In recent weeks, we’ve watched as a number of high profile Australian and international leaders have handed in their notice. Some have given lots of notice while others have chosen to move on quickly.

Last week, the Head of Facebook in Australia and New Zealand, Paul Borrud, made headlines when he announced his resignation after six years at the helm. Then over at Air New Zealand their CEO Rob Fyfe also outlined his plan to resign at the end of 2012. And at Transurban their CEO Chris Lynch became another Australian CEO to announce their departure.

And internationally the long-serving co-CEOs of Research in Motion (the company responsible for the ubiquitous BlackBerry) have handed over the reigns to Thorsten Heins.

Closer to home and in the political sector, Labor’s Rob Hulls called it a day this month after 15 years in politics.

So what makes a CEO or high profile leader step down?

It could simply be time to retire. Time to clear out the inbox and spend more time with the family. It could also be a response to a scandal such as the resignation of the BP CEO following the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Other reasons for a change at the top might include appointment of a new board, poor company performance or perhaps the call of a new opportunity.

Whatever the reason, if the communication surrounding the departure of a senior leader is handled incorrectly, it can have a disastrous impact on the company.

Investors get edgy and share prices plummet. Consumers lose confidence in the company and sales go down. The brand is damaged and competitors gain an edge. And most importantly employees become unhappy and decide to pack up their staplers as well.

So how should a CEO’s departure be handled?

First and foremost you need to ensure all stakeholders are informed in a timely and appropriate manner. Large organisations should build this communication into their succession planning so it should be a matter of pressing a button and beginning a process.

Large or small, you need to consider all of your stakeholders and their information needs. Think about the questions different stakeholders will have and make sure you have answers ready.

It’s also important that all key information is given to ensure that people feel comfortable in the change. Even though we all say “change is as good as a holiday”, it actually doesn’t compare to three weeks lying in the sun on a tropical island. So you need to relieve people’s anxiety by demonstrating how the person’s role will be filled and how their responsibilities will be managed.

It’s also important to celebrate the CEO’s time with the organisation, particularly if they’re retiring or moving into a more senior position. A CEO’s departure is also a great time to take stock of an organisation’s position and promote its achievements.

Above all, make sure your employees and board members have all the facts so they can rest assured that the organisation will continue to operate well after the CEO has punched his or her last timecard.

And if you’re the CEO, make sure you remember to hand back your passes and update your LinkedIn (but not before it’s all made public!).

Cheers from Jack & the c word crew

It’s Australia Day tomorrow. Time to celebrate living in this beautiful country. Time to enjoy a barbecue with friends. And time to look at some of the iconic brands that “still call Australia home”.

I couldn’t resist throwing in part of the Australian classic “I Still Call Australia Home”.

Now on with the blog …

First to Vegemite. You’ll find it in most Australian households either for frequent use or to have on hand for the overseas visitors.

I have personally only acquired the taste for Vegemite in the past few years but now don’t have to be worried about being found to be un-Australian. The only problem is a need to avoid the word c-word in the world: carbs (so vegemite on toast is off limits most days!!)

Before we look at the good. Let’s look at the not so good. iSnack 2.0. Where do I plug it in? How many batteries does it take? Will it play my podcasts? The brand copped a lot of flack over the decision to tinker with the classic taste and the name. After much public outcry, Kraft soon dropped the name and moved on to better things.

Now they’re back with another attempt to win Australians over with a name change. This time, they’ve opted for the name Australia. Watch out for the limited edition jars featuring a red Australian flag and Australia on the label. They’ll make any overseas visitor enjoy the taste even more.

The name change isn’t Vegemite’s only campaign to cash in on Australia Day. They are also celebrating Australia Day with special limited edition Vegemite jars featuring 10 remarkable but everyday Australians in the “Toast of a Nation”. It reminds me a little of the stamp series launched by Australia post back in the late 90s – remember?

I think both campaigns have turned out well and I am even considering rushing out and buying one or two of the limited edition jars. Thankfully they remembered to include Tasmania on their map of Australia, unlike Shapes.

That’s enough of a spread on Vegemite, now onto some other iconic Australian brands.

