COMMUNICATIONS, EXTERNAL RELATIONS
AND FINANCIAL EDUCATION
This course aims to equip delegates
with an understanding of what is the "best practice" approach
to the exacting communication challenges that central banks
and regulatory agencies face today. It is designed for those
charged with the responsibility for external relations as
well as press officers and aims to help them in the effective
management of their organisation's communications policy.
Communication by definition implies choice
- what to say and what not to say, how and when to say it
- and making the wrong choices can have startlingly adverse
consequences. In an environment of persistent global economic
uncertainty, messages communicated by central banks and regulatory
agencies attain heightened significance as the markets and
the media search for signs of recovery or deterioration. Misinterpreted
or inconsistent messages are risks that central banks can
mitigate.
Communication policy must be approached
strategically and coherently. This is complicated by the fact
that central banks and regulatory agencies must communicate
with a host of very different audiences, which require distinctive
treatment. The wide range of audiences faced - such as financial
markets, the press, governments, parliaments, the international
community, television, the general public - all have radically
differing information needs, each of which must be addressed.
Equally importantly, an effective
communications policy is essential if central banks and regulatory
agencies are to fulfil their commitments to transparency and
accountability. The course will demonstrate how skilled communication
can help maximise the credibility and effectiveness of policy.
Central banks' core mandate of ensuring price and systemic
stability can only be achieved by communicating their actions,
and the reasons behind them, in a clear and predictable fashion.
Increasingly, central banks also
support this outreach by providing financial educational materials
as well as programmes of community outreach. This year for
the first time, there will be a thorough discussion of these
important aspects of public information.
Spread over four days this seminar
will allow delegates to examine each of the critical elements
of a successful communications strategy, concentrating not
only on the more traditional targets of communication policy
such as the markets, print and TV media, but also looking
at increasingly important aspects such as the internet. Delegates
from central banks around the world will also have the opportunity
to profit from discussion with their peers and their varying
experiences in this area.
Once again we are proud to present
a distinguished panel of presenters who are experts in communications
and the media, as well as veteran communications officers
from the world's leading central banks.
We look forward to welcoming you
to Cambridge.
Yours sincerely,
William Clarke, CBE, PhD
Chairman, Central Banking Publications Ltd
Former City Editor, The Times, London
Monday 30th AUGUST
Registration
Tuesday 31st AUGUST
COMMUNICATING
WITH SPECIFIC AUDIENCES
Accountability
and transparency: relations with politicians David Ruffley,
MP
The increasingly widespread independence
of central banks requires that they be accountable
for their actions. Central banks rely on political
support for their legitimacy, especially in times
of crisis. Relations with parliaments can suffer from
inappropriate or insensitive communications policy.
Central banks need to act transparently to assure
governments that they are keeping to their remit.
Central bank's traditional tendency to obfuscate to
keep scrutiny at bay is no longer an option. Television:
how central banks can reach a mass audience Evan
Davis Economics
Editor, BBC
Central banks have limited
television coverage. But television allows central
banks to transmit their message to a wide audience,
much of which would otherwise be entirely ignorant
of central banks. How can central banks increase coverage
- and do they always want to? When central banks do
succeed in provoking interest from television, how
can they assure that its image will be portrayed positively,
and that the general public will understand its actions?
How to communicate
with financial media
Alan Beattie Economics
correspondent, Financial Times
A positive image in the
press can make life significantly easier for central
banks. The general public is less interested in the
complicated technical information central banks are
most skilled at explaining. Consequently the press
often follows people rather than issues, which can
be frustrating. How can central banks determine what
information journalists find useful and what they
will ignore, or what makes a good story? Central banks
face a media whose function is to make, often critical,
judgements about them. How do publications like the
Financial Times arrive at their editorial line?
Alan Beattie, a leading financial journalist, will
discuss in a seminar session what informs the opinions
of the financial press and how delegates can apply
these lessons in practice to their media relations
work.
