Thank you for having a Big Yak

Yesterday approx 150 internal communication professionals gathered in London for the second unconference from The IC Crowd, #thebigyak.

It was a chance for in-house pros to share ideas, network and discuss all things internal communication related. My brain is still buzzing and feet still aching from a jam-packed day.

Alongside my fellow @theICcrowd co-founders Dana Leeson @danaleeson (far right of the pic on this page) and Jenni Wheller @jenniwheller (centre) it was an absolute privilege to organise and to bring the crowd together face-to-face again.

We will be blogging on The IC Crowd website (www.theiccrowd.com), which is the place where we’ll collate all the thoughts from the crowd.

But I wanted to write a quick note on my own personal blog to say thank you to everyone who supported us –  from the sponsors who enabled it to be a free-to-attend all day conference for delegates, our facilitator Benjamin Ellis @benjaminellis, the team of communicators who did a fantastic job chaperoning and helping the day go smoothly, the ace Sara Luker at eBay for allowing us to use their office again, to all the comms pros who came along or who tweeted, emailed and communicated their thoughts before, during and after the event.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing lots of IC pros who I’ve known for years, plus meeting lots of new people.

I managed to sit in on and participate in various sessions this year and found the discussions to be varied, invigorating and thoroughly thought-provoking.

Throughout the day I recorded my monthly IC podcast by interviewing delegates, and it will be out on Tuesday.

What were the hot topics?

Being an unconference meant the agenda was set by the people in the room on the day.

They determined what is on their minds and the topics they wanted to discuss as a session. So if you’re wondering what is keeping IC pros awake at night, or what we face day-to-day, this is the list to answer those questions:

• Are internal comms pros the worst communicators in their own teams?
• How do we make HR communications cool?
• The changing roles and skills for IC
• Video storytelling
• Brand – and engaging teams in it
• Leadership – sometimes leaders get to the top without being great communicators, how do we support/work with them
• Moving from cascade to conversation
• Are IC qualifications worth it?
• How to engage with a mobile workforce
• Global communications
• Breaking down divisional silos
• Joining up internal and external comms
• How important is authenticity for internal communicators
• Making content relevant
• What comes next after enterprise social networks? (ESNs)
• Channel effectiveness
• How to plan and implement ESNs
• What fund stuff can you do in briefings and at work to engage people more
• Connecting to an offline audience

BuzzTale created a story on the day too: http://buzztale.com/buzztale/2d252f

Do keep an eye on The IC Crowd blog for a comprehensive round-up as we populate it with blogs and reports from the crowd over the next few days.

Thank you again to everyone who supported The Big Yak. I feel incredibly proud to be an internal communication professional and to have played a part in enabling yesterday to happen.

Keep an eye out on Tuesday for my podcast, plus your exclusive chance to win the opportunity to attend a conference in Germany.

I’m off for a cup of tea and to put my feet up,

Rachel

Update: You can read blogs by IC pros who attended here.

Post author: Rachel Miller

Bottom picture credit: Tony Stewart @TSdigi

The second unconference for internal communicators by The IC Crowd @theICcrowd was held at eBay’s office in London. It was attended by approx 150 IC pros – here are their thoughts from the day.

http://storify.com/AllthingsIC/thebigyak-unconference-28-june-2014

First published: June 2014.