Hands up if you haven’t (at one point or another) had a hills hoist in your back yard? If not, put the mouse down and head off to Bunnings to check one out.

I can remember many hours spent with grandma hanging clothes on her hills hoist. And because of the set up of her back yard, we were able to jump on at the low point and fly around.

It’s one of many great Australian inventions and has become a symbol of Australia in many artistic works. It’s also a great example of a brand that spread like wildfire and came to represent a whole category of products. It’s our very own Xerox.

Another classic Australian brand is Bonds. Hands up (I know it’s starting to feel like we’re in a classroom) if you have never owned a pair of Bonds undies or a Chesty Bonds singlet? Now owned by Pacific Brands, the company has continued to produce a range of popular products. They company has also had its share of controversy with a large number of jobs moving overseas.

Australian tennis player Pat Rafter and model Sarah Murdoch have both promoted the brand in recent years.

I’m a Queenslander so I couldn’t let this post past without a reference to Bundaberg Rum and XXXX. Both brands are as Queensland as the Broncos and sunshine.

Last but not least, we can’t write a post about iconic Australian brands without mentioning Qantas. The “Spirit of Australia” has helped millions of people fly around this vast country of ours to weddings, concerts, business meetings and so the list goes on. As well as being a pioneering Australian company, they’ve also survived a number of other Australian airlines and dealt with a number of crises including the recent grounding of their entire fleet.

And who can talk about Qantas without thinking about the Qantas choir and their renditions of Peter Allen’s “I Still Call Australia Home”.

Here are some c-word brands to think about on Australia Day:

• Caramello Koala – 40 million sold in Australia each year
• Carlton & United Breweries – call in for a Carlton at our friends at Meyers Place
• Cascade Brewery – image adopted for its label in 1987, H. C. Richter’s 19th century illustration of the now extinct Tasmanian Tiger
• Castlemaine Perkins – producers of XXXX (see above)
• Chiko Roll – inspired by the Chinese egg roll and spring rolls
• Clag (glue) – feels cold to touch and when applied to paper, it sometimes alters the colour of what is on it and causes paper to warp
• Claytons – non-alcoholic Australian beverage
• Coon cheese – available in every supermarket around Australia
• Coopers Brewery – yet another Australian beer brand
• Cottee’s – my dad picks the fruit that goes to …
• Crown Lager – originally only available to visiting dignitaries but we can thank the Queen for making it available to the public
• Crown Pilsner – yet another Australian beer

From everyone at the c word, have a wonderful Australia Day.

Cheers,

Jack & the c word crew

appleheadphones by ezekiel23 source: stock.xchng

Hopefully the executives at Sydney’s 2DayFM have taken down some notes from Jenny Craig about managing their eating habits during a Sandilands-fuelled crisis. They should probably keep them handy in the year ahead.

This week, Jenny (previously known as Jenny Craig) threw the company’s support behind the Kyle & Jackie O Show, then 24 hours later withdrew their sponsorship amid massive public outcry. The brand’s international Facebook page was overwhelmed by comments from Australian contributors.

Let’s face it, someone was always going to make the first move and sponsor the show in the wake of Kyle’s latest outburst, so let’s give Jenny a break. However, it’s still a big issue for the brand, which says they didn’t know how Australians felt about Kyle.

The Jenny sponsorship & un-sponsorship is the latest in a series of debacles facing the infamous Australian radio show. Two years ago, Sandilands said Magda Szubanski, coincidently a former Jenny Craig spokesperson, would lose more weight in a concentration camp. At the time, Kyle was temporarily taken off the air. (Thank god, we all thought!! But alas, it did not last.)

Eighteen months later and Kyle made headlines again when he described a News Limited journalist as a “fat slag” and threatened to hunt her down after she wrote a negative story about his TV show.

Does anyone else see the running theme? Doesn’t it sound like a case of the pot calling the kettle black? Kyle should take a long hard look in the mirror before he opens his mouth again.

In the lead up to Christmas, Holden was among a number of sponsors to pull their advertising from the show. This followed a petition signed by 32,530 people calling for sponsors to drop the show.

