Marsha told us:  ‘As a new entrant in the field of internal communications and having recently completed the CIPR Internal Communications Certificate, I was really excited to attend the simply-summit where one of the speakers was an author of one of my textbooks. To hear John Smythe speak really reinforced my learning and also set the tone for the rest of the day.

‘The set up of the day was also quite fun. On arrival we were each given an ipod, which we could use to vote on issues and to ask questions through out the day.  Each table had three Ipads on them, two for looking close up at the powerpoint on the main screen and the other to look at Storify.  As much of the day was focused on social media it was useful to see it in practice at this event.

‘ The main things that I have taken away from the simply-summit is the realization that I really need to up my game when it comes to using tools like Twitter, to not be afraid to take risks or make mistakes and to have a sense of humour.’

I was interested in Marsha’s comment about using social media and not being afraid to make mistakes – this was one of the key messages from the Public Relations Society of America conference on social media back in early April.  Several of the speakers talked about this and made that point that if you handle a mistake well you should be OK. One example was someone who sent a personal Tweet from the corporate Twitter account while at a party – you can imagine the type of content ! Anyway it was spotted really quickly and they followed up with a Tweet acknowledging the mistake and delivering a light hearted, but responsible message. The other key point made was that this worked because the organisation – I think it was the Red Cross – had a good reputation so was less likely to get attacked for it. Just shows how reputation becomes ever more important in a social media world.

If you want to learn more about using social media, check out our Digital Communication Certificate and our one day training course on social media for internal communication - new dates coming soon.

Now, we’ve been talking about systems theory and PR for as long as I’ve been teaching PR…and that’s ten years now. But what Edward is doing at IBM is using it to develop what he calls “corporate character”. Intriguing. His interpretation of systems theory led to an analysis that the planet is becoming smarter, you can’t design or control a complex system, and technology alone is not the answer. Edward had lots of great examples to back these points up, such as how focusing on one factor alone for climate change, e.g. CO2 emissions, will still not affect projected sea level rises.

So, what does this mean for public relations in a digital age? The big message is that digital networks have made corporate culture and corporate reputation indivisible. The implications of this are:

• Thoughtful discourse, not messaging
• Deeper understanding (issues, systems, behavior)
• Wider collaboration
• New approaches to measuring results

It was clear that Edward is doing a lot of consultation with IBM employees on developing “corporate character” and it would have been good to have heard more about this. If corporate culture and reputation are indivisible, then internal communication has to be the primary focus for corporate communication.

This was a great presentation that showed how theory can be applied for more effective communication. Good luck to the team at IBM, it will be interesting to see how their “corporate character” emerges in the years ahead.

I liked his comment about ‘socialising the enterprise’ too often being about mapping new tools on to old ways of working, perhaps no more than just getting everyone on Twitter and Facebook.  What organisations need to realise is that they need to be very different  – out go the silos and in comes the ‘Chief Influence Professional’.  Philip calls this a ‘perfect storm’ for PR people (check out his slide deck on his blog). If we are the people who can bring about change, are fluent in PR ‘excellence’ (yes, we mean some of that Grunig stuff all you PR Diploma and Advanced Certificate folk out there!) then we could be the new Chief Influence Officers.

But we need to sieze the day or someone else will get in there first.   As Philip put it: “Marketing is eating our lunch”.  I think that this means we need to raise our game and start really putting into practice the concept of two-way symmetry that we learn about on our PR qualifications   that means influencing (there’s that word again) the organisation.  Because as Philip reminded us, you cant fake it and that is true now more than it has ever been  – organisations will get found out if they arent behaving right.

We need to stop wasting our time trying to get more followers on Twitter (although I know there’s nothing like the buzz of a high profile new follower!) and start thinking about how our understanding of organisations as systems (another key concept covered in all our CIPR qualifications) make us ideally placed to guide organisations into these uncharted waters.

Kevin is going to be doing a blog on this idea of systems thinking that was discussed at the conference in the next few days, so watch this space. And if you have studied or are studying with us, make sure you join our alumni group on Linkedin where Kevin and  I will be sharing some of the tips and case studies that we picked up from the conference during the next week or so (once I’ve been shopping).

But part of this is what we should always have been doing with journalists; ie reading their stuff on a regular basis and thinking of ways to offer a story that fits with their agenda.  I don’t think that I was alone in thinking along these lines, @EricaRS Tweeted: “Connecting the age-old skills in PR to modern-day mediums” (you can see other comments about the session at #byndhype).

The other point for me is that it is clear that for too long PR has just been about push-out-a-press-release-media-relations – not about stakeholder engagement.  This is where internal comms practitioners get it much more I think, they know that they need to find the influencers in their organisation and work with them, understand their agenda. This is why internal comms is such a tough job because that takes time, energy and highly developed people skills.  Back to the social media influencer stuff and Pierre-loic talked about how people in an organisation can be assigned ‘influencers’ and maybe only the CEO would engage with the top five: yup, just like we do in good internal comms practice.

