NevOn

IABC launches News Centre

It's often a good idea to just click on things on a website as you might discover something new.

That's what happened this morning on the IABC website as I was reviewing information there about the 2006 International Conference which takes place in Vancouver in June (I'm speaking at that event; a post about it soon).

In the Updates section on the home page, there's a link to the new IABC News Centre, a media resource with the latest news and information about IABC's programmes and leaders (it says).

The new resource uses PR Newswire's MediaRoom tool, providing a dedicated section with detailed information such as contact details, news releases, photos, logos, backgrounders, bios, white papers, etc. All the things journalists - and interetsed IABC members - need to get that accurate and rounded picture of what IABC is and what it does.

This is a very long overdue, and very welcome, addition to the IABC website which itself was relaunched in October. Finally a dedicated place to get the news and information about IABC and its activities. The News Centre is being managed by IABC headquarters staffer Joseph Ugalde, who's in charge of marketing and communication for the association. Yesterday's official press release here.

The best news, though, is that the site offers six RSS feeds where you can sign up to get all press releases and information including about the International Conference, the Gold Quill Awards and the IABC Foundation.

No more hunting and pecking for accurate news (the old info page really was dreadful).

I sense the hand of some willing and skilled member volunteers as part of making the News Centre happen especially Shel Holtz, my podcasting partner, who in one of our recent shows (can't recall which) alluded to some new things coming soon to the IABC website.

Great move, IABC.

[Technorati: iabc]

IABC Europe conference kicks off

Arrived in Paris late last night, ready to participate in the IABC Eurocomm conference which formally kicks off today and runs through tomorrow.

I'm moderating the opening session discussion panel on the giant global focus group. No prizes for guessing what this is about at a conference full of communicators!

So, my fellow conversationalists - Elizabeth Albrycht, Loic Le Meur and Niall Cook - and I are ready to go. There will be posts to The Plenary Panel Weblog, the conference blog we started at the beginning of November.

More tomorrow after I get back to Amsterdam.

FIR Speakers & Speeches: November 3, 2005 - CiB & IABC UK Panel Discussion

This panel discussion in London, organized by the British Association of Communicators in Business and the IABC UK Chapter, was titled "Join the Virtual Revolution." The organizers described the event:

"Digital media is changing the way we communicate. Just as we’ve got our heads around the internet, email and mobile technology, a new wave of tools are becoming increasingly relevant – blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS and integrated mobile devices. What are these tools and how can we use them to communicate with audiences? More importantly, how can audiences communicate with us? And if everyone is a communicator, how can we control the message? The on-demand, digital world offers communicators new and exciting opportunities and challenges."

The panel was moderated by Ben Hunt, Editor of the Financial Times' Digital Business. In order of their presentations, the panelists were Neville Hobson, communicator and FIR co-host; Neil McIntosh, Assistant Editor of Guardian Unlimited; and Euan Semple, BBC Director of KM Solutions.

This 90-minute podcast has been produced with the permission of the organizers and participants. Download the file here (MP3, 37MB), or sign up for the Speakers & Speeches RSS feed to get it and future such podcasts automatically. For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon. To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, sign up for the full RSS feed.

Additional download: PowerPoint presentation (7.8Mb). Requires Microsoft PowerPoint or free PowerPoint viewer for Windows.

Time Stamps:

• 00:02 Neville introduces this podcast
• 03:37 General event introduction
• 05:53 Theme and panel introduction by Ben Hunt
• 10:09 Presentation - Neville Hobson
• 30:54 Presentation - Neil McIntosh
• 46:01 Presentation - Euan Semple
• 61:04 General discussion moderated by Ben Hunt
• 88:38 About the event, this podcast and where to find For Immediate Release

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

IABC conference blog launched

Today The Plenary Panel Weblog launched.

This new blog is designed to be a place for commentary and discussion about the theme of the panel discussion that will kick off the first day, 1 December, of the IABC EuroComm 2005 conference taking place in Paris from 30 November to 2 December.

The theme for the panel discussion is "The giant global focus group: Opportunities and challenges for communicators" and the panel itself comprises some leading thinkers on participatory communication:

• Elizabeth Albrycht, PR veteran and Editor, Corante's Future Tense
• Niall Cook, Director Netcoms, Hill & Knowlton
• Loïc Le Meur, Executive Vice President, Six Apart SA
• Glenn Manoff, Communications Director, O2 UK
• Neville Hobson, ABC, communicator, blogger and podcaster (Moderator)

From the introductory post I wrote on the blog yesterday:

The Plenary Panel Weblog is a place that we hope will serve as a meeting place, a corner on the world wide web, that will enable us to expand some thinking about our EuroComm session.

At the same time, it will enable you to ask questions, challenge our thinking and offer your own contributions to the debate and discussion that will take place in Paris in December.

