What+should+be+priorities+to+make+our+work+better+known+at+your+individual+level,+in+your+team+and+for+ILRI?

During the Public Awareness Komms Klinics session on 12 July, we had an interactive conversation with participants in Addis and in Nairobi about: What should be priorities (for you, for your team and for ILRI) to make our work more popular, better known by the public?

These are the results...

At ILRI level
__Stories__: __Seminars and other face-to-face engagement activities__: __Special initiatives__: __Guidance and training__:
 * Training, social media policies, more demonstrations and active engagement with our audiences**
 * Documentation in the media
 * Tangible results / more impact on research findings - people will spread the word
 * How to translate reports/results in powerful stories
 * Packaging our products in a manner that target audiences can understand e.g. EADD project
 * Media releases more regularly
 * Documentaries in the media
 * More focus on traditional media
 * Seminars: make them engaging, interesting for laymen
 * ILRI field days: seeing is believing - even though reports are pretty, getting hands dirty, open days and mingling with target groups will be faster
 * Engage people more e.g. open day, posters at roundabout, flyer etc.
 * Demonstration (stations): show by example - have demonstration stations, something that people can visit as a reference point
 * Have a short powerful introduction about ILRI to use when presenting outside ILRI
 * Need to 'associate' ILRI image with what it does e.g. put an explanation of what ILRI does instead of music on the phone when people are on hold
 * Consider working with sign language (how to engage deaf people)?
 * Have an assigned day for communication update e.g. what's happening next week (organized by the Directorate)
 * Create access and visibility of our available work
 * Have a globally available database that is similar to FAOs
 * Involving the communication team from the beginning in what the departments are doing
 * Know about the paths to follow (especially launch of a report, ILRI publication etc.)
 * How do we strengthen the links with the PA team?
 * Regular training on communication (tools)
 * Social media (training, update, more encouragement to use)
 * Develop a social media policy / guidelines for staff to direct the communication of ILRI work on personal social media accounts

At the level of your team

 * Sharing stories, working out loud on the web and beyond**
 * Encourage sharing stories by scientists and research assistants with team to better capture ongoing project activities
 * Encourage team to write stories about team activities
 * More brochures and posters, especially for workshops
 * Upload more info on websites
 * Learn to 'work out loud' (with Evelyn)
 * Reader survey for blogs (e.g. for livestock markets digest) to be able to better meet information needs of subscribers/readers

At personal level

 * Getting trained, mastering tools, sharing stories**
 * Discussing findings with target groups (e.g. farmers)
 * More stories re: team activities (more stories on what my team does)
 * Training (how best to tell my story)
 * Understand the tools and how to use them effectively
 * Better collaboration on communication within the region
 * Communicating tangible achievements of our projects

What is public awareness?
(//Earlier on, in the session, we asked participants to share their opinion as to what public awareness is. Hereby some results//):
 * Create awareness of communities
 * It's the way we make people or donors part of the institution to be able to understand what ILRI is about
 * Inform people, share knowledge with people outside ILRI
 * Public, who is it? Within ILRI - this is related to sharing
 * Passing information actively through campaigns etc.
 * Public awareness - knowledge sharing --> Share what you know and get what you don't know
 * Pass information on what you're doing