On Thursday afternoon I took part in the International Association of Business Communicator's (IABC) annual Gift of Communication event for the United Way. Though I’ve only spent a short time in the public relations/communications field, I’ve done a fair bit of volunteering, and I can say with confidence it was one of the best events I’ve taken part in.
Though the majority of the ’11 PR class knows what the deal is, I’ll take a quick minute to explain the premise of the afternoon for those who may just be following the blog.
For the past five years, the IABC Golden Horseshoe has contributed to the United Way campaign with a sort of ‘gift-in-kind’ donation. The IABC provides an opportunity for professional business communicators to give advise to local charities who can use a hand with their PR initiatives. PR/Communications students (that’s where we came in) are also included in the round table discussion to offer advice.
So there’s the idea in a nutshell, but I’m going to walk you through my own personal experience.
Upon arriving to the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club (who so kindly donated their facilities for the event) we registered with the IABC and were instructed to go find our assigned agency tables. Jodie and I were the first to arrive at our table. Most of the other tables had IABC members already present. For those 20 minutes it was slightly alarming that we were going to have to be the communications ‘professionals’ for the afternoon. This worry escalated slightly more when the representatives from Community Living Hamilton, Tanya and Patty, arrived. Fortunately, Jodie and I were off the hook when Priya Bates arrived. Priya works in communications for Loblaws and is an IABC member, and she led the discussion and helped us get down to business.
Prior to the event, Community Living Hamilton had identified a couple major issues to discuss at the Gift of Communication. These were:
“How do we write, or talk about what we do, without exploiting or focusing on disability?”
For the past five years, the IABC Golden Horseshoe has contributed to the United Way campaign with a sort of ‘gift-in-kind’ donation. The IABC provides an opportunity for professional business communicators to give advise to local charities who can use a hand with their PR initiatives. PR/Communications students (that’s where we came in) are also included in the round table discussion to offer advice.
So there’s the idea in a nutshell, but I’m going to walk you through my own personal experience.
Upon arriving to the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club (who so kindly donated their facilities for the event) we registered with the IABC and were instructed to go find our assigned agency tables. Jodie and I were the first to arrive at our table. Most of the other tables had IABC members already present. For those 20 minutes it was slightly alarming that we were going to have to be the communications ‘professionals’ for the afternoon. This worry escalated slightly more when the representatives from Community Living Hamilton, Tanya and Patty, arrived. Fortunately, Jodie and I were off the hook when Priya Bates arrived. Priya works in communications for Loblaws and is an IABC member, and she led the discussion and helped us get down to business.
Prior to the event, Community Living Hamilton had identified a couple major issues to discuss at the Gift of Communication. These were:
“How do we write, or talk about what we do, without exploiting or focusing on disability?”
“How do we write media releases that catch attention?”
Before these issues could be confronted, we needed a bit of background information on the organization. Tanya and Patty explained that Community Living is a great organization that provides programs and assisted living to intellectually disabled children and adults in the Hamilton area. They help these individuals participate in society by assisting them with employment and recreation. Their programs are organized and implemented by a staff of 400 and approximately 200 volunteers, who operate across the city in over 30 satellite locations. Needless to say, internal communications is a hurdle for then.
After a lot of discussion back and forth, we came up with a few recommendations and insights for Community Living Hamilton. First off, the organization was lacking a strategic communications plan. Without the plan, they were unable to really put together any ideas, let alone evaluate their success. However, we identified another hurdle that had to be overcome first: no one to develop the plan. Individuals who are trained to implement social work and programming, but have very little communications training run community Living Hamilton. Patty and Tanya were hesitant to develop a plan, let alone the time and funds to pay an outside source. This is when Jodie and I chimed in with what proved to be the most insightful and constructive thing we probably said all afternoon: PR STUDENTS COULD HELP! Though we’ve yet to graduate and have little formal experience besides class, the skills we are learning would be invaluable to an organization like Community Living Hamilton. Volunteers are relatively easy to come by, specialized volunteers can be too if you know where to look.
We also helped Tanya and Patty see the value of social/new media. Neither of the representatives had a lot of experience with social networking tools, but once we explained the ease and cost effectiveness of using Facebook and Twitter to promote the organization, they decided to launch a social media campaign in the new year.
Through the help of Priya, Jodie, two recent Humber graduates and myself, we made a lot of progress in a short time. The strategic communications plan may end up being a lengthy process for Tanya and Patty, but they understood by the end of the day that it had to happen, and the steps they could take to make it easier on themselves. Overall, the experience was extremely valuable for everyone. Community Living Hamilton walked away with a new plan, and us students walked away with a new prospective.
*Interesting fact: IABC Golden Horseshoe was the first IABC Chapter to put on Gift of Communications seminars. Due to their success, the event is being instated into many other IABC chapters around the world. It’s cool to feel a part of something so innovative and groundbreaking.
Before these issues could be confronted, we needed a bit of background information on the organization. Tanya and Patty explained that Community Living is a great organization that provides programs and assisted living to intellectually disabled children and adults in the Hamilton area. They help these individuals participate in society by assisting them with employment and recreation. Their programs are organized and implemented by a staff of 400 and approximately 200 volunteers, who operate across the city in over 30 satellite locations. Needless to say, internal communications is a hurdle for then.
After a lot of discussion back and forth, we came up with a few recommendations and insights for Community Living Hamilton. First off, the organization was lacking a strategic communications plan. Without the plan, they were unable to really put together any ideas, let alone evaluate their success. However, we identified another hurdle that had to be overcome first: no one to develop the plan. Individuals who are trained to implement social work and programming, but have very little communications training run community Living Hamilton. Patty and Tanya were hesitant to develop a plan, let alone the time and funds to pay an outside source. This is when Jodie and I chimed in with what proved to be the most insightful and constructive thing we probably said all afternoon: PR STUDENTS COULD HELP! Though we’ve yet to graduate and have little formal experience besides class, the skills we are learning would be invaluable to an organization like Community Living Hamilton. Volunteers are relatively easy to come by, specialized volunteers can be too if you know where to look.
We also helped Tanya and Patty see the value of social/new media. Neither of the representatives had a lot of experience with social networking tools, but once we explained the ease and cost effectiveness of using Facebook and Twitter to promote the organization, they decided to launch a social media campaign in the new year.
Through the help of Priya, Jodie, two recent Humber graduates and myself, we made a lot of progress in a short time. The strategic communications plan may end up being a lengthy process for Tanya and Patty, but they understood by the end of the day that it had to happen, and the steps they could take to make it easier on themselves. Overall, the experience was extremely valuable for everyone. Community Living Hamilton walked away with a new plan, and us students walked away with a new prospective.
*Interesting fact: IABC Golden Horseshoe was the first IABC Chapter to put on Gift of Communications seminars. Due to their success, the event is being instated into many other IABC chapters around the world. It’s cool to feel a part of something so innovative and groundbreaking.
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