Yesterday was the show’s first day back after the summer ratings break. I bet many fingers were crossed hoping people had forgotten the incident and were ready for more of the inane humour, but the folks on Twitter and Facebook were never going to let that happen.

Jenny’s first response was to stay the course and tackle it head on. But within hours it was obvious that this approach wasn’t going to work, and they made the decision to pull the advertising and tell their customers they had listened.

The company released this statement:

“One thing about Jenny Craig is that we listen. We listen, we understand and we make an enormous effort to walk in the shoes of others. We badly misjudged public perception of Kyle Sandilands. We have taken what has been said seriously. Mel B has happily been part of the 2DAY FM Breakfast show for the better part of last year. Our intention was to support our ambassador in her broader media role. We feel sorry we have offended so many people, underestimated the sentiment against Kyle and are clearly upset that we made such a mistake. We have instructed 2DAY FM that our advertising is to be discontinued on the Kyle & Jackie O show, and the rest of their schedule immediately.”

The pull of the Kyle & Jackie O’s large audience was one reason to try and ride out the storm. Part of Jenny’s initial approach was a Twitter hashtag #tellkylewhattyouthink calling for questions and comments to Kyle. A good attempt at turning an issue around, but it failed to gain traction and didn’t give Kyle the opportunity to confess to his sins and move on.

The radio network is continuing to support Kyle, even though it looks like he’s lost the show more than $10m. Can Kyle and Jackie O weather another storm? Will listeners continue to switch stations? Which advertiser will be brave or stupid enough to sponsor the show in the wake of Jenny’s departure?

All of these questions and more will be answered as the year unfolds.

Cheers,

Jack & the c word crew

We know it’s not an exact science, but we thought we’d drag our crystal ball out of the mothballs and see what 2012 might have in store. Hang on to your hats …

Cracking client challenges with consistency, creativity and collaborations

The best thing about communication is that you never know what exciting adventures are on the horizon. After a busy 2011, the next 12 months are shaping up to be even busier – just make sure there’s plenty of coffee brewing!

First up, there are lots of strategies and plans to be finished and implemented. It’s a great time of the year to take stock of your communications and set a course for the months ahead. What went well in 2011? What can be improved?

Over the next few months, we’re also looking forward to helping a couple of our clients re-brand their organisations – who doesn’t love a makeover.

We’ll also be pulling the covers off our typewriters and inking our red pens for another busy year of copywriting for corporate magazines, brochures, annual reports and company profiles.

There are also events to be organised, stories to be pitched to the media, blog posts to be written, characters to be tweeted and Facebook walls to be written on. Gosh it’s exhausting just thinking about it, but come December 31, we’re confident we’ll look back on another great year!

Costume dramas on the box

We’ve just finished re-watching season 4 of Mad Men and can’t wait to return to the 1960s for season 5 later this year. Will Don have married his sultry secretary Megan? Will there be a little Joan running around the corridors at Cooper Sterling Draper Price? Will Peggy finally get the recognition she’s been waiting for? And will Betty find another child psychiatrist to solve her growing number of problems?

And what about the new seasons of Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs? How will the folks of Downton and Eaton Place cope through the wars? What other period dramas will be gracing our screens?

Competitive cereal in the breakfast TV market

It’s not long now (we hope) until Channel Ten unveils its new breakfast show. Hopefully they’ll be serving up a cooked breakfast every morning and inspire the other early risers at Sunrise and Today to do the same. We’re also looking forward to another year of great reporting from the team at ABC News Breakfast – hats off to Virginia, Michael and the rest of the team in front of and behind the cameras.

And of course, we’re looking forward to some early mornings (or late nights) watching NBC’s Today and ABC’s Good Morning America – or perhaps catching Oprah’s BFF Gayle King on the re-jigged CBS Early Show. Oh how we love you American breakfast television.

And if that’s not enough, what will happen on the box during the mid morning shift? Who will complete the circumference of The Circle following the departure of Chrissie Swan and Ding Dong Drysdale? How will Sonia cope filling KAK’s shoes?

Communicators from countless countries converge on Melbourne

The countdown has officially begun for the World PR Forum in November 2012, hosted by the Public Relations Institute of Australia.

