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cover art for EP#126 Never backing away from the truth

GovComms: The Future of Government Communication

EP#126 Never backing away from the truth

In this GovComms episode your host, CEO and Founder of contentgroup, David Pembroke chats with Stephanie Speck, the Executive Director and Chief Comms Officer for the Department of Education & Training, Victoria.


The pair begin by discussing the topic of truth. How to encourage someone to speak the truth, why you should speak the truth and why your external perspective as a communications professional is valuable.


Stephanie shares where her journey began... in Papa New Guinea. She explains that "people are people are people anywhere in the world", that you are able to love all people, and that once you see the humanity in every person you meet, this is something that's very easy to do. This outlook on the world started her journey towards wanting to fix problems and issues she felt were unfair, inequitable or got in the way of people exercising their human rights.


David and Stephanie also touch on the battle between expediency and resilience.


"I think that really undervalues the strategic power of comms. Comms, if its about changing things, is a management tool. You use it to understand where your problems are... so you can move to a tactical perspective on where you want to be. " - Stephanie Speck.


Discussed in this Episode:

  • Changing the narrative through engaging with your audience online
  • Why you cant have a strategy without content anymore
  • You don’t need to know everything but you need to know people who do. 

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