Working to ensure university fee equality for communication, arts and humanities students across Australia Australian chapters of the IABC have joined the Australian Communications Advocacy Group (ACAG) to support university fee equality. IABC chapters representing communication professionals in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Victoria are proud to partner with the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) and the International Association o..... Read more »

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve read the term ‘business as usual’ this quarter, I could probably fund a 2021 arts degree. It seems the world is repeating it, like an affirmation, craving stability after a record run of challenging circumstances. Now that you’re here, this is about sustained crises and the attention economy. I wonder if you’d still have clicked onto this page if it had COVID-19 in the title. The new decade has been marred with sustained crises..... Read more »

How’s everyone doing? I’ve really struggled at times over the last few weeks and I’m sure I’m not alone. While restrictions are lifting I think it is going to be a long time before things will return to pre-COVID conditions. How will I survive the long, dark cold Canberra winter without a trip to Thailand in July to look forward to? I am aware this is a First World problem but knowing I have that trip to look forward to makes winter somewhat bearable, well that and an electric..... Read more »

For the last six months, Melanie Gibbons has been profiling Canberra communication professionals on her blog. We turned the tables on her and asked her to answer her own questions. Tell us about your role. I started Elm Communications two years ago (this week!) after leaving the public service. Elm is a strategic communications consultancy working primarily with government clients. I have been lucky enough to work with large and small government agencies on some really interesting pro..... Read more »

I won't bother with all the usual platitudes about 'crazy times' and 'unprecedented events'. As all communicators know, sh*t got real very quickly and aside from the fabulous medical professionals, who did the rest of the world turn to make sense of it all? That's right, communicators. We are lucky to be in a position to make a real difference to people in this difficult time. We just need to do it quickly. Lucky for us in Australia we are a few weeks behind from a communicati..... Read more »

Here in Canberra, we have a huge number of skilled, passionate, communication professionals with energy and desire to enhance their skills and networks. But. Many of us are part of a culture that devolves responsibility for career development to our employers. Ask a colleague to attend an event, and you might get: 'I’ll see what the boss thinks,' or 'I’ll see if there are funds available.' While it’s true that we do need the partnership of our employer in growing our..... Read more »

During February, IABC Canberra was awarded a Chapter Management Award for our 2019 Corporate Rebels event! More than 250 people attended the talk at the National Gallery of Australia to learn about shaking up our workplaces and the way we work. It was our biggest event of the year. https