Matt is a strategic communicator and manager with extensive skills and experience in public service communications. With a proven track record of developing and implementing strategies, providing counsel to senior leaders, managing busy teams, campaigns, as well as crisis and reputation management. Since joining the LGA as Head of Communications Improvement, Matt has worked to establish the LGA’s communications improvement programme, delivering strategic support to more than 100 councils since 2015.

Communicating Through Political Change

Local government is undergoing its most significant structural transformation in over 50 years, bringing major implications for communications teams and the wider public sector. Alongside this, the sector is also experiencing substantial political shifts.
This workshop will explore how to navigate these changes and how communications teams can adapt their strategies to align with evolving priorities and expectations. It will cover how to build and nurture new relationships, thrive in uncertain environments, and develop political awareness, particularly at the officer/member interface.

The session will also unveil the latest results from the LGA Heads of Communication Survey, offering insight into the concerns, priorities, and aspirations of communications leaders across the country.

Lucy is the Marketing and Campaigns Manager at the Local Government Association. Lucy has over 15 years of PR, communications and marketing experience in both the public and charity sectors – nearly 10 of which were spent at her local district council, Wealden in East Sussex. Lucy champions the use of behavioural insights to shape strategy, deliver impactful campaigns, and respond with confidence in times of challenge.

Lucy is a former committee member of the CIPR Crisis Communications Network and has volunteered her professional skills and experience to charities such as Talking Mental Health. Lucy has previously spoken at the Digital Excellence Conference and has facilitated sessions at Commscamp North in Bradford and Commscamp Scotland on topics such as social media strategy and engagement, and artificial intelligence.

Communicating Through Political Change

Local government is undergoing its most significant structural transformation in over 50 years, bringing major implications for communications teams and the wider public sector. Alongside this, the sector is also experiencing substantial political shifts.
This workshop will explore how to navigate these changes and how communications teams can adapt their strategies to align with evolving priorities and expectations. It will cover how to build and nurture new relationships, thrive in uncertain environments, and develop political awareness, particularly at the officer/member interface.

The session will also unveil the latest results from the LGA Heads of Communication Survey, offering insight into the concerns, priorities, and aspirations of communications leaders across the country.

Her service area, which comprises five teams, offers strategic comms, marketing and corporate affairs support to the Metro Mayor, Chief Executive, senior management team and the region’s Cabinet.

Prior to this role, Camilla has spent the last six years leading Liverpool City Council’s Communications and Engagement function. During that period, she led the strategic communications for Eurovision 2023, dubbed the best event in Eurovision history. Her team won the Gold PR Moment In-House Team Of The Year award; were part of the team that won the LGC Large Team of the Year award and were also Highly Commended in The MJ Best Council Services Team Of The Year category.

In addition to Eurovision, Camilla was the strategic comms and engagement lead for many pioneering initiatives during the Covid pandemic: the lateral flow community testing and the re-opening of events such as music festivals, nightclubs and conferences.

Camilla is an experienced Local Government peer reviewer and enjoys supporting other teams, helping to advise on their strategic and tactical Comms work.

In addition to strategic comms skills, Camilla has vast journalistic experience. 20 years spent running flagship, national TV newsrooms across both BBC News and ITV News. Experience too as a Senior Media Consultant, launching key shows for Euronews, in collaboration with the US-network NBC.

In 2018, Camilla was nominated for a BAFTA for her news programme’s coverage of the Grenfell Fire disaster.

Outside of work, Camilla is the Co Vice-Chair at the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres. In addition, she is a board member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Panel Discussion

The Digital Divide: The role of technology in forging stronger, more resilient communities

Chris is Deputy Head of Digital at DEFRA, where he leads digital strategy and delivery for the department’s Operational and Local Communications teams. With more than a decade of experience in public sector communications, Chris has built deep expertise in digital engagement, transformation, and crisis communications.

Before joining DEFRA in 2019, he spent seven years at the Environment Agency as a Digital Engagement Business Partner and Regional Communications Manager, where he helped shape digital approaches to stakeholder engagement and public information, and gained extensive experience in crisis communications during major environmental events.

Chris is passionate about using digital tools and insight to improve how government connects with communities and responds to fast‑moving issues.

Panel Discussion

The Digital Divide: The role of technology in forging stronger, more resilient communities

For nearly ten years, Sam has worked in NHS communications, managing a range of campaigns and media projects. Based at The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, the country’s only specialist neurosciences hospital, in Liverpool, he is experienced in proactive, reactive, crisis, internal and external communications.

His role as Senior External Communications Officer involves a range of responsibilities, primarily public relations and social media. Previous to working in the NHS, Sam was a Broadcast Journalist with BBC local radio.

Looking Back to Look Forward

See how The Walton Centre’s small but mighty communications team delves into their past social media to inspire future campaigns and optimise engagement. In this session, we will explore how flexibility and adaptability, gathered over the years, can be applied to meet targets.

Patrick is the Social Media lead within the Digital Public Contact programme. With 15 years of experience in the police contact centre environment, Patrick now supports police to professionalise their social media approach, to help provide the public with new ways to engage digitally with their local police service.

2025: What’s changed in police social media?

The session will explore early findings from the national public social media public survey, which the public responded to emphatically with over 60,000 responses this summer. Drawing from these insights, we will also look at how the use of police social media channels has changed in the last year and, as a group, consider what to expect in the year ahead.

With nearly a decade of experience at Orlo, Sara leads on product UX and UI across the platform. She works closely with customers in the public sector, focusing on designing intuitive, accessible tools that solve real-world problems – from social media management to community engagement and analytics. Her approach blends user-centred design with close collaboration across public sector teams, ensuring every solution reflects real needs and day-to-day challenges.

Product Showcase: How to harness the voice of your communities

Ever wondered how to keep on top of inbox messages, surveys, and social listening without five different tools? In this session, we’ll showcase how our new Voice of the Community solution brings it all together to give public sector teams clarity, insight & confidence in decision-making.

Lizzie Conway is a seasoned communications and engagement professional with over 11 years’ experience working in the social housing sector. As Communications Team Leader, she’s driven a transformation in how the organisation connects with its tenants, moving from purely broadcast messaging to a model built on listening, authenticity, and community involvement.

Lizzie started as a one-person team, managing everything from websites and newsletters to internal communications and social media. Today, she leads a growing team, championing initiatives like “So what?”, Voice of the Community, and Tell Us Tuesdays, all designed to make sure tenant voices are heard and service delivery is better informed by lived experience.

So What? How one simple question has transformed the way that Valleys to Coast approach their Community Engagement strategy

This session explores how one simple question, “So what?” has transformed Valleys to Coast’s approach to social media engagement. Lizzie will share how the organisation moved from one-way broadcasting to authentic two-way conversations with customers.

The session also covers how Valleys to Coast embeds listening into their wider culture through initiatives like Tell Us Tuesdays, where customer feedback directly informs action.

Attendees will leave with simple, actionable tips to make their communications more authentic, people-focused, and trusted.

Having worked in public sector communications, engagement, and marketing for over 15 years, Helena has bags of experience in leadership, strategic, and tactical comms with real impact. Known for her creativity, enthusiasm, and love of learning, she now leads Orlo’s marketing team, and is focused on building strong community connections to help people deliver comms that make a difference.

Panel Discussion

The Digital Divide: The role of technology in forging stronger, more resilient communities