Click here to listen to this edition of the podcast.*

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* If using Internet Explorer, you may have to right-click on the link and save target as, then play the saved file by double clicking it.

In case you missed it, here’s the Storify page and the web page of the recent seminar held by the Council on “The Impact of Social Media on Journalism”. Outside of the Brussels bubble, here’s an interesting analysis in writing and film from the BBC of how social media had changed its newsroom.

Anita

In summary it is something along the lines of proactive, externally focused and all about measurable outcomes. Being a consultant I felt obliged to develop a bit more than a sentence. Hence the nine things that I think effective public affairs functions do well:

1. Provide insights

The only thing public affairs functions have to make their case is the insights that they bring. Best in class public affairs functions have ready access to data, examples, and thoughts and are able to turn these into insights that are timely, relevant and useful for policymakers and wider stakeholders who are figuring out public policy. These folks are of course intelligent beings and will listen to others (with different facts, data, and thoughts) before making up their own minds.

2. Focus on policy formulation

Effective public affairs functions focus on the policy formulation stage more often than not rather than the legislative phase. Once the proposal is out you’re playing at the margins. Not where best in class finds itself that often (see this post on why successful public affairs should be like a Tom Cruise movie).

3. Develop solutions

Successful public affairs functions look to bring solutions to policymakers for the challenges that European society faces. Saying no aint an option, saying this is a more effective way to get to where we all want to be may well be.   

4. Conduct dialogue

Top of the class functions also have the mandate within their own organizations to be able to work on solutions with policymakers and stakeholders, even if their own position is not 100% defined. Policymaking is a process, if you can only start and end with the same position and all you can do is repeat it you’re of little use to all concerned once they’ve read your position paper.

5. Integrate all forms of communications

World class public affairs functions have the mandate and expertise to use all forms of communications in a public affairs context, from media and online to third party mobilization and one-on-one meetings. As our EP Digital Trends survey has shown, the folks you’re seeking to talk to get their information from all sorts of places (as you and everyone else on the planet does). The best in class public affairs functions get this and don’t see their role as restricted to one tactic (meeting people) but focus on how best to achieve the outcome.

6. Remain connected internally

Great public affairs functions are connected within their business in order to get the insights needed to create useful policy thoughts. They also have a functioning public affairs network across European countries that can do all of the other eight points– after all the position of one half of our legislature and much more besides is actually decided in national capitals.

7. Seek out partners

Brussels is based on consensus. As such, to be on top of your game you’re going to have to be able to find and motivate partners within industry, civil society and elsewhere of the merits of your insights and the solution you’re proposing.

8. Value reputation

Best in class functions are part of businesses that care about what they do and care about what people say about what they do. While the strategic direction of an organization is not normally decided by its public affairs function and the value that an organization places on the external world depends on many factors, I think effective functions bring the outside inside and can be an agent for change within their own organizations as much as outside it.

9. Provide value to the business

Really great public affairs functions are relevant to their businesses. What they do is relevant, timely and useful to the continued success of their organizations. What the EP Committee said today was really interesting to EU geeks like us, but a best in class function is able to say why it’s important for their organization, what impact it’s likely to have going forward and what they’re going to do about it. They answer the “so what” question on a daily basis.

James

For that reason, Public Affairs professionals are increasingly required to appreciate and incorporate elements of reputation management in their work.

In this interview, Dan Baxter, Senior Vice President and Partner at FH in Brussels, tells us more about why reputation management matters and provides some pointers on how to successfully conduct reputation management.

Click here to listen (if using Internet Explorer, you may have to save the file – right-click and save file as – and then play that file separately.)

Click here to subscribe to the FH Europe podcast on iTunes.

Steffen

It’s also the time of year when I, as an American, have to go through the annual bureaucratic rigmarole that is renewing my Belgian work permit. This is now my third time down the path of renewal and every year it’s the same somewhat maddening procedure (though the first time is always the worst!). This year, however, I’ve found myself pondering  the question that I always find myself answering for curious Europeans who say something like ‘But, it’s normal for Europeans to want to go to the States, but you’re an American, how did you find yourself here, in Brussels?!’, and so I decided to take a little poll around the FH Brussels office to see why the other Americans (there are 5 of us in total!) are here.

