magazine
Simply-Updated April 2008
How Did I Get Here: Dr. TJ Larkin
Find out how it all started for the man who is probably the most respected and
knowledgeable practitioner in the field of change communications today - plus Kelly's video interview with the great man.
IBF 24 - virtual intranet event
Who's manipulating your picture?
What’s the dividing line between
manipulating images in your company’s newsletter and manipulating your
audience? We ask photo gurus Suzanne and Chris Salvo.
Hard numbers beat soft impressions
6 key learnings from new surveyAndrea Thompson of Marmalade carried out in-depth interviews with 20 senior managers and employees of blue chip companies to discover some key issues involved in the change process. Read her six most important conclusions.
How to Create a Strong Workplace Reputation To develop a work force that goes above and beyond, you need good internal communication. Kasper Nielsen argues that more effective communication occurs on a daily basis between employees and their immediate managers.
Communicating across cultural barriers
Is your company culture best described as 'Guided Missile'? Or perhaps you have an 'Eiffel Tower' culture? Marc Wright reports on the four main cultural stereotypes that dog multinational communication communication.
Internal Communications at Nationwide
IC Chief Tom Harvey argues that the role of internal communications ‘is akin to the narrow part of an hour glass’ - only a small amount makes it through the ‘narrow part’ to be read.
Simply-Updated March 2008
Philip Vassallo has come up with some helpful, easy-to-remember tools which he discusses in his book, The Art of On-the-Job Writing. According to Philip, it all starts with three letters: PDQ. As long as employees carry out good planning, drafting and quality-controlling, they’ll be headed in the right direction
Trust is the foundation of all successful communications. Without that, everything else will fail. Patrick Williams shows you how in 7 steps you can help your CEO establish and maintain trust with colleagues and employees....But beware - there are no short cuts on this journey and many leaders fail the programme.
The 7C's that build trust
How Did I Get here: "Queen of Measurement" Katie Delahaye Paine
In 1999 Katie Delahaye Paine sold her company = The Delahaye Group. Now she's back with a 25 strong team analyzing scores
of blogs, articles and other research for marketing and communications
professionals to improve their business plans.
How to create an award-winning change programme
Happy ever afterGerard Brown, Creative Director of simply experience, takes us on a personal trip of championing story-telling in the corporate live events arena. It's a journey that stretches from Eastbourne to Japan in the search for engaging productions.
It's good to talk All too often, however, such interactions lack focus, direction and energy. This can impact on the levels of engagement and commitment of those involved, and slow down the organizations ability to deliver its goals. jacqui Hitt argues in favour of dialogue.
Change case study: 10 lessons from AstraZeneca
Faced with major and
sustained change, the R&D organisation of pharmaceutical giant,
AstraZeneca, decided to coach, equip and support its leadership teams to engage
people in what was happening. Bill Quirke of Synopsis takes you through the 10 lessons learned.
Save £100 off our next conference
We've got a great line-up at the International Employee Communication Summit. As a regular reader you can get a £100 discount off the early bird price - just quote SCE1 when you book.
Simply-Updated February 2008
Get the Big PictureHilary Scarlett explains how you can use pictures to make the complex simply and the tedious compelling. Her step by step guide takes you through the why, how and who of developing a strategy map.
Long before the rest of us discovered Facebook or MySpace, IBM employees participated in chat programs, online networks, file sharing and electronic message boards. Kelly Kass reports.
Inside IBM's W3 intranet
How Did I Get here: David Pearl
David
Pearl rose to fame in the 90s as the tall, operatic one at Lively Arts.
Today he is in demand around the globe as facilitator, coach and
inspirer of large companies.Susan Walker has forgotten more about measurement than most of us can remember. Inthis extract from the Gower Handbook of Internal Communication she offers lessons learnt from 30 years of surveys. Find out how to tell your qualitative from your quantitative.
Connecting with the UnconnectedRuth Findlay of Scottish Water considers those employees who are hard to get to via a desktop PC. In this illuminating extract from the Gower Handbook, she tells you how Scottish Water made the connections.
