I spoke today at a special workshop for global health communicators hosted by the World Health Organization and the Pan-American Health Organization (in their iconic Washington, D.C. building on 21st Street). There were some important ideas presented about how people today – whether here in the U.S. or in countries around the world – are accessing information and want to engage with large organizations on issues related to health (and the photo here is of some notes I took).
I was struck by the presentation by a colleague from the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure/Global Health Alliance. She talked about the need to communicate in a smart way about health issues so that policymakers and practitioners (the people on the ground, doing the work, who are experts in their field) are moving toward the same goal. At the end of her presentation she reminded the group “it’s about lives and it’s about health.” I admire this kind of focus on the core mission and the reminder about why marketing/PR or communications plans exist…
We as a group also dissected CNN’s new mobile app for the iPad (screenshot below) as a way to look at how news stories and issues are blended together for the modern information consumer as a mosaic, not a set of lists. I think this is the way of the future and is a visual reminder of how our minds process images and ideas. We don’t always look for a list, but we always respond to a mosaic. This is something I will be thinking about in the upcoming weeks and I welcome any thoughts.
Special kudos to my friends Christy Feig and Dan Epstein for a great program, and thanks for pulling together such an interesting group of people…
