Welcome to our first event for 2021, an online simulation game for communicators!

Come and play Corporate Snakes and Career Ladders, an on-line simulation that helps you navigate the ambiguity between communication theory and practice as you encounter real-life scenarios.

When you play Corporate Snakes and Career Ladders, you will take on the role of Carmen Spinoza, Corporate Communications Director of a major international company. You will be presented with a series of communication challenges which you need to resolve as a team. Your challenge is to think strategically and position yourself (aka Carmen) as a strategic adviser to the senior leadership team. How will you get – and keep – a seat at the table? The on-line taster workshop is a mini version of training that has been delivered to communication professionals around the world and is now coming to the Geneva Communications Network.

When: 12h30-14h00 – Thursday 21 January 2021
Where: Online (via Zoom)
Cost: Free of charge

Register online for the event>>

Join us on 21 January for a fun, interactive session that will give you a chance to network with your peers from across the region … and beyond. Don’t forget to bring a sandwich!

You can find out more about the game at  www.corporatesnakes.org

Communications in 2021 – how are organisations managing communications in the current uncertain environment?

Until we can resume our traditional networking events, we would like to invite you to our next online event, which will be held on 2 December from 12h30 to 13h30. We will be using the Zoom platform for the event.

COVID-19 has had an impact on many facets of society including how organisations communicate. What are the implications for organisations and individuals? How are they adapting or is it “business as usual”? Our panel drawn from the non-profit, private and consultancy sectors will discuss how in 2020 they have changed the way they and their organisations communicate and what this means for communications in the future.

Date: Wednesday 2 December 2020
Time: 12h30 to 13h30
Location: Online via Zoom
Cost: Free of charge

Register for the event>>

The panel:

• Elizabeth Poll, Director of Communications, Medicines for Malaria Venture
• Rachael Remaly Franco, Associate Director Public Affairs, Europe Region, Incyte
• Robert Bartram, Writing and Editing Consultant, RBComms
• Panel host: Melita Campbell, Business Coach for Female Entrepreneurs

Please note this event has been postponed due to the situation with the Covid 19 virus – it will be re-scheduled

Technological Progress: what is the role of ethics? – with Dr. Nicoletta Iacobacci

This coming decade will be the most ground-breaking in history, with revolutionary new technologies leading the path in innovation. At the same this raises questions about the implications of this progress on the future of humanity and how to keep up with concepts as ageless societies, software-based immortal humans, cybernetic organisms, and means of transport at lightning speed. An essential element in this debate is “ethics”, which should be fundamental to any debate about technological progress. Join Dr. Nicoletta Iacobacci in addressing questions about the role of ethics, technology and communications.

Date: Friday 13 March 2020
Time: 12h30 to 14h00
Location: The Swiss Press Club, Route de Ferney 106, La Pastorale, 1202 Geneva.
Fee: CHF 30.- per person includes drinks and snacks

About the speaker:  Nicoletta Iacobacci, PhD, is an ethical influencer who engages executives, thinkers, artists, innovators, entrepreneurs, and students in conversations about ethics and emerging technologies. She is the founder of Ethica.ly, a platform for engaging reflections on the consequences of exponential innovations, and currently serves as an adjunct professor at Webster University Geneva and at Jinan University in Guangzhou, China, where she is investigating the future implications of technology on society. She has been a resident at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, a curator of TEDx events, the Ambassador for Singularity University Geneva, and the leader of the ethical framework for Hyperloop Transportation Technology. Her book Exponential Ethics, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, has been published in English and in Chinese.

Thanks to all the participants who attended the GCN lunch event on Friday. Communications and reputation management specialist Toomas Kull provided some interesting insights into reputation and crisis management in the 2020s, particularly linked to digital challenges.

Below are a few photos of the event, courtesy of photographer Geraldo Pestalozzi.

We look forward to seeing you at our next event in January 2020.

Happy holidays!

The GCN team

Trust is an enabler for organisations – making a wide range of activities, transactions and interactions possible regardless of sector or size. Betrayals of trust have major organisational and business consequences. Leaders who violate the trust of their stakeholders soon find themselves ousted.

As we face the start a new decade… How is the building of trust changing for organisations and their leaders? In today’s environment, are there any new principles we should focus on to navigate a crisis? Do the classic best-practice principles of crisis communications still apply?

Toomas Kull will consider the challenges leaders face in managing reputation (their organisation’s as well as their own), and provide recommendations on how to prepare for and survive reputation-threatening scenarios. Participants will be encouraged to also share their perspectives and insights.

About the speaker: Toomas Kull is a communications and reputation management specialist. He is a consultant at Cabinet Privé de Conseils (CPC), the Swiss public relations and public affairs agency. He has over ten years’ experience in advising organisations across sectors, from profile raising campaigns, to issues management, crisis communications, and litigation PR. Prior to joining CPC, he worked in two London-based communications consultancies. He started his career in the public sector, working in the European Commission and the UK’s Ministry for Business.

The Geneva Communicators Network is pleased to announce our next lunchtime event for 2019:

Lunchtime Discussion Forum – are you meeting the challenges of digital communications? – Friday 4 October 2019

Managing digital communications is one of the main challenges for communicators today. How is your organisation coping with the ever-changing digital landscape? What solutions have organisations found to manage multiple social media platforms and websites? What priorities are organisations setting and which audiences are they aiming to reach? How to ensure the legitimacy of your message in a world increasingly overwhelmed by fake news? Do you have best-practice tips to share?

Whatever your questions, come and discuss with like-minded communication professionals at our lunchtime discussion forum in the spirit of exchange to help all our organisations improve their digital communications and be better heard in this age of social media and online buzz. Attendees will be divided into discussion groups to address several questions and report back to the wider group.

Date: Friday 4 October 2019
Time: 12h30 to 14h00
Location: The Swiss Press Club, Route de Ferney 106, La Pastorale, 1202 Geneva.
Fee: CHF 30.- per person includes drinks and snacks
Please register online >>

We look forward to seeing you!