activevents

New release: CIPR Autumn/Winter 2008 workshops

The Introduction to PR on 15 and 16 July will mark the end of an extremely well-received Spring/Summer 2008 training programme. With plenty of ‘fully-booked’ sessions this season, it would be prudent to book them as early as possible. Below is a taster of some new workshops you can expect.

*Sneak preview* - new workshops

Introduction to non-profit
This course is designed for those working in the charity sectors who want to gain an insight into public relations. It includes a basic introduction to some of the sector specific PR requirements and communications tactics – planning and creativity on a budget, case studies, campaigning and working with celebrities. Delegates will have a basic understanding of some of the industry specific PR tactics and an opportunity to learn from award-winning charity sector campaigns.

Creating professional pod and vodcasts
Guided by experienced media professionals delegates will be introduced to a wide range of multimedia skills and learn how to put together punchy audio and video packages that really communicate. Delegates will come away from the course equipped with a range of techniques that will allow them to produce professional multimedia packages that communicate their key messages creatively and effectively.

Change communication
This thought provoking and practical session gives delegates an insight into the various change models and their implications for how best to communicate.  It is intended for people with a responsibility for, or interest in communicating change messages internally. Delegates will be able to advise directors and senior managers on what needs to be done to communicate change more effectively in order to minimise resistance and disruption.

Can’t wait to find out more? Keep a look out for the brand new series of CIPR Autumn/Winter 2008 training programmes that will go ‘live’ online today at www.cipr.co.uk/workshops !

More exciting training awaits you...
Freshly Squeezed breakfast briefings and specialist masterclasses are already available for booking online at www.cipr.co.uk/fresh and www.cipr.co.uk/masterclasses respectively.

Choo-Li Tan, Training Development Officer

Start building better relationships

PRWeek published a thought-provoking article by David Quainton on ‘The lost art of relationship building’ last week. The article examines the often tenuous working relationship between the PR professionals and journalists, exploring various communication issues with reference to the current focus on the new medium – digital PR.

Useful findings
According to the article, a survey was done by PressChoice on a group of 130 financial journalists. The good news is that the group is generally pleased with the professionalism of the industry. However, the article also revealed 5 main grouses the financial journalists had with their PR counterparts:

· Too many press releases being sent to them
· Too ill-informed and not knowing more than what has been written in the press release
· Over-hyped stories that undermined the credibility of the PR operation
· Limited specific information on the company website
· PROs not returning calls as promised

It is interesting to note that it is the influx of junior PROs, who are learning an excessive amount of new skills who are more prone to commit the above acts. If you are reading this and are ‘guilty’ of committing any of the above acts, it’s probably high time you start doing something about it.

A good start will be...
The CIPR’s new one-day Autumn/Winter 2008 workshop on ‘Building better relationships’ taking place on 24 October in London. It allows you to discover ways to develop relationships with clients, colleagues and journalists using the powerful theories of Transactional Analysis (TA). More importantly, participants will be able to identify why they react positively - and sometimes negatively – to colleagues, journalists and clients, and formulate strategies to deal with specific issues and situations.

Find out more!
Keep a look out for the brand new series of CIPR Autumn/Winter 2008 training programmes that will go ‘live’ online soon - www.cipr.co.uk/training!

Choo-Li Tan, Training Development Officer

Let’s Go Green!

Nope, it’s not the national green campaign week but the Freshly Squeezed breakfast briefing on ‘The Green Factor’ (www.cipr.co.uk/fresh) which got me thinking about green issues, and how everyone can benefit from it both environmentally and commercially.

Hear from the expert
We were honoured to have James Wright, Director of Corporate Responsibility, Trimedia, who is also the chairman of the CIPR steering committee, as the guest speaker.  James has worked in PR for more than 12 years and specialises in CSR working on some of the most influential and challenging campaigns. 

During the session, he shared with the delegates a good overview of how the green factor has evolved and developed over time, the role of PR and also, plenty of interesting examples to illustrate how some companies have effectively or unsuccessfully carried out their Green strategies.

Great Tips
James also highlighted some useful tips including:
· Employment Engagement. The importance of starting a green culture within the organisation so that staffs (who are the ambassadors of the organisation) can understand the strategy and become part of the pride and motivation.
· Spokespeople.  Some of the science is complex and any spokesperson needs to be suitably knowledgeable to communicate effectively and clearly the issues.
· Message delivery. Ensure during the tactical implementation of the campaign that actions back up the messaging

Your second chance to do so...
If you are interested to hear from James personally, he will be give another presentation that looks at best practice in green PR and the development of the CIPR Environmental Sustainability Communication guidelines at the World PR Conference & Festival to be hosted in London on 23 and 24 June 2008.  http://www.cipr.co.uk/wprf08

CIPR Green Guide
Believed to be the first of their kind for the PR industry around the world, the guidelines look at the issues and implications of green PR and promote best practice in this area. They examine the common pitfalls that can lead to businesses being accused of ‘greenwash’; relevant legislation; things to consider when making a green claim, in terms of ensuring there is evidence to support it; and ways to test a green assertion before it is made public. www.cipr.co.uk/environmentalcomms/ 

Hurry up!
Places for the rest of the Spring/Summer training programmes are limited so book them today at www.cipr.co.uk/training

Choo-Li Tan, Training Development Officer

Welcome to the CIPR – start making use of your benefits!

