In this course, we take you back to ancient Greece, specifically to Aristotelean rhetorical appeals. These appeals remain to this day the building blocks of a persuasive argument.

But in order to use them effectively, you need to layer in the much more modern skillset of the strategic communications professional. That means a focus on SMART objectives, audience segmentation and insight, and framing.

The course is led by Jamie Horton, Lead Consultant at Cast from Clay. Jamie has advised dozens of foundations and civil society organisations in the UK and internationally on strategic communications, advocacy and positioning. These include E3G, Ocean Energy Pathway, EAT Forum, the Centre for Future Generations, and the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology.

Course outcomes

By the end of this course, you will:

• Know how to write a SMART objective, and understand how to create audience segmentations that are useful

• Be able to construct an argument that uses all of Aristotle’s persuasion methods—and know what each is good for

• Understand issue framing: what it is good for, how to do it, and what the signs are that it hasn’t been done properly

Who this course is for

This course is designed for anyone who wants to understand the key elements of strategic communications in the policy domain. It does not require any pre-existing knowledge, though you will get more out of the course if you are currently working in policy communications.

Course structure & commitment required

This is a 5-week course. There are 5 online modules to work through, each with a mix of content and exercises for you to complete (each module is approximately 2 hours work).

There are three live, one-hour teaching sessions as part of this course, designed to consolidate learning, explore real examples and facilitate discussion.

• Thursday 16th April, 14:00-15:00 UK

• Thursday 30th April, 14:00-15:00 UK

• Thursday 14th May, 14:00-15:00 UK