Collaborating with other organisations can be a great way to get more done. I went to the AGM of the local business community partnership organisation, Connect Reading, this morning and it was interesting to hear about some exciting plans to bring together charity, public and private sector organisations for projects that will make a significant … Read more
Last week I attended the Public Sector Communications Conference. It was a great day, with really interesting speakers and useful conversations with my fellow delegates to develop ideas further. It was the sort of day where you go home with a spring in your step and ideas buzzing round your head! As you might expect, … Read more
After taking the 6 week summer holiday off to spend time with my daughter, this week I’m getting back into the swing of things. One of my first tasks was to order some new business cards, as I have several conferences and networking events coming up this month. I haven’t ordered new ones for a … Read more
My original beginning for this blog piece was going to be something along the lines of ‘it’s summer, isn’t it lovely when the sun shines, let’s think about effective communication over the summer’. Then 2 nights ago we had an extremely heavy rain and thunder storm where I live – the garage flooded, the porch … Read more
Despite living in an urban area, I am lucky enough to have a beautiful lake and nature reserve just 2 minutes’ walk from my front door. Today, as often, I took my notebook and pens over to the lake and spent a productive couple of hours working away in the sunshine. It is a wonderful … Read more
Until I started working for myself, nearly 7 years ago, I had no idea how many membership organisations there are. I was aware of professional membership bodies, such as the Institute of Internal Communication and CiPD, but not of the multitude of others. Since then I have come across many more, including CharityComms (one of … Read more
I have just started a communications project with an organisation that has a high profile with the public, with content regularly appearing in the traditional media as well as on social media. This coverage can be mixed in terms of being positive and negative, based on fact and based on rumour and hearsay. It means … Read more
Happy New Year! As a general rule, I don’t tend to make new year’s resolutions. Like a lot of targets, they seem to me to often be setting yourself up to fail. They’re usually full of things I think I should be stopping or doing more of and not the things that I really want … Read more
With just a couple of weeks to go to the ‘big day’, many organisations are facing the twin pressures of lots to do before the end of the year and employees who in many cases already want to be winding down for Christmas. Offices are full of chocolates gifted by suppliers and the tinsel and … Read more
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. … Read more