IABC - International Association of Business Communication, Wellington, New Zealand

Three senior communicators will give their professional accounts of Christchurch’s February earthquake and the weeks following. We will gain a valued insight into Christchurch City Council’s communications strategy and two Wellington-based communications practitioners who were ‘on the ground’ in Christchurch following the earthquake. They will discuss their reactions and how they coordinated important information during such a dramatic and crucial time for Canterbury and the country.

Di Keenan, Senior Communications Manager for Christchurch City Council, Spiro Anatasiou, Strategic Communications Manager for the Ministry of Health and Karl Ferguson, National Manager, Engagement and Communications for NZTA and Interim Communications Manager for the newly formed CERA (Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Agency) will form the panel who will discuss and reflect on this event and the ongoing lessons.

Date: Thursday, 21 July 2011
Time: 5.15pm – 6.30pm with drinks and networking to follow
Location: Turnbull House, 11 Bowen Street, Thorndon, Wellington
Cost: Free to members and $25 for non-members

Click here to register

On 17 August IABC Wellington is proud to present a one-day workshop with legendary communications pioneer, Shel Holtz. Don’t miss this once in a career opportunity.

Perhaps most famous in Australasia for his internal communications bible, Corporate Conversations, Shel Holtz was an early adopter of podcasting, and continues to blaze new trails in corporate communications technology.
The seminar will address a number of critical questions about how our business environment is changing and how we as communicators can both keep up and lead this evolution.

Read more about the seminar here.

About Shel

Shel Holz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), IABC Fellow, is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. His clients have included Intel, Sears, PepsiCo, Petrobras, Aetna, HSBC, John Deere, Manulife Financial, The mayo Clinic, General Mills, USAA, Pratt & Whitney, FedEx and Johns Hopkins Medicine, among many others. Shel has more than 30 years of organisational communications experience in both corporate and consulting environments. Since 1996, he has been advising clients on communication and content strategies with a focus on digital and social media. He is the author of six communication-focused books. With his co-host, fellow IABC member Neville Hobson, ABC, he produces For Immediate Release, the first and longest-running communications-themed podcast. He blogs at http://blog.holtz.com.

Date: Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Cost: For members $475 for non-members $600
Time: all day
Location: Majestic Centre, Willis Street, Wellington

Click here to register

The environment in which businesses of every stripe exist is evolving at an alarming rate. Organizations are affected by every dimension of these changes, from the growing role of social media to the changing nature of content and the channels through which company messages are delivered. Communications professionals are tasked with adapting to these changes as quickly as they occur, keeping customers, employees and other stakeholder audiences engaged and motivated while adding an ever-expanding list of skills, tools and resources to their toolkits.

In addition to the digitization of content, communicators must grapple with a workplace that hosts four – soon to be five – generations, the need to instantly identify and respond to issues, the fact that every employee is now a prospective communicator, and an erosion of the barrier between employees and other stakeholders.

Will these and other emerging trends help to make the communicator’s role more or less important in leaders’ eyes? Join us for a one-day seminar that aims to address these challenges and prepare you to ensure that communications is an indispensable management asset. The seminar will address a number of critical questions, including…

• How is the business and work environment changing?
• How is the communication profession adapting?
• What are the evolving roles of the business communicator?
• How can you be ready for these changes, both the inevitable and the unpredictable?

At the end of the seminar, you will be able to…

• Determine the state of your own efforts against the state of the profession
• Know which skills you need to acquire in order to stay relevant
• Identify the current and emerging issues you’ll need to incorporate into your planning
• Prepare an effective crisis and issues management plan that incorporates emerging requirements

Strategically incorporate social and digital media into your efforts

Participants

This seminar will prepare communicators at all roles and levels of the organization – internal and external – to address the challenges of that lie ahead.

Presenter

Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), IABC Fellow, is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. His clients have included Intel, Sears, PepsiCo, Petrobras, Aetna, HSBC, John Deere, Manulife Financial, The mayo Clinic, General Mills, USAA, Pratt & Whitney, FedEx and Johns Hopkins Medicine, among many others. Shel has more than 30 years of organizational communications experience in both corporate and consulting environments. Since 1996, he has been advising clients on communication and content strategies with a focus on digital and social media. He is the author of six communication-focused books. With his co-host, fellow IABC member Neville Hobson, ABC, he produces For Immediate Release, the first and longest-running communications-themed podcast. He blogs at http://blog.holtz.com.

