A pad full of notes, fistful of business cards and sore feet from dancing in four-inch heels – it’s been a busy few days. I was one of the 130 professional communicators who gathered this week for the annual Institute of Internal Communications (IoIC) conference. This year’s event was in Bournemouth, on the south coast of England and the theme was ‘The rise of the fearless communicator?’.
It was the first time I have attended, despite being a member for many years (IoIC was formerly CiB – Communicators in Business) and I was glad I went. Highlights for me were the speakers and the networking opportunities. Meeting with like-minded people to share war stories, tips and insights into the ways we tackle common problems always leaves me with a brain buzzing with thoughts.
Speakers included Katharine Birbalsingh, the schoolteacher who spoke out at the Conservative Party Conference last year about Britain’s education system, Dr Leandro Herrero, CEO of The Chalfont Project and Managing Partner of Viral Change, and author of the Employee Engagement report David MacLeod. I spoke with David and Dr Leandro after they spoke and they kindly posed for this photo for my blog.
I thought I would summarise some of the things I heard this week in the spirit of collaboration and sharing. I will update this site over the weekend with my highlights and an appeal from David, but for now I thought I’d link to some of the presentations that have been posted online by IoIC. If you’d like to find out more about IoIC see http://www.ioic.org.uk
Presentations
- David MacLeod’s presentation on Engaging for Success
- Kate Jones from e-on speaking about Line Managers and their Demons.
- Audio of Nick Crawford from Bupa’s internal comms team speaking on Conversation to conversion – social media at Bupa
- International Power’s presentation on their knowledge management system
Don’t forget you can contact me via email: rach@rachmiller.com or please feel free to comment below. Thanks as ever for stopping by, Rachel.
First published May 2011.
