Digital Diplomacy Bootcamp 2.0 organised by the Centre for European Perspective and supported by the U.S. Department of State kicked off today in Bled, Slovenia. PR representatives, communication officers and digital diplomats from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine and Slovenia gathered for a 4-day training »Enhancing Digital Diplomacy Activities in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe”.
The training covers theoretical and practical aspects of digital communications, digital journalism, story-telling, strategic communications planning, video-editing, photography and design. On Tuesday morning, participants were addressed by the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia Brent R. Hartley and President of Executive Board of the Centre for European Perspective Špela Lajmiš.
Communications theory, digital crisis communications and digital journalism were on the agenda of the first day of the training, while the second day brought challenging tasks for the participants – photography training, infographic/design training and camera training for comms professionals took participants to unexpected spots around Bled. Another challenge for the participants is digital campaign development.
Misinformation and successful identification and response to them were addressed by Matt Jacobs from the US Department of State. As a representative of the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms Miriam Morgan presented the social media strategy during the UN Security Council Seat campaign.
Third day of the training offered an insight into development of press/public affairs products with Jared Caplan, U.S. Department of State, London Regional Media Hub and Instagram training with Dayna Geldwert of Instagram.
Last day, taking place in Ljubljana was devoted to group work, simulations and presentations where the participants had to show their best and use the knowledge and skills acquired during the training. The concluding session and certificate ceremony were joined by Ambassador Brent R. Hartley, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia and Dr Gorazd Justinek, director of the Centre for European Perspective.
The training, hosted by CEP, is second of its kind, following the Digital Diplomacy Bootcamp conducted in November 2017 and represents an upgrade of an established cooperation between CEP and the U.S. Embassy in Ljubljana.
