1. Specialist Group Convenors’ Conference 2014 4 th December 2014 University College London, Chandler House

2. Welcome & Introduction Professor Matthew Flinders Chair, Political Studies Association

3. Financial, Administrative and Membership Update for Specialist Groups Helena Djurkovic Professor Paul Carmichael James Ludley

4. Specialist Group Funding Helena Djurkovic 4 th December 2014

5. Recent Changes to Funding Formula Maximum Entitlement 2013:At discretion of PSA trustee responsible for specialist groups 2014:£300 + £10 per PSA member % PSA 2015:£200 + £7.50 per PSA member <50% £200 + £10 per PSA member51-70% £200 + £17.50 per PSA member71-90% £200 + £25 per PSA member>90%

6. Change in Membership of Specialist Groups 2013-2014 * Only for groups reporting figures in both 2013 and 2014; total SG membership in 2014 = 5,052

7. Change in Membership of Specialist Group 2013-2014

8. Change in Entitlement 2014-2015 £

10. Change in PSA Members 2013-2014

11. Growth in Total Membership 2013-2014

12. 17 72 Summary of Changes in Group Profiles 15 Number of Members % PSA Members Increase Decrease

13. Specialist Group Handbook

14. Changes to the “Specialist Activities Funding Competition”

15. Pushing the Boundaries Funding Competition for 2015 A new annual Pushing The Boundaries Funding Competition offers groups the opportunity to bid for additional funding of up to £2,000 for special events and activities beyond their regular programme of activity. Entries are judged according to their:  Originality  Specialist nature  How detailed and well costed they are  Wider appeal and potential for PSA recruitment

16. Key Dates For SGs 2014  Tuesday 9th Dec – PSA will write to all SGs (via e-mail) regarding End of Year Reports and financial arrangements for 2015. 2015  Monday 19th Jan - APPLICATION DEADLINE for Core Funding and Pushing The Boundaries Competition. All End of Year Reports to be sent directly to PSA HQ.  Friday 30th Jan - Applications to be ratified formally by the PSA Executive along with award amounts.  2nd February - Letter to the SGs with their award details both for Core Funding and other funding streams (if applicable).

17. Best Practice 1: Reinvigorating a Specialist Group’s activities Dr Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Dr Louise Thompson Co-Convenors Parliaments and Legislatures Specialist Group

18. Membership From 73 Members (Feb)…. To 167 (Dec) Dissemination through other SGs and relevant audiences/groups Using PSA newsletter/communication tools Social media Dissemination through other SGs and relevant audiences/groups Using PSA newsletter/communication tools Social media

19. Communication E-Newsletter to members every 3 weeks

20. Funding Utilising inactive funding strategically Mid-term funding review Partnering up with others

21. Events and Activity Parliament Week Re-launch of Group

22. Future Events and Activity Three panels, PSA conference Sponsored Reception, PSA conference Essay competition Dialogue with Parliament Data

23. Strategy Working as a team Dividing tasks (treasurer / communications) Working closely with the PSA Forging partnerships

24. THANK YOU E: C.C.Leston-Bandeira@hull.ac.uk, Tw: @estrangeirada E: Louise.Thompson@surrey.ac.uk, Tw: @LouiseVThompson #ParliamentsPSA

25. Online Communications Jamie Ralph Communications Officer James Ludley Programme Development Officer

26. Updates to the Specialist Group pages on PSA website

27. Specialist Group’s Officers

28. Other Website Guides/ Developments?

29. Improving communications through social media / online forums  Twitter – the most popular social media tool for keeping in touch with SG members.

30. AND - #ParliamentsPSA

31. Tweets, Retweets & Hashtags  PSA are happy to assist SGs with setting up a Twitter account.  We can help you get your account off the ground and assist you in getting your first few “followers”.  @PolStudiesAssoc, the official PSA account has 4,350 followers.  At this conference in 2012, we had 1,250 followers.

32. Twitter Tips  When deciding on a Twitter username – remember to use PSA in your handle. eg @PSAFrPol (French Politics) or @PSACPM (Corruption and Political Misconduct)  If tweeting about an event that you are running, always create a “hashtag” as tweets can then be organised and are easier to access. Make sure your hashtag is unique and doesn’t refer to another unrelated event.  Less is more – abbreviate your username and hashtags as tweets are limited to 140 characters.

33. Engagement  Tweets with images and hashtags always perform better than tweets without.  Consider tagging (“cc” on Twitter) the PSA account @PolStudiesAssoc on your tweets if you want to alert us to your activities.  What to tweet? What would be interest to your members. Think news, call for papers, articles, conferences, events, opportunities.

34. PSA Specialist Group List https://twitter.com/PolStudies Assoc/lists/psa-specialist- groups https://twitter.com/PolStudies Assoc/lists/psa-specialist- groups

35.  “Social Storytelling”  A user-friendly, interactive and fun way of reporting on an event using social media and web content.  Collate and present ‘what happened’ using tweets, images, webpages, text… anything!

36. https://storify.com/PolStudies Assoc/

37. Jamie Ralph jamie.ralph@psa.ac.uk

38. Best Practice 2: “Scotland Deliberates” – an online discussion Dr Alfred Moore, Co-Convenor Participatory & Deliberative Democracy Specialist Group

40. “Scotland Deliberates”

42. Best Practice 3: Other examples from other Groups – what else is working well? Discussion from the floor..

43. What Happens Next? James Ludley Programme Development Officer

44. What Happens Next?  End of Year Reports – Excel  “Specialist Group of The Year”  2015 Events – PSA support  Postgraduate Recruitment  PSA Annual Conference: A. “Meet the Convenors” B. Specialist Group Directory