Summit communications plan: before, during and after the event

A summit communications plan is a single document that says who you want to reach, what you want them to know, and what your team will publish before, during and after the event. It joins up the press office, social media, photography, video and the programme team, so they work from the same messages and the same timetable.

Start with objectives. The Barcelona Principles are the measurement standard of AMEC, the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication. The latest version, Barcelona Principles 4.0, was unveiled at AMEC's summit in Vienna in June 2025.² Its first principle says that setting clear, measurable objectives is a critical prerequisite for effective communication planning, and its second says that defining and understanding all stakeholder audiences is essential.¹

For a summit, a good objective is specific: for example, that ministers in the region know about a new commitment, or that partners can share three ready-made clips on the closing day.

Then choose three or four key messages. Every speech note, press release and caption should support at least one of them.

The before phase sets up everything the live team will rely on. Use it to prepare materials, people and permissions.

• Publish an event page with the date, venue, programme and a short summary. Google's event structured data guidance says each event needs its own unique URL with markup for that page. Google's event search feature is currently available only in some regions and languages, so treat the markup as a bonus, not the plan.³
• Build a media list and send a save-the-date to journalists, with the accreditation process and deadlines.
• Prepare speaker biographies, approved photos and a short background note on the issues.
• Draft the opening press release and any statements, and agree who signs them off.
• Brief photographers and videographers with a shot list and a programme marked with must-cover moments.
• Agree consent arrangements for any community members, young people or children taking part.

Foreign journalists covering an event in Rwanda can apply for media accreditation from the Rwanda Media Commission through IremboGov. Applicants need an IremboGov account, a passport-size photo, a copy of a press or service card and an application letter from their media house. IremboGov states a processing time of three days. When we checked in October 2026, it listed a fee of 30 US dollars for Rwandan correspondents of foreign media and EAC journalists, and 100 US dollars for other foreign journalists.⁴ Put these details, and a link to the service, in your media advisory early.

Accessibility is far cheaper to plan than to fix. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative advises planning for accessibility from the very start of a project, to save time and money.⁵ It explains that captions give people who are Deaf or hard of hearing a text version of the speech and non-speech audio information needed to understand the content.⁵

Automatic captions are a starting point, not a finished product. W3C states that automatically generated captions do not meet user needs or accessibility requirements unless they are confirmed to be fully accurate.⁶

For a summit in Kigali, this usually means:

• Captions on every video, checked by a person before publication.
• Slides and documents shared in advance in accessible formats.
• A plan for interpretation, and for how interpreters will appear in filmed content.
• Key materials in English and French, and in Kinyarwanda or Kiswahili when the audience needs them.

Write these needs into the brief and the supplier contracts, so nobody discovers them on the morning of the opening session.

The during phase is about speed and accuracy. Small, clear teams work better than large, loose ones. Name one person who approves content, and one deputy if they are on stage.

• A press officer who handles journalists, interview requests and the media room.
• A content lead who writes posts and short news items, and keeps the running list of quotes.
• Photographers who send selected images at set times during the day.
• A video team filming highlights and short speaker clips, with an editor working in a quiet room.
• A runner who collects consent forms and checks names and titles.

Set a rhythm: for example, a photo selection after each session block, a short news item at lunch and a summary at the end of each day. Fixed handover times are what make same-day highlight videos and image galleries possible.

Protect people as well as the schedule. Do not film or post images of children or vulnerable participants without informed consent and a clear reason.

The after phase is where many summits lose value. Delegates fly home, the team is tired, and the story stops. Plan the first two weeks after the summit as carefully as the opening day.

• Send a closing press release with the main outcomes and links to photos.
• Share a photo gallery and a highlight video with partners, with suggested captions.
• Publish speeches, communiqués or declarations on the event page.
• Turn the best sessions into short articles, clips and a summary report.
• Thank speakers and journalists, and send them their photos.

Then measure. Barcelona Principles 4.0 say that measurement and evaluation should report outputs, outcomes and impact, and that invalid measures such as advertising value equivalents (AVEs) should not be used.¹ The principles also call for both qualitative and quantitative analysis.¹ For a summit, outcomes might include new partner commitments, follow-up meetings or policy references, not only views and impressions.

Copy this outline into your own document and fill in each line.

• Objectives: two or three measurable aims for communications.
• Audiences: who must hear from us, ranked by importance.
• Key messages: no more than four, each in one sentence.
• Spokespeople: who speaks to media, on which topics, in which languages.
• Before: event page date, media advisory date, accreditation deadline, materials list.
• Before: shot list, consent plan, accessibility plan, branding check.
• During: team roles, approver and deputy, handover times, posting schedule.
• During: media room, interview slots, live stream details if any.
• After: closing release, gallery, highlight video, partner toolkit, report.
• Measurement: what outputs we will count, what outcomes and impact we will track, when we will report.
• Risks: what could go wrong, and who decides how we respond.

Keep the plan short enough that everyone reads it. Two to four pages is usually enough, with the detailed schedule in an annex.