Leaders in communication from around the world will be heading to Melbourne to discuss, debate and devour case studies about communications. If the last World PR Forum (held in Stockholm) is anything to go by, we’re in for a real treat.

That’s all for now folks, until our next blog.

Cheers and claps,

Jack and the c word crew

PS. And we couldn’t leave without a sneak peak at the new Absolutely Fabulous – bring it on!!

Cheers and happy new year!!

As we reach the end of our holidays and prepare to embark on our next exciting chapter at the c word, we thought we’d take a quick look back at some of the c-words of 2011.

council chair: pria victoria

In October 2011, Jack signed on for his second year as State President of the Public Relations Institute of Australia and a director of the national board.

For the past 12 months he’s been trying to get everyone in the office saying: “We serve at the pleasure of the President (of the PRIA)”. He thinks he’s had some success but really we’re just humouring him.

After the real President’s visit in November, he’s been trying to coin a new acronym: POTPRIA (President of the PRIA).

As State President, Jack attended a range of events from the sold out Women in PR luncheon (2012 date = Friday 11 May) to a fantastic seminar about PR for major events including the Food and Wine Festival, Women in Super Fun Run and Melbourne Fashion Festival.

He said it’s a pleasure working with the councillors, fellows and members of PRIA.

coverage central

In May 2011, we went behind the scenes at The Age and 3AW on an exclusive PRIA members-only tour. The event was organised by PRIA member and The Age Communications Manager Miranda Schuppan.

We started with an extensive tour of Media House (that swankey new building on the corner of Collins and Spencer Street). The tour took us into the busy newsroom where we bumped into a few familiar faces and watched the editor of theage.com.au post a breaking story on the homepage. We then got a peek at the cutting edge theage.com.au TV studio before heading up to listen to an interview from the main studio and chat with the 3AW news team.

After the tour, we sat down for an intimate lunch with three journalists from The Age. The journalists included Senior Writer Shane Green, Editor of theage.com.au Daniel Sankey and Editorial News Manager Laura Hamilton. They each shared tips and advice on working with the newspaper.

After a great tour, a lovely lunch and a fruitful conversation we walked away with some fantastic insights into the iconic Victorian newspaper and radio station as well as a copy of the Good Food Guide – not bad for an afternoon’s work!

cellophane

Our work took us away from tending to the crops on our blog cellophane this year but we did manage to post a couple of articles each month. Next year we promise to do better and keep the c words flowing.

We continued our series of conversations with leading communications professionals including Austereo’s Jamie Garantziotis, Hassell’s Slavica Habjanovic and Queensland PR Academic Amisha Mehta.

We also continued to rant and rave about communications with a recent post about the pavlova served up to the President and an earlier post about the quality of breakfast TV in Australia. Some of the posts also provided something resembling useful advice.

Watch this space as we launch an exciting program of blog posts in 2012.

collaborators

We continued to collaborate with a number of partners in communications in 2011 including Burning House and housemouse.

Burning House helped us produce some compelling video content for our clients including a fantastic series of mobile ready videos for the Victorian Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Commission. Our cinematic collaborators also helped PRIA develop a great new series of videos with leading Australian communicators. And they continued to find the time to individually burn everyone’s business cards – impressive!

The crew at housemouse continued to demonstrate their prowess in the design field by creating cutting edge logos, can’t-put-me-down magazines and eye-catching posters for our projects. Most recently we collaborated on a project for Victoria University’s re-launch of the School of International Business. They also produced another two sensational issues of their designer magazine, fluoro.

cocktails, canapés and conversations

The life of a communicator isn’t all cocktails and canapés but sometimes (say once or twice a month) we do get to sample some fine canapés, wash them down with champagne and indulge in colourful conversations.

This year we managed to get an invite to some fun events including gala dinners, cocktail parties and public lectures.

Highlights included a Fourth of July reception at the Immigration Museum, the launch of a new Community Partnership Trust at BMW Edge and a swanky gala dinner for the Melbourne Boston Sister City Association.

Melbourne really does know how to throw a fabulous party.

chin chin, cumulus, and a few other culinary attractions

We love our culinary treats at the c word. Particularly those served up in places starting with c. You would be amazed by the number of c-word restaurants in Melbourne – particularly minutes from our office. Here are some tips from our travels:

Making our way down the street from our office, we start at Cumulus. It’s a popular spot for coffees, lunchtime catch-ups and cheeky crackling pork sandwiches.

Another hundred metres down the lane and you’ll discover Chin Chin. Grab 10 friends and book the communal table with the “feed me” option. It’s hard to pick a favourite but the PORK is amazing – anyone notice a theme – and the king fish sashimi is delicious.

Then further afield there’s Café Vue. It’s another favourite close to clients and a great spot for coffee or lunch.

Here are a few more choice culinary locations on our cool list: The Graham (Port Melbourne, out-of-this-world red duck curry!); Ichi Ni (St Kilda, try the ebi mayo prawns); Hoboken (city, scrumptious red beans and rice) and Attica (Ripponlea, worth the wait for a booking).

classrooms and conferences

Jack spent the first semester at RMIT University teaching introduction to PR to more than 70 first year students. The teaching was a great opportunity to share some of the work that the c word is doing in communications and also get some insight from the next generation of communicators.

He also visited a number of universities talking to PR students as PRIA President and participated in the inaugural PR Student Forum at Victoria University.

Jack was also a speaker and panellists at the Internet Show in Melbourne where he joined a panel with the social media representatives from NRL and the Australian Greens.

costco, cookies & containers

We know we’re a little late to the party but this year we discovered a new favourite c-word: Costco.

While we have well and truly earned our Costco shopping badges we did discover some great items …

The official cookies in the office (until we ate them all) were Byron Bay Rocky Road Cookies in a bulk pack. We’ve since had to ban them from the office but we’re sure they’ll make a re-appearance in 2012.

We also re-discovered our love of containers with Oxo. What do containers have to do with communication? We’re still working on that but we had to share.

capturing communicators on camera

We helped cultivate collaboration between Burning House and PRIA earlier this year. Together, they produced a series of videos called “Broadcast PR” with interviews of leading Australian communications.

The first series of interviews included Miranda Schuppan from The Age, Lelde McCoy from Ogilvy, Trevor Young from Edelman and young communicator Jack Herbert.

The interviewees talked about how they got into the industry, what are the biggest challenges facing communicators at present and what does the future hold for communications.

A new series was recorded at the PRIA National Conference in October and all are available via the PRIA website.

co-location

Co-location is a great word, isn’t it? We’ve been a bit obsessed with it ever since we discovered it while preparing content for a client’s co-location.

In July 2011, we moved into a new space at Level 1, Milton House, 25 Flinders Lane with our clients, colleagues and chums at VESKI.

The charming building is called Milton House and was originally a hospital. It’s also home to the Committee for Melbourne, BioMelbourne Network and Melbourne Open House.

If you haven’t been to visit yet, drop in for a coffee and a chat.

Cheers and happy new year.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the first week of 2012.

Jack and the c word crew

Official U.S. Embassy photo by Adam P. Wilson

Firstly, let me get this off my chest – is Pavlova Roulade (rolled pavlova) really the best we could dish up for the President? Perhaps I’m being a little too critical given I haven’t had my morning sugar fix, but I would have thought we could be a little more creative in the kitchen. Oh well, I’m sure the pav’ was delicious!

This week Australia welcomed POTUS (President of the United States for anyone who isn’t a West Wing addict!) as part of his whirlwind 2011 Asia Pacific Trip.

Obama and his entourage flew in to Canberra on Wednesday for a 26-hour visit, which included a State Dinner, an official address to both Houses of the Australian Parliament, a grilling by journalism students at a Canberra Highschool and a sombre visit to the Australian War Memorial.

After a day and night of seeing the sights in Canberra, Obama jetted off for the first ever-Presidential visit to Territory, in particular Darwin. It was a coup for the people of Darwin and an opportunity for the President to see yet another part of Australia.