Wednesday 1st SEPTEMBER
INTERNATIONAL
BEST PRACTICE
Approaches to
communication, community outreach and financial education Workshop Participants: Peter
Bakstansky Senior Vice-President
and Head of Public Information, Federal Reserve Bank
of New York
Diana Margarita Mejía Communications
Director, Banco de la República, Columbia
Janno Toots Head of Public
Relations at Eesti Pank, Estonia
This all-day workshop brings
together some of the most experienced communicators
from the world's leading central banks to discuss
how they approach communications policy and what they
understand to be the principal challenges in their
respective institutions. The session aims to put forward
a "best practice" for central bank communication,
and the speakers will share their knowledge with the
delegates and indicate what to say/do and what not
to say/do when dealing with the external relations
of a central bank. Each speaker in turn will give
a brief talk which will lead into discussion and debate
in roundtable format, allowing delegates to compare
and contrast the varying strategies that central banks
adopt.
Peter Bakstansky
will begin by talking about communication of monetary
policy, and how central banks' monetary policy decisions
are compared between institutions.
Diana Margarita Mejía
will discuss the role of communications policy in
reaching specific targets. She will speak in particular
about the challenges of building credibility under
an inflationtargeting regime.
Janno Toots will
focus on how communication will be handled in preparation
for accession to the European Union and ultimately
membership of the eurozone.
Wolf-Rüdiger Bengs will
follow on from this to consider the role of communication
policy from the perspective of a national central
bank that is already a member of the eurosystem.
The session will also include a
discussion on the broader roles of central banks in
public education on financial matters and community
outreach.
Thursday 2nd SEPTEMBER
THE
CHANGING FACE OF COMMUNICATIONS
Media
training workshop
Steve
Levinson (ex Channel
4 News), Director of HBL Media
Central banks are coming
under heightened pressure to provide greater media access
and interview opportunities. One way of dealing with
this emerging trend is the use of media training as
central bankers are often not adequately primed to deal
with uncompromising journalists. This is a hands-on
training session equipping delegates to handle the media
to their best advantage, using media training techniques
to demonstrate the value of effective presentation.
This session looks at what media training seeks to achieve;
and particularly the demands of the broadcast media,
while simultaneously giving practical training as an
insight into what can be achieved.
Re-branding
a central bank Speaker from Enterprise IG to
beconfirmed
In an increasingly sophisticated
public and media market, central banks have to compete
to a certain degree in image stakes. Many central banks
are choosing to seek professional help in creating a
competitive corporate identity. As the brand consultants
used to re-brand the Central Bank of Ireland, Enterprise
IG can give practical examples of the importance of
the brand to central banks and what typical traits a
central bank brand should have. Best
practice for central bank websites Speaker to be confirmed
A professional and actively managed
website for any public organisation has now come to
be expected. The quality and usability of a website
will affect the public's perception of a central bank,
and it must therefore be of the highest order. But too
many central banks have poorly maintained and outdated
websites which damage their professional image. Therefore
a well-thought-out internet policy is essential. Here
the key issues involved in building a world-class website
are identified.
Friday 3rd SEPTEMBER
INFORMATION DISPERSAL
The challenges
of facilitating communications worldwide Anita Breland Bank
for International Settlements
Central bankers from around the globe
come to the Bank for International Settlements to meet
and discuss topics of common interest and for financial
services. The BIS serves as a communications hub for
central banks in a number of ways, but few have a full
picture of the institution. How does the BIS communicate
in support of international financial cooperation? How
has its outreach, its membership, and the audience for
BIS services evolved, especially in recent years? Anita
Breland, head of Press & Communications at the BIS,
will discuss these questions and draw on the challenges
and means of co-ordinating the message to be put out,
when multiple stakeholder institutions are involved.
Internal
Communications
Speaker from the Bank of England
The need to communicate with your internal audience
is critical, as is the requirement for internal media
guidelines. Only by a comprehensive internal communications
policy can information given to the press be controlled
to ensure that a unified and unambiguous message is
put across. How can central banks make sure that in
all departments staff receive accurate information and
know how to handle press inquiries in order to prevent
confusion arising both internally and externally?
HOW TO REGISTER
Places on these seminars are strictly limited
and allocated on a first-come first-served basis.To register for any
of these courses, please download and print the Registration
Form (or the final page of the PDF version of the relevant
course programme), fill in the details as appropriate and fax to Central
Banking Publications on +44 20 7388 9040
