Tag Archives: communication

On story telling

By Chris Northwood | Wed 12th February 2020 - 9:00 am

Storytelling is one of the oldest human traditions. A good story engages the audience, communicates information and leaves a lasting impact. Stories spread either through small communities retelling it, with it evolving through each retelling or through mass media, which increases reach and minimises variation. Stories are everywhere, and with millennia of practice, we’re pretty good at telling them.

Stories are used as a lens to help people make sense of the world, and through relating to a character how they fit within it. When people vote for a political party, they listen to the stories about that party: Which story do they relate to? Which story is the one they want to be told? Which story is the most believable?

When a story is told, it is not said in isolation. A broader grand narrative will change how a story is perceived. As Liberal Democrats, we know what our story is. Our constitution’s preamble tells a story of progressiveness, liberty and community, so the challenge is telling this story in a way that feels relatable in the context of our current culture.

Posted in Op-eds | 9 Comments

How would you like to find out more about Federal International Relations Committee?

By Mark Valladares | Mon 4th June 2018 - 2:52 pm

Last week, I was less than entirely complimentary about FIRC. This week, perhaps I should try to be more… helpful. So, having raised the question of communication, and being fairly confident that the Committee’s Chair and Secretary may look in on the comments, here’s an opportunity for you to make some suggestions as to how we, as a Committee, might engage with you all.

First, though, here’s an excerpt from the Federal Constitution, just to make it clear what we do, and what we do not…

There shall be a Federal International Relations Committee (“FIRC”) which shall be responsible to the Federal

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Different perspectives on election results

By Simon Foster | Thu 12th May 2016 - 3:19 pm

National vote third at 15%, up 45+ Councillors! Scottish mainland seats gained! Overall, these elections were an important step forward in recovery for the Liberal Democrats.

However, this was not a uniform set of results. There were disappointing results in Wales and London, along with some English areas. We should think twice when discussing with colleagues how we did.

Candy Piercy wrote this which struck a chord with me:

The hard working candidates and teams who lost will be feeling out of step with the rest of the party. It is not just Wales and London feeling the pain. There are many candidates who bravely put themselves forward hoping against hope that they would win.

So how should we be approaching things? Well, the field of communication skills has some suggestions.

There’s a saying “the map is not the territory.” People have different ways of interpreting the world. A mental map of how they interpret things. Their map may not only different from yours, but different to what is actually going on.

We should understand these different points of view, which comes naturally to liberals. Avoid assuming people feel the same way about these election results. Instead, ask people “How do you feel we did?” Listen to their experience. Feel how they feel. See things from their point of view. Empathise if they have lost and you have won.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged elections | 7 Comments

Chickens, eggs, Twitter and report abuse buttons

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 28th July 2013 - 8:30 pm

In the last 24 hours, over 40,000 people have signed an e-petition calling on Twitter to install a “report abuse button.” This was started after journalist Caroline Crialdo-Perez suffered numerous tweeted threats of rape and sexual assault in the wake of her successful campaign to have Jane Austen put on a bank note. Shewrote for the Independent about her experience both of the abuse and the support she’d received in return. Ishould warn you that if you click on the link you will see some examples of the tweets she was sent: