gathering the ic crowd

September 5, 2012 Darren Caveney

Here's an idea. Looking for a really useful internal comms resource? You're in luck. A new one has been launched.

Do you have a quick question that you wish you could ask other internal communications - or IC - professionals for help with? Do you know who to talk to about certain aspects of Comms? Who has case studies to share on enterprise social networks or communicating with remote workers? Where can you find other internal comms professionals?

On Monday alongside fellow Comms pros and friends Jenni Wheller and Dana Leeson, I launched The IC Crowd.

Essentially it’s a community and a place for people to connect and communicate. It exists already, and alongside Jenni and Dana, I’m bringing it together. There are lots of brilliant people around, specialising in and with experience of a variety of areas including change, social media, intranets, stakeholder relationships, branding, employee engagement, strategy, union relations; the list truly is never-ending.

Our channel of choice is Twitter. The IC community is thriving there and with so many connected and inspiring comms pros around, it makes sense to be the vehicle to gather the crowd.

a linkedin call to arms

September 3, 2012 Darren Caveney

LinkedIn is a brilliant comms channel to talk to business. So long as it's two way. Danks Cockburn PR look after the communications for one of the largest public - private platforms in the UK - the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership. In this refreshing post they talk of where they are.

by Mat Danks

Before I dive headlong into this, I first offer an apology. If you’re looking for solutions and best practice here, I’m sorry. This is more of a mild tale of woe and perhaps a call to arms for local government and social media types out there.

LinkedIn and Local Enterprise Partnerships: in theory, it’s the perfect social media marriage.

On the one hand, we have the relatively new concept of LEPs, with heavy emphasis on the ‘partnership’, with an evolving network of public, private and third sector organisations.

On the other hand, we have LinkedIn, the moderately clunky, highly earnest social media platform based on an evolving network of public, private and third sector organisations.

Here we have a melting pot of everyone we want to talk to. Partners, politicians, journos, local authority staff, charities, you name ‘em, they’re likely to be there.

what a saturday morning football team can teach you about digital comms

September 3, 2012 Darren Caveney

The Tally Vics. They're the smallest team in Britain to have a club shop with fans all over the world. They're also a brilliant digital comms case study. Not at all bad for a group of friends who play for a Glasgow Saturday morning team.

by Davie Brown

When one of our players started a Twitter feed for the club in our first season I couldn't see the point. Who would be interested in 20 guys playing for a team in the local park?

The player left shortly afterwards and the idea was forgotten until a year later. I got a phone upgrade and wandered onto Twitter myself lost as everyone is to begin with. Around Christmas time 2010 I decided to start another feed for the team to see if it might bring in some sponsorship. I soon found out he was right and I was wrong.

Twenty months down the line we have over 1,300 Twitter followers and a brand new set of strips courtesy of our new sponsor PSL Team Sports. We also have several companies as sponsorship partners and most of our players sponsored by people the length and breadth of the country.

how to do comms from the top of everest (literally)

August 30, 2012 Darren Caveney

You'd be amazed at what doors digital sklls can unlock. For one man who climbed Everest cultivating them has led to a better work-life balance.

by Mark Horrell

On 30 May 1953, James Morris of The Times struggled down the "newly oozing ice-bog" of the Khumbu Icefall during darkness. The following morning at Everest Base Camp he dispatched a runner to Namche, the nearest village with a telegraph office, with a coded message which read: 'Snow conditions bad stop advanced base abandoned yesterday stop awaiting improvement.'

Two days later while lying in his tent he tuned into his wireless and heard an English voice announce Everest had been climbed, The Times had broken the news, and Queen Elizabeth had received it on the eve of her coronation. He breathed a sigh of relief his danger-fraught communications process had worked.

what volunteering at the olympics taught me about internal comms

August 30, 2012 Darren Caveney

One of the successes of the Olympics was the 70,000 volunteers that made the games fly. What was behind the success? Good internal comms - by as many channels as possible.

by Jo Smith

I was an Olympic volunteer – one of the poppy-and-purple Gamesmaker army who clapped and cajoled and pointed and smiled my way through shift after shift, question after question. And I loved every second.

Gamesmakers have been congratulated for their contribution to the success of the games but have you thought what kept them so chipper?

