External Events Slack Channel

To tell the comms team about an event you have been approached to speak at, that you would like to attend, or that you would like to share with CDPS staff who could be interested in attending, the external events Slack channel is the first place to go to.

Speaking at an external event

If you have been offered the opportunity to speak to an external audience as a representative of CDPS, please discuss this firstly with your line manager.

For your attendance, the comms team can:

• help create social content for you and our official CDPS social channels
• Signpost to presentation decks you could recycle and adapt, 2i your presentation for visual consistency and branding, and build capacity to translate your content
• decide whether we want to have a bigger CDPS presence at that event e.g. sponsorship opportunity
• advise on what freebies or collateral you could take with you
• request you to do a write-up of what you learned for the weekly roundup or insights for the Weeknotes

If you have been offered the opportunity to speak at an event but you are unable to attend, or if there is someone else from CDPS who could attend in your place, consider adding the event to the external events channel. This will help us maximise networking and engagement opportunities from across our staff’s network.

Attending an external event

If you are attending an external event as a delegate (not speaking or on a panel etc.), please let us know in the external events slack channel. For your attendance, the comms team can:

• help create social content for you
• decide whether we want to have a bigger CDPS presence at that event e.g. sponsorship opportunity
• advise on what freebies or collateral you could take with you
• request you to do a write-up of what you learned for the weekly roundup or insights for the Weeknotes
• share the event with our COPs

Events Planner Trello board

How staff can use the board

Template cards

Once you’ve posted in the external events slack channel, please use our Attending an External Event template card to tell us about your event/speaking opportunity and add this card to the Events Front Door swim lane. Please tag yourself, Mike, and Josh P as members of your card.

Here is a list of the things we’d like to know about the event you’re planning on attending. Please answer these questions in as much detail as you can. We appreciate that you might not have all the answers in the first instance, but we can follow-up on the details later.

Name of event:

• Event contact:
• Who will be in the audience:
• Location:
• Please provide a brief description of the event:
• In-person or online:
• Cost to attend (if applicable):
• Staff resource - who from CDPS will be attending:
• Link to event website (if applicable):
• What is your role(s) at the event? e.g. delegate/attendee, panellist, running a workshop, speaker, learning and personal development:
• Is transport and accommodation required?
• What we need to make this happen / how can comms help support you with this event

Events calendar

The Events Trello Board is organised as a calendar with each month having it’s own swimlane, and the swimlanes are grouped by quarter.

You can check the board at any time to see what events we have planned for the year. If there are any events you would like to be involved with, or if you are considering organising your own, please check the board for updates on our capacity, and reach out to Mike or Josh P for details.

How the events team use the board

Events Front Door

Mike reviews the events in the front door, and when required, takes these to CEOs and SLT for approval. Josh P or Mike might reach out to you for further information about the event and how the Comms team can support. This support could include:

• Getting in touch with the event contact or organisation’s comms team about collaborating on promotion.
• Drafting/designing/branding social posts to promote your speaking opportunity
• 2i review of presentations for branding and bilingualism (see also the Comms Playbook [link)
• Building capacity for translation into the translator’s workflow
• Be a sounding board for best practice, CDPS brand messaging, and presentation tips
• Discuss any collateral you might want to take e.g. trio-writing books, brochures, banners

Approved events

When an event has been approved, we will move the card into the relevant swim lane for the month it is taking place in. You will be tagged in this card along with any of the comms team who can support you. Please update this card with any further information and resources pertaining to your event.

Rejected/didn’t go ahead events

Any events that are rejected or did not go ahead/postponed/cancelled will go into this swim lane so that we can keep an eye on future opportunities when we have capacity to join them.

Need advice?

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Mike Erskine | Comms Manager (Events and External)

Responsibilities: Events and speaking opportunities, press opportunities, strategy

Slack | LinkedIn

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Communicating with slides

Writing and designing slides

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YWex5uIRmQ

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Note: the above video uses the old CDPS brand. The advice is still relevant however.

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• Consider the context. Is this going to be available at any time, or only when presented by yourself or another staff member? If the former, ensure all the vital information is visible.
• Avoid having lots of text, especially if you are going to be presenting with narration. Keep it succinct, almost as guides to the important points you will be talking about.
• If you must have lots of text, break it up onto multiple slides. A 60-slide presentation with lots of breathing space is much better than a 10-slide presentation with a wall of text.
• Avoid transitions or animations where possible. If you do use them, don’t overdo it.
• Make sure slides are bilingual, or otherwise available in the other language as a separate presentation. External PowerPoints MUST be bilingual.
• Welsh must be first. On some slide designs, put them side-by-side (with Welsh on the left). On others, Welsh goes on top and English below.
• Welsh should be in alternative colours when using the core CDPS brand.
• Use the different slide designs throughout and/or bring in imagery to keep things engaging.
• Make sure images have alt text descriptions

Presenting

• Make sure you present in full screen, whether in person or when sharing your screen online.

• Avoid reading slides verbatim.
• Do a quick test before going live. It will result in less risk, and less stress for you.
• Mute your notifications, and put your phone on silent.
• When beginning, let people know if questions can be asked during the presentation, or if there will be time dedicated to that.
• Let people know whether the slides or presentation recording will be available afterwards or not.
• If multiple people are presenting parts of the presentation, or the slides are being controlled by somebody else, put your script or bullet points in the notes stating when to go forward (e.g.: [NEXT SLIDE]. This avoids “next slide please” ad nauseum.