My view is that a good influencer campaign is really just good PR (and dont mean media relations) – but with some different tools to get your head around (something our own Digital Communication Certificate can help with of course!).   So, if you are wondering what a good influencer campaign is all about, chances are you already know.

“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

So thats nice and clear then. But I wonder if this isn’t really what the voters (yes, it was agreed by a vote) think PR should be – rather than what it actually is.  The thing is, PR is lots of different things. Of course nobody would argue that we shouldn’t be building mutually beneficial relationships, but how much of a practitioner’s work is actually still about trying to manage down the negative and push products? And there’s nothing wrong with that – is there? We have to accept that to many people PR is still thought of as media relations because that is still what a lot of practitioners actually do most of the time.

I wonder how internal communicators feel – does this definition feel inclusive enough for all the PR disciplines? Because afterall those ‘publics’ include employees.  I think the term ‘publics’ would seem quite alien to an internal comms professional .

However, I am not sure how much an actual definition matters. Isn’t it more about understanding? We all know what an accountant does, or a doctor, but we might not be able to actually articulate the definition.  I think an interesting way to define PR – if a definition is about describing what something actually is – is to ask people outside the discipline but who come into contact with it, what they believe it is.  Back in the day when I was in The AA (thats the Automobile Association) press office, if I said I was in public relations people thought I was on the end of the phone when you rang up to say that you had broken down – afterall, thats dealing with the public isnt it? Oh and they would always ask if I had one of those yellow vans…..

PR Academy will design, develop and deliver AMEC courses online using cutting edge technology. The first course, the AMEC International Certificate in Measurement and Evaluation, will be launched in May.

Open to students globally and founded on a set of best practice guiding principles to communications evaluation, the course will include social media measurement.

Barry Leggetter, Executive Director for AMEC, said: “Our Board felt the PR Academy was a training partner to help us leverage the international potential of online courses relating to measurement and evaluation.”

Mike Daniels, Chairman of AMEC, said: “This is a very important business decision for AMEC and is a key part of our international offer.” Daniels added, “AMEC plans to explore the potential for AMEC College courses with national and international public relations organisations.”
Kevin Ruck, co-founder of the PR Academy said: “PR Academy is delighted to be appointed as the AMEC College partner. This is an exciting development for the communications industry at a time when measurement is so critical. The new courses will appeal both to those working in evaluation and to PR professionals looking to improve their understanding of effective communications measurement.”

Further details of the AMEC International Certificate in Measurement and Evaluation will be made available soon.

For further information, please contact:
Barry Leggetter, Executive Director, AMEC – barryleggetter@amecorg.com
Kevin Ruck, Co-founder, The PR Academy – Kevin.Ruck@pracademy.co.uk

About AMEC
AMEC, the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication has grown to become a global trade body for agencies and practitioners who provide media evaluation and communication research. AMEC’s purpose is to define and develop the industry on an international scale with better professional standards for both companies and individuals.

About PR Academy
PR Academy develops and delivers bespoke face-to-face and online courses for communications professionals, and offers career coaching. It is the largest provider of Chartered Institute of Public Relations qualifications (CIPR). More than 500 communications practitioners studied with PR Academy last year. PR Academy works with BPP – the private university – to offer PR as part of its Marketing Masters and with the Association of Measurement and Evaluation Companies (AMEC), for whom it will be soon be launching a range of qualifications.

PR Academy has been selected to run the AMEC College and we will be designing, developing and delivering their courses online and the first course – the AMEC International Certificate in Measurement and Evaluation will be launched in May.  It will be open to students all over the world and will include social media measurement  – more on the courses a bit nearer the time.

AMEC has grown to become a global trade body for agencies and practitioners who provide media evaluation and communication research. AMEC is all about developing the industry on an international scale with better professional standards for both companies and individuals.

We know that measurement and evaluation are high on the agenda for all communicators and so this is really timely.  Being able to prove the value of what we do as communicators is so important and doing it to a consistent and recognised standard can only be good for practice.

More in the press release here.  We’ll let you know more about the courses soon and of course, keep an eye on the AMEC website too – they have a great new site and it is definitely worth checking out.

We first introduced the Trends Survey last year to find out more about the status of our students and their views on professional qualifications for communicators.

In our second ‘Qualifications for Communicators: Trends Survey’ – released today – 66% of respondents indicate that they have funding for qualifications available through their employer. While up only one percentage point on last year’s 65%, this is a reassuring sign that communications professional qualifications continue to be valued by employers.

Once again, we asked some of the senior communicators with whom we work what they thought.

Here is what they had to say:

Sally Sykes FCIPR, HSE Communications Director and CIPR President 2012:

“It is important that practitioners at all levels pursue professional qualifications (up to the highest level of CIPR Chartered Practitioner) so that, over time, we raise the bar in giving consistently good strategic advice to our clients and businesses. The PR Academy survey is a really good way of tracking the take up and impact of professional qualifications”

Steve Falla FCIPR, Director or Orchard PR:

“From the conversations that I have with peers I’m pleasantly surprised that the findings of the survey read so positively. It’s tough in the consultancy world. At Orchard, we remain committed to budgeting for training, even if it’s at the expense of investment elsewhere, and we expect that our new entrants into the PR profession will sign up to study for CIPR qualifications. It broadens their thinking, sharpens their skills and raises their expectations to learn the theory while working very hard at the practice.”

The survey also includes information about the students’ education, the sector they mostly work in, why they are studying for a professional qualification and whether they think holding a professional qualification has or will lead to career progression.

We would like to thank the 154 people who participated in the study – and hope you find the results of interest.  You can read it here.  See the coverage in CorpComms here.

About the research

The survey was conducted online using Survey Monkey in December 2011. The results are based on 154 respondents – all are past and present students of PR Academy.

PR Academy first introduced its ‘Qualifications for Communicators: Trends Survey’ last year to find out more about the status of its students and their views on professional qualifications.

In its second report, released today, 66% of respondents indicate that they have funding for qualifications available through their employer. While up by only one percentage point on last year’s 65%, findings suggest that funding has not yet been impacted by budget cuts – particularly those affecting the public sector. In fact, the proportion of respondents coming from the public sector indicating that they have funding available has risen from 64% last year to 70% this year.

Despite the reported widespread public sector budget cuts, our survey results suggest that this hasn’t impacted ongoing education amongst our students – the proportion of respondents coming from the sector remains constant at 51%. Just over one third (35%) come from the private sector, with the remainder working in the not-for-profit sector.

Ann Pilkington, Director of PR Academy: “The survey has provided us with some reassuring signs that professional qualifications for communicators continue to be valued by employers. Despite challenging economic times, they are still providing communications practitioners with access to funding that will allow them to acquire the skills and knowledge to do what they do more effectively.”

Sally Sykes FCIPR, HSE Communications Director and CIPR President 2012:
“It is important that practitioners at all levels pursue professional qualifications (up to the highest level of CIPR Chartered Practitioner) so that, over time, we raise the bar in giving consistently good strategic advice to our clients and businesses. The PR Academy survey is a really good way of tracking the take up and impact of professional qualifications”

Steve Falla FCIPR, Director or Orchard PR:
“From the conversations that I have with peers I’m pleasantly surprised that the findings of the survey read so positively. It’s tough in the consultancy world. At Orchard, we remain committed to budgeting for training, even if it’s at the expense of investment elsewhere, and we expect that our new entrants into the PR profession will sign up to study for CIPR qualifications. It broadens their thinking, sharpens their skills and raises their expectations to learn the theory while working very hard at the practice.”

The survey also includes information about the students’ education, the sector they mostly work in, why they have or are studying for a professional qualification and whether they think holding a professional qualification has or will lead to career progression.

For more information, please contact Nina Croad, Communications Consultant, Just Bee Comms on +44 7889 491 259 or nina@justbeecomms.com

About the research
The survey was conducted online using Survey Monkey in December 2011. The results are based on 154 respondents – all are past and present students of PR Academy.

About PR Academy
PR Academy is the major course provider for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). It delivers a wide range of face-to-face and online courses. More than 500 communications practitioners studied with PR Academy last year. PR Academy also develops and delivers bespoke face-to-face and online courses for communications professionals, and offers career coaching. www.pracademy.co.uk

So, who won what?

CIPR Diploma in Public Relations: Tom Bradshaw, Specsavers

CIPR Advanced Certificate in Public Relations: Mia Habens, Denplan

CIPR Public Affairs Diploma: Grant Thoms, MacThomais Political Consulting

CIPR Internal Communication Diploma: Sharrion Llewellyn, DWP

CIPR Internal Communication Certificate: Natasha Graham, Cumbria Probation

And well done to everyone graduating with a distinction!

PR Diploma: William Harrison (award runner up, gaining a distinction in all three assignments), Leah Dunford,  Laura Dalgleish, Claire Nicholson.

PR Advanced Certificate: Helen Barratt (award runner up, gaining a distinction in her critique), Kyle Banks, Matthew Hartley, Catherine Le Prevost.

Internal communication certificate distinction graduates:  Louise Blackwell, James Hakner, Nicola Harle, Louise Powney, Fiona Pearson, Caroline Rowe, Richard Cooper, Tracy Foord, Heather Basnett, Jennie Hughes, Usha Mistry, Michael Shakespeare, Val Smith, Bob Watling, Jane Tresise, Melanie Wareing, Jennifer Hazan, Sophie Binding, Fiona Hancock, Christine Hicks, Searon Thornton, Paula Wyatt, Linda Townsend.

Internal communication diploma distinction graduates: Carol Artwell, Fay Collett, Kellie Young, Angela Gostling, Helena Hird, Michelle MacCrossen, Leah McTaggart, Angela Chapman, Kim Spooner, Kathryn Dicker.

Public Affairs Diploma distinction graduates: Eva Grossman, Robert Okunnu, Yvonne White, Ruth Garland, Christopher Marlow.

Congratulations to everyone!

Picture shows left to right: Tom, Natasha, Kevin Ruck from PR Academy, Sally Sykes President of the CIPR, Sharrion, Ken Livingstone, Mia and Grant.

Find out more about how the awards work and past winners here.