News from FEIEA - Issue II/2011

“From PC to mobile - a new revolution?” workshop in Italy
Over the past 10 years personal computers, internet and mobile devices have crafted our lives to the point where we cannot even imagine living without them. A smart phone or a tablet allows us to have everything in our pocket, keeping us in touch with both the real and virtual worlds. Overwhelmed by wwworkers, tweets and apps, companies must be capable of anticipating and analysing trends and technologies in order to keep customers and employees involved.

In this respect, how should a communications professional behave? Will everything change, once again? These and other questions were debated at the “From PC to Mobile – a new revolution?” workshop, held in Rimini, Italy from 12 to 14 May. During the workshop, almost 50 communication professionals coming from the some of the best companies in Italy debated the future of company communications and of the communicator’s role in the coming years.

» For more information visit www.ascai.it

IIK Grand Prix in the Czech Republic has its first winners
June 2011 marked the first year of IIK Grand Prix competition in the Czech Republic.

Four categories were announced (electronic communication, print media, communication and event strategy) in which entries were competing for the first prize and the possibility to join the FEIEA Grand Prix.

An eight-member jury consisting of experts in the field of internal communication, marketing, brand, digital and printed communications was appointed to ensure an independent, fair and professional assessment.

Tomáš Poucha, one of the founders of IIK, comments during the announcement of the competition: IIK Grand Prix is a transparent effort to create competition. We will feed back on internal comms works and open discussions. In this way we aim to enhance exchange of experiences and move boundaries of internal communication within the Czech Republic.”

The results of the various categories after numerous reviews and discussions of the jury are announced as follows:

    * The winner in Print Media category is T-Mobile with the internal magazine “ECHO”.
    * The winner in Communications Strategy category is DHL IT Services with the “Value Wheel Survey” survey based on coaching techniques.
    * The winner in Electronic Communication is CEZ Group with its portal called ”Our Principles“ dedicated to promoting new corporate culture.
    * In the last category Event no prizes were awarded. An Honourable Mention has been issued to Czech Insurance Company for the project ”Management Conference of the Czech Insurance Company”.

All mentioned winning works are now being submitted to the FEIEA European Grand Prix.

» For more information visit www.institutik.cz

The ABCI awards its Grand Prix
On 20 May, the Belgian Association for Internal Communication (ABCI) awarded its Grand Prix during an exceptional day. Before the awarding of the prizes, the participants visited the workshops of the famous Belgian chocolatier Marcolini. It was a rare privilege and a fascinating visit that delighted plenty of noses and palates!

Afterwards, during a delicious Italian meal, the 2011 Grands Prix for the best internal publications between June 2010 and April 2011 were awarded. This year’s jury, made up of an academic, the two winners of last year’s best company magazine award, and a member of the ABCI board of directors, based their decisions on the following criteria: journalistic nature of the publication, suitability of the content for its target group, objectivity, freedom of approach, variety of topics and points of view, prominence of staff, general appearance, creativity, quality of illustrations and the text-image relationship. The award winners will go on to participate in the FEIEA Grands Prix.

‘The tools that we are honouring today follow every stage of the histories of their companies or organizations: birth, development, recruiting, growth, crises, restructuring, new strategies, and so forth. In order to evolve in a continually changing environment, companies and organizations must be able to count on their most precious resources: their employees. It is among them that internal communication becomes meaningful,’ said Christine Donjean, President of the ABCI.

ViKOM activities – May/June 2011
On the 18th of May the ViKOM Lounge took place in the new Siemens City in Vienna, where the Siemens Identity Display (SID) was presented.

An eight meter broad multitouch-display in the central entrance area offers access to a variety of content. Infostreams react as visitors pass and supply news on the enterprise.

On 16 June ViKOM members took part in a ‘Jour fixe’ on the theme of “Lobbying between image-crisis and day work” with Peter Köppl from Kovar & Köppl Public Affairs Consulting.

About 6.000 people work in the modern and attractive working environment. The central location of Siemens in Austria is fully energy-efficient. The basic principle of the architecture was the cross-linking of the Siemens-community through the possibility of coincidence of all employees in the Communication Line and the fusion of the parts of the building with the surrounding nature. So the architectonic design offers maximal possibilities to communicate and the exchange of ideas.