Carey Evans, from Los Angeles, California

“I came for the weather… clearly.”

Jessica Henderson, from the Twin Cities area (Minneapolis/St. Paul), Minnesota

“Because I couldn’t afford London, Paris, or Geneva.”

Tatiana Hulko, from Evergreen, Colorado

“I blame the Brit in my life for trading in sunshine for rain.”

Katie Wolicki, from Asheville, North Carolina

“Belgian chocolate, frites, waffles, and the little boy peeing….what more could you ask for? ”

That leaves me. So why am I here? Well, I can’t say I came for the weather and I, too, am probably unable to afford the luxury of life in London, Paris, or Geneva. Nor can I claim that it was the infamous beer, waffles, or chocolate that lured me here – though they didn’t hurt. And although my colleagues have all provided (what I like to assume are) tongue-in-cheek responses to my query, I have to say that I originally landed in Brussels sort of through happenstance and, like most Europeans here who are not natives to this fair(ish) city, I guess I got sucked in. It started innocently enough, with an internship here during my undergrad studies, but living in Brussels piqued my interest in EU affairs and the policy making scene. I returned after graduating to do a Masters’ in Leuven, got a job in a public affairs consulting firm in Brussels, then another job, et voila, little by little, before I really realized, the exciting world of the EU had gripped me and the slightly more laid-back lifestyle of the Brussels-scene kept me close. Despite the rain and the endless red tape, the lack of friendly service, and the inconvenience of much of everyday life (I’m sorry, but it makes NO sense that all of the shops and stores close on bank holidays when people actually have time to spend their money!) I find myself willfully going through this renewal process that keeps me here for at least another year.

And so, as much as this writer likes to complain about the above mentioned issues (and more!) I have to accept that actually, we do have it pretty good here. The international work environment that I’m lucky enough to be  a part of is a unique one. The friends I’ve made who live here and who depart to the far reaches of the globe are largely friends and contacts I’ve made in Brussels. The proximity to the heart of European policy making and the opportunity to have interesting interactions with policymakers means that my job is interesting every day – not something that can necessarily be said even for my counterparts who live and work in America’s version of Brussels, Washington DC. These are the things that brought me here and which keep me here still.

That said, for now I’ve had about as much of Brussels as I can take for 7 months at a time without ‘escaping’ and I’m off on hols back to New England as of Monday. So ‘bonnes vacances’ everyone! See you in a few weeks when I’m back – refreshed by the warm weather, sunny, blue skies, and ocean breezes of the Maine and Massachusetts coasts and ready to face the gray skies and Bruxellois lifestyle that we have all come to, err, know and love.

Lindsay Hammes, from Augusta, Maine

Meetups are informal gatherings in essence. That’s the beauty of it. It’s about getting strangers, who don’t know each other but share common interests, to meet in real life… thanks to the Internet. Created in 2001, meetup.com was a simple but revolutionary idea. It had a key role in the unprecedented grassroots mobilisation around the 2004 Howard Dean campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination -I highly recommend Joe Trippi’s inspiring The Revolution Will Not Be Televised- as it also did in Barack Obama’s campaign.

We are of course taking part and can’t wait for D-Day! One of the spokespeople of the Hungarian Presidency of the EU will join us to discuss how they used social media during their mandate. They tweeted, blogged, reached out to bloggers, and even gave accreditations to some of them to attend EU Council meetings. How did they manage to get their hierarchy on board? What are the lessons learnt? Will this show the way to other EU institutions?

You’re welcome to join us at our offices from 6.30pm. Just register on our meetup page so we know how many people would be attending. Our Brussels meetup is now ranked 3^rd place in terms of attendees, just after New York City and Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. is just a couple of attendees away… do you think you could help us reach 2^nd place? How cool would that be?

