Last night, members of the Geneva Communications Network participated in a virtual event where we met in a virtual “world” and spoke about how they work for communications applications. Ron Edwards of Ambient Performance took us through the virtual environment of Forterra Systems with a demonstration as to how it works. We were all sitting in a virtual conference room and members of the London Communicators Group were watching it all *live* from a conference room in London. Here is a screen shot of the virtual conference room:

Thanks again to Ron Edwards and Matt O’Neill of the London Communicators Group for organising the event and inviting members of the Geneva Communicators Network to participate.

If you are interested to hear a preview of what Dr Aggarwal will speak about at our event on 30 January, listen to Dr Aggarwal and Glenn O’Neil of the Geneva Communicators Network discuss the challenges of inter-cultural communication on World Radio Switzerland:

Listen to the WRS show “Your Space” of  5 January >>

Written Communication: million dollar cost or strategic asset? That will be the question addressed by Sarah Clark, a consultant and trainer, at the next IABC seminar, following their AGM. 

The event will take place at 18:30 on Thursday 29 January at the Hotel Bristol in Geneva. Cost: Members CHF 25, non-members CHF 35.

Please register for the event by sending an email to: marcus@ferrar.ch

We wish you all a Joyous Holiday Season and a Prosperous New Year.

We thank you for your ongoing support and look forward to many great events together in 2009.

Patricia, Melitta, Glenn, and Vincent

We’ve writtten before about biology courses for communicators and here’s another course that could also be of interest to communicators – interior design courses for non-designers! No doubt this could be of interest to communicators working in image management and related fields.

Jorge Cañete, an interior designer and marketer based in Geneva, is offering two day workshops on interior design for non-designers. The courses take place in Geneva – in English – and will be offered every month between January to June 2009.

Read more in the workshop flyer (pdf) >>

Many thanks to the some 60-70 communicators that joined us to officially launch the Geneva Communicators Network last night. We had many more people than expected!

You can see some photos of the event in our photo feed displayed to the left or on our flickr page>>

We would like to thank Daniel, Candace and Viktoria, MA media & communication students from the International University in Geneva for helping out last night and a big thanks to our partners/sponsors:

The International University in Geneva
Mircrosoft
World Television
Kellen Europe

And thanks to our special guest, Matt O’Neill of the London Area Communicators Group who came over for the launch.

We look forward to seeing you at our next event – a lunchtime meeting on the theme of communicating across cultures scheduled for Friday 30 January 2009.

Glenn, Patricia, Melitta & Vincent

Zurich Financial Services will host a session titled “Connecting with customers – employee engagement in driving transformational change” presented by Deborah Hudson, Head of Internal Communications, Katherine Tersago, Head of Online Marketing, and Christian Aepli, Head of Advertising Media.

You will learn about Zurich’s recently launched global brand campaign and the integrated communication program to support it.

Venue: Zurich Financial Services Corporate Center Mythenquai 2, Zurich (nearest railway station Bahnhof Enge, nearest tram stop Rentenanstalt)

Time: 16:30 for networking and a 17:00 start for the presentation.

CHF 25 for IABC members, CHF 45 for non-members. Pay at the door.

Here are interesting courses for communicators working in the life-science area:

Designed for people in your company or organization that are faced with biological information but have no formal training: Attorneys, businesspeople, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, healthcare professionals, investors, journalists, politicians, regulatory affairs specialists…

The original General Biotech course is designed for any professional that needs to gain a broad understanding of modern biology.

In response to your demand, a new Red biotech course is now offered that focuses exclusively on medical and pharmaceutical applications.

Courses are scheduled between January to May 2009 in Rolle(VD) and Zurich.

More information and registration>>

With an expanded team and a new website (you’re on it!) – we plan to offer more events and activities in 2009 for communication professionals working in the Geneva region. For more information please read our press release (pdf).

Come and celebrate the launch of this new network with us:

When: Monday, 8 December from 18h30 onwards

Where: Soleil Rouge, 32, Boulevard Helvétique, Geneva

Format: No presentations or speeches – just socialising and networking!

Entry: the event is free of charge with refreshments and drinks offered by the Network and its partners.

Places are limited, so please register as soon as possible>>

Thanks to our partners for supporting this event:

The International University in Geneva
Mircrosoft
World Television
Kellen Europe

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Geneva Communicators Network team

If your interested in web communications and new technology, then you may be interested in attending the Lift Conference 09, 25-27 February 2009 taking place right here in Geneva. A brief description:

Where did the future go?

We were told the future would be about mechanization, computerization, 3D
flying virtual assistants, 1984-like nightmares or Asimov-inspired robots. The long-praised
“21st century” itself was meant to be futuristic according to researchers and sci-fi writers.
What did and did not happen? What can we learn from the predictions that never materialized to better look at the future?

Lift09 (Geneva, 25-27 Feb. 09) will look back to look ahead, exploring topics like change, solidarity, love, or design, during three days of intense networking and inspiration

More information >>