we're very pleased to have her on board.

I never really got into Genesis but this one's a bit of a guilty pleasure.

The Best Practice in Public Sector Communications conference took place at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall last Wednesday attracting 150 delegates from the health and emergency services, local authorities and agencies. The event was delivered in partnership with How-Do as was our recent mobile marketing seminar and sponsored by BJL and VMA.

Other than a spell of police press office work, my background’s not really public sector so it was interesting to hear the challenges and issues affecting communicators in this area. Bureaucracy and legalities aside it seemed to be pretty similar to the private sector and there was a lot of talk and interest in social marketing and online comms activity.

Having seen Alex Aiken, Director of Communications, Westminster City Council speak so eloquently at a previous event it was good to see him do so again and even more on fire than last time.

I was also very impressed with Charlotte Billington who as Marketing and Communications Manager for Lancashire Drug and Alcohol Action Team was responsible for the OD999 campaign to encourage drug users to put those that have ‘gone over’ into the recovery position and call an ambulance. Many were just abandoning their mates for fear of prosecution and people who could have been saved were dying needlessly. The strength of the campaign was its focus on trying to save lives without judging those with drugs problems. Charlotte was so obviously proud of what they’d achieved in reducing overdose deaths and her passion for making a difference was a pleasure to see.

Other highlights from my perspective included Katrina Davis, former Head of Communications at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and currently Comms Director at Northwest Vision. Katrina covered some of the challenges and crises she’d dealt with at the Fire Service as well as the kind of good news stories which tend to reinforce everyone’s positive opinions of firefighters.

Finally, Paul Willis, Director of the Centre for Public Relations Studies, Leeds Business School, Leeds Metropolitan University doesn’t let the length of his job title interfere with his ability to captivate an audience. Paul’s presentation on the competencies of top communicators was a fascinating look at strategic comms and the skills needed to lead. Plus he’s a Fleet Foxes fan.

There were lots of other great speakers too and a good variety of workshop sessions. As usual The Bridgewater Hall always gets a big thumbs up from delegates.

Here’s Lydon, Wobble, Levine and Walker with both a group and a song with the word public in it. Yeah, it was the best I could do…

The third and final installment of the Don't Panic Guide to Social Media takes place in April at The Barbican Centre in London. We'll be resting the event for at least a year as we focus on developing new own branded events including New Wave PR and a few other things we have up our sleeves. A PDF containing full details of the conference can be found on our website.

Here's The Stones at their mid Sixties best and also Psychic TV with their glorious tribute to the late, great Brian Jones.