#kk16: A lot of inspiration and exchange

September 23, 2016 - Whether internal communication, crisis PR or the organization in newsrooms – the Kommunikationskongress 2016 (communications congress in Berlin) trumped with many exciting case studies and discussions. This year’s key theme “collaboration” brought (cross-divisional) cooperation to the fore of the event. Even though this unquestionably is a precondition for successful communication, the lectures and workshops showed that it often cannot be transferred into practice easily. Matching this, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales dedicated his keynote to the topic “Why collaborative thinking revolutionizes our organizations” and gave spokespeople the advice to treat Wikipedians like journalists. However, the stars of the first day were police spokesman Marcus da Gloria Martins and his colleagues, who were awarded a special prize for their trustworthy communication around the rampage in Munich and rewarded with standing ovations by the audience. (In an interview with the magazine pressesprecher, da Gloria Martins gives more insights in the communication during the rampage.)
Prof. Dr. Helbing from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich started off the second day of the communications congress with a thought-provoking lecture on the digital era and its effects on the society. He identified it as the communicators’ task to research and disclose facts until one hits the truth. After this food for thought, the congress continued with creative campaigns and stimulating exchange among colleagues so that time flew by. The final discourse was – as always – the retrospective on the media year. With incidents such as the Böhmermann case, New Year’s Eve in Cologne or the rampage in Munich, there were many difficult topics, on which the media representatives looked back in a self-critical but still humorous way. A worthy ending for the Kommunikationskongress 2016, which we leave with many new ideas in our minds.