Thursday 13th March
Thursday 17th April
Thursday 15th May
Thursday 18th September
Thursday 13th November

Typical Course Programme:

Session 1 – Running an in-house public affairs department
- Team structures
- Team budgets
- Managing organisational expectations
- Relationships with other communication disciplines
- Supplier relationships
 
Session 2 – Public affairs from a politician's perspective
- How MPs see themselves in the policy process
- Pressures on parliamentarians' time
- How to lobby and how not to
- Select Committees
- The influence of constituents
- Party influence
- Using MPs to influence ministers
- The House of Lords
 
Session 3 – Influencing the EU
- Power of the EU
- Role of the institutions
- The EU as a political machine
- How to influence EU decisions
- Impact of the Barroso Commission & the new Parliament
 
Session 4 – The role of the media (senior political journalist)
- A journalist's perspective on public affairs
- How to get an issue into the media
- Broadcast, print or online?
- How a story gets out of control
 
Session 5 – Think tanks, NGOs and other partners
- What is a think tank?
- Where do they fit into policy management?
- Building coalitions of support
- NGOs – friends or foes?
 
Session 6 – Research & evaluation
- How to measure public affairs
- Pitfalls of the perception audit
- Polling as a public affairs tool
- Do's & don'ts of using research
 
Summary and conclusions
- 'Professional' public affairs
- Utilising all the levers of influence
- Next steps
- Conclusion
 
Course Leader
The course leader will be a leading industry practitioner, who will chair sessions presented by a range of external speakers.
 
Delegates
We have an upper limit of 16 delegates per course so that there is the opportunity for interaction between the group as well as with each individual speaker.
 
Timings & Lunch
Courses start at either 9.00am and finish at approximately 4.45pm.
Lunch is provided during a one-hour break and there are refreshments at breaks throughout the day. Exact timetables are confirmed to each delegate once a booking has been made.
 
Cost
Cost per person is £395 plus VAT (including lunch and all materials).

Click here to book