Bring Authenticity/Audience Perception to Social Media

Another look at our current ‘Hot Topic’ this time in an interesting piece by Mary Cullen. She believes that the open nature of Social Media will encourage people to improve the quality of their communications and be more authentic in the way they interact with their audience, which will, in turn, have a positive impact on the quality of social media in general. Read the full article >

Melitta

By | February 28th, 2009|Other resources|0 Comments

Roundtable – manage your reputation in times of crisis, 5 March

On Thursday 5 March, SRRP are organising a roundtable (in French) on the theme of “Managing your reputation in a times of crisis”. Our very own Vincent Lusser will be speaking at the event.

En période de difficultés économiques, le défi pour les spécialistes RP est de trouver un moyen pour communiquer le juste équilibre entre objectif et performance, rétablir la confiance des principaux actionnaires et renforcer la réputation des entreprises.

Dans le cadre de cette nouvelle réalité économique, Burson-Marsteller vous présentera les résultats de l’étude Purpose&Performance menée dans 11 pays à travers l’Europe, parmi lesquels la Suisse, auprès de 200 dirigeants d’entreprise et faiseurs d’opinion influents: PDG et présidents, représentants du gouvernement, journalistes, ONG, professionnels de la communication en entreprise et universitaires.

Cette présentation sera suivie par une mise en perspective et un partage d’expériences, avec notamment la participation de Vincent Lusser, Chef de la communication interne du Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR), Genève.

La soirée se poursuivra autour d’un apéritif par une discussion ouverte.

Further information and registration>>

By | February 27th, 2009|Other events|0 Comments

Genevacom workshop at lift09

Thank you to all the participants who attended our workshop at Lift yesterday. It was a very interesting discussion. Here are the slides summarizing some of the major points. 

Lift09 Networking Workshop Slides   

Stay tuned for some photos and video coverage of the session.

Enjoy the rest of the Lift conference!!

Patricia

By | February 26th, 2009|Other events|0 Comments

The corporate silo lives!

A recent working paper from Harvard Business School has revealed that despite the efforts of many organisations to break down internal boundaries, the corporate silo is still alive and well.

For the report, titled: Communication (and Coordination?) in a Modern, Complex Organisation, the authors spent three months analysing communications between staff within a large unnamed company with more than 100,000 employees.

The team was taken aback by the lack of communication across the organisation. They found that most people tended to communicate with others in their own group or with peers. With women being one of the few exceptions.

Although the research doesn’t try to answer why corporate silos are so difficult to tear down, the authors hope that the data will help managers understand, pinpoint, and remove bottlenecks within their own organisations.

Key concepts from the report include:

  • Inside the studied company, practically speaking, little interaction occurred across three major corporate boundaries: business units, organisational functions, and office locations.
  • Communication patterns were extremely hierarchical: Executives, middle managers, and rank-and-file employees communicated extensively within their own levels, but there were far fewer cross-pay-grade interactions in the firm.
  • Junior executives, women, and members of the salesforce were the key actors in bridging the silos.
  • Relative to men, women participate in a greater volume of electronic and face-to-face interactions and do so with a larger and more diverse set of communication partners.
  • Server logs can provide valuable information to managers on communication flows within their own organisations.

Read more in a Q&A with co-author Toby E. Stuart >

Melitta

By | February 24th, 2009|Other resources|0 Comments

LIFT Conference in Geneva – 25-27 February

This week the infamous Lift conference will be held at the CICG in Geneva from 25-27 February.  For those who haven’t signed up, you may still be able to get a spot.

“Lift is a series of events built around a community of doers and thinkers who get together in Europe and Asia to explore the social impact of new technologies. Each conference is your chance to turn changes into opportunities, by anticipating the major shifts ahead, and meeting the people who drive them”

The GCN will be organising a workshop on Wednesday 25 February at 16h. For more information about the conference or to follow some of the presentations online check the website:  www.liftconference.com

By | February 23rd, 2009|Other events|0 Comments

Social networking with baby boomers

An interesting article in The New York Times of 20 February on:

Baby Boomers, Luddites? Not So Fast.

It’s probably safe to say that Whopper Sacrifice, Burger King’s impish Facebook campaign that offered users free burgers in exchange for dropping 10 friends, wasn’t aimed at retirees. But maybe it should have been.

A recent report from Forrester Research indicates that while it might be tempting to categorize all aging Americans as techno-dinosaurs and Luddites, more than 60 percent of baby boomers are avid consumers of social media like blogs, forums, podcasts and online videos. That’s up from roughly 40 percent a year ago.

Read complete article >>

By | February 21st, 2009|Other resources|0 Comments

Tips for making Twitter a key part of your PR communications strategy

Cision, a global provider of media monitoring, research, distribution, and evaluation services for the public relations profession, has released an informative new tip sheet, available for free download, titled: Using Twitter to Become Part of the Conversation – How Twitter can become a Key Element of your Communications Effort. 

Their top three tips:
1. Get in the game
2. Choose your friends 
3. Listen closely

Melitta

By | February 18th, 2009|Other resources|0 Comments

Video on intercultural communications seminar

Thanks to Thierry Weber of Culturepod, we now have a videocast of the presentation of Dr. Surabhi Aggarwal on intercultural communications from our lunch seminar of 30 January 2009.

View the video: Geneva Communicators: The Challenges of inter cultural communication >>

Enjoy the show!

By | February 10th, 2009|Other events|0 Comments

Managing the media during product recalls

A US webinar on 27 February, titled ‘Media Relations Lessons from the 2009 Peanut Butter Recall‘ will examine real product recall cases and their handling in the media, sharing best practice and lessons learned. With those in Corporate Communications often being asked to produce emergency communication plans, this webinar could offer useful insights to help  construct such plans. Find out more at: www.health.newsbios.com.

Melitta

By | February 9th, 2009|Other events|0 Comments

10 evening seminars on communications at the University of Geneva

The University of Geneva is holding 10 evening  seminars on communications themes from February to June 2009. The conferences are on a variety of themes ranging from crisis communications to media and democracy in the Middle East. All conferences are in French except the conference of 2 June in English on the theme “Communication in International Organisations” featuring Keith Rockwell, Director of Communications, WTO.

View the complete programme (pdf) >>

By | February 8th, 2009|Other events|0 Comments