Employee engagement and the K-A-B Model Successful engagement efforts begin with the understanding that in order to succeed, change takes time – and is a journey. There are numerous models describing this journey, but most of it is based on social marketing theory – that is, that in order to influence behaviour, people must go through three stages of a “K-A-B” model
How to gain friends and influence people
Internal communications is a highly visible and political
position in any organisation and it pays to be able to influence the
right sort of people. Rob Briggs, President of IABC Netherlands, wants to help you build your influencing skills.Save £100 off our next conference We've got a great line-up at the International Employee Communication Summit. As a regular reader you can get a £100 discount off the early bird price - just quote SCE1 when you book.
The Gower Handbook of Internal Communication
The next edition of the bible of internal communications is well on its way to publication in June. If you can't wait that long then visit the simply-communicate wiki.
Marc Wright
Publisher
Simply-Updated January 2008
While many companies are trying to block employees from using sites such as Facebook, BT are embracing social media with both arms.
AEP Intranet: the power of design
How Did I Get here: Ross Chestney, BT
Today Chestney is top of the production pile at BT: Head of
Communication Services with a 30 strong team. But how did he get here?
Bill Quirke in this extract from The Gower handbook of Internal Communication explains how effective leaders – in business or otherwise – excel in four key areas of communication. Focus, Articulate, Model and Engage – better known as FAME.
Communicating through diversityDiversity means so much more than an HR programme. In this enlightening article from the Handbook South Africa's Chornay Marshall explains how better results come from segmenting your audience and respecting their differences.
How to run a focus group All successful communication begins with one act, the same act: listening. But what's the best way to run a focus group in your organisation? Ragan's Pat Williams - veteran communicator -shows you how to do it.
Corporate Governance - could you go to jail?
Corporate
governance is not just for the CEO and Finance Director. Corporate
Communications also has a role to play to ensure that your company
stays on the right side of the law. Andrew Riley, one of the few
professional communicators who is also a qualified accountant guides
you through the reporting minefield.
Perspective - do you have it? As the boundaries between external and internal communication become blurred Mike Klein asks if you have that all important ethical perspective that guides a corporation in terms of values and what's true.
Simply-Updated December 2007
Storytelling in the corporate world
Stories work by taking you into the unknown in your imagination. Extracted from the Gower Handbook of Internal Communication, this lively chapter from Ian Buckingham and Paul Miller is packed with corporate examples - and yes: stories!
David J Taylor is a marketer who has left the dark side of meaningless spin and has embraced the development of better products and services. Watch his interview: never mind the sizzle - where's the sausage?.
Engagement is dead
How Did I Get here: Russell Grossman, HMRC
He's
the best-known internal communication practitioner in the UK, with
Royal Mail, the BBC and HMRC under his belt. See his exclusive
interview about his career and the role of the internal communicator.
How UCB dipped their toe in video podcasting
What makes a successful reward & recognition programme?Ike Levick of ABN AMRO Australisa and New Zealand gives her 22 tips on how to run a successful incentive programme for staff.
John Mullen, CEO, DHL Express He's the winner of the 2008 Excel Award for Communication Leadership. John Mullen will be presented with his award at the
IABC’s Eurocomm conference in
You got to be in to win
It's
that time of year to think about putting in your submission for the
IABC Gold Quill Awards. Ezri Carlebach sets the rules and if you're not
in by Feb 12th your best works will go unrecognised in this
international competition.
Communicating at the coalface Get a preview of Lindsay Bogaard's fascinating chapter from the Gower Handbook of Internal Communication. Is there a gap between your commmunication strategy and what actually goes on in your organisation?
Simply-Updated November 2007
Orchestrate! at London's Barbican
Can a bunch of rank amateurs be turned into a concert orchestra in just 90 minutes? 140 professional communicators went to London's Barbican to roadtest Catalyst's latest team-building exercise, Orchestrate!
What would you do with 32 internal communicators?
How Did I Get here: Juliet Ward, Internal Communicator of the Year
This was quite an accolade for someone who has barely turned 30 and who had
entered internal communications full time just a year before.
How to create a sound strategy
Guide to virtual workingIn this article, Kelly Kass examines useful ways to keep your team together without even going into the office.
