PRWeek TV: Lobbyists advise 'light touch' at party conferences

This week’s PRWeek podcast sees Insight Public Affairs MD John Lehal and Lansons Communications director Ralph Jackson debating the importance of the party conferences to public affairs practitioners, following a PRWeek analysis.

Jackson said: ‘Do you get value out of fringe meetings? Yes, sometimes there might be the little titbit of knowledge you might get and if you weren’t there you might miss that. But can you pick up things elsewhere throughout the year? Yes of course you can… its just part of a yearly cycle of activity.’

However, Lehal pointed out that the LibDem event can still represent a useful way to influence LibDem policy as it contains a working policy development conference.

Lehal said: ‘It’s worthwhile, if you’re an NGO particularly, thinking about how you can get your messages and campaign goals incorporated into those resolutions in the hope they will then be translated into policy by the government in due course.’