Workshop on government relations aims to help student leaders at McMaster

February 23, 2011 – The McMaster Health Forum Student Subcommittee has organized an exclusive workshop aimed at helping student leaders on campus learn to effectively interact with government officials.

The workshop on March 2 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., entitled Government Relations: How to Get Noticed, will provide a step-by-step guide to help students get an issue onto a government agenda. It will be held in the Forum’s DialogueSpace on the fourth floor of Mills Memorial Library.

The interactive workshop will be conducted by Andrea Burton, a consultant with more than a decade of experience in strategic communications and public and media relations. She will show participants how to develop a strategy to get their message noticed, how to determine their target audience, how to frame the message, and what communications tools to utilize to garner the attention of influential leaders.

She will use concrete examples to demonstrate the various steps involved in effective strategies that achieve the desired results. The information she provides will be useful for many subjects, and will include skills that can be transferred to dealing with organizations other than governments.

The workshop has been designed to appeal to leaders of a wide variety of social issues student groups at McMaster University.

The event has been organized under the supervision of Steven Hoffman, an adjunct faculty with the Forum who teaches the Global Health Advocacy course, and with the support of McMaster’s Bachelor of Health Sciences program.

Burton, who lives in Vancouver, has a proven track record in communications strategies. She most recently worked as communications director for the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, and prior to that was a writer and policy analyst with the Government of British Columbia. Her practical experience includes writing speeches for Canadian prime ministers and members of the British Royal Family. She is now a highly sought-after consultant and an owner of Monkeytree Creative Inc., a company specializing in communications, knowledge exchange and marketing.

The workshop is available by-invitation only, but a small number of spots for the workshop are available to those who have not received a personal email invitation, and are interested in attending. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to inquire if you can register directly.

To view a poster for the event, click here.