- Skype
- Basecamp
- FTP sites
The state of internal communications in the UK today Ezri Carlebach of Barclays Retail reports on IC: UK 2006/7 - The definitive analysis of current internal communication practice. This new study reveals implications of change that could violently shake internal communications practices.
IABC UK events announced
November is shaping up to be an interesting month for professional
development events at IABC, both for internal and external
communicators:- The role and development of the internal communicator with Kevin Chapman
- Brand engagement is dead. Long live engaging brands with David Taylor (pictured), author of "Where's the Sausage?"
- Internal Communication Competencies and the Latest Research with Liam Fitzpatrick
New Media and Internal Communications: Absorb - Adapt - Apply Our India correspondent, Aniisu K Verghese summarizes the implications of new media influences on internal communications. In this article he also provides a strategy for managers to leverage opportunities to their advantage.
Simply-Updated October 2007
How to fall in love with Web2.0
Having trouble selling the benefits of Social Media to your company? Read about the 4 rosy ways to introduce the joys of social networking to the most reluctant and bashful of corporations.
William Hudson of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum has been looking at the latest version of Microsoft's SharePoint 2007 to see if it does deliver a viable platform for a company's intranet
SharePointless?
How Did I Get here: Darren Briggs
Darren
Briggs’s career in internal communications reads like
a dream cv: British Airways, Microsoft, Nike, Pepsico and Vodafone. He
explains to Marc Wright how he's often been in the right place at the
right time.
The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki is the must-read book of the moment. Tom Ball of Cognac, famous for making the complex simple, gives yoiu the keynotes version.
Review: How to Do Everything with PodcastingKelly Kass reviews a comprehensive guide to podcasting. "..Much
of the book - just like a Powerpoint presentation- is presented in a
refreshingly simple, bulletpoint style complete with informative stats and helpful
diagrams.."
Review: David Ferrabee's People Power
Lee Smith immerses himself in a collection of a fascinating 240-page compendium of his thoughts, musings, insights and anecdotes on employee communication, engagement, change and much more besides.
Blogging in Financial Services
At The
Housing Finance Corporation (THFC), they wanted a fresh, innovative way to engage
with clients and stakeholders after years of mailing out a PDF newsletter
every quarter. Yang-May Ooi describes how they built a blog that meets the needs of reputation, brand and time-investment
How to bluff your way in New Media
Worried
about your street cred? Luke Westaway gives a Generation Y insight into
how old media types can stay on the right side of conversations around
the internet water cooler. Know the web news to use, and what to avoid.
Thanks for reading
Marc Wright
Publisher
Simply-Updated September 2007
Why Merrill Lynch bank on their intranet
Communicating to a work force of 62,000 individuals in 38 countries is no easy task so Merrill Lynch Director of Employee Communications, Larry Mark depends on an effective company intranet.
Close encounters of the photographic kind
Suzanne Salvo explains why it is important to inject a little humanity into your photography. No matter how impressive the subject, the human touch will draw more eyeballs to your article.
10 top tips for effective conference presentations
Rebecca Anderson, Conference Director at Ragan Communications compiled this advice from years of working with great consultants and practitioners - and hearing what day-to-day communicators think of them through conference feedback forms.
Prof. David Clutterbuck on the science of conversations
How did I get here: Velin Velkov, President IABC EuropeAt 32, Velin Velkov is one of the youngest Chairs of an IABC Region. That he has climbed so far so fast is even more remarkable since he comes from a country not renowned for its sophisticated practices of corporate communications. Read how the communicator from Bulgaria has Europe athis feet.
Cycling blog leads the pack
Cannondale’s blogging communities in the U. S., Japan and Europe are leaving other corporate global communications programs in the dust with their B2B and consumer blogs. Ragan's Michael Sebastian reports.
Thanks for reading
Marc Wright
Publisher
Simply-Updated August 2007
3 new Simply/Ragan Masterclasses coming to London
Simply-communicate in association with Ragan Communications are producing three masterclasses in the autumn in London. Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson kick off with their expert take on Social Media; Steve Crescenzo presents his brand new masterclass; Mark Ragan and Jim Ylisela present the ever-popular Advanced Writing and Editing.
