Nottingham, July 2022: the scene of the annual conference hosted by the Institute of Internal Communications (IOIC).
Four of the Fresh client services team took two days out to attend, looking forward to learning new things and meeting new friends. So… was it worth it?
Here are our standout moments and things we learned
(scroll through our thoughts below)



"That the IC function fills a difficult role in most organisations and needs a stronger mandate and the backing of a charter.
If a doctor is asked by her boss to do something she doesn't agree with, she has a professional charter to back up her decision. She can say 'I cannot do this as it is against our professional code and I risk being struck off our professional register by doing this.'
If a comms person thinks that a leadership decision is wrong / dangerous / discriminatory etc, she has to be brave enough to stand up to that leader without the backing of a professional charter / code of ethics. Not everyone is or should have to be brave enough to do that.
A professional charter (run and managed by IoIC?) would provide guidelines and support.
This was a recurring theme throughout so many sessions and breakout groups on everything from hybrid working to diversity, where we agreed that the comms person is often seen as the originator of messaging rather than simply the messenger."

"It's not new but once again I was struck by how overwhelming everything can be for IC teams. Messages arrive from all directions (email, Teams, WhatsApp, Slack...) and EVERYONE wants comms at the table when the proverbial is about to hit the fan.
We heard that the average worker checks their emails every six minutes and loses four days a month in meetings that are a waste of their time. So when you're part of a team so heavily relied on by the whole business, you really must take steps to protect your productivity (not to mention your wellbeing!)."

"I noted that the conversation around change is finally moving closer to how we take employees with us on the transformation journey instead of working away secretly and then making a huge announcement. To most of us in IC this is a no-brainer; the real key now is to influence other business leaders and show them evidence about how iterative change that involves their people is far more successful."

"I resonated with the concept that while IC can't create diversity in our organisation, we can nurture it.
The DEI (diversity, equality, inclusion) presentation was detailed and realistic and provided a good framework for how to seamlessly incorporate these important values into our work. I plan to change our comms plan template to include DEI requirements, and to encourage clients to do the same. I'm also going to start providing alt text to clients every time we create a visual for them, to make it really easy for them to meet this simple but important need."

Other things we loved about the Festival:
- The huge amount of work by the IOIC team to make sure everything ran smoothly
- Inspirational keynotes from Dan Sodergren and Christina Patterson
- Two fantastic coaching opportunities, with Eleanor Tweddell on day one and Susan Lewes-Daley and Dom Walters on day two
- Having a reason to take time away from our normal routines to be together (we’re a virtual team) and meet new friends
So, was it time well-spent? You bet it was! Because we also noticed that Fresh is doing all the right things in today’s challenging IC environment. It’s reassuring to know that our advice and work for clients meets or exceeds best practice. 🙂
About Fresh Communication
We’re an award-winning partnership of highly-skilled, digitally savvy creative thinkers and do-ers. We’re experts in employee communications and partner with you at whichever level is required – from creative strategy to practical delivery – to help you engage your leaders and employees.
We’re ALL about internal communications because we believe it’s at the heart of every successful business.
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