From January 9 through 12, members of the European Democracy Youth Network’s (EDYN) Communications Committee met in Warsaw, Poland for a retreat hosted by the International Republican Institute (IRI). Given that the Communications Committee typically communicates through teleconferences or email, the retreat served as an opportunity for members to meet in person and get hands-on, skills-building training.
Seven members attended the event and engaged in activities regarding content creation, media tools, messaging, and audience identification. The retreat also served as an opportunity for the committee to evaluate and improve its organizational structure. After reflecting on previous challenges, particularly with internal communication, and future goals, the committee established a workflow and set of internal rules for committee members to follow for ordinary and emergency procedures.
The retreat ultimately resulted in the creation of the first EDYN Communication Strategy guidelines, featuring a content calendar, a list of procedures for external communication, communication strategy goals, and guidelines for media campaigns and content creation.
The retreat allowed the committee to address its needs and develop new goals, while also providing members professional development in communications strategy. The skills that committee members left the retreat with assist the committee in improving strategy, audience outreach, and content creation that follows brand guidelines as the network continues to grow.
