This is a copy of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on the council's intranet.  The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the Head of Communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

I’m feeling a bit under pressure this week.

A few months back I agreed to present a guest lecture at Leeds Met University’s business school.  It is open to students studying PR and journalism courses, but because it’s run in association with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) it means that communications professionals are also invited.

I said ‘yes’ at the time because I considered it flattering to be asked and a great honour to have a slot on what I understand to be a prestigious series of lectures which in the past have featured some ‘communication greats’.

I’m following the man from Sony and the next lecture will be presented by another Andy; this one Andy Green who has a national reputation for running his own firm.

That’s the reason I’m feeling a bit under pressure.

Several fellow communications big-wigs have been in touch to let me know that: ‘we’ve seen you’re down to present a lecture, so we’ve booked our place!’

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

Then I was forwarded an email from a colleague yesterday who’d spotted a mention of it on ‘Insider Spark’.

It ‘bigged me up’ a bit saying that I was going to be talking about ‘PR for local councils in the digital age’.

At this point, the pressure ratcheted up a bit more.

Here’s the thing.  I’m more than comfortable getting up and doing a quick Power Point presentation or interviewing the award winning Stuart Simmons in front of an audience of 100 – but I’ve never had to do a full-fat serious lecture before.

I’ve got an hour to fill.  45 minutes of me and then 15 minutes of questions and frankly I’m a bit nervous.  The whole thing will be recorded and shown on the university’s website for all to see.

I have asked for the support of my team and they have agreed to help with an interactive session at the start of the lecture and Cllr Richard Brett and James Rogers are also involved.

My chosen subject is how we – as a council – are refocusing the press office to be less reactive, much more proactive and to operate more like a newsroom.  Gone are the days when we can sit around waiting for the phone to ring; we need to be out there sourcing stories ourselves and getting journalists to run them.

I’ve talked about this before in this Log.  So, my lecture will focus on how we can make use of the shifting media landscape to help us.  I’ll be reflecting on falling newspaper sales, increasing radio audiences and how social media and the internet are new tools for us to grasp and make good use of.  I’ll also be highlighting the council’s virtual newsroom and some of the content on it.

If you’re interested in attending (no, not to throw rotten eggs and smelly tomatoes from the back row) let me know and I’ll see if that’s a possibility.

It’s happening on Monday (October 19th) at 18.30.

Finally – thanks for all your suggestions for a ‘distracting’ news story we could have on ice in order to deflect attention from any difficult news.

I mentioned this last week because of the Winchester councillor who made the national news when he claimed he had had a close encounter with an alien ballet dancer in the city’s high street.  (I was born in Winchester and I’ve never seen anything similar).

Anyway, after much (about 11 seconds worth) of deliberation, the winner of the star prize of a packet of Custard Creams and a half chewed pencil is …

Pam Richardson from IT!

Pam came up with the idea of a ‘hidden portal’  in Civic Hall which ‘opens and closes with a swish’ and through which ‘staff disappear’.  A ‘mysterious voice can be heard which beckons them through’ she suggests.  The good news is that staff do eventually return unharmed but with ‘no recollection of where they have been’.

Hold on.  This isn’t made up.  That’s the room where I hid to escape the clutches of the TV Licensing people.