It was also a chance for America to show us how to stage an event. The Americans delivered a true visual spectacle in Darwin where the Prime Minister and the President shook hands with our troops and inspired the masses in front of spectacularly oversized Australian and American flags. I hope everyone took out their pens and pencils and took down some notes!!

Now he’s off to Bali for the final leg of his Asia Pacific Trip. Then it’s back to the States where he’s only months away from a year where he’ll be running for re-election while continuing his duties as President of the United States. (Jed Bartlet would be proud!!)

Pavlova aside – it’s been an exciting couple of days for Australia. A fantastic opportunity to show Obama and the rest of America why it’s great to visit and live in Australia – although Bob Katter singing would make anyone run a mile.

I’m looking forward to seeing what part Australia plays in the next episode of the “West Wing Week” – a fantastic weekly series created by the first official Whitehouse videographer Arun Chaudhary.

Finally, hats (and I mean multiple styles and colours) off to our Governor-General for her outfit change between meeting the President at the airport and welcoming him to Parliament House.

She’s copping some flack from some, but I don’t agree. I don’t know about you but if I’ve got the time and am going to be photographed at two major international press opportunities, I’m going to change too. And she did recycle the outfit – well part of it – from her time with the Queen.

OK enough talk about Pavlovas and outfit changes, now time to get on with some work.

Happy Friday!

Cheers,

the c word

PS. While we’re on the topics of world leaders, we thought we’d leave you with a sneak peak at Margaret – the 2012 movie with Meryl as Margaret. We can’t wait!!

I wish more people would come into work saying: “Sorry I’m late, I had to watch…”. While I’m not advocating rampant workplace tardiness, I’d love Australia’s breakfast television to be so good you just can’t switch it off!!!! (exclamation marks necessary!)

Why can’t Australia’s morning airwaves be more like their big brothers and sisters in the US? While the US shows aren’t perfect, they certainly know how to keep people engaged, informed and entertained. And I should know, I’ve watched plenty of episodes both while travelling in the US and back in Oz during the 4am shift.

Australia’s breakfast television shows have proved their ability to provide us with important news during national crises or natural disasters, but it’s time they pick up the pace and engage, entertain and enthral us on a daily basis.

Breakfast television or morning shows are infotainment television programs, broadcast live typically between 6:00 and 10:00 am. They’re hosted by small teams of male/female hosts (think Matt Lauer and Katie Couric, Karl and Lisa and Virginia Trioli and Michael Rowling), and watched by people getting ready for work and school.

NBC’s Today was the world’s first national breakfast show and set the tone for the television genre when it began broadcasting on 14 January 1952. Nearly 60 years later, it remains number one with many shows from around the world copying their successful format.

Last year, Morning Glory (a film by the folks who made magazines come to life with The Devil Wears Prada) took us behind the scenes of shows like Today with their 4am wake-up calls, breaking news and celebrity interviews. The fictional show, Daybreak (which coincidentally is the name of  UK breakfast show), was fighting for survival up against Today and Good Morning America (GMA).

But that’s not fiction. Everyone wants to be like GMA and Today – and everyone wants to be the host. The shows are the breeding grounds for some of the finest news people in America. For example, Diane Sawyer recently left her long stint at GMA to host ABC’s evening news (following in the footsteps of NBC Today’s Katie Couric).

There were further changes to the guard of morning television in the US this year. In June, Meredith Vieira left the anchor desk at Today after five years, and the tributes that flowed in demonstrated her ability to deliver a mix of hard and soft news on a daily basis. Following Vieira’s departure, long-time news anchor Ann Curry took the reins.

In Australia, we’ve seen Today and Sunrise battle out the breakfast show slot for the past decade with Mel and Kochie going head to head with Karl and Lisa. But they still seem to lack the gravitas of their American counterparts.

In 2008, we welcomed the ABC’s version of the breakfast show, ABC News Breakfast, which has since moved to ABC1 and seems to be going from strength to strength. The show draws on the quality journalism of ABC TV and radio with the highly respected hosts Virginia Trioli and Michael Rowland.

And now Channel 10 has announced plans for a new breakfast show. I wonder if they’ll be able to capitalise on the success of the 7pm Project and claw back their dominance in the news space. It will be good to have some more competition in the morning space – hopefully it will have more people coming into work saying: “Sorry I’m late”.