Date: Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Cost: For members $475 for non-members $600
Time: all day
Location: Majestic Centre, Willis Street, Wellington

Click here to register

Every good public servant has 19 May – Budget Day – circled on their calendar. But what does the mean for us as communicators? Mike Munro, Communications Manager for the Treasury will share his 25 years of perspective on Budget Day and how this one will shape the way we live and work in the coming financial year.

Mike will also share his insights into how budget communications has evolved from an accounting set-piece into one of the most significant annual events in New Zealand politics.

We’ll also learn more about how the communications team at Treasury manages the challenges (and nearly a year of planning) that each Budget Day announcement presents.

Mike Munro has been involved in the budget process on both sides of Bowen Street. Before joining the Treasury, he served as Chief Press Secretary for Helen Clark during her first two terms as Prime Minister.

Cost for members: $20

Cost for non-members: $40

Date: Thursday 16 June

Time: 5.30 – 6.15pm followed by drinks and nibbles

Venue: Turnbull House

11 Bowen Street, Thorndon

Click here to register

Join IABC Wellington over a paper-bag lunch on Thursday 28 April to hear 2011 Gold Quill Award Winners Duncan Joiner of the Department of Building and Housing and Dan Ormond from Ideas Shop discuss their successful Simple House project and what gave their Gold Quill entry a leading edge over international competition.

The Simple House project involved the development and launch of affordable housing designs, part of a wider work programme to improve the availability of affordable housing.

This session will include how Duncan and Dan overcame the multiple challenges of developing an innovative communications solution for a complex and technical subject, engaging a range of stakeholders including the public, creating a wide level of awareness on a limited budget and managing several high profile events involving relevant Ministers.

Hear how they found solutions to these challenges, the strategies and practical tools they used, how they worked with mainstream and social media and what they learned along the way.

Date: 28 April 2011
Time: 12pm-1pm
Venue: Turnbull House, 25 Bowen Street
Cost: free for members, $30 for non-members (payable in advance by invoice, or at the door)
Please feel bring your lunch. Coffee, tea and cold drinks will be provided.

Click here to register

Biographies
Duncan Joiner has been Chief Architect at the Department of Building and Housing since 2009 and responsible for the project, including communications. Prior to joining DBH he was Pro Vice-Chancellor of the College of Design, Fine Arts and Music at Massey University, and Professor of Design, and he was in architectural practice with Stephenson &Turner. Duncan is responsible for the design of some notable New Zealand buildings, and he is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects. He is internationally recognised for his environment/behaviour research, especially his studies of social and cultural influences on the use of buildings and development of behaviour-based design and evaluation methods.

Dan Ormond is a founding partner of Ideas Shop. He is highly experienced in complex, high-profile public information campaigns and all areas of public relations, including sustainability communications. His passion is working with government agencies and corporates to develop and implement their communications plans to enhance their reputations. Dan led the Ideas Shop’s team on the Department of Building and House’s Simple House project over the last two and a half years.

A reminder that we have a great event this Wednesday night: an experienced speaker sharing lessons on change communications as well as our annual AGM.

Join us for an insight into communicating change with Marnie Woodd, an experienced communications adviser and former Community Affairs Manager at one of Europe’s largest plastic producers Borealis, based in Denmark. Marnie will reflect on lessons learned from change and internal communications projects she’s been involved with including lessons learned from introducing a corporate style company magazine in six languages to replace individual country newsletters; comparison with a similar exercise for a company based in the Middle East but serving Asia; how to change an internal comms function into a sustainable stakeholder management function, and if there’s time, sharing a case study about communicating company values to employees in an innovative way.

Marnie has a communications career spanning 15 years in the public and private sectors, both in New Zealand and overseas. Having returned home after 7 years overseas, Marnie continues to work with clients overseas, including those in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Note that Marnie is a different speaker from that we’ve advertised previously – unfortunately the Christchurch earthquake has meant we’ve had to change speakers twice, with both speakers needing to be in Christchurch providing media relations and other support.

Date: Wed 30 March

Time: 5.15pm-6.30pm, with drinks to follow

Fee: Free for members, $20 for non-members

Location: Turnbull House, 11 Bowen St, Wellington

Click here to register