Laurence

The thing that most surprised me about Brussels was…

The traffic. I thought Beijing was the worst city in the world for too many traffic jams and cars but Brussels seems to be even worse.

If there was one thing I’d change about the EU it would be…

To streamline the EU bureaucracy and make it simpler, quicker and more effective.

If I were a European I’d want to be a….

Belgian. They enjoy the freedom of having no government.

If you want to understand China…

Please learn some Chinese, stay in China for a number of years and spend time communicating with locals. If you do not understand what they are saying, and that’s not because of the language issue, please resort to some history books for the answer.

The next big thing to come out of China will be…

A big hug. China is embracing the world with goodwill and money.

If you ever go on a business trip to Beijing don’t forget to…

Climb the Great Wall, for only by doing that will you become a true man! And you will not be surprised to see that the Wall can’t be seen for true men.

Dans la série de nos podcasts sur le thème de l’utilisation d’Internet par les journalistes, voici notre première interview en français ! Dans le podcast ci-dessous, Laurence discute avec Jean-Sébastien Lefebvre, journaliste spécialisé Europe à Euractiv.fr (NB : au moment de l’interview il ne travaillait pas encore pour Euractiv). Il nous parle d’abord des raisons pour lesquelles il blogue, de l’espace de liberté que ça lui apporte et de comment, en tant que journaliste, il traite le contenu d’autres blogs. Il nous parle aussi de la manière dont il utilise Twitter dans son travail. S’il hésite encore à citer des tweets (ou des blogs) dans ses articles journalistiques, il utilise Twitter pour être tenu au courant au plus vite des dernières nouvelles et poser des questions aux spécialistes qui se trouvent sur ce réseau.

Allez voir son excellent (et distrayant) blog, L’expérience européene et suivez le ici sur Twitter.

Cliquez ici pour écouter ce nouvel épisode de notre série de podcasts.

Cliquez ici pour vous abonner au FH Europe podcast sur iTunes.

Rosalyn

(If using Internet Explorer, you may have to right-click on the link and save target as then play that file by double clicking it)

Anita

As such, to kick us off in what I intend (at this stage) to be a series of posts reflecting on my time in the U.S. below you’ll find some contrasts between the two markets that I came up. I’ll take a look at my views on the impacts of some of these pairs in the coming weeks.

Elections v Selections

Politics v Policy

Confrontation v Consensus

Fast v Slow

Closed v Open

Money v Insights

Emotion v Facts

Public v Elite

Many v Few

Periphery v Center

No prizes for guessing which side is Brussels and which is Washington.

James

I’m not the only person to have recently returned to FH Brussels. Last night we welcomed back many of those who have made us what we are today at drinks for FH Alumni in our offices. Like any organization that’s been around a while we’ve seen our fair share of colleagues come and go. Yet there’s still a sense of stability around the place. I’ve worked out that our current management team has a combined FH lifespan of 96 years (average of 9.6 years). That’s some organizational memory for any agency in any market.

As an FH old timer (9 years and counting), it was great to see so many former colleagues and current friends in one place. Our reception and meeting area on the second floor may be shiny and new, but for those returning it seemed, to me at least, that the feeling was one of returning home.

The event reminded me of a story told by Michael Berendt when he finally moved back to the UK a few of years ago (he still remains a colleague and writes an interesting blog on EU affairs here). Michael compared FH Brussels to Trigger’s broom in a scene from the UK TV sitcom Only Fools and Horses. I’ll not spoil this classic piece of British television comedy for you, it’s embedded above for your viewing pleasure. I think you’ll get the message.

Thanks to all of those handles and brush heads who turned up last night. You’ve made this broom what it is. We look forward to seeing you all again for our 20^th birthday bash in June.

James

btw – it’s great to be back inside the Brussels Bubble. Look forward to getting back in the groove and posting on this blog in the coming weeks. Next post from me will contrast D.C. and Brussels from a P.A. perspective, unless something else takes my fancy.