Toolkit: Video PodcastingKelly Kass trained as a video producer but has spent the last 18 months making video podcasts. The technology is cheaper but have quality standards taken a dive? In this comprehensive toolkit she explains everything you ever wanted to know about video podcasting but were afraid to ask.
How did I get here: Rob Key
Rob Key started in PR but he made his name in corporate comms when he founded one of the most innovative social media communications agencies in the industry, Converseon - famed for techniques such as "conversation mining".
Moving Minds: how to communicate that office move
Making change stickCaisa Alpsten and Ulla Mogestadof Vinco give their 6 step programme to make major change stick in your company or organisation. This practical and powerful guide is an extract from a chapter in the forthcoming Gower handbook of Internal Communication
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow's model is one of our most downloaded articles. His idea that when a need is fulfilled a new one will fill its space is critical for employee communications and an understanding of how people are motivated in their work.
Simply-Updated July 2007
General Motors have poached IBM's chief blogger to beef up the car giant's social media offering. Hear why Christopher Barger made the move and what he's got planned.
Philips switch employees on with video
Employees at Philips were losing touch with the company's innovative products, so the internal communication team harnessed the power of video through roving reporters to switch employees back onto the brand.
Master of the scripts
Rob
Friedman is the speech writer's speech writer. Here he reveals his top
tips from 20 years experience of writing for CEOs. Read the highlights
taken from his recent presentation at Ragan's Corporate Communicators Conference in Chicago.
How did I get here: Ian Maddison
He's
held the top job in 3 of London's leading agencies: PuchasePoint,
Maritz and now LIVE. Read how London's mainstay creative has managed 3
decades on the greasy pole of live events.
Marc Wright looks at the work of Fons Trompenaars, the cross-culture guru and applies his insights to the world of internal communication. This article includes a download of Marc's presentation at the IABC International Conference in New Orleans.
Think global, talk local
Toolkit: planning your summer event
Review: Corporate Punishment
Steve Crescenzo has started a new podcast. No don't tune out - it's actually funny!
Freelancers Reunited
Alison
Gunusen feels that the live events and video freelance community need
to get out more and meet each other. Find out about the party she has
arranged in London to help network old friends and colleagues.
Enjoy reading!
Marc Wright
Simply-Updated June 2007
Social Media Conference Report
Our conference in London's Docklands last week generated plaudits and controversy. In the articles below you can
- Download speaker presentations
- Follow the blog and forum discussions
- Find the links to sites you missed noting down
- Read the delegate feedback
Podcasting made simple by the Podfathers
"Very interesting & Informative"
How did I get here: Gerry McGovern, web guru
Gerry McGovern was worth $200m at the peak of the dot.com boom. But now he is on a crusade to turn intranets from dumps into powerful management tools. We interviewed him before his appearance at the Social Media Conference to discover how to put your intranet back on a sound footing.
"A real call to action."
Top presentation goes to 'old media' truths
The highest scoring session at the conference was a call by Mark Ragan and Steve Crescenzo for the return to old-fashioned values of good writing, headlines that drag the viewer in and photography that avoids the grip-and-grin cliches."Wonderfully honest, with wicked humour - loved it!"
Edge content and the wisdom of crowds
Shel Holtz has a new argument and it's pretty convincing. Forget about your website - if you truly want to engage with the blogosphere focus on the edge where the real conversations are happening.
"Outstanding - fresh, insightful, visionary and very funny!"
Social Media - what's in it for you?
"Excellent, compelling, and a real wake-up call about what is possible."
How to build a blogging community
"Insightful"
Conference Keynote: John Smythe and the Chief Engagement Officer
John Smythe, industry veteran and guru launched his new book, The Chief Engagement Officer - Upending hierarchy to drive the bottom line.
Find out more about the man and his ideas.
"Clear and critical thinking"
Reputation 2.0
Marc Wright tackled the issue of company and personal reputations in the new Web 2.0 environment.
"Very
disjointed, felt like it was thrown together in 10 minutes, though
given that it replaced a speaker who couldn't attend, perhaps
understandable."
