Institutional Communication Course

Lesson 1 • Stakeholder Mapping and Audience Analysis

Identifies primary and secondary stakeholders and their communication needs. Connects audience awareness to message design throughout the course.

Lesson 2 • Defining Institutional Communication

Clarifies what distinguishes institutional from personal or commercial communication. Sets the conceptual baseline for all subsequent course content.

Lesson 3 • Institutional Identity and Voice

Explores how mission, values, and culture shape an institution's communicative identity. Grounds message consistency principles introduced in later chapters.

Lesson 4 • Ethical Principles in Institutional Communication

Introduces transparency, accountability, and honesty as non-negotiable communication standards. Establishes the ethical lens applied throughout the entire course.

Lesson 1 • Timelines, Budgets, and Responsibility Matrices

Translates strategic decisions into actionable schedules, cost estimates, and role assignments. Completes the operational layer of a full communication plan.

Lesson 2 • Environmental Scanning and Situation Analysis

Applies internal and external analysis tools to assess the communication landscape. Informs strategic choices made throughout the planning process.

Lesson 3 • Setting Communication Goals and Objectives

Distinguishes broad goals from measurable objectives using established goal-setting frameworks. Anchors planning decisions to institutional priorities established in Chapter 1.

Lesson 4 • Message Architecture and Key Messages

Structures core messages and supporting points into a coherent, hierarchical framework. Ensures message clarity and consistency across all planned outputs.

Lesson 1 • Official Correspondence and Memoranda

Covers structure, tone, and protocol for letters, memos, and formal notices. Connects written formality to institutional identity and stakeholder expectations.

Lesson 2 • Institutional Storytelling and Narrative Writing

Applies narrative techniques to institutional contexts such as annual reports and impact stories. Bridges factual reporting with emotionally resonant communication.

Lesson 3 • Editing, Review, and Approval Workflows

Establishes quality control processes for institutional documents before publication. Reinforces accountability and accuracy standards introduced in the ethics section.

Lesson 4 • Principles of Institutional Writing Style

Establishes clarity, concision, and formality standards specific to institutional writing. Provides the stylistic foundation for all written formats covered in this chapter.

Lesson 1 • Question Handling and Impromptu Speaking

Prepares communicators to respond clearly and credibly under pressure. Builds resilience for unscripted institutional communication scenarios.

Lesson 2 • Facilitating Meetings and Workshops

Teaches structured facilitation techniques for productive institutional meetings. Extends verbal communication skills to interactive group settings.

Lesson 3 • Briefing Senior Leadership and Boards

Develops skills for concise, high-stakes verbal briefings to decision-makers. Addresses the unique communication dynamics of hierarchical institutional settings.

Lesson 4 • Principles of Effective Public Speaking

Covers vocal delivery, body language, and audience engagement for formal institutional settings. Establishes the performance baseline for all presentational work in this chapter.

Lesson 1 • Community Management and Online Engagement

Covers protocols for responding to comments, inquiries, and criticism in digital spaces. Connects stakeholder engagement principles to real-time online interaction.

Lesson 2 • Social Media Strategy and Governance

Establishes policy frameworks and strategic approaches for institutional social media use. Addresses risk management and brand consistency across platforms.

Lesson 3 • Digital Communication Landscape for Institutions

Maps the digital ecosystem relevant to institutional communicators, including owned, earned, and paid channels. Contextualises digital strategy within the broader communication plan from Chapter 2.

Lesson 4 • Content Creation for Digital Platforms

Develops skills for producing platform-appropriate content that maintains institutional standards. Applies writing and storytelling skills from Chapter 3 to digital formats.

Lesson 1 • Crafting Press Releases and Media Kits

Teaches the structure and writing conventions of core media relations documents. Applies institutional writing skills from Chapter 3 to journalism-facing formats.

Lesson 2 • Spokesperson Training and Media Interviews

Prepares institutional representatives for print, broadcast, and online interviews. Integrates verbal communication skills from Chapter 4 with media-specific techniques.

Lesson 3 • Proactive and Reactive Media Engagement

Distinguishes between pitching stories and responding to media inquiries. Develops judgment for when and how to engage journalists on institutional matters.

Lesson 4 • Public Affairs and Government Relations

Covers communication with legislative bodies, regulatory agencies, and public officials. Extends media relations skills to formal public sector engagement contexts.

Lesson 1 • Responding in the First 24 Hours

Covers the critical initial response window when institutional credibility is most at risk. Applies spokesperson and media skills from Chapters 4 and 6 under crisis conditions.

Lesson 2 • Crisis Typology and Risk Assessment

Categorises institutional crises by type, severity, and likelihood to enable proactive planning. Builds on environmental scanning skills from Chapter 2.

Lesson 3 • Post-Crisis Recovery and Reputation Repair

Guides institutions through rebuilding trust and credibility after a crisis concludes. Connects recovery communication to long-term reputation management strategy.

Lesson 4 • Crisis Communication Planning

Develops pre-crisis protocols, response teams, and communication templates. Extends strategic planning skills from Chapter 2 to high-pressure scenarios.

Lesson 1 • Research Methods for Communication Evaluation

Introduces primary and secondary research tools used to gather communication performance data. Builds methodological literacy needed to design credible evaluation studies.

Lesson 2 • Principles of Communication Measurement

Establishes why and how communication outcomes should be measured against stated objectives. Connects evaluation directly to the goal-setting framework introduced in Chapter 2.

Lesson 3 • Analysing and Interpreting Communication Data

Develops skills for drawing meaningful conclusions from mixed communication data sets. Prepares students to translate findings into actionable recommendations.

Lesson 4 • Designing a Communication Evaluation Framework

Guides students through building a structured, multi-level evaluation plan for a communication program. Synthesizes measurement principles and research methods into a practical tool.