Effective public affairs is not about making noise — it is about understanding the political mechanics that determine your organisation’s operating environment and engaging with them strategically. This two-day course builds a step-by-step approach to designing a government relations strategy: from political landscape analysis and stakeholder mapping through to lobbying techniques and programme execution.
Principles of public affairs and government relations, strategic programme design, stakeholder analysis and management, lobbying techniques and execution.
Every session runs in a small, boardroom-format group — typically six to eight senior professionals. Your trainer tailors content to the specific industries, organisations and challenges each participant brings, so you work on real situations, not generic examples. The learning combines evidence-based best practice briefings with structured discussions, practical workshops and peer learning. This is training with a coaching and consulting flavour — focused on building skills and producing outputs you can apply in your work immediately.
- Analyse the political landscape and power structures that shape your operating environment
- Produce a situation analysis that identifies threats, opportunities and engagement points
- Design a government relations strategy with clear objectives and engagement plan
- Apply stakeholder analysis and evaluation tools to prioritise engagement
- Identify how, where and when to engage in the policy and legislative process
- Execute the main public affairs and lobbying techniques effectively
- Develop an issues and stakeholder management plan for ongoing public affairs
- Evaluate the impact of public affairs activities and adjust strategy accordingly
- Understanding the origins of public affairs and government relations
- What public affairs and government relations can achieve
- Introducing public affairs and government relations activities
- Evaluating the threats and opportunities of acting and not acting
- Learning the components of a public affairs and government relations strategy
- Identifying objectives and goals, stakeholders and key messages
- Measuring success
- Identifying, categorising and evaluating stakeholders
- Understanding what and how they think
- Identifying and researching political targets
- Mapping relationships with your stakeholders
- Understanding government influences on the policy agenda
- Evaluating sources of available intelligence
- Understanding the policy development cycle
- Understanding the fundamentals of strong messaging
- Creating messages for your organisation
- Using message development tools to focus on stakeholders' needs
- Aligning interests of your organisation with your stakeholders
- Understanding how to position your organisational goals with the public interest
- Providing proof to make messages credible
- Understanding the power of framing messages
- Using language techniques to amplify the power of your message
- Putting a narrative and values in to your message
- Evaluating the effectiveness of different communications channels
- Harnessing new media and social media
- Understanding channel segmentation to maximise the impact of communications
Anyone tasked with developing a public affairs or government relations strategy, whether in-house, in an agency or in a government-facing advisory role. Particularly relevant for professionals entering a new political jurisdiction or market.
The following are some of the ISOC trainers who regularly lead this course, depending whether you join us in London, Dubai or live online.
The two days build progressively, with each module combining briefing, discussion and practical exercises. The small-group format ensures every participant gets individual attention.
Nothing specific is required. If you have a current project or challenge relevant to the course topic, bring it along — the practical exercises can incorporate real-world contexts.
The course is designed for professionals with some existing knowledge who want to deepen their strategic capability. If you are starting from scratch, contact us and we can advise on the best starting point.
This course focuses on strategy design: landscape analysis, stakeholder mapping and programme architecture. Implementing a Public Affairs Campaign focuses on execution: the tools, tactics and management of a live advocacy programme.