Top 10 reasons why Social Media is hard to introduce inside companies
After all the presentations and the case studies, one big question loomed in the room. Why is it just so damn hard to introduce social media inside large organisations?
Using the Crystal Interactive system the delegates brainstormed the barriers to Social Media,and you can read their collected wisdom here.Simply-Updated May 2007
Making Kiosks work in Factories
Are you Twittering?
It's the latest social media gizmo: the ability to text your friends about the minutiae of your every move. But is this new tool any use for internal communication? Kelly Kass starts twittering her friends to ask them that all important question: "What are you doing?".
Non-Verbal Communication in the Workplace
See a little more of what's really being said at work: read the first in our 3 part feature on non-verbal communication where Fiona Robertson deciphers the tics and gestures that speak volumes to the keen observer.
How Did I Get Here: Euan Semple - BBC's Social Media Pioneer
Mind the Gap - London vrs New York
Internal Communication lags growth in the East
Employee
communication is in its infancy in China,India and the ASEAN countries.
But if those economies are to continue their massive
expansion, the baby had better grow up fast according to this report
from Lina Poa.
How to look good in photos
How many times have you heard people say, "I never come across well in photos!" Time and again they hate what they see in the company magazine or intranet site and they become ever more loathe to have their picture taken. But if you grimace when the shutter clicks, then guess what: not even your mother will like your photo.
Ego Search
Simply-Updated April 2007
Missed John Smythe's webinar? Download it for free
u>
Intranet Task Master - the new role in Corporate Comms
Gerry McGovern argues that communicators in charge of company intranets are facing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to raise their game. It's all about moving from a manager of content to becoming a master of tasks on the intranet.
Lloyds TSB reward 2,000 with Stars in their Eyes.
Do large-scale incentive events really work? LloydsTSB have held a party for 1,000 of their staff and spouses to reward them for going that extra bit further. We asked Head of Internal Communications, Terry Hegarty, to reveal some of the facts behind the glitz .
How Did I Get Here: Jennifer McClure
The Shapes Test
Behind the scenes at the IVCA Awards
The
IVCA Awards brought the annual outing of glamorous frocks and industry
gossip to the Grosvenor House once again last week. But what of the
gossip behind the scenes? We put on our best black tie and partied
among the winners to find out.
The 2007 New Communications Forum
From the opening night cocktail party to the lively round-table discussions at the Post-Conference Workshop, the venue was all abuzz with attendee interaction, creating an exciting energy fitting for the subject matter. Kelly Kass went to Vegas to report on the 2007 New Communications Forum, without losing her shirt.
Good comedy is no joke
It
is the communicator's ultimate challenge: how to get dry information
across about a serious subject without boring your audience to tears.
Then someone suggests that you make a comedy. Video director Sasha
Damianovsky explains the basic rules of making a programme that
entertains as well as informs.
When bloggers attack
Want a go on our Wiki?
There's a lot of talk about wikis - but how do they actually work. Well we've jumped in at the deep end and we're using one to edit the new edition of the Gower Handbook of Internal Communication. Come on in - the water's lovely..
Simply-Updated March 2007
UK Internal Comms Execs "never had it so good"
Quentin Cowdry is a head hunter who is struggling to hunt heads - or more specifically is struggling to fill briefs from some of Britain's largest companies looking for Heads of Internal Communication.
Introducing a new CEO
The scenario is a
familiar one – your charismatic and much-loved CEO is moving on, only to be
replaced with a little-known executive from another organisation. Lee Smith reports how the Retail division of HBOS, the UK's
fifth largest bank, introduced Benny Higgins.
How Did I Get Here: Bill Quirke
Electronic Brainstorming
The Good Awards Guide
It's
that time of year again, when you put on your glad rags and trip down
to the Grosvenor House to pick up your award for Best Communication.
But with a dozen award programmes to choose from, we explain which is
right for you.Review section
Confused
by the number of blogs and podcasts out there for internal comms
practitioners? Read our Review Section to ensure you are not missing
out.
Kelly Kass checks out corporate blogging consultant Debbie Weil’s podcasts of her weekly programme, The Corporate Blogging Show.
