The program explored some of today’s mega-trends in communications, including the impact of social media for engaging with consumers and employees and the shift in global demand to emerging markets. According to Marc Wright, there are now over two billion middle class consumers in the world’s emerging markets. These consumers have a very different set of cultural and behavioral drivers than those in mature markets. Silvia Cambié shared some powerful examples of how social media is helping address tough social issues, for example opening dialogs to break down entrenched prejudices in societies that do not respect diversity.

Silvia is a London based strategic communication and social media advisor who has designed communication campaigns for the European Parliament, the European Investment Bank, USAid, the Chilean Economic Development Agency, the University of Lugano and the World Health Organization. Her blog, XCulture, is read by 19,000 people. Marc is Chairman of the simplygroup.  Mark won the Image of ’92 Award for his work promoting the European Parliament, and wrote and directed Inside Europe – an educational series for BBC Television, which explored the continent’s different cultural identities through the eyes of school children.  He is currently advising global organizations Tetra Pak, Vodafone, WHO and Adidas.

Special thanks to Zurich Insurance for hosting the program and to Deborah Hudson, Head of Employee Communications, and her team for organizing the event. The Zurich chapter of the IABC is planning a number of equally engaging events for 2011.

Following the December 2010 elections held at our guest speaker event, your new Swiss chapter Executive Board (EB) met to discuss plans for 2011 and deal with administrative issues.

Please email me if you would like a copy of the minutes from that meeting, which we hope will present you with a transparent and useful insight into how we will operate going forward.

We will continue to post updates on this blog. If you have some experience in this area and would like to help us keep the blog up to date, please contact us and we can elect you onto the EB should you wish.

February is a worldwide Member Month

During February, for new or lapsed members who join or re-join IABC, we’ll waive the application fee (US$40/CDN$43.20/AUS$46/€33.60 for faxed/mailed/phoned enrollments; US$30/CDN$32.40/AUS$34.50/€25.20 for Internet enrollments). Please remember: applications must be received at the San Francisco headquarters office during the month of February to qualify. This promotion does not affect renewing members, transitional members or students (who aren’t required to pay the application fee).

Six webinars free to members in 2011

You may have heard that IABC is responding to member research by offering members six free web seminars throughout 2011, the first of which took place on 19 January. Each session will be archived on the web site after it takes place, so that members can access them at their convenience. Bookmark this link in your Web-browser and learn more about upcoming sessions.

Europe’s leading conference on corporate communication from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is being held on the 7th and 8th April in Turin, Italy. For more information and to book: http://europe.iabc.com

Wishing you a year of great communication!

Andrew Morrison ABC
President, Swiss chapter

Take a look for events, links, member profiles, membership information, resources and more.

 How can you keep your brand alive in the current economic climate? Come along for some  networking over a drink, followed by a seminar with

Ago Cluytens
Global Head of Marketing, Private Banking, ING Bank

Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Networking starts 18.30, seminar starts 19.15, close 21.00
Hotel Bristol, 10, rue du Mont-Blanc, 1201 Geneva
Members CHF 20, non-members CHF 30
To register or for more information email Marcus Ferrar, President, IABC Switzerland
marcus at ferrar dot ch.

        WRITTEN COMMUNICATION: Million dollar cost or strategic asset?
        with SARAH CLARK, Consultant & Trainer, Clear thinking – Clear communication

How often have you received an e-mail, re-read it and still been unsure what you are supposed to do in response? Or puzzled over a “proposal” to work out what exactly is being proposed? Have you ever been irritated by the tone of an official letter? Or ploughed through a turgid report to end up wondering “So what?”

Sarah will focus on the writing that most of us — and millions of others in the private and public sectors — need to do as part of our day-to-day work. Countless e-mails, reports, presentations, proposals, memos and letters are written daily to communicate internally, with colleagues and senior management, and externally, with clients, suppliers and the general public.

But many of these confuse, bore or irritate their readers and fail to achieve their purpose. Time and money are wasted. Does it really matter? And whose problem is it anyway? Sarah will explore what goes wrong, what can be done to help and the practical management challenges of realizing employees’ potential as communicators.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

IABC Switzerland AGM 18.00-18.30 (IABC members only)
Networking and seminar 18.30-21.00 (all welcome)

Hotel Bristol, 10, rue du Mont-Blanc, 1201 Geneva

Members CHF 25, non-members CHF 35

To register or for more information:
email Marcus Ferrar, President, IABC Switzerland marcus at ferrar.ch.

RSVP to Meryl David by 9 December!

On December 10, 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.

IMPORTANT – RSVP as above.

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

The IABC Europe and Middle East Region annual conference will take place in Lugano, Switzerland, from 9-10 February 2009. The conference brings together 150 communication professionals from the private, public and NGO sectors throughout Europe and the Middle East. It will be held at the Università della Svizzera italiana and the speakers will include outstanding communications professionals from UNHCR, Google, Nestlé and other leading organisations and universities.

Angela gave several examples of how communication can impact the bottom line, and demonstrated through case studies and worksheets how behaviour change can be used to calculate the financial value of communication.

Download Angela’s presentation -

Communication ROI presentation by Angela Sinickas, Geneva

For more information on Angela’s work, see the website www.sinicom.com.

Join IABC Switzerland for a seminar led by Angela Sinickas, leading expert on communication measurement.

Wednesday 17 September

Hotel Epsom, 18 rue de Richemont, Geneva 1202

Drinks and networking start at 18.30, seminar starts 19.15

Members CHF 25, non-members CHF 35

For more information contact me or email marcus at ferrar dot ch.

Join an IABC teleseminar that reveals how to turn “corporate social responsibility” from mere buzzwords into a real conversation. The one-hour seminar is on 13 March and is open to members and non-members.

ABOUT THE TELESEMINAR
For many organizations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability are concepts that have not entered the mainstream business of the organization. Al Gore’s work with An Inconvenient Truth has helped put climate change on business agendas around the world. Communicators are increasingly becoming involved in driving CSR initiatives and shaping how an organization develops and implements sustainability strategies. This case study from Zurich Financial Services Australia will help you support your organization in translating its aspirations into business plans that benefit the business, shareholders, society and the environment.

Among the presenters is Meryl David, ABC, of Zurich Financial Services. Meryl has more than 20 years of communication experience, including public relations, media relations, corporate communication, developing leadership skills and internal communication and has recently been awarded tha IABC Chairman’s Award.

This is just one of the teleseminars in the IABC Professional Development program.