On 16 June ViKOM members took part in a ‘Jour fixe’ on the theme of “Lobbying between image-crisis and day work” with Peter Köppl from Kovar & Köppl Public Affairs Consulting.

Steve Doswell
New chief executive of the Institute of Internal Communication
FEIEA President Steve Doswell has been appointed as chief executive of the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) in May on the retirement of Kathie Jones.

Steve is a former chairman and education and accreditation director of the UK organisation, and he has been instrumental in the development of the Institute’s professional qualification programme.

The handover of responsibilities took place on 12th May 2011 at the Institute’s annual conference in Bournemouth.

» For more information see www.ioic.org.uk

Kathie Jones (right) receives a big thank you from
the UK Institute’s President Alan Peaford,
helped by Brenda Scott.
Conference for fearless communicators
The UK Institute of Internal Communication held its 2011 Conference in Bournemouth on May 11-13. The conference focused on organisations which are being fearless, delivering results, trying new ways of engagement, facing challenges and winning awards.

» For more information see www.ioic.org.uk

The Institute’s annual dinner also took place on the evening of Thursday 12 May. President Alan Peaford and Chairman Dominic Walters both paid tribute to the hard work that has gone in to making IoIC, what it is today, and both outlined future plans and aspirations. A special thank-you and presentation was made to Kathie Jones who retired from her role as Chief Executive.

» For more information see www.ioic.org.uk

UK award winners announced
The winners of the 2011 Institute of Internal Communication National Awards have been announced. The awards cover all aspects of internal communication activity and reflect the growing complexity and rapid changes in the work that we do as communicators.

The awards have been judged and Class and Gold Award winners were presented with their trophies at the Awards dinner on 17 June 2011 at the Hilton Park Lane Hotel, London.

» For more information visit www.ioic.org.uk

A selection of the magazines that competed for
the best-magazine-award Papirus 2011.
Mrs. Tanja Sluga Kobe (Krka) and Mrs. Maja
Oberstar Falkner, editor of the Krka magazin
Utrip in conversation with Mr. Sašo Sever,
editor of the winning magazine Obzornik
by ZavarovalnicaTriglav.
Ms. Anja Potočnik,head of Papirus Organisation
Committee and SIK's Executive Committee
member and Ms. Stanka Ritonja, SIK's President
(from left to right).
Winners of the Slovenian Papirus contest revealed
»Obzornik«, the employee magazine of the insurance company Zavarovalnica Triglav, is for the second year in a row the winner of the Slovenian Papirus contest. Papirus winners were revealed in Ljubljana in June on the occasion of a round-table discussion on employee publications.

This year, 16 entrants in the category printed and e-magazine competed for the best-of-the-best title. 8 entrants were submitted in the best photography category while 9 entrants competed in the-best-cover category.

The runner-up among the best magazines is Trimotim, the magazine of the company for engineering and production of pre-fabricated buildings Trimo. The third place winner is the magazine Utrip published by the pharmaceutical company Krka which also received the award for the best photography. The best-cover award was bestowed to the magazine Rudar of the coalmine company Premogovnik Velenje.

Ms. Stanka Ritonja, the president of the Slovenian Internal Communicators, said: “This year, the jury judged the entries using new, more elaborately defined judging points within each category. All the entrants will receive the jury’s comments and recommendations to be observed and we hope the comments will be helpful to them in improving the publications in the terms of content, communication value and genre.”

The Papirus winner “Obzornik” has entered the FEIEA Grand Prix competition.

» For more information contact Ms. Stanka Ritonja at [stanka.ritonja@gov.si]

Involved in the discussion on the employee magazines (from left to right): Mr. Nenad Senić of the company Poslovni mediji and Papirus 2011 jury member, Ms.
Duška Mervar of the company Renderspace and Papirus 2011 jury member, Ms. Anja Potočnik of the company SIJ – Slovenska industrija jekla and member of the
SIK Executive Comittee, Mr. Sašo Sever of the company Zavarovalnica Triglav and Papirus 2011 jury member and Ms. Katja Kek of the company Pristop and SIK's
Executive Committee member.