David
Ferrabee is, at least as far as UK-based communication consultants go, a blogging
veteran. He started his Change and Internal Communications blog back in spring 2005.
Two years on and he’s still going strong, both as a blogger and as a business
leader.
Working with Not-For-Profits:
it's good for the soul to do some pro-bono or charity communication work. Kelly Kass looks at her own experiences making a video for the Independent Living Association in New York.
CEO bloopers on YouTube
If
your CEO screws up at a conference it can be embarrassing. But how do
you limit the damage when that foot-in-mouth clip ends up on YouTube
for the world to download and scoff at.
Roberts Dilts - NLP guru
Robert Dilts is an expert on leadership and one of the seminal thinkers and contributors to the field of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Gerry Murray, President of IABC Belgium caught him in London to podcast his thoughts on leaders, leading, leadership and communication.
Marc Wright
Publisher
Simply-Updated January 2007
Beginners guide to Social Media
If you are wondering what YouTube, myspace and WebCameron have got to do with your job in internal communications, read our guide and learn to love the blog.
So you want to be famous?
The Gower Handbook of Internal Communication is going to be completely rewritten. A lot of change has happened since the original was puiblished back in the 90s. Find out how to become a contributor to the new industry bible.
How did I get here: John Smythe
He's the UK's leading figure in internal communication. Now the man who invented employee engagement has got a mission - to turn the way decisions are made in large corporations upside-down.
Time for your professional detox
January is the time to review your career. Lee Smith takes you through the options for professional development in 2007. 
Review Section
Confused by the amount of blogs and podcasts out there for internal comms practitioners? Read our Review Section to ensure you are not missing out.
Kelly Kass reviews our podcast of the month: For Immediate Release. It's long, it's weighty, but is it still king of the podcast jungle?
IABC Cafe; is this the best blog for internal communicators in the world? Lee Smith orders a coffee and samples the chat.
The end of Internal Communication
WPP's Kevin Keohane predicts trouble ahead as the old contract between employers, employees and customers is being rewritten.What role for IC as the traditional structures and hierarchies creak under the strain of 21st century business velocities?
Foggy writing
No-one wants to waste time wading through impenetrable prose – but how clear is your writing? Maureen Moody spots the errors and offers simple strategies for making writing clear and understandable.
Are employee surveys evil?
Employee researcher Theresa Welbourne has concluded that those annual employee surveys are unpleasant, harmful and morally wrong.Marc Wright
Publisher
Welcome to The August edition of Simply-Updated the newsletter of www.simply-communicate.com
Is your intranet drowning in too much detail?
Intranet guru Shel Holtz can help you revive your site by exploiting the 'read-write' web.
Speechwriting tricks of the trade
7 fire-proof techniques to make your next presentation memorable.
How did I get here: Mark Ragan, CEO
How a Washington journalist built the world's largest publisher in employee communications
Body Language decoded
Your body talks - and you might not like what it's saying to your friends, colleagues staff or bosses. Find out how to manage your mannerisms.
Models of motivation
3 classic models that explain how to motivate your staff and yourself. Learn to tell your Herzberg from your Mayo and McClelland.
Video Toolkit
How to produce your own video on a budget, from pre-production to shooting, editing and duplication.
Have your say
Thanks for your feedback on last month's poll about day rates for writers. You told us that the average fee is over £500 per day. This month's poll is
"How many agencies would you ask to pitch for a project?"
Summer Fever
10 Signs Your Staff Need A Break
Here are some telling signs that an outbreak of summer fever is nigh.
Industry News
Barbara Gibson launches Spokescomm high above London, Cognac grows both their staff and their bar bill, while IABC leaders chill out in Stockholm where Gerry Murray podcasts about the European Leadership Institute.
Marc Wright
Publisher
Thanks for reading and enjoy the summer. If you want some guaranteed sunshine then join me in Barcelona in September where I will be chairing the Blackbrooke Institute Conference.
Simply-Updated July 2006 Newsletter
Welcome to the July edition of Simply-Updated. In this edition:
Communication Directors Forum - Is the Oriana worth it? Over a dozen exhibitors give their verdict.
