For some time, Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz have been using a YouTube Hangout on Air to record their monthly podcast, “The Hobson & Holtz Report.” It has always been a restricted Hangout that only Shel and Neville could see. While recording the April installment, they wondered, “Why not make it public?” And so the… Continue Reading →

Are you positioned to succeed in the next five years? The next 10? The competencies and skills required for communicating on behalf of employers or clients are not static. Not that long ago, communicators traded in press releases, media pitches, and printed employee newsletters. While these tactics have not vanished, the technologies that serve as… Continue Reading →

At noon Eastern on Thursday, March 15, four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) will spend an hour discussing the communication angle of creating a corporate culture that attracts and retains employees. The panelists for this live conversation include Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Kellie Garrett, Sheri Rosen, and Mark Schumann.
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Trust in media is at an all-time low, as is global trust in the United States (while global trust in China is soaring). Meanwhile, peers — who have been a top credible source for several years — are waning as people once again turn to subject matter experts, technical experts, and CEOs, all of whom have been trailing in prior years’ Trust Barometers, the annual survey released every January by Edelman. Where trust is in decline, communication professionals can help turn the tide. Where it is rising, communicators can help maintain that growth. In the February installment of “Circle of Fellows,” five IABC Fellows (and moderator Shel Holtz) will discuss (among other things) how to make the case for allocating resources to trust-building and how to combat false narratives, including fact-checking in the social media age. Participating in the real-time conversation are Priya Bates, Roger D’Aprix, John Deveney, James Lukaszewski, and Ned Lundquist. The panel will take place at noon EST on Thursday, February 15, 2018.
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Everyone at the FIR Podcast Network wishes listeners a happy holiday and a prosperous 2018! The “For Immediate Release” podcast — which is taking a break for the holidays — returns on January 8 with a new format. The show will be shorter and instead of guest co-hosts, host Shel Holtz will share brief conversations… Continue Reading →

In the age of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, company reputations are constantly at risk. On episode 28 of “Circle of Fellows,” four IABC Fellows will explore the challenges of managing reputation in social media, the crucial role employees play as reputation ambassadors and the financial value of proactive reputation and risk management…. Continue Reading →

On Thursday, November 16 at noon ET, IABC Fellow Brad Whitworth will moderate a panel with four of his Fellows colleagues — Priya Bates, Kellie Garrett, Tamara Gillis, and Jim Shaffer — to discuss the movement toward converged communication functions (with marketing the dominant practice) and what it means for the practices of public relations, corporate communications, and employee communications.
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You have probably heard the statistic before: Research from McKinsey & Company found that only 30% of executives agreed that their change programs were completely or mostly successful. Corporate culture expert John Kotter estimates “more than 70% of needed change eithr fails to be launched, even though some people clearly see the need, fails to… Continue Reading →

A panel of four IABC Fellows will address multigenerational career development for communicators on the next live Circle of Fellows broadcast, scheduled for noon EDT on Thursday, September 21. You’ll be able to ask questions in real time via Twitter by using the hashtag #COF25.
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