IABC Updates

President's Comments

IABC Wellington has really been developing at a rate of knots!

Since our last newsletter, we’ve had our official launch and entered into some great sponsorship relationships. Media Monitors (www.mediamonitors.co.nz) has come on board as our principal chapter sponsor for 2007/08, and global research and training organisation Melcrum (www.melcrum.com) is event sponsor for our two masterclasses being held in Wellington early in September.

It’s so exciting to be able to bring Adrian Cropley and Melissa Dark to Wellington to run these masterclasses for us – Melcrum just announced at the Sydney Summit last month that they have selected Adrian and Melissa to launch and run their renowned Internal Communications Black Belt Programme in Australia, so they’ll be in huge demand once that begins later this year!

Also in this newsletter:

• the Queen of Measurement, Angela Sinickas.
• In the Trenches – profiling great resources for members on the IABC website – for example, IABC's accreditation programme, which will helps you demonstrate your ability to think and plan strategically and communicate skillfully and persuasively – including within organisations, with external stakeholders and the media, and in crises.

Finally, I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at our masterclasses next month. Remember, if you haven’t joined IABC yet, it’s cheaper in August and September!

Best regards
Lucy Sanderson-Gammon
President, IABC Wellington

 

Upcoming Event - September Masterclass

In September, IABC Wellington is bringing two of Australia’s leading change management communicators – Adrian Cropley and Melissa Dark – for two masterclasses on 10 and 11 September 2007.

The event is being organised in association with global research and training organisation, Melcrum. We're lucky to be seeing Adrian and Mellissa – both in huge demand after it was announced at the Sydney Summit last month that they are to launch and run Melcrum's Internal Communications Black Belt Programme.

The full-day masterclasses will focus on how to support managers to be better communicators, and how to guide your team and organisation through change: 

• Day 1: Helping managers become better communicators - influence and improve the communication skills of line managers in your business, and gain insight into the key role managers play in organisational communication. Monday 10 September: 
• Day 2: Communicating and facilitating change - discussions, models, case studies, and other essential tools for managers and professional communicators helping people cope with change. Understand what change is, how it affects people, and how to make the process as pain-free as possible. Tuesday 11 September

Places are limited, so book now to secure a place; registrations close on Wednesday, 29 August. To register, complete the form , which gives details of payment options (please note our cancellation policy).

Professional Development in November

Managing communications in the age of blogs, wikis and other social media will be the focus of our mid-November event.

IABC Chair Todd Hattori will travel to Wellington from the USA to be the keynote speaker. He’ll examine the ethical issues that communicators and organisations face in this new environment. We’re also organising a line up of local and other international speakers to discuss how social media impacts employee engagement, and we’ll learn about some of the specific issues facing New Zealand organisations.

Further details will follow in the coming weeks.

 

Membership Month – August and September

Renewing your membership or know someone who wants to join IABC? Join or renew in August or September and you’ll get a reduced membership rate.

Visit the website: www.iabc.com/join for more information. The site includes payment options and your total payment in US Dollars will be between NZ$325 and NZ$335 for individuals depending on whether you're a new, lapsed or renewing member. (*Exchange rate calculation on 27 August 2007)

For Corporate and Student membership fees, please contact IABC Wellington Vice President and Membership Chair Paul Rayner: paul@workingwords.co.nz or 021 633 622.

 

Sponsorships for IABC Wellington

IABC Wellington secures sponsorship support
Some high profile New Zealand and international organisations now support IABC Wellington and its members as sponsors:

• Media Monitors has signed up as our principal chapter sponsor for 2007/08. Media Monitors is a world leader in media information services and the leading media monitoring group in Australia and New Zealand. Their support, together with our other sponsors means that we can offer even better services and value to our members.
  
• Breathe Communications and One Squared are our online communications sponsors -- including sponsorship of this newsletter. To find out more about Breathe and One Squared, please click the links to the right
  
  

IABC Wellington is now official

New Zealand’s only IABC Chapter had its official launch, sponsored by new Principal Sponsors Media Monitors.

Doing the launch honours was Bish Mukherjee, ABC, Immediate Past International Executive Board Director and Asia Pacific Director of IABC.

Bish confirmed our leadership role in the IABC network, noting the chapter had doubled in size since formal establishment in January this year, and has been recognise us as full status chapter in record time. Full chapter status usually takes two years, but Bish was so impressed with our “professionalism and growth” that he pushed for a change in the IABC rules for the first time in its 37-year history.

The launch, at the June professional development event, attracted about 50 Wellington communicators, welcomed by IABC Victoria President Adrian Cropley and enjoying a lively presentation by internationally recognised communications strategist Lorri Lennon, who flew in from Sydney. Lorri spoke on ‘Change Management: 10 Tips to Supercharge your communications’.

 

Queen of Measurement

Queen of Measurement Angela Sinickas recently ran a well-attended professional development workshop in Melbourne on how to add measurable value to an organisation’s results.

Two IABC Wellington members were in the audience. Board member Julia Napier, lucky winner of an IABC Victoria scholarship to attend, says the workshop in August got her up-to-speed with the latest in measurement practice.

"Angela is an expert with a huge reputation – she's been doing this for over 25 years, so she really knows her stuff," said Julia.

"We heard that many companies measure the wrong aspects of their communications strategies -- like measuring how many people receive your newsletter or go to your events, but failing to find out what they remember or do as a result of their contact with you, and - crucially - how the contact changes their attitudes and behaviours."

Sinickas says good measurement skillfully and knowledgeably conveyed is also incredibly useful for communicators' carreers, helping them prove their worth, tick off key performance indicators, and gain leverage to get things done.

But knowing the right questions to ask, how to collate the answers, and then get real meaning out of the raw data can be a daunting task for anyone. Some people tackle the issue with cheap do-it-yourself research programs like SurveyMonkey, which collects and crunches data, but this method can lead to under-reporting of communicators' successes.

For more on Angela Sinickas and her work check out her website www.sinicom.com. 

In the Trenches -- Change Management

Internal communications professionals know their strategic importance to their organisations. More than just developing well-written material for staff, they play a key part in promoting cultural and behavioural change and in improving the overall performance of the organisation. 

But how can Internal communicators demonstrate their business value and gain recognition from senior management on their active role in embedding the values of the organisation? The IABC website can help! It has a wealth of information and tools for IABC members working in change management. Below are just some examples of the resources available to IABC members.

Change for the Better -- Effective senior leadership communication begins with the needs of the workforce. Rodger D’Aprix and Chris Gray discuss how to engage senior leaders to communicate change to employees throughout their organization. More >> 

Change Communication Planning Tool -- My Communication (MyComm) is an online strategic communication-planning tool originally developed by Cisco Systems, Inc. to enhance communication by employees. It is a useful tool to facilitate urgent communication challenges and help companies, engage and inform employees to enhance organisational performance. More >> 

What Each Channel Does Best --  This paper discusses the channels available to communicate messages, and which channels are best-suited to particular messages. Authors TJ Larkin and Sandar Larkin discuss the importance of face to face communication as a tool to overcome employee resistance to change. More>>

CW Bulletin: Change Management -- members can access back issues of the CW Bulletin, which contains an issues from 2003 dedicated to Change Management: More>>