Blogging - A Beginner's Guide Everything you ever wanted to know about this new social media but were too cool to ask.
Fun in the Sun Download our toolkit on how to make your company's summer event as easy as a walk in the park.
How Did I Get Here : Angela Sinickas - Data Queen She is the acknowledged expert for measurement in internal communications. Read how her passion for data has changed an industry forever.
Social Media - believe the hype
Steve Crescenzo learns how to stop worrying and love the revolution.
Transactional Analysis
This powerful model can totally transform your communication skills.
What are you worth? This month it's Event & Video Producers.
Clothes Encounters At the Office As temperatures rise do you dress to impress or commit sartorial suicide at work ?
Teleseminar: Effective speechwriting Learn the five principles of speechwriting to make your speakers sound heartfelt, honest and meaningful.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the summer. But if you want some guaranteed sunshine then join me in Barcelona in September where I will be chairing the Blackbrooke Institute Conference.
Marc Wright
Publisher
Simply-Updated June 2006 Newsletter
Welcome to the June edition of Simply-Updated, the monthly newsletter of Simply-Communicate.com.
We are one year old this month and I just want to thank you for visiting us and reading our advice, toolkits and articles.
We look forward to supporting you in the year ahead and are delighted to offer some exciting new features:
In this edition:
Your Questions - Answered For Free!
Just click on our Any Answers page to pose that burning question. Our team of experts from the Couravel Knowledge Network will give you the benefit of their years of internal communications experience.
Communication Strategy - A Beginner's Guide
Want to know the contents of an ideal communication strategy? Or are you looking for a roadmap to develop a communication strategy that supports business or organisational needs?
Read Mike Pounsford's failproof process for creating a business-focused communication strategy and plan.
Fees Are Rising
Thanks for voting in last month's poll on how much you'd expect an internal communications consultant's rate to be. The average result?
£1,075 per day - a full 12% increase on last year's result
This month, we're looking at Senior Event & Video Producers so click through to cast your vote now.
How Did I Get Here : Khalid Aziz - Presentation Maestro
Khalid Aziz is on a mission : to make us all better business communicators. Over the past 23 years, the Aziz Corporation has trained thousands of executives to conquer their fears of the podium and turn Foot-in-Mouth speakers into Silver Tongues.
Key Models For Managing Change
Every day we are faced with a peculiar paradox : that we live in a state of constant flux yet we abhor the process of change. Fiona Robertson's article looks at our fear of change, the emotional transitions it produces, and how best to minimise its negative impact on workforces the world over.
Bring Your Written Presentations To Life
It is one thing to write a presentation; it is quite another to vocalise the written word in front of a live audience. In this article Fiona Robertson explores the secrets of th best business speakers. How they write their presentations for the stage rather than the page, create structures that any audience can follow, how they blend humour and controversy and generally bring their presentation material to life.
Dynamic Dashboards
Measurement in internal communication is becoming more dynamic with the arrival of communication dashboards. Simon Quarendon and Helen Coley-Smith explain how dashboards cut through the noise and information overload to give real-time golden numbers and keep a company on track.
Toolkit: In-House Events
Need to stage a conference but you can't afford a production company ? See our toolkit, sponsored by Blitz Vision, on in-house events.
Marc Wright
Publisher
Simply-Updated May Newsletter
In this edition:
Employee Engagement - A Beginner's Guide
Here's an overview of the engagement phenomenon to get you up to speed on how it began, what it means, why it is important, and how you can harness it to turn employees into champions for your business.
How Did I Get Here? Shel Holtz, Comms Guru
Shel Holtz, one of the best known communicators in corporate comms, also podcasts twice a week on all issues technology- and communication-related. His profile reveals how he became the industry's online guru and prophet of the new social media.
Measurable Success
Angela Sinickas, the best known expert in employee communications measurement, explains how communicators who connect with their audience and measure their results can get ahead.
“It’s a tough, tough job we do,” she says. “We’re responsible for getting the organisation’s goals achieved but we need to be very much in tune with our audience.”
Forging Effective Teams - Tuckman's Stages
Bruce Tuckman proposed a model for team development that identifies four key stages of progression that every group must undergo before it can become an effective team.