Lots of them were positioned on street corners and in railway stations, in offices or back-room locations, far from the glamour and the sporting endeavours. It wasn’t witnessing the action that kept them going, so what was it?

It’s no surprise, in my view, that keeping volunteers informed was key to keeping them motivated.

collaborate to create stories, not announcements

August 28, 2012 Darren Caveney

Sometimes the heart sinks when you've got a press release to write. You know deep down it's got little chance of coverage. But here's an approach that could work.

by Eleanor Willock

I read this blog post by Charles Arthur, the technology editor at The Guardian. It really got me bought in. He’s got a unique style, and I really agree with the subject. Charles points out, for what I’m sure he hopes will be the last time to his PR audience - the difference between ‘news’ and ‘an announcement’.

I think a lot of us, sadly, know the difference, but are sometimes pushed to release the latter under the guise of the former. It’s one of the pitfalls of being in PR – sometimes, there’s no telling people, it’s just not news. Be honest - in your earlier career years, I won’t have been the only one who forwarded on a ‘get lost’ email response from a journalist (such as Charles) in response to my feeble pitch, to a client, in order to back up my quietly mumbled perspective that the press release won’t be well received, surely?

the dangers of cack-handedness

August 26, 2012 Darren Caveney

Seen the one about the pensioner who thought she could have a crack at art restoring? You should. There's a message there for comms people.

by Darren Caveney

It’s one of my favourite stories of 2012. The tale of cack-handed Spanish art ‘restorer’, Cecilia Gimenez and her attempts to tart up a century old mural of Christ in her local church, la Misericordia de Borja.

The mural had seen better days so Ms Gimenez decided to get out her paint brushes and give the century old piece a quick once-over.

You’ll be familiar with the story now, no doubt, unless you have been away on holiday and cut off from media – if so read all about it here. It’s an absolute gem.

because i'm a person

August 23, 2012 Darren Caveney

Like a good chef’s stock, this post has been on the go for a while, but until now it just didn’t have the final finishing touch to roll it out as a menu dish. I’ll come back to this.

by Phil Jewitt

If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know that I’ve been on a journey of discovery, learning by doing; blogging; getting involved with things going on in my city; going where the conversations are; and generally exploring the boundaries of flexible working. It helps being a bit of a nosey bu**er and also being proud of my city.

i ♥ infographics

August 20, 2012 Darren Caveney

I've always loved infographics. But are we missing a trick in not using them more often?

by Darren Caveney

The first recorded infographics were early cave drawings.

And infographics have been a constant, creative and brilliantly simple medium guiding, helping and directing us ever since.

They take so many forms, from weather maps to motorway signs.

If you have been abroad this summer then you probably got around just that little bit easier because of infographics. They are universal, they are 'easy-read', they cross boundaries and language.

What's not to like.

So why don't we use them more often in our communications roles?

Yes, I know we all use use them on some level, even if it's something as simple as a graph to show an increase or a decrease in something we're measuring.

the internet: PR's savior or crucifier?

August 17, 2012 Darren Caveney

Jo Tarkowski is coming towards the end of her MSc International Public Relations course at Manchester Metropolitan University. And she needs our help, so read on...

by Jo Tarkowski

As the reading begins for my research, I can’t help but start to pre-empt what one of my key findings will be this: there is just way too much out there on the internet. If I was a practitioner that had been in the industry for years without all of these digital platforms, and it was now a necessity to learn about them, where would I start? In fact, as a new PR professional, where do I start?

Arising from this, and perhaps more importantly, is the issue of online credibility.

Due to the speed with which the internet allows ideas to be published, and how easily these ideas can be accessed, it becomes a prime source of information for people working across PR. But is this a good or bad thing?

capital gains

August 16, 2012 Darren Caveney

by Jarrod Williams

I am going to tell you something that may shock and appall you.

There is more to the world of communications than what's in the South East.

That's right, our industry is bigger than just 'That London'.

In fact there are other regions, such as the Midlands and the North of England, as well as Scotland and Wales, which contribute heavily to our great reputation as a profession. These regions also produce some top talent.

I know, I know, I'll give you two minutes to take that in.

it's ok to google yourself

August 15, 2012 Darren Caveney

There was a time when you'd never admit to Googling yourself. Now it's really important that you do.

by Darren Caveney

When was the last time you Googled yourself?

