PR Academy website

CIPR Internal Communication Diploma – new dates

Ann Pilkington — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:50:54 +0000

The next CIPR Diploma in Internal Communication gets underway on 17 April with further dates on 8 May, 12 June and 3 July 2010. This has proved such a popular course that we have decided to run one in the Spring rather than wait till the autumn. More info on our website.

Qualifications have international appeal

Ann Pilkington — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:10:52 +0000

Great to read former CIPR Online Diploma student Adam Riddell from Crystal Public Relations on Jersey in Profile Extra sharing his thoughts and experiences of online study.

The Online Diploma certainly has an international flavour. As well as many students from the far corners of the UK, this year students have joined us from Africa, the US, Romania, Switzerland, Qatar and Scandanavia. We love the fact that the CIPR qualifications have such international appeal.

And it isnt just with the PR Diploma. Recently we have been out to Bulgaria to help the CIPR qualifications centre in the capital Sofia get the Internal Communciation Certificate off the ground. What a smashing group they were – 11 Bulgarians and one student who flew in from Slovakia! Fascinating to learn that they face such similar challenges to internal comms practitioners here in the UK. We (Kevin and I) were also invited to speak at the Centre’s ‘Good Communicators’ evening event too which was attended by senior communcators from Government, internal comms practitioners and some academics. There certainly is a great thirst for learning and professionalising PR.

Internal communication – spreading the word

Ann Pilkington — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:48:50 +0000

Ann (me) has been having a good chat with the lovely people at Simply Communicate – read all about it on the Simply Communicate website. Simply Communicate is a great resource for anyone interested in internal communications, worth checking out if you havent already.

It is great to have their support for the qualifications. Speaking of which, the CIPR Internal Communication Certificate and brand new Diploma have been selling like hot cakes and both January start courses are now full – it is fantastic to see so many people keen to help professionalise this exciting and growing area of communication practice. We plan to run another diploma in the spring/summer due to the demand.

BTW still some room on the online Internal Communication Certificate – but get in quick!

Cold snap: let’s hear it for the press teams!

Ann Pilkington — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:09:14 +0000

Of course, PR folk arent on the front line like our fantastic emergency services have been during the recent weeks (oh, and lets not forget the gritter teams who have just got me home safe by leading a convoy down the steep hill that leads to our house!) but I bet there are many of you who are working flat out – and not just the emergency services. I know from my days in the AA press office back along, that any unusual conditions meant that if you were on call, you certianly earned your on call allowance! What about those at Eurotunnal and Eurostarm, the airports and Highways Agency and local authorities.

Is this cold and snowy weather keeping you busy? We’d love to hear how it has been so far for you…

Business as usual today

Ann Pilkington — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:07:49 +0000

We’re pleased to report that classes are going ahead as plannd today (Saturday 9th January)

Keeping going in the snow – new classes starting

Ann Pilkington — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:38:12 +0000

When will this snow let up? We are all VERY fed up of it now. If you are joining us tomorrow (Saturday 9th) for the first Advanced Certificate class, it is still going ahead. The SOAS campus is open and Maud, your course leader, is London based and should be OK to make it in. If you cant make it because – like me – you are a bit snowed in, dont worry, technology is here to help us and we will be running a conference call/webinar to cover the content.

I plan to keep the blog updated if things change overnight tonight (8th Jan)

Whoops! Did I really say that?

Ann Pilkington — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:56:44 +0000

It is often said that the BBC Today programme sets the agenda for the rest of the day’s news. Well, how right they are and what an interesting example this is of somebody getting caught off guard and lulled into a false sense of security!

All week the programme has had a different guest editor each day. Yesterday (31 December) it was the turn of the author PD James. The programme ended with her having a nice chat with the UK Justice Minister and former Home Secretary Jack Straw. He commented that he did not believe police in the UK were weighed down with paperwork and those who complained about spending hours filling in forms were just being inefficient and actually quite liked being in a nice warm office rather than out catching criminals…..Oh dear. Well, the story has just run and run and is still being covered today.

Lessons learned: It doesnt matter who is interviewing you, be on your guard just as you would with the most fierce interviewer. It reminds me of the time former Prime Minister Tony Blair was caught off guard by a member of the public on the subject of waiting times for doctor appointments.

Or is the lesson learned that our spokespeople have become so trained, often by the very journalists that will be asking the questions, that it has all become a bit of a game and it is the citizen journalist getting the best stories!!

Internal communicators – seize the day!

Ann Pilkington — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:09:14 +0000

Thanks to our friend and PR Academy Mike Wooles for flagging this article to us. Lots of good points here about employees living the brand etc but it says that ‘marketing and HR’ are increasingly getting together to deliver it. Internal communciations gets a mention further down but I think this reads like this is all the responsibilty of marketing and/or HR – what do you think? Of course it is a marketing publication so there is going to be a focus on marketing…but even so….

It just makes me think that Internal Communciations is really going to have to seize the day if we arent going to get left in others’ wake, stuck as the corporate post people. As Quirke (2008:291) says:

“There are areas of businesses which are quietly getting on with harnessing communication to change cultures, re-engineer processes and build their brands. However, the internal communication departments are often busy elsewhere, either missing the action or being kept out.”

Crisis at Christmas

Ann Pilkington — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:40:57 +0000

Thanks to everyone who came along to the PR Academy Christmas drinks and award celebrations on 1 December. We raised more than £80 for Crisis Christmas which PR Academy will be matching and rounding up to £200 – thanks all and especially to Chloe for making it happen.

We’ve found another charitythat we really like too – the Media Trust - and have been pleased to donate a batch of around 30 Tench and Yeoman’s Exploring Public Relations books to them.

Pictures and info about the awards coming soon !

The truth is out there

Ann Pilkington — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:28:16 +0000

Tim Morris, one of our lecture team on the Foundation has found himself in print in CorpComms magazine – do you agree with Tim? Be great to hear your views on this key topic for PR.