The Medway Group

It's Sunshine Week for those who celebrate (we all should!) This is the week every year that the newspaper industry spotlights the importance of open government. For anyone in the government arena, I commend to you this excellent article linked below from Upstate Today about the mechanics of the SC Freedom of Information Act. It's worth a read! Anyone with questions about the SC Freedom of Information Act, the South Carolina Press Association has the definitive guide that includes specific direction on complying with each section (https://bit.ly/MGFOIAguide) The Municipal Association of SC also has excellent resources (https://bit.ly/MASCFOIA) https://bit.ly/MGFOIA

Shouldn't lobbying and comms teams be in lock step? After all, both are about finely targeted audiences, clear messaging and relevant goals. In practice, however, organizations sometimes find that turf battles and conflicting priorities between these two important functions mean lobbying and communications teams are each doing their own thing. If internal communication and organizational alignment between these two functions are not part of your culture, collaboration may not happen naturally. Read the post linked below to find out how to carry out these five steps that can help your lobbying and comms teams integrate their communication planning and their lobbying strategy: 1 - Develop overall organizational comms goals with policy goals in mind. 2 - Integrate proactive issue-related messages into the organization's publications' feature stories year-round. 3 - Identify and educate your "third party endorsers" beyond immediate stakeholders. 4 - Engage your grassroots/third party endorsers using traditional and online media. 5 - Focus on more than just "getting your name out." What other strategies work for you to encourage collaboration between lobbying and comms teams?

Several of my clients at The Medway Group are in various stages of evaluating if it makes sense to launch a podcast. My research and past experience with podcast development always leads me back to the same question: "What's your 'why'"? It seems like everyone wants to do a podcast these days. But the real question is should you? Who else remembers the early days of desktop publishing? With new, inexpensive software, anyone could become a designer. It didn’t take long to realize that just because you can use the software doesn’t mean you should. I created some truly ugly newsletters in the early ’90s. The same idea applies to podcasting. It’s easy to produce a podcast with relatively inexpensive equipment and easy access to streaming platforms. But even if you can create an engaging, decent-sounding show, should you?? That answer boils down to understanding the "why" behind your idea. Read on for my latest post that brings together what I've learned from research, planning, and talking with the talented designer Danielle Salley who has successfully launched the podcast, Ghost Boss: Stories About the Freelance Afterlife, with fellow freelance designer Eva Foussat.

TY to MidlandsBizSC - Who's On The Move for sharing my recent Blink Book Review about "The Devil at his Elbow" by Valerie Bauerlein Jackson. I'd sworn off all things "Murdaugh story" after the trial, but I knew I had to read this book. The author's direct news writing style intersecting with the narrative skill of an empathetic storyteller makes this book engaging, interesting, easy to follow, and a pleasure to read. Read the full review below. https://lnkd.in/enq--WMd

I got to return to my old stompin' grounds recently to lead communications training for the Municipal Clerks and Treasurers Institute of the Municipal Association of SC. We did a deep dive into confidence building techniques for presentations ranging from Zoom calls to council meetings. We worked on building more powerful Power Point decks. We focused on fine tuning writing skills to ensure concise and effective written documents for a variety of audiences. We also worked from an "each one, teach one" philosophy in the session. Even if the skills we worked on weren't directly applicable to someone's job description (not everyone has to do public speaking or write press releases, for example), everyone gained skills they can use to support others around them to be better speakers or writers. I strongly believe that strong writers are strong critical thinkers. They are the people who leaders want at the leadership table with them. Writing doesn't have to be in your job description for it to be a valuable life skill. This is the type of teaching work I love most with my clients at The Medway Group. I can tailor this training to a variety of group sizes and needs. Hit me up if your organization needs a word nerd to pop in for a few hours. Here's a summary of the session on powerful Power Point --- > https://bit.ly/MGslides

Take a minute from all the nasty political discourse and weigh in on the most important policy question of the 2024 election. What does a word nerd do about making the plural possessive of the two Democratic candidates' last names that end with S and Z? As noted in this article, “Anyone who tells you there are universal rules to how to add an apostrophe ending in S is either wrong or lying,” Jeffrey Barg, a grammar columnist, said. “You can’t be wrong as long as you’re consistent.” I personally don't have a strong feeling about this grammar rule that differs with various style guides (unlike my passion about the Oxford comma). But I agree with the expert above about consistency. Make sure your organization has its own style guide on questions like this - and remains consistent in the use of grammar conundrums like this one. Need help with creating an organizational style guide? Reach out and let me help! https://lnkd.in/eiXi6xtH

Looking for a great career opportunity working for a global environmental organization right here in SC to help donors achieve their philanthropic vision? Take a look at this job description for an Associate Director of Philanthropy for The Nature Conservancy. Location is negotiable in SC. Please share this post with your network!

To slide or not to slide? PowerPoint slides (or Keynote or Google slides or Prezi, etc) can be a powerful tool to supplement a speaker’s presentation. But how many times have you dozed through a presentation where the speaker addressed the screen to read the slides verbatim? Or the audience – even those on the front row – squinted to read the small fonts? Or the distracting dancing emoticons stole the show? These issues aren’t always the result of bad design. These issues frequently arise because the speaker forgets the #1 reason for being in the room. The audience. The speaker is there for the benefit of the audience, not the other way around. Hearing a speaker tell audience members they may not be able to read a slide because the font is too small is disrespectful. Watching a speaker address the screen – rather than the audience – to read the slides is an insulting act ignoring the most important people in the room. Having a strategy for using slides ensures much better presentations and – most important – engages and respects the audience. Don’t use slides just because it’s your default. My latest post includes tips for creating slides that engage an audience while keeping the focus on the speaker and the message. https://bit.ly/MGslides