From HTML Headaches to Reels: My First Semester at Trinity’s School of Law
Summer 2025 marked a turn in my professional journey. I stepped into the role of Communication Officer for the School of Law at Trinity College Dublin, leading me to come back to sharpening the skills I learned during my master degree and changing my usual administrative officer routine. It has been an enriching semester where I have developed and learned a lot of new skills, including webpage content hierarchy, HTML language, Terminal 4 and cross-promotion for the school’s website migration, and experimenting with new designs using the Adobe Suite.
Looking back at the last six months, it wasn’t just about “doing the job”. It was about understanding and trying to redefine how the School communicates with its audience, both online and in person and there is still a lot to be done and I am glad to do so. Here is a look behind the scenes at a few of the things that were accomplished during my first term as a communication Officer.
The “Invisible” Work: A Website Migration
When I arrived, the School’s website was managed through Dreamweaver. While I have experience in website construction, discovering the customized HTML code used by the school and software was… an adventure. The code was really interesting to learn but it was hard especially since the information about this internal dedicated code was spread around different places and replaced little by little with the new university template information.
I knew a big part of my new role would be to migrate fully to the new Terminal 4 (T4) platform. This was a massive job that required a complete content purge; in fact some content that were already on the new terminal 4 were outdated themselves because it started so long ago. We had to ensure we went live with only core, accurate information.
In the meantime, I was still updating the old website with events, news, information about the programme to take care of.
One of the hardest parts of this job was communicating progress to my colleagues. Working on a new website means the hard work is invisible to everyone until the “switch” is flipped and the new website goes live. It was a tough period of explaining, “It will look like this, I promise,” while the site remained unchanged for them.
During this time, I also had to learn how T4 works, as well as the news process due to the implementation in the new website of the Trumba calendar system. Terminal 4 is quite different from Dreamweaver as one is locally hosted and really HTML code oriented whereas the new one is remote and more oriented towards content building. I owe a massive “merci” to my colleague in IT Services, whose weekly meetings helped me navigate the layout constraints. The result was a smooth go-live in December, providing us with a clean foundation for the new year.
Law website : Before vs After
Discover the full School of Law website here.
Rediscovering Social Media and Event Management
Even with the migration underway, it was still a busy semester in the school in terms of events. Thus, I was able to return to my “old love”: Social Media, Event Promotion and design creation. I worked closely with our new Events Officer to navigate the world of academics. As we both started this summer, we had to learn how to collaborate while also defining our individual roles.
Here is a breakdown of four events that defined my semester and the insights they provided.
1. Re-forming Law Reform (50th Anniversary)
This event was a day-long academic conference in Trinity College to mark its 50th Anniversary, the Law Reform Commission of Ireland. It was partnering with one of the school of Law research groups, Trinity Centre for Constitutional Governance (TriCON). The main goal was to discuss the history and future of law reform.
- How it went:
Honestly? A bit messy. This was our first event in the role with my colleague. We discovered how the room works, how it will be to receive the café and the food, and the attendance. I was also stressed as it was my first event in the role. - The Lesson:
Despite the initial chaos, I learnt a lot for this event: what document we should have on the day and how many (for example QR code for letting people access to the abstract paper of the conference, programme).
Even if the power point were correctly organised I thought of a way to make it smoother for the next event, same with the microphone for the Q&A session.
Trying to make good picture and also manage the time for the live tweet/ instagram story while still being able to help.
I want to flag that in the rush a piece of the title was missed on the programme document which is something I am now really careful about. - Event Promotion:
It was the first time that I used all the Trinity College canals and it was the first event we organise and we did not have that much data about how were the event in term of turnover but we had at least 60 people signed up for the event. - LinkedIn Data :
This was a real masterclass in pre-communication. I used Trinity’s internal communication tools more effectively and strategically. The event webpage was also better organised to promote other upcoming events, by placing several events together to encourage more clicks and cross-traffic.
LinkedIn Data
* the X showcase the event publication
2. Irish Supreme Court Review (ISCR)
A forum hosted annually by the School of Law at Trinity College Dublin. It was a full day of analysis on the functions and jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Ireland. This conference reflected on the role of the Supreme Court, especially as it debates matters with other international and apex courts.
- How it went:
The event went well, people were happy and the room was full. I was more organised this time and felt much more comfortable in the role. I managed to prepare better posts and even create small montages from my phone before posting them live. - The Lesson:
This event showed me how much smoother everything can be when I am properly prepared. Creating the PowerPoint altogether by session really helped the speakers and made the flow of the day much smoother.
