BEHIND THE SCENES: HOW MEDIA MANAGEMENT BOOSTED THE 64TH CPC IN UGANDA 64th COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE Kampala, Uganda 22 to 29 September 2019
BEHIND THE SCENES: HOW MEDIA MANAGEMENT BOOSTED THE 64TH CPC IN UGANDA
Hon. Paul Amoru, MP is a Ugandan politician, media and Communications practitioner, public speaker and trailblazer. He is the Member of Parliament for Dokolo North County in the 10th Parliament of Uganda. He is the Vice-Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Information and Communication Technology. Prior to entering Parliament, he held various roles with the Uganda Christian University, Uganda National Students Association (UNSA), Kumi University and the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB). He was Chairperson of the Media and Publicity Subcommittee for 64th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Uganda.
When organising a successful conference, the contribution of the media cannot be overstated. The media channels information to the public but also sets the host country’s mood and support for conference activities. With the recently concluded 64th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) held in Kampala, Uganda in September 2019, the devil was in the details, as the saying goes. Preparations started as early as September 2018 when the National Organising Committee (NOC) was set up. Various Subcommittees were formed to handle the different aspects of the conference, among them the Media and Publicity Subcommittee. The Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda appointed me to head the Media Subcommittee. Our terms of reference were to work closely with the CPA Headquarters Secretariat in London to coordinate all media and communications activities around the 64th CPC. As a firsttime legislator, it was a humbling experience for me. I would like to, therefore, share with you the behind-the-scenes planning and efforts that enabled us carry out the task to the best of our abilities. I hope that you will find these tips and lessons useful.
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Select the best persons for the job My appointment was drawn from my experience as a media practitioner. The Speaker also appointed three other Legislators - Hon. Sylvia Rwabwogo, MP; Hon. Morris Kibalya, MP; and Hon. Rose Kabagenyi, MP - who have vast experience in media and planning to offer their support. The Uganda Parliament’s technical staff buffered this team, with their rich and diverse professional backgrounds in ICT, Journalism and Research, and we collaborated closely with the Uganda Parliament Communications team. With a dynamic team in place, we worked out the modalities in good time to ensure we executed our role. Early planning is key We worked with the National Organising Committee (NOC) on the budget, initial planning and on the information that they required us to disseminate to the public. Our first meeting was in early October 2018, nearly a year ahead of the conference. The team agreed on a twopronged approach to our publicity campaign. We identified activities that could be done in-house using the available resources and also mobilised partners for the part that we could not directly engage in. The actual work kicked off in earnest when we launched the 64th CPC conference logo
in March 2019. The Media Subcommittee segmented into different groups charged with branding, content development and media engagement. We developed content aligned for print, television, radio and social media. Answers to frequently asked questions with emphasis on the benefits of hosting this important conference both to the Commonwealth Parliamentarians and to Uganda were developed. The content was shared with the major media houses, which would then cascade it to the public, over and above what we had paid for. Another major task was developing the CPC conference website, which kept the delegates updated on the progress of the preparations, the registration process, the conference programme, accommodation and tourist attractions in the country. My Media Subcommittee was also charged with branding for the 64th CPC. With this, assistance to other Subcommittees was rendered to ensure there was consistency in the logo, design and colours used for all the conference materials. Empower the partners We preferred an editorial-led campaign from the onset. The media team engaged the major media houses, through one-onone meetings with their editorial managers. We ensured they
