Reputation Matters: Reputation - managing and maintaining its value in a changing society

In association with VMA

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations Northern Conference 2008 was hosted by the CIPR North West group on Friday 19 September at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. This year’s event explored the theme of ‘Reputation’, in particular managing reputation in a changing society.

Delegates can now view the PDFs of the conference online, enter your password below.

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Keynote Speakers include:

Alex AikenAlex Aiken, Director of Communications, Westminster City Council Alex Aiken joined Westminster City Council as Head of Communications in May 2000. Between 2003-5 he was also Head of Communications at the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in the first-ever communications partnership agreement between two local authorities. He has also served as interim Head of Communications at the London Borough of Hillingdon. At Westminster his role includes internal and external communication and consultation. The work of the communications team has been recognised in a number of national PR competitions, including winning the PR Week Public Sector team of the year in 2007 and 20 other national awards for media, marketing, internal communications, public affairs and evaluation.Before joining Westminster he held senior posts at Conservative Central Office, leading the Party’s Campaigns Unit from 1999-2000 and the Press Office between 1995 and 1999. Alex has trained politicians and officials in newly democratic states around the world in communications techniques and in the UK was a key member of the group that developed the ‘Reputation’ project to improve perceptions of local government. Alex’s speech will be titled “PR” as Pride and Reputation, changing our focus from building relationships to changing behaviour

Phil Hall, Founder & Chairman, Phil Hall Associates, Phil is a highly respected journalist with over 30 years experience of the newspaper industry including time as Editor of the News of the World and Hello! magazine and Editorial Director of Development for Trinity Mirror responsible for 250 titles throughout the UK. Three years ago he founded his own PR agency, Phil Hall Associates, which represents many household names including companies and individuals. Phil will be delivering a keynote on managing crisis situations, in particular celebrity crisis scenarios.

Paul NewmanPaul Newman, Communications Director, Liverpool European Capital of Culture How public relations has worked for Liverpool’ Paul Newman is responsible for overseeing the Liverpool Culture Company's public relations and public affairs. Paul spent more than 20 years as a broadcaster for organisations including BBC network news and Sky. Paul had two spells as a reporter and presenter for BBC North West and has wide experience of reporting on events in Liverpool. Before joining the Liverpool Culture Company, Paul worked in a number of high-profile public relations roles in sport and local government. Until 2003, he was Director of Communications at the Football Association.

Kate PerriorKatie Perrior, Founder, iNHouse PR What does the election of Boris as Mayor mean for both London and other UK cities? After 10 months of working with Boris Johnson, Katie Perrior will focus on the campaign strategy, the policies, the many highs and lows of the campaign and what Boris as Mayor means for London and in particular Public Relations/Public Affairs companies. Finally, she will focus on what the election itself meant for the future of elected Mayors in other UK cities. Katie started her career working on a trading floor straight from university. After deciding that politics was her passion, she went onto work for the Shadow Cabinet during and after the 2001 General Election. After stints at Celador, makers of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' and ITN, firstly for ITV News, then as Head of Press for Channel 4 News, she returned to politics as a Senior Media Advisor to the Shadow Home Secretary. Katie then went onto persuade Jo Tanner, former Head of Media at the British Chambers of Commerce to set up business together.  Their company, which is just two years old - iNHouse PR, specialises in politically savvy campaigns. Clients vary from charities such as Diabetes UK to providing the full PR operation behind the Boris Johnson campaign to become Mayor of London. Whatever the issue, whether it be planning, waste management, crime and disorder, public transport, the urban environment and many more besides, Katie and her team spent 10 months advising Boris at the highest level and met with stakeholders, community groups and thousands of residents across London during the campaign. Katie is also the Cabinet Member for Community Affairs in the London Borough of Bexley

Master Class Sessions include:

Alex Aiken(delegates select four of the following to attend)

Crisis Communications – The Hull Floods, Linda Scott, Head of Communications & Marketing, Hull County Council. In June 2007 Hull suffered from devastating flooding, over 7000 local residents homes were affected. This workshop will explore how Hull County Council managed their communications strategy during this challenging crisis situation.

Futurology– Neville Hobson ABC, Neville is a communicator, blogger, podcaster and Second Life explorer, one of the leading European early adopters and influencers in social media communication for business. He is a passionate advocate for new and emerging technology tools and channels with over 25 years! experience in public and media relations. This session will explore how media and communications are changing and provide some blue sky thinking as to what the future may hold.

