At the local government public relations seminars held this year in Osaka, Tokyo, and Nagoya, it became clear that many public relations officers had issues with "creating public relations rules" and "strengthening public relations capabilities across the entire agency." 

To provide those facing these challenges with advanced examples, we at Morisawa welcomed Kiyohiko Tomomatsu (Section Chief, Planning and Policy Section, Secretariat Division) of Yukuhashi City, Fukuoka Prefecture, for whom Tomoyuki Sakuma served as PR advisor, to hold an online seminar event on August 21st, which included a talk session with Sakuma about the "creating internal PR rules" and "strengthening PR capabilities across the entire city government" that Yukuhashi City has been implementing. 

Seminar flow 

1. Lecture: "Learn from the basics! Rules for communicating with civil servants" 
   Speaker: Tomoyuki Sakuma 

2. Talk session: "Learning from advanced examples! Creating internal PR rules and strengthening PR capabilities across the entire agency" 
   Speakers: Tomoyuki Sakuma and Kiyohiko Tomomatsu from Yukuhashi City, Fukuoka Prefecture 

3. Morisawa Seminar: "Learn through practice! Tips and tricks for improving your public relations skills" 
   Speaker: Nitano, Morisawa Inc. 

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Part 1: Lecture by special lecturer Mr. Sakuma 

Following the lectures held in person in Osaka, Tokyo, and Nagoya, the content was further refined and polished for this online seminar. 

Key points for using media and social media 

Using data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' Telecommunications Usage Trends Survey, Sakuma spoke about the future of information dissemination. He provided detailed information on the features and algorithms of various social media platforms, as well as tips for increasing engagement and other important points to keep in mind when using them. 

Photography Tips 

When staff become public relations officers, the first big hurdle they face is probably "how to take photos." In this part, Sakuma-san introduces seven recommended photo compositions and the mindset that public relations officers should have when taking photos. 

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Part 2 Talk session with Mr. Sakuma × Mr. Tomomatsu from Yukuhashi City 

This talk session will feature Tomomatsu from Yukuhashi City, Fukuoka Prefecture, for whom Sakuma served as a public relations advisor in 2022, and will focus on the necessity and importance of internal public relations rules, learning from advanced examples. 

Tomomatsu-san and Sakuma-san created"No Alibi Public Relations"We will hear about the formulation of the basic public relations policy for the project, the reasons and background for creating the public relations operations manual, and the difficulties encountered at the time. 

It all started with the homepage! 

At the Yukuhashi City Children's Assembly event, a child council member pointed out something about the city's website to the mayor. This led to the city not only renewing its website, but also considering a complete renewal of its public relations efforts, and moving towards digitalization. In doing so, it was necessary to create "rules" for coordinating with the relevant departments to enhance the information posted on the website. 
Tomomatsu-san spoke as he looked back on those days. 

What were the difficulties you faced in creating the public relations rules? 

At the time, the PR staff had a very hard time extracting and organizing the current issues while still carrying out their daily PR activities. I think it was also difficult for them to go against what they had been doing up until then in order to proceed with this work.

What is the current situation after the public relations rules were established, and what are the future operations and prospects? 

To be honest, it was actually tougher after the public relations rules were established. 

We thought we had created something very good, but we had a lot of trouble getting it across within the agency, as some employees said they hadn't seen or heard about it. When we received a request to feature it in the city's newsletter, we took the time to explain the basic policy and ensure that everyone understood. 
The renewed public relations campaign received very positive feedback in a resident survey and was highly praised by the assembly. 
In the future, we would like to update the public relations manual by adding the Sakuma-style know-how that has not yet been fully included. 

He spoke about the situation before formulating the PR basic policy and creating the PR operations manual, the difficulties he faced when he reached the penetration phase after formulating the policy, and how the policy is still ongoing and will continue to be updated in the future. He also spoke about how "PR reform is not achieved in a day." 

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Part 3: Morisawa: "Learn through practice! Tips for improving your public relations skills" 

Morisawa has been supporting local governments in disseminating information for many years. Through these activities, we have come to understand that strengthening the public relations capabilities of local governments has been their biggest challenge in recent years, and we aim to improve the public relations capabilities of all employees."Communicative" Document Design ProgramThis year, we have started training in document creation. 

In the third part, our company's Mr. Nitano proposed this training program and explained the actual training program.Tips for improving your public relations skillsWe have introduced some of the following. 

For more information on the "Empathetic Material Design Program," which aims to improve the public relations skills of all employees, please click here. 

We at Morisawa will support you in making information creation and thinking skills a part of the skills of all employees. For more information on the "Empathetic Material Design Program," which aims to improve the public relations skills of all employees, please click here.

For examples of local government participation, please see hereDedicated sitePlease check here.

For more information about "MCCatalog+ (Catalogue Pocket)," which has already been introduced by many of the local governments that attended the seminar, please visitHerePlease check here.

If you have any questions or inquiries, please contact us using the form below.

Thank you for reading to the end. I look forward to seeing you again soon!