Communications strategy training resources & FAQs
Get ready for Get heard. Make impact – The art and science of strategic communication. We can’t wait to spend the day with you talking about strategic communications.
This page has all of the information you will need to prepare for the session, including:
- Event details
- Pre-event preparation
- Agenda
- Your questions
- Resources
Event details
The event details are as follows:
Date: Tuesday 26 May 2026
Time: 9:30am – 4:30pm
Pre-event preparation
Before the session, there are some key things you should reflect on to ensure you get the most out of it.
- Get focused!
You will be developing a communications strategy during our session, which means you need to know where you want to focus your attention.
What do you want the communications strategy to focus on? It could be for a new project or an existing initiative.
Make sure you have picked one before you arrive.
2. Know your people
We will spend a lot of time talking about who you need to communicate with.
Think about your audiences, who are you trying to reach, and what do you already know about them?
Do you have any information, data, or research that tells you more about them? Bring anything with you that you think might be useful.
Agenda
The following is an overview of our session.
| Estimated time | Topic |
| 9:15 | Arrival – get ready to start! |
| 9:30 | Introductions and welcome |
| 9:40 | The Basics of communication strategy development What is strategic communication? What is it not? The difference between a plan & strategy The cycle of strategic communication Purpose & goals – knowing your why. |
| 10:15 | Environmental Scanning What is environmental scanning? Tools for environmental scanning: PESTLE Analysis and SWOT Analysis |
| 10:45 | Morning tea break |
| 11:00 | Objectives What is the strategy trying to achieve? Aligning communication to business objectives How can you measure success? |
| 11:30 | Identifying audiences Knowing your audience – who are they, what are they thinking, levels of understanding, what else is happening in their world. |
| 12:10 | Messaging Developing a shared narrative Identifying your messages |
| 12:40 | Lunch break |
| 1:30 | Storytelling Telling your story |
| 2:00 | Influence The principles of influence, active listening and authentic questioning |
| 2:30 | Channel identification Aligning tactics to audience needs Think about current and new channels. |
| 3:00 | Afternoon break |
| 3:10 | Implementation Putting it all together When is it happening? What do you need to consider? |
| 3:50 | Review your strategy Time to review your work |
| 4:20 | Final questions |
| 4:30 | Ends |
Some questions you might have
Question: What should I bring on the day?
Answer: You will need to bring:
- A laptop to be able to complete your communication strategy template.
- Water bottle
- Any data about your current communication channels or information about your audiences.
- A notepad and pen might be handy for writing notes in your workbook and brainstorming.
- A positive attitude!
Question: Is lunch provided?
Answer: Yes, morning and afternoon tea, and lunch will be provided.
Question: Do I need to print the training manual?
Answer: No, we will provide a copy on the day. We recommend keeping the communication strategy template open on your laptop, but if you prefer to go old-school, please feel free to print a copy to bring with you.
Resources
We will be using some key resources throughout the day. Make sure to come back to this page closer to the day to download them!
Training workbook: This workbook goes alongside our training presentation. It includes definitions, diagrams and key points. It also has space for you to take notes at the end of each section, and there are some resources that you can use to find more information. We will provide a hard copy of this on the day.
Communication strategy template: Use this template to craft your final communications strategy. Don’t forget to keep a copy for future use! You will need to download a copy for the workshop.
Additional resources: We may refer to some of these resources during the training.