So what does the future hold for breakfast television? What would you like to see in your 6:00-10:00am slot each day?

Cheers,

the c word crew

PS. We got a chuckle from these French & Saunders parodies of morning shows.

People inspect the MWF programs

Grab out your pens and pencils, freshen up your ink well, pick up a fresh sheet of writing paper (or perhaps a new writing pad) and head on down to Federation Square for the 26th Melbourne Writers Festival. The words will be flowing, with an exciting program of events, until Sunday 4 September.

Each year, MWF invites novelists, playwrights, poets, screenwriters, journalists, songwriters, bloggers – anyone who’s part of the world of words to join the conversation. The festival program features an enormous range of literary activity including entertaining discussions, debates, readings, film screenings, interviews, literary banquets, performances, workshops and book launches, as well as a lively schools’ program for primary and secondary students.

If you can’t be there in body, be there in spirit by following the adventures of five UNbloggers attending MWF events and writing about them on their blogs.

With so many great events to choose from we thought we’d share our top choices:

- 27 August – New news: reporting country style

- 2 September – Bookcamp: the story of the future

- 2 September – Walk: A-Z of Melbourne

- 4 September – Seminar: the art of non fiction

Check out the cool video created to advertise the festival below, and also view the films from the Festival’s Unbound film competition.

Cheers,

the c word crew

Today marks the end of my first year (and the start of my second) as PRIA’s Victorian President.

Along the way, I have met some truly amazing people, heard some fascinating stories and learnt a lot of new things about being a communicator.

Firstly, my sincere thanks to my fellow councillors for their hard work and enthusiasm, particularly Paul Crisp and Jessica Markovsky who are finishing up on council this year after more than a decade of combined service to the organisation as President and national representative respectively.

Thank you also to the wonderful members I have met along the way. To those who have spoken at our events, thank you for sharing your experience. To everyone who has attended our workshops, breakfasts and lunches, thank you for joining us and adding to the profession. And to those who have sponsored or helped organise our events, my sincere gratitude for your time and commitment.

And what a year it has been. From a tour of The Age and 3AW’s headquarters at Media House to a sold out Women in PR forum at Crown, we’ve had some amazing people share their knowledge and experience. But it’s not all workshops and networking, we’ve also developed a very successful mentoring program and have lots of activities planned with our Fellows, Young Communicators and RCG members.

Some of our recent event highlights include:

- Leadership Breakfasts covering everything from the future of PR to how to build a successful communication business

- A sold-out Women in PR forum

- An engaging panel discussion with communicators from three of Melbourne’s major events

- An intimate, members-only tour of The Age and 3AW’s Media House.

Our next event is tomorrow (Wednesday) night with Jocelyn Hunter, Trevor Young, Marla Nelson and Jeremy Wrench sharing their tips on getting the most out of your PR agency. It’s a must attend for any PR professional – in house or consultant.

Then on Thursday 22 September, we’ll be celebrating communications in Victoria at the State Awards function at ACMI. Join us to network with fellow communicators and hear about some of the best PR campaigns in town.

We’ve also bought our friends at Burning House along for the ride. They produced a new video series called Broadcast PR, which features interviews with leaders in PR in Australia.

What’s next …

In October, head to Sydney for our National Conference with international speaker Brian Solis and the dame of Australian media Ita Buttrose.

And then in November 2012, join communicators from around the world at the World PR Forum in Melbourne.

And finally, if you’re a communicator and not a member of PRIA, join us today.

Cheers, Jack & the c word crew

Miranda Schuppan

The Public Relations Institute of Australia has launched a great new video series called Broadcast PR.

The weekly interviews ask Australian communicators about their careers and their views on communications.

The videos have been produced by our video production colleagues at Burning House.

The first interviewee was Miranda Schupann, Communications Manager for The Age.

Here are her videos:

What motivated you to get into the PR industry and how did you get there?

What have been the highlights of your career so far?

What are the main challenges and opportunities you balance in your role or that you see in the communications profession today?

How do you see the PR industry developing and changing in the future?