In sum, we would like to create some stimulating conversations here.

Whether you're planning to attend the conference next month, or if you just have a point of view, please drop in for a chat!

Related NevOn post:

• Solving your communication challenges

Solving your communication challenges

IABC members will soon be receiving their copy of the brochure for IABC EuroComm 2005, the fifth annual professional development conference in Europe that brings together communicators from across the globe to share best practices, examine case studies and discuss the latest developments in communication planning, practice and analysis.

Considering the role of new media in the communication mix will be a prominent feature of this conference, with a panel discussion in the opening plenary session on 1 December:

Hot Topic | The Giant Global Focus Group: Opportunities and Challenges for Communicators

Through the rapidly-increasing use of social media like weblogs, RSS and podcasts, people are talking about you, your company and your brands. These conversations take place in the blogosphere, the new meeting place where customers, employees, shareholders and others engage with one another in informal conversations that have far-reaching consequences for organizations and communicators.

In a radical change to the traditional centralized model of creating and distributing news and information, the receivers and consumers of that news and information look as though they now call the shots. You can ignore this new place or be part of it. Either way, the conversations are happening with or without you.

What does this mean for the press release, the website, the brochure, the employee newsletter or the investor conference call? Communication planning, measurement and evaluation?

Join a panel of senior communicators and business leaders who will help you understand the power and influence of the world's biggest focus group and help you put it all into perspective.

In what I'm convinced will be a lively and stimulating debate, I'm moderating this panel discussion and will be joined by a great group of people to make up the panel - Elizabeth Albrycht, Alliance Partner, Blogging Planet and Editor, Corante’s Future Tense; Niall Cook, Director Netcoms, Hill & Knowlton; Loïc Le Meur, Executive Vice President, Six Apart SA; and Glenn Manoff, Communications Director, O2 UK.

In preparation is a special blog that will be a place for pre-conference discussion and conversation relating to the panel discussion. I expect that blog to be live by mid October.

In the meantime, you can visit the EuroComm website for full details about the conference and to register. If you're not an IABC member (visit the IABC website for info on joining this worldwide professional association that has over 13,000 members), you can still attend this event. And, if you don't want to wait for your copy of the printed conference brochure to arrive in the mail, you can download it here (PDF, 2Mb).

Hope to see you in Paris in December!

[EDIT] Just reading this post, I notice that I didn't state the dates for this conference! The little graphic has them but if you don't see the graphic, you won't see the dates.

Ok, for your diaries - the conference takes place in Paris and starts on Wednesday 30 November with an evening networking reception. The conference then kicks off on Thursday 1 December and ends on Friday 2 December.

See the full schedule on the conference website.

FIR Interview: Gerry Murray, President IABC Belgium - September 14, 2005

In this edition of For Immediate Release podcast interviews, Neville enjoyed a 47-minute conversation with Gerry Murray, President of IABC Belgium, and a management and communication consultant. Topics discussed include: development plans for IABC Belgium, the new Chapter website and new President's blog, the challenges in engaging members throughout Europe, professional development opportunities for IABC members.

About our conversation partner:

Gerry Murray runs The Wide Agency, an international management and communications consultancy based in Belgium. The Wide Agency focuses on effective communication through strategy creation, project management, content provision and coaching.

Prior to that he spent nine years at the world headquarters of DHL, the express logistics company, holding a variety of roles in marketing, strategic planning, investor relations and corporate communications. His early commercial experience was gained in sales and marketing management in the publishing industry.

Gerry was elected President of IABC Belgium in July 2005 and blogs at The Captain's Log. Previously he held the position of the Chapter's Communications Chair.

An Irish national, he has a BA in French & Linguistics from University College Dublin, an MBA from Manchester Business School and holds the status of Chartered Marketer from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.

Download the conversation here (MP3, 20MB), or subscribe to the interviews RSS feed to get it and future interviews automatically. You can also subscribe to the full feed to get all FIR podcasts. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you'll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Interview Segment Time Points:

• 00:26 Neville introduces the interview
• 03:33 Gerry outlines his background: what he did and what he does today
• 07:13 Review of IABC Belgium and its development in recent years
• 09:54 IABC Belgium celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2006
• 11:10 The Captain's Log and the new Chapter website
• 22:41 Gerry: "We have an obligation as an association to be exploring new things"
• 23:05: A series of events planned called 'disruptive communicators' looking at how new things add value to the communication process
• 25:01 Gerry: "How can we use podcasting to preview events?"
• 27:02 Getting involved at the Region level: Chapter development and relations, developing a Job Bank
• 31:50 Helping developing-Chapters use the web
• 34:19 European Leadership Institute meetings
• 37:18 The challenges in engaging members throughout Europe
• 38:56 Eurocomm - a tailor-made professional development event for communicators in Europe
• 44:00 Conversation wrap up
• 45:03 About this podcast and where to find For Immediate Release.