I also learnt to manage my time better during the event, which allowed me to create collages on Canva during the live sessions.
The Q&A session was well organised, which made the discussions more fluid and engaging for the audience. - Event Promotion:
This was a real masterclass in pre-communication. I used Trinity’s internal communication tools more effectively and strategically. The event webpage was also better organised to promote other upcoming events, by placing several events together to encourage more clicks and cross-traffic. - LinkedIn Data:
The data confirmed how effective pre-communication can be. The “Save the Date” reached 2,149 people two months early. The wrap-up post achieved 2,472 impressions, which was the highest reach of any event this semester.
LinkedIn Data:
* the X showcase the event publication
3. Law School Open Day
The Law School Open Day was designed for fifth- and sixth-year students, as well as mature students, who are curious about law and considering applying for an undergraduate degree at Trinity College Dublin. It offered prospective students a first-hand experience of what it is like to study law at Ireland’s leading university. The event reached full capacity very quickly and the waiting list had to be closed, with final confirmations sent out ahead of the day.
- How it went:
This event was more chill and less formal than the academic conferences, but honestly it was crazy busy. We had so many people wanting to attend that we had to do full event posts on social media and update the website everywhere to announce that the event was fully booked. A lot of people were emailing to ask if they could still come, so there was quite a bit of admin and communication to manage alongside the event itself. - The Lesson:
This type of event showed me how different the tone and organisation need to be when the audience is prospective students rather than academics. Being clear and fast with information (especially when we were fully booked) is crucial to avoid confusion and frustration.
After testing video formats during previous events, I created a Reel for this one, which felt much more appropriate for this audience and for capturing the atmosphere of the day - Event Promotion:
Pre-communication worked really well, but we also had to quickly adapt our messaging once the event was full. This meant updating the website, social media, and replying to many individual enquiries to manage expectations. The less formal tone suited the audience better and helped make the event feel more approachable. - Linkedin Data :
The shift towards video content paid off. The wrap-up Reel achieved a 30.1% engagement rate, the highest of the entire semester. This confirmed that a less formal, video-first approach creates a deeper connection with the student audience.
LinkedIn Data:
* the X showcase the event publication
4. Sustainability Duties for Directors
The School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, in collaboration with Institut universitaire de France (IUF) and Rennes 2 University, hosted a research seminar to explore the evolving legal landscape of corporate sustainability.
- How it went:
This was the last big event of the semester and, in many ways, it really showed how much I had learnt since the first one. I created a full programme/booklet with its own visual identity, and compared to the first event, I could clearly see my progress in understanding what is needed for this type of conference.
Even if it was not the best time of the year (December before the exam and the holidays), we still had people attending and decent engagement. - The Lesson:
This event helped me realise how important strong visual identity and preparation are, especially for larger academic events. Creating a programme/booklet with a clear identity makes the event feel more professional and coherent.
It also reinforced that timing plays a huge role in social media performance, and that even good content can struggle if posted at the wrong moment, so planning posting times more strategically is something I want to improve next semester. - Event Promotion:
This was the final big push of the semester, so promotion required a lot of energy across platforms. The strong visual identity of the booklet helped make the content more attractive and consistent, even when engagement was harder to achieve due to timing and general end-of-semester fatigue. - LinkedIn Data:
Even though the timing was not the best (with the “live” post seeing only 120 impressions), the strong visual identity of the booklet helped to give a strong engagement for the event : 17.9% engagement rate. This showed that visuals and well as good post timing can help engagement even when the timing is not ideal.
LinkedIn Data:
* the X showcase the event publication
Progress in Practice: Lessons from a Digital Semester
I have learned so much this semester just by getting fully involved in our events and social media. Looking back at my first messy event compared to the big conference we just finished, which had its own proper visual identity, I can really see how much I have improved.
My next project is to get the website in order. I want to bring all our content and resources together in one place so they are easier for people to find and work better as a whole.
Key Strategic Takeaways
- The 24-Hour Rule: Next-day wrap-up posts are a digital gold mine. To maximise impact, I have learned to prioritise high-quality photography that captures human interaction rather than just speakers at a podium.
- The Power of Proactivity: Early promotion is essential. By sharing “Save the Dates” two months in advance for the ISCR and Law Reform events, we secured over 1,500 impressions. Waiting until the week before is no longer an option for major milestones.
What is Next?
I’ll be sharing a breakdown of the social media data from the last few months soon. It will be a good way to see what really clicked with people and where I should focus my efforts next.
There are some other projects coming up next semester that I can’t talk about just yet, but the prep work is already well underway.
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