CSR - Paul Thomas, Senior Consultant and Justin McKeown, Divisional Director of Trimedia  - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a significant theme in the global business community in recent years. The explosion of sustainability and in particular climate change, as issues, is leading to radical changes in business strategies.The Trimedia CSR Workshop will help practitioners understand how better business practice can improve performance and will examine how CSR programmes are formulated. It will cover the key CSR issues, analysing the impact of Climate Change on the wider CSR agenda, and will look at responsible approaches to “green” communications

Reputation and the Bottom Line – Andrew Fairburn, Director, Regester Larkin A company’s reputation is crucial to its bottom line.  But reputation management can be hard to sell as it’s difficult to put a precise figure on what’s at stake.  The best way to get the case across is by case studies – just look at Pan Am post the Lockerbie bombing, Exxon post Valdez or BA post Terminal Five. The world in which corporate reputations are managed is very different from 20 years ago: the media is more intrusive, NGOs are more searching and people are more questioning.  Reputations are more under threat than ever before. The key for any company wishing to protect and enhance its reputation is to get its basic day-to-day operations right; reputation is not something you can ‘add on’ and to set the communications agenda.  The bigger the company or organisation, the less reactive it can afford to be. This workshop will explore the value of an organisation’s reputation and what can be done to maximize this value.

Creativity Working Shop – Andy Green , Partner, Green Communications and creativity@work - Andy is a leading expert and author on creativity and has lectured from San Francisco to Shanghai inspiring audiences to make the most of their situation and achieve more with less. He is the author of ‘Creativity in Public Relations’, now in its third edition and translated into Russian, Chinese, Polish, Indonesian, Croatian and Korean. Andy is also co-author of ‘A minute with Tony Blair’, inspired by a chance meeting he had with the former British Prime Minister. His latest book, ‘Effective Personal Communications’, shows how each of us is a phenomenal communications machine and can make our world a better place. Learn top tips and ideas to transform your work, generate great new ideas, save money and time, and be an all round fun person.

How and why we all need to manage our reputation online–Social Media – Stephen Davies, Social Media Manager, webitpr – In an age of globalisation, intrusive journalists, a cynical public and the ability for anyone to break news on a global platform, looking after our online reputation has never been as important. The advent of social media provides a perfect tool for public relations as the fundamentals of the profession are about establishing relationships and two-way communication - the very essence of social media.

This session will provide examples of companies and organisations whose reputations have suffered as a result of negative online coverage and examine how best to monitor social media as well as develop a plan to engage audiences. It will specifically cover the tools you’ll need to track your reputation online; where to look for conversations about your brand or company; how to integrate this information into wider communications plans and how to begin devising a strategy for social media engagement.

Stephen is originally from County Durham and began blogging whilst studying PR at the University of Sunderland. He moved to London and worked for Edelman and Frank PR before returning to the North East to take on a role with webitpr. He has recently launched 3W PR, a specialist online communications consultancy which will focus on generating a positive global web presence for its clients. Stephen continues to blog at PRblogger.com which was recently ranked 6th in the world and the number one PR blog in the UK.

Media City:UK is an innovative creative hub with the new headquarters for the BBC in Manchester at its heart. This workshop will explain what Media City is and what is means for the PR industry in the North. This workshop will be delivered by Brian Greasley Managing Director of MediaCityUK and Jason Legget, NWDA Project Director – MediaCityUK

Budgeting – A workshop exploring how best to build and manage budgets – Speaker and further details to be confirmed.

Ethical PR – Elaine Mitchell Hill, MD. Koan. Koan is a specialist campaign communications consultancy, which aims to deliver ethical and sustainable communications strategies that engage, inspire and contribute to today’s most challenging concerns. 

Booking Information

A PDF Brochure is available here. We do expect strong interest in this event and
delegates are advised to book as soon as possible, to book your place or for further information please contact Nicky Wake at Don’t Panic Projects on 01706 828855 or email nicky@dontpanicprojects.comalternatively tickets can be booked online at –
http://www.dontpanicprojects.com/ciprbooking.htm

With thanks to our headline sponsors
VMA

And our event sponsors:
GMC

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