We recently launched a new membership campaign in conjunction with CIPR’s 60^th anniversary celebrations and in the last couple of months we have had many new members on board – a warm welcome to all of our new additions.

The campaign centred on encouraging our existing CIPR members to be proud of their membership and share the extensive list of benefits they are enjoying with the industry:

-          Strong professional recognition

-          Excellent networking opportunities

-          Great career and business development support

-          Highly practical and informative training programmes

The list goes on…

http://www.cipr.co.uk/membership/index.htm

Join us?

The benefits of CIPR membership is evident. The current CIPR President, Elisabeth Lewis-Jones FCIPR, wrote a real-life blog entry on how the CIPR membership has helped her career advancement and business development. As they say, membership has its privileges. Find out for yourself at http://prvoice.typepad.com/pr_voice/2008/01/signing-on-the.html#more

Get started…

Clearly, one of the most practical and useful benefits is the privilege of having a discounted rate for all CIPR events and training programmes.

* Workshops

If you are new to the CIPR or, in particular, to the PR industry, the 2-day workshop on ‘Introduction to PR’ we organised this week and on 15/16 July will be a good start for you. This basic level workshop will introduce you to the role and scope of PR, giving you a good overview of the industry. www.cipr.co.uk/workshops

* Breakfast briefings

For those with less than 3 years of PR experience, you may like to grab the chance to book yourself onto the last few Freshly Squeezed briefings for the Spring/ Summer series. The good news is that the Autumn/Winter series is also up online and open for booking now. Find out more and book your places today at www.cipr.co.uk/fresh

* In-house training

Last but not least, we have a team of creative Training Development Officers at the CIPR who can customise any training programme to suit your needs. Email JankaS@cipr.co.uk to find out more.

See you!

Oh yes, don’t forget to make use of the opportunity to check out the CIPR’s exquisite building and its excellent facilities if you are here for any of these training events. I look forward to see you around!

For further information on training and development, please visit www.cipr.co.uk/training

Choo-Li Tan, Training Development Officer

CIPR 60th Anniversary Annual Conference and 5th World PR Conference & Festival

Hosted by the CIPR and in London for the first time on Monday 23 & Tuesday 24 June, at the InterContinental Hotel, Park Lane. This exciting and challenging two-day conference will bring together PR practitioners from across the globe to share best practice, exchange ideas and discuss common concerns.

Special discounts available – see what you can save:

- Discounts for CIPR and Global Alliance members
- Limited number of 50 discounted places for full-time students – £100 per day!
- Ticket savings of up to £450 for full-time Academics

The programme:

A mix of interactive workshops and main conference sessions delivered by 27 expert speakers, entitled ‘Best Practice in Public Relations’, this event will examine the issues tackled globally by PR practitioners today. 

Sessions covered include:

·         Communicating in London: The world's most diverse city – Luke Blair MCIPR, Director, London Communications Agency 

·         How do cities attract investment: The reputation issues that count – Michael Hayman FCIPR, Chief Executive, The Communication Group UK

·         Influencing attitudes to disability: Using PR to promote equality and social inclusion – Agnes Fletcher MCIPR, Specialist in Disability Communications

·         How Turin won and has benefited from the 2006 Olympics – Anna Martina, Communications Director, City of Turin 

·         Country reputation: The World Bank programme – Paul Mitchell, Manager, World Bank Development Communication Division, Washington DC 

For further information including speaker names, costs and the range of discounts on offer, please visit the CIPR website at www.cipr.co.uk/wprf08 

Fresh season…Fresh trainings…Fresh ideas!

This must be one of the busier weeks for CIPR’s popular Freshly Squeezed breakfast briefings series - we ran three sessions, namely ‘Celebrity brands’ (London), ‘Impressive press releases’ (Scotland) and ‘Loosen tight deadlines’ (London) all in one week!

With 24 sessions organised in London and 8 in Scotland this year, there is no doubt that the Freshly Squeezed programme is gaining popularity (and not just in London and Scotland). We are currently exploring the feasibility of organising this programme in other regions after we have received some indication of interests from our members. So before you know it, you may see a Freshly Squeezed session come to your region very soon.

The idea of having this series of breakfast briefing is to allow time-conscious PR practitioners to take an hour out in the morning to catch up on topical issues or for some, to take stock of what they are doing and should do. I chanced upon this interesting website,  http://if.psfk.com/if/if_by_discipline/public_relations/ that shares creative PR campaign examples and tips. This is particularly useful for those in the PR or communications industry, as they have to constantly come up with new angles, stories and campaigns that are newsworthy.

Summer is almost here and I am sure this is the best chance for you to get out of the office for some fresh air and training (and fresh ideas of course!). Who knows, you might benefit from the networking opportunity with delegates from various PR sectors and clinch a potential deal from there. Check out and book the up-coming sessions on reputation management, audience segmentation and green issues at www.cipr.co.uk/fresh

Why not also Inject a ‘boost’ of creative juice to your brain at the half-day highly practical ‘Creativity work-out’ Masterclass on 16 June. www.cipr.co.uk/masterclass 

If you still find it difficult to find time to get out of office, you can trust our resourceful Training Development team at the CIPR to tailor a training programme that will bring the fresh ideas you need, right to your doorstep. Email JankaS@cipr.co.uk to find out more.

For further information on training and development, please visit www.cipr.co.uk/training

Choo-Li Tan, Training Development Officer