Bravehearts or fainthearted?

Can the IC profession step up to the mark and shape their own destiny or will it be forever subservient?

Our latest research report poses that questions for a copy register here

Multi-media is the answer…what’s the question?

F-2-F? on-line? print?

I never obsess too much about the media, as I think the message and the audience are the primary concern and the most appropriate medium follows. But channels are not mutually exclusive – they all work better as an integrated package.

But what’s your preference?

Prefer on-line? We held our first webinar yesterday debating “on-line versus print” It was well received. You can view it here http://t.co/RpzA2Ltn You can continue the discussion here http://linkd.in/tQyIvw Thanks to PRAcademy

Prefer print? You can view the chat transcript here Print v On-line IC Webinar Nov 2011 Chat Transcript Thanks to all who took part, especially ex-BBC Gurus Euan Semple & Andrew Harvey and Chair Phil Turner

Prefer F-2-F? Our annual conference on 5th October was a huge success. We produced a printed newspaper to accompany the event, which you can download here Turbulent Times Thanks to InterMedia

Enjoy.

Ask the Gurus :: Print versus online

Our first Inside webinar is booked for 9 November at 1pm.
Check your diaries now and add in an hour to attend. The gurus online answering and taking your questions will be Euan Semple (independent social media expert) and Andrew Harvey (editor), both ex-BBC who’ll be considering the rise and rise of online channels and what the roles for print in internal communications will likely be moving forwards.

Places are limited - book your place here .

RIP Ariel (1936 – 2011)

Call me old-fashioned, but the news of the end Ariel, the weekly BBC staff newspaper, has left me feeling a bit sad.

This Guardian Article gets a bit nostalgic about the journal which was first published in 1936; reflecting on content that has provided great diary pieces, and acknowledging former editor Andrew Harvey for bringing a journalistic hard edge to the publication over the past decade.

It should make for great discussion at our first Inside webinar on 9 November at 1pm when Euan Semple, former BBC Director of KM and creator of talk.gateway and Andrew Harvey, former editor of Ariel will be considering the rise and rise of online channels and the role for print in internal communications moving forwards.
Places are limited – book your place here http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1486378799

What do we stand for?

Great #CIPRINSIDE conference last Thursday, and it was fun to chair it.
Several nuggets that left me (re)thinking the future of IC.
The first was the fact that only half of the 130 comms pros in the room believe that IC is a profession!
I’ve heard IC being called lots of things over the years (some I wouldnt publish here) Love to hear your views.

Lingo Bingo in Turbulent Times. Who will be first to say EVP?

Sometimes our profession takes itself a little too seriously.
Communicating in tough times, raising professional standards, improving skills, influencing leaders, blah-blah-blah.
If providing clarity amongst the ambiguity is our key objective, can we sometimes be part of the problem not the solution? How often does IC spread the corporate BS?
I think a core quality of any IC pro is a good sense of humour, so we’ve added a bit of humour to our Annual Conference next Thursday. (there’s still places available)
The back page of our beautifully crafted conference newsletter gives conference participants the chance to win a star prize by spotting the BS expression the speakers will inevitably use throughout the day – from “Critical Point of Infexion” to “Employee Value Proposition (EVP)” the bovine excrement will be flowing. Hope to see you there for a little respite.

 

 

Pay-to-play or play-to-say?

The CIPR Inside committee have worked exceptionally hard this week to get our conference newsletter “Turbulent Times” to press. Mark Applin has pulled the rabbit out of the hat with some great work from his team at Intermedia. James Debens done a great job as editor.

The best bit has been reading the quality of the content. It’s rewarding to provide a platform for speaker who actually have something to say about the practice of employee communications and engagement rather than the standard conference model of speakers paying for self-promotion and sponsors who push their services on an unsuspecting audience.

That model of yesterday has prevented best practice from organisations like DWP and the British Army seeing the light of day. Ironically, the same model attracts hefty conference fees for delegates and the whole thing becomes a bit elitist. Organisations with big budgets talking to each other about how to spend their big budgets.

The good news is you can still subscribe to that old model; despite times of austerity, choice hasn’t been taken away. If you’d like a high quality experience on an exceptionally low budget (£280 – £450) look no further CIPR Conference

If you have a bigger budget and need to use it up, have a look at these
£1,300 – £1,800 Osney Media
£1,400 – £2,300 Melcrum
But don’t discount this
£280 – £450 CIPR Inside
You can bring another 3 people for around the same price of the other offers. Book direct here or here…

Ceci n’est pas un nuage

Analysing the results of our recent survey into the IC profession. The perceived barriers to success made an interesting word cloud, so I thought it was worth sharing. I like the way that Silos came out on the far right hand side in its only little silo with HR. I’ll save the analysis for the final report due out 6th October.

Thanks to the 350 who took part.

Walrus: Work? Uh, pff, brrrr! The time has come (the Walrus said), to talk of OTHER things.

If you’ve read Sean Trainor’s (chair of CIPR Inside) post Internal Comms in Wonderland, like me, you might be excited by the theme of the CIPR’s 10th annual Internal Communications Conference. If you haven’t, go and read it now – it’s good.

The line up transcends the usual approach of getting experts to preach their own gospel. Instead, it has been created by practitioners for practitioners. We’re looking at big issues, thorny problems and the very future of internal comms. It’s hand on, interactive, and a third of the price of Melcrum’s Summit.

The Hatter has pulled a very large white Rabbit from his headgear.

Face the change – Employee Engagement in Turbulent Times is on 6 October 2011.

Delegates who enter the discount code CIPRINSIDE will receive a £50 discount on all bookings before 9am on August 23rd.

 Book your place at http://www.cipr.co.uk/content/events-awards/conferences/cipr-internal-comms-conference

People join their company and leave their bosses

If you accept that truism, it’s costing the UK a fortune. In 2010 PricewaterhouseCoopers, revealed that an average of 10.4% of staff resigned from their job, costing the UK £42bn a year. A further 24% would like to leave if they could.

Fortunately, Hollywood has the answer.

In its latest blockbuster, Horrible Bosses, staff don’t leave their bosses, they kill them. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con, the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers…permanently.

So partly for fun, and partly to inspire, tell us some short stories from your experience that highlight the best and worst about UK management. A killer punchline is not required.