Oh, it's been a while then. Do you know what results it will throw up about you?

If you are looking for a new job, or if you are likely to in the future, then you need to know this information. And, wherever possible, you need to shape those results. Most of you help to manage the profile of your employers, with craft and care, so why not manage your own online profile?

the business of cliches

August 13, 2012 Darren Caveney

Business clichés. You really can't beat them can you? Actually, I'd gladly beat upon them.

by Darren Caveney

You know the kind of annoying phrases I'm referring to - business buzzwords. Those thrown in by people in meetings often trying to show off, or, more likely, to cover up a lack of understanding.

Here's my top five most loathed business clichés, in reverse order...

every start has an end...

August 13, 2012 Darren Caveney

What the closing ceremony to London2012 reminds us of when it comes to delivering good communications.

by Darren Caveney

So after all of the well publicised, pre-event LOCOG branding silliness, London 2012 appears to have been a huge success on and off the track for both Team GB and GB PLC alike.

The opening ceremony was inspiring, and gave us all a timely shot of pride-busting steroids. Gone from our news channels was all of the doom and gloom of financial meltdown, unemployment woe, high street declines, Euro crises and other bad news gems our TV stations churn out one after depressing other.

One of the greatest successes of London2012, for me, has been the opportunity to kick into touch 'Daily Mail's Britain.' To forget, for a short time at least, that things aren't quite as a bad as some folk want GB portrayed

But would the closing ceremony fall flat and end on a bit of a low note our 16-day temporary detachment from reality?

lessons for the lonely PR

August 9, 2012 Darren Caveney

by Lindsay Narey

Lindsay Nary is the sole PR and comms person in her organisation. Here, she shares honestly about her role and the pros and cons of this single existence.

Me, myself and I, All by myself. Countless songs in every genre have attempted to describe the ups and downs of being on your lonesome. Whilst these generally describe the woe of failed relationships, I think there should be a song in honour of being alone in the workplace.

I have no intention of penning a depressing ballad, but as I enter my seventh year in a singleton PR role I’ve learned a few things which I think are worth sharing.

a charles dickens of a good campaign

August 6, 2012 Darren Caveney

A bit of creative thinking and forward planning led to brather brilliant campaign on popular Victorian author Charles Dickens. Actor Simon Callow came on board too.

by Kelly Harrison

One heady afternoon in July 2011, our press team at the University of Warwick were engaged in an activity we rarely have time to do, ‘forward planning’. Flushed with the success of finding a spare hour to think, we came up with an idea.

We wanted to mark the bicentenary of the birth of one of our greatest authors, Charles Dickens, in February 2012.

We thought a podcast series about his work might be a good idea and approached one of our experts, Professor Jon Mee in English and Comparative Literary Studies.

As we began talking to our academics about our idea and looking at the breadth of research across the University, it soon became clear that we could do much more than just a few podcasts. Working with our in-house digital team we created a Dickens sub site, hosting a range of podcasts, videos, interviews and articles on the life, times and works of Charles Dickens. We involved researchers and students in English, Health and Social Studies, History and Law.

social media: what's the voluntary sector up to?

August 2, 2012 Darren Caveney

It's fascinating seeing how different sectors approach the changing landscape. There's some excellent innovation in charities and volantary groups.

by Honey Lucas

From large international charities, to tiny voluntary groups comprised wholly of volunteers, the voluntary and community sector (VCS) in the UK is extremely varied - but whatever their size, voluntary and community organisations and charities are increasingly adopting social media to help connect with their followers and supporters, spread their messages, and encourage people to take action.

Here are just a few case studies from the VCS that showcase the innovative thinking and friendly approach that is making the sector's use of social media such a success.

how a cloud burst took facebook by storm

August 1, 2012 Darren Caveney

What works on social media is good content. Sometimes that content isn't about key messages and campaigns as almost 13,000 likes on a weather storm clip in Wolverhampton shows.

by Tim Clark

I was out on a site visit recently and at one point was using my smartphone to update some pictures to the council’s social media sites.

A non-communications colleague who had accompanied me quipped: “It must be nice having a job where you can mess about on Facebook all day!”

It got me thinking. She was right on one level, it is pretty amazing being paid to use new and evolving technologies to communicate instantly with thousands of people every day. However, she was wrong to suggest – even if in jest – that we are just “messing about."