Reporting, media and communications guidance

Regular reporting is an important requirement for projects funded under joint Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA), and non-DRFA programs like the Queensland Resilience and Risk Reduction Fund (QRRRF) or the Disaster Ready Fund (DRF).

Not only does your reporting provide transparency for stakeholders, keep projects on time and budget, and inform the design and delivery of future programs, it also helps you promote the recovery and resilience work being done in your community.

In addition to detailing project milestones, updating expenditure and financials, conducting audits and carrying out post-delivery evaluations, reporting also means developing materials and capturing content that can be used for public-facing communications– things like:

• Case studies
• Media releases
• Photos and video
• Data and statistics
• Imagery and mapping

To assist with this, it’s recommended you:

• Document the delivery process
  • Capture project milestones before, during and after delivery of a project. Identify successes, challenges, ongoing activities, and lessons learned through the recovery process. The more detail you get down, the more information you can draw on for required reporting and communications materials.
• Take photos and videos
  • Capture your project as it becomes a reality, no matter how ‘business as usual’ something may seem. Whether you’re demolishing old structures, laying surfaces, driving in pylons or cutting the final ribbon, photos and video of these activities allow you to properly record what’s going on.
• Talk about your work
  • It’s crucial communities are informed about the projects building local resilience and helping them recover from natural disasters. Provide continuous updates via your own channels and the media.
• Look at alternative ways to tell the story
  • While a traditional media release will always be valuable, there are many other styles and mediums you can lean on to talk about your work with your community. From case studies and blog posts to social media graphics, image slideshows or video reels, you should be looking to create a suite of content for every project you deliver.
• Follow the DRFA acknowledgement guidelines 
  • When a project has been funded through Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA), this support needs to be acknowledged in any materials developed for the public, including content like case studies, media releases and social media posts. For direction on this, please visit the QRA media and public acknowledgement requirements webpage.

Photo and video tips

• Make sure your images and video are high-res
  • To best project the work being delivered, it’s vital images or video captured are high resolution. This means:
    • For images: suitable photo size is usually around 1MB or greater.
    • For video: resolution of 1080p, which is considered HD quality.
• iPhone quality at a minimum
  • DSLR cameras are excellent, but if you don’t have one there’s no need for concern. Almost everyone has a serviceable camera in their pocket. iPhones or Android devices shoot at the required resolution without the need to zoom, and have plenty of features for basic editing.
• Capture a variety of content, from start to finish
  • For many projects, being able to visually present the before and after is one of the most impactful ways to give your investment exposure. Take photos and videos throughout the entire process and get creative looking for different angles and perspectives.
• Taking pictures of people
  • Whether on the worksite or in a workshop environment, featuring people in your pics is a quick way to make things more dynamic. Mix set and candid images, utilise burst or continuous mode to get the best shot, and be mindful of light and shadows on faces when outside.
• Sharing content
  • To ensure the highest quality content is submitted, always share files at full size and don’t copy and paste into a document or email. Ideally use a file sharing service such as Dropbox or Google Drive, which allows you to upload your content online and distribute it via a URL.

Case study tips

• Paint the picture
  • Frame your case study from the outset: the who, the where, the what, the why. Put all the reference points in place early so you can get on with telling the story.
• Dive into the detail
  • Case studies are an opportunity to dig deeper into an interesting part of a project, an angle that may be too niche or technical for a media release or social post. If you think it’s unique, it’s worth talking about.
• Showcase the benefits
  • By clearly explaining the reasoning behind the work, how it will help the community, and the end result achieved, you’ll drive home the value of your investment.
• Quotes to strengthen case
  • Although not essential, quotes can give more substance to a case study. These could be obtained from a contractor or subject matter expert, or someone locally whose life has improved because of the project.
• Image captions and credits
  • Accompanying images should have a brief caption that summaries the photo. Please also credit images as required, in particular if the shots have been taken by an external source (e.g. a contractor).

Media release tips

• Grab attention from the get-go
  • Headline and lead-in paragraphs are often your only opportunity to capture the attention of a media outlet. Make sure the content is snappy and features the main hook of the story.
• Keep paragraphs short and succinct
  • Long sentences lose the attention of the reader. They also make it harder for journalists to gather the information they need. The tighter the text the better, so if a word doesn’t need to be there, cut it.
• Strong quotes for publication
  • If you have impactful quotes in your media release, you’re more likely to get a larger run in a publication. Ideally, your quotes will be strong enough that outlets can drop them into their stories as full paragraphs.
• Give all stakeholders a voice
  • Recovery and resilience projects are often the sum of many parts, from both a project delivery and funding sense. Always make sure the key stakeholders have been invited to contribute quotes to your release.
• State the facts
  • While quotes provide colour to a media release, project background and details give it weight. In addition to standard paragraphs, dot points can often be a good way to present the facts fast.

Content examples

• Case study (published on QRA website)
• Media release (published on Queensland Government media statements website - external link)
• Image (published on QRA Facebook - external link)
• Video (published on QRA Facebook - external link)

Templates