October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. April is Autism Awareness Month. March sees Marie Curie’s Great Daffodil Appeal. Time-specific campaigns can be a great way for charities to raise awareness of their work and the difference they aim to make. They can also be an opportunity for different organisations doing similar things to work together. From a communications perspective, a …
How to communicate with your audience: a tip from Sir Terry
At the height of his broadcasting fame, Sir Terry Wogan was apparently asked how many listeners he had. He was the much-loved presenter of Wake up to Wogan, Radio 2’s popular breakfast show, at the time. His actual listening figure was around 10 million. But his answer to the question? “One.” I am a child of the 70s and 80s. …
Avoiding the pitfalls of misunderstood language
Recently I watched a feature film in German for the first time in about 20 years. And I understood it! And I laughed at the jokes! As a German graduate from the University of York, I really shouldn’t be so surprised, but when I left university I moved away from using my foreign languages and never really went back. Instead …
The importance of getting it right when you write
Over the last few years I have attended a number of careers events to talk about my profession and raise awareness of internal communication as a future career choice. I love what I do and am keen to share that enthusiasm, particularly with university and school students who may not have encountered it before. The two most common questions I …
Summer communications and how to handle them
I first published this post on my blog last August – with the summer break being an annual occurence, it feels apt to share it again now…… Summer can be a funny time for organisational communication in most workplaces. At any given time, many colleagues will be away on holiday and those who are in the office may find themselves …