Value and support: this is YOUR CIPR East Anglia

"Build it and they will come"

Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams (1989)

So, here we are – 2020. Time for a bit of reflection and congratulations, I feel.

Our voluntary East Anglian committee has been continuously evolving, with a few great champions of comms in the region stepping down after many years of service (you know who you are!), some moving back to have babies, and new faces stepping forward to pick up the mantle.

We all have day jobs, and – like most of you reading this – understand the stresses that our line of work sometimes entails.

Therefore, a huge well done to everyone involved in helping the committee organise and attend events such as the regional PRide Awards, the first Norwich Best PRactice Conference, and the dozens of other meetups and learning opportunities throughout 2019.

And to EVERYONE who attended these events, thanks for your input, engagement across last year.

Examples of some of the CIPR East Anglia activities in 2019 include:

• Restarting our Ipswich comms catch up, led by the committee's comms lead Rose Ling, as well as a business breakfast in Peterborough hosted by British Sugar and Athene Communications – we love hosting and helping organise these events across the region, so let us know if you want one in your area and we can help!
• A sold-out LinkedIn Masterclasses in Cambridge, that had so much interest we’re running in Ipswich and Norwich VERY SOON – as well as an online version for those unable to attend.
• Our September AGM in Norwich included an open panel on measuring the impact of comms, with speakers former CIPR president Emma Leech, Debbie Aurealis from CIPR Inside, and Eleanor Bougie-Smith, Digital Marketing Manager from Social B.
• The second collaboration with the Association of Project Managers looking at what we can learn from each other, including breakout sessions about communicating change.
• Media briefings with BBC Look East in Cambridge and Norwich.

We’re a committee of volunteers who are here to facilitate things that you’d like to see in the region:

• More regional peer meet-ups in pubs after work? Great.
• Want a business breakfast on a particular subject? Let us know.
• More on the role of SEO in comms? We’re here to help.

Perhaps you have knowledge you could share, and want practice presenting to an audience. Get in touch – we can help you make it happen.

We also know and appreciate how spread-out CIPR members are across our region, so are looking at ways that we can connect with comms colleagues in different ways – including webinars, podcasts and other online materials.

Please feel free to get in touch with any of us on the committee via social (LinkedIn & Twitter) or on email here.

Keep your eyes peeled for more events coming soon, and save the date for the regional Best PRactice conference coming on Thursday 14 May. More details soon.

Bye for now!

Adam (@adamdriver85)