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

Welcome & Introduction Professor Matthew Flinders Chair, Political Studies Association

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

Specialist Group Funding Helena Djurkovic 4 th December 2014

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%

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

Change in Membership of Specialist Group

Change in Entitlement £

Change in PSA Members

Growth in Total Membership

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

Specialist Group Handbook

Changes to the “Specialist Activities Funding Competition”

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

Key Dates For SGs 2014  Tuesday 9th Dec – PSA will write to all SGs (via ) regarding End of Year Reports and financial arrangements for  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).

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

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

Communication E-Newsletter to members every 3 weeks

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

Events and Activity Parliament Week Re-launch of Group

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

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

THANK YOU E: E: #ParliamentsPSA

Online Communications Jamie Ralph Communications Officer James Ludley Programme Development Officer

Updates to the Specialist Group pages on PSA website

Specialist Group’s Officers

Other Website Guides/ Developments?

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

AND - #ParliamentsPSA

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”. the official PSA account has 4,350 followers.  At this conference in 2012, we had 1,250 followers.

Twitter Tips  When deciding on a Twitter username – remember to use PSA in your handle. (French Politics) (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.

Engagement  Tweets with images and hashtags always perform better than tweets without.  Consider tagging (“cc” on Twitter) the PSA 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.

PSA Specialist Group List Assoc/lists/psa-specialist- groups Assoc/lists/psa-specialist- groups

 “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!

Assoc/

Jamie Ralph

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

“Scotland Deliberates”

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

What Happens Next? James Ludley Programme Development Officer

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