Links for the individuals and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the conversation:

Gerry Murray, IABC, IABC Belgium, IABC Europe Middle East Region, DHL, Lyndon Hrytzak, The Captain's Log, Elizabeth MacDonald, Anton Rath, IABC Cafe, Sam Rowe, Movable Type, Shel Holtz, Top 10 New Technologies for Internal Communicators, Barbara Gibson, Kristen Sukalac, IABC UK, IABC France, IABC Russia, IABC Switzerland, IABC Scandinavia, John Egan, IABC Ireland, European Leadership Institute meeting in Berlin, Eurocomm, Rob Kuijpers, SN Brussels Airlines.

Podsafe intro music - On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

IABC Cafe adds more bloggers

It goes from strength to strength - the IABC Cafe adds guest baristas to the roster of bloggers, joining chief barista Warren Bickford.

Since Warren took the helm of this IABC blog in April, he has shaped it into a place that you really do want to vist and listen to or participate in the conversations. Whether you're an IABC member or just a member of the broad communication profession, it's clear that you're welcome to hang out there. More importantly, it's now a place that you'd want to hang out in.

Nice new photo, Warren!

Let the IABC conference blogging begin!

Probably the best professional development and networking event for business communicators, anywhere in the world, begins tomorrow 26 June in Washington, DC.

It's the IABC international conference, the annual get-together for hundreds of communicators from around the world.

This year's 4-day event is special from two perspectives - first, it's IABC's 35th anniversary year; and second, it will be the first ever IABC event which will be blogged.

Incoming 2005-2006 chairman Warren Bickford - he'll be confirmed as chairman at the AGM during the conference - has assembled a dozen members into the IABC Café International Conference Coffee Press Corps.

This pioneering group of member-bloggers will be blogging in the IABC Cafe about sessions, events, whatever takes their fancy. In addition, roving blogger Charles Pizzo will be adding additional contributions - and maybe a podcast or two. And undoubtedly any member attending who's already a blogger will be adding commentaries to his or her own blog (so if everyone uses the Technorati tag, below, that IABC has created, it will make all posts easily discoverable).

So whether you're at the conference or not, the IABC Cafe looks like it will be a great place to hang out in during the coming week.

[ Technorati tag: iabc international conference 2005]

[UPDATE 28 June] The Technorati tag just hasn't worked. Note just now from Shel who's at the conference: we had the incorrect code (with hyphens: should be spaces or the plus sign). Now fixed - if you now click on the tag link above, you'll see all the posts.

It's worth hanging out in the IABC Cafe

It seems a distant memory now that, after the IABC Chair blog launched last October, it quickly reached a nadir in expectations, engagement, involvement, leadership, worthwhile content, you name it.

That changed when incoming Chairman Warren Bickford took over as chief blogger and relaunched it as the IABC Cafe.

And what a change!

The Cafe has already become a place that has attracted a wider range of IABC members to visit, hang out and join in some conversations on topics such as weighty matters affecting the association and top five trends and issues, as well as lighter exchanges.

Now the Cafe will take a big leap forward in participatory communication at the IABC international conference in Washington, DC, next week with Warren's IABC Cafe International Conference Coffee Press Corps, a group of 12 members who will blog the conference:

[...] The Press Corps is an interesting mix of conference first timers, seasoned vets, experienced bloggers and, dare I say it - no I better not - first time bloggers. They will be posting about their travels, sessions they attend, conference events, whatever (and whoever) they find interesting - or not - while they are at the conference.

Yes, it's definitely worth hanging out there.

Blogging the IABC conference

Incoming IABC Chair Warren Bickford has issued a call to action for communicators attending IABC's annual international conference in Washington, DC, next month to blog the conference sessions:

[...] Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to become a roving Café reporter and post “reviews” of the sessions you attend or comment on anything else of interest that happens to you at the conference. . . . dramatic spark and puff of smoke!

A great call, Warren! I won't be at the conference, unfortunately, otherwise I'd definitely be blogging it. Which leads to an observation - I hope the conference hotel has wi-fi everywhere so that bloggers actually can blog those sessions. If so, then blogging (and RSS) can make the event.

One suggestion - ask everyone to include a Technorati tag in their posts which will then make it dead easy for anyone to find those posts. The same with photos - do a Flickr tag, assuming everyone will upload their pics to that service.

The IABC conference takes place from 26-29 June. One late but most welcome addition to the conference programme is the Blogs: the hot new tool for corporate communicators discussion panel moderated by Debbie Weil. Some great panelists already. Hopefully, that panel will grow to include a blogger or two who's an IABC member.