On Thursday 6th November I joined communications professionals from around the world to consider our professional development together in London. Run entirely voluntarily by those good folks at IABC UK & Ireland and deftly hosted by Shane Hatton, it was a brilliant day packed full of insights.
I met new and caught up with existing connections from Germany, Nigeria, Australia, USA, folks from the broader region of EMENA (Europe, Middle East and North Africa, and of course from across the UK and Ireland. I missed my Canadian co-author Matisse Hamel-Nelis terribly and I KNOW she had serious FOMO too. In no particular order, here are some things I learned from the day:
1. We can only change what we have capability – and capacity for.
I *loved* Eleanor Tweddell’s opening keynote on navigating the messiness and inevitability for change. She brings a magnificent energy to the stage and presented a brilliantly relatable session on how we feel many things at once, and we might not be able to do everything all at the same time, either. She also had some excellent recommendations including David Lynch’s Catching The Big Fish and founder of The Nap Ministry Trisha Hersey’s Rest Is Resistance. I feel like I definitely need a rest, and am looking forward to a few days off next week. Where I might re-investigate the art of napping, because Eleanor said so.
2. Know our audience – we need to meet them where they are, today
The day kicked off with a brilliant salsa workshop from Dee at Salsa Got Soul to get us energised and consider the fact communications is a two-way street; the call and response of dances like salsa makes it vital for leaders to lead, and followers to pay attention.
I used to go to Ceroc, which is a cross between salsa and jive, but without the tricksy footwork. When you start out, you learn a few basic moves, and as your skills develop you can start weaving them all together, though one of the hardest things to learn is to listen to and concede to your partner. I discovered that actual salsa, as I’d expected, is HARD. I’m going to have to dust off the split-sole dancing trainers I bought on a whim on Vinted a few months back and actually go back, as I’ve been very sedentary of late and it reminded me how much I miss it, despite being more wary than I used to be about breathing in strangers’ faces all night.
There’s a lesson here for communicators – from breaking complex things down into manageable steps, to building those individual pieces into a glorious campaign, while being clear on the expectations and outcomes you’re trying to achieve. It’s never a one-and-done thing, doing this well takes repetition, multiple touchpoints and practice – as well as knowing the ability of your partner / audience. And not forcing people to do things that they’re not ready for – some people will have more experience than others, even if they don’t quite realise it themselves! I wasn’t intending to volunteer up in front of everyone, but I suppose I was already pre-primed, even if it was pre-pandemic that I last set foot on the dancefloor. Some folks will be readier than others.
Meeting our leaders where they are is also something I took away from the C:suite panel hosted by Eduvie Martin, where one of the talking points was how to work with members of the senior leadership team. Getting to know them is vital, understanding their strengths, weaknesses and preferences, to make sure that everyone gets the outcomes they need.
3. Building relationships reaps dividends
I first met Alison Arnot a few months ago when we got together to share tips and swap advice on writing a book. As a fellow author it’s been brilliant to get to know her and we’ve been sharing tips and asking each other questions online, so it was fabulous to actually meet in person.
I really enjoyed her keynote on how to stay calm in a crisis, and the importance of preparedness and cultivating relationships with people so that you can work well together in a pinch. When the shit hits the fan, you really need to be able to trust those around you – and her storytelling of how things went down at Glasgow Airport years ago, along with the excellent framework she’s devised, really resonated with lots of folks in the room. Get her book Internal Communication in Times of Crisis for more insights!
4. It’s a small world and we’re better, connected
I started chatting to Padraig (who’d been chatting to Alison in the break) and it turned out that not only do we have several mutual connections in common in Ireland but:
- He already has a copy of Accessible Communications, the book I wrote with Matisse Hamel-Nelis sitting on his desk back home
- Off the back of our conversation I’ve submitted an entry to go to Congregation in Cong, Ireland at the end of the month. The theme of this year’s event is chaos, which feels delightfully on-brand; watch this space as that might be a glorious unexpected outcome of the day
I also had some really wonderful conversations throughout the day, in the reception after, and over dinner for the ones who stayed ’til the very end and didn’t have to jet off immediately!
5. It’d be great to have an MRI to look inside our organisations
I really enjoyed Dr Leandro Herrero‘s talk on mapping connections within organizations. From the ability to predict the next Pope through network mapping to the importance of segmenting our comms, we need to make better use of the whisper networks and unofficial influencers, not just the formal champion channels.
6. Sharon “Omnipresent” Dea
I really enjoyed Alan Oram‘s presentation on creativity and loved to see my sometimes co-conspirator Sharon O’Dea appear in a presentation despite currently being 1,000s of miles away in Japan.
7. We think with our head heart and gut
Chris Carey’s presentation demonstrated in real time how we need to design communications that work for our logical as well as visceral selves. I particularly liked his suggestions of questions to ask ourselves if we’re struggling to make a decision – as well as, echoing Eleanor’s points, the permission to pause.
8. It’s not just you the market is appalling
Edeje Onwude hosted a brilliant panel after Andy Macleod had delivered a grim set of graphs showing that the contractor and perm market in the UK has indeed contracted like you think it has. It’s not as bad as it has been at times in the past, but the recruitment process feels very broken at the moment, along with confidence in the market – though we had some “reassurance” during the panel that’s it’s not really rosy elsewhere either. I’ve been incredibly lucky this year to be busy working on a number of smaller projects with clients – though at the same time it’s a different landscape to longer-term contracts that were around a few years ago.
9. Accessible slides are easier to read for everyone
Closing out a conference isn’t always easy especially one that’s been so packed full of insights already! I had some lovely feedback from my talk on impactful communication.
Over the years my font size has increased as I’ve become a better editor. We can’t always control the environments we’re delivering presentations in but I usually design for the worst possible projectors, as well as making it easy for people to read my info without too many ideas on one slide.
Stripping back your ideas and editing your content really helps your message stand out for the right reasons. Something I’m continuing to learn as I go. If you’re also looking to learn more, check out my list of accessibility resources and get in touch if I can help your organisation – lisa at lisariemers dot com.