Now that the party conferences have come to an end, the hard work starts. Far from being an end in themselves, party conference activity is really all about the follow-up and that needs to happen in a prompt and timely fashion otherwise the work of the three weeks can go to waste.
Many organisations plan meetings, hold fringe events or have exhibitions during the party conferences. The hard work of the three weeks, as well as all the preparation in advance, can be wasted if follow-up actions are not undertaken.
Politicians too are busy during the week of each respective party conference. They often have little time to think about what is really going on and rarely take a note of anything they agree to do. This is only one reason why the onus is on you to do the work after the party conferences have ended.
HERE ARE FIVE THINGS YOU CAN USEFULLY DO FOLLOWING THE PARTY CONFERENCES
- Follow – up letters to all those met with reminding them of any actions agreed to and suggesting ways of working going forward. LinkedIn is always a good way of keeping in contact as well.
- For those that took an exhibition stand, offer the prospect of local media coverage to those who came along. A decent photo opportunity, especially if there is a good constituency angle, will always be appreciated especially in the run-up to an election. Similarly, if you ran a competition on the exhibition stand there could be prizes awarded for first, second and third. The awarding of a trophy could be used locally and ensures that you too get to PR your issues.
- Publicise your actions internally – make liberal use of internets, in-house magazines etc to let people know what you have been up to at the party conferences. This should focus not just on your actions but consider how other team members may be able to support you. These types of internal communications too often focus solely on the story and ignores the use of team members are valuable champions. But, of course, a good piece of internal PR may help secure budget for next year’s conferences!
- Keep the story going – party conference activity should be part of an ongoing campaign so this means continuing the dialogue and discussions. There are a variety of ways of doing this from meetings, to reaching out to new stakeholders to follow-up events. However, these need reference back to the party conferences. It can be seen as ‘too political’ to talk about party conference actions but if the debate has moved on, or you did your best to move it on at the party conferences then do not feel reticent.
- Don’t forget the social media – there will be a wealth of people met with, engaged, photographed etc. Many of these will be active on social media so continue the engagement through that medium as well! Then you can relive the highs and lows of the conference season. With enough photos and tweets you could then think more creatively around for example a Storify story – this could then be placed on your intranet for all to see, bringing the whole of party conference experience to life.
With budgets under pressure and resources increasingly scarce, you cannot afford to take any part of your party conference lightly. Whilst there can be a degree of exhaustion following the political bandwagon around the country you cannot afford to give yourself a break.
The follow-up needs at least as much care and attention as the planning does. Otherwise it will all have been for very little.