The Committee of Regions (structure within the European Union) will organize between 16-17 October in Brussels the 4th edition of the European Conference on Public Communication. This year’s agenda will focus on the role of social media in institutional communication and more in general on the role and position of public communicators in a period of elections. DigitalDiplomacy.ro will be part of the speakers panel for the e-government session!
75 expert speakers will share their insights and experiences in various workshops and debates. Among the confirmed key note speakers are Matthew McGregor (director of rapid response on Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign), Johan Peter Paludan (of the Copenhagen Institute of Futures Studies), Anthony Zacharzewski (of the Democratic Society) and Simon Anholt (independent government adviser).
From what the speakers shared on their Twitter account, the conference will host more than 400 participants from all EU member states.
The first day of the event will include sessions dedicated to political communication, tools and strategies for social media use, European elections in 2014 and the growing importance of social media tools in this context. Amongst the speakers for these sessions there are specialists who manage public communication for European governments or institutions or even for local administrations (cities). We will moderate the session called “e-government, e-citizens, e-lusions” and the speakers include Eila Vähäkuopus, Communications Manager, City of Oulu, Finland si Tomislav Korman, Head of the Online Communication Department, Government of Croatia and Luis Petrikorena Arbelaiz, Director for Open Government, Basque Government, Spain.
The second day of the event will be dedicated to discussions about monitoring and evaluating strategies for campaigns, how to increase an administration’s reputation but also how to transform staff members into ambassadors of your institution. Speakers include Judit Szűcs, Ministry of National Development, Hungary, Emilio Del Río, Regional Minister of Presidency and Justice, Government of La Rioja, Spain, Sixtine Bouygues, Director for Strategy and Corporate Communication, European Commission, Linda Jakobsone, Head of the Department of Presidency Communication and Public Relations, Government of Latvia sau Alex Sheerazi, Communication Manager Amsterdam Metro Project, The Netherlands.
Check to see the full profile of the speakers and also the entire schedule for the conference.
Starting next week I will blog about the most important information captured during the conference. You can follow me on Twitter @hanganuandreea or directly on Facebook @DigitalDiplomacyRomania.
The organizers are also offering live streaming opportunities for those who were not able to participate in the event. The online transmission will be available on the event’s website
The Committee of the Regions is the voice of regions and cities in the European Union. The committee is formed by 353 members – regional and locally elected representatives from the 28 EU countries. It also includes 6 commissions covering competences in the following policy areas based on the EU Treaties:
- Employment, vocational training, economic and social cohesion, social policy, health.
- Education and culture.
- Environment, climate change, energy.
- Transport and trans-European networks.
- Civil protection and services of general interests.
EuroPCom is one of the major communication conferences for EU and public administration experts. The ambition of the annual conference is to improve public sector communication by sharing best practices; fostering the active involvement of decentralised communicators in the communication strategy of the European institutions; enhancing the transfer of professional communication know-how to all political levels; and facilitating networking among those working in public communication across the EU.
The conference is organised by the Committee of the Regions, in partnership with the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Lithuanian EU Presidency 2013, the Council of the EU and the European Economic and Social Committee.
