The European Commission stimulating creativity of communicators
The European Commission assembled above 600 people in Brussels from 9 to 10 December to stimulate the creativity of people in charge of Communication on European structural and investment funds. In front of increasingly negative opinion polls showing a decrease of Europeans’ interest in the EU and considering the upcoming elections, there is for sure a lot to do to better communicate towards citizens what Europe does for them.
Changing radically their approach compared to usual Commission conferences, organisors who had been working on it for a whole year prepared a cocktail of activities aiming at training communicators on how to “tell a story” likely to impact people’s mind and generate positive feelings. 3 sessions of 8 workshops covered different themes such as the use of social media or videos, story telling techniques or numerous other aspects. Contents of discussions were harvested by graphists in the form of drawings.
The opening session counted a number of high-level representatives from the different funds who all sought to communicate the unity of the five funds contributing to territorial development of the EU. Commissioner Ciolos in its intervention notably underlined the importance of rural territories and the necessity for ALL funds to invest in these territories.
- Presentations and material are accessible here.
- For people involved in communication on the CAP, DG AGRI coordinateds a “CAP communication Network” which organises every year the CAP communication awards, which includes a laboratory of ideas and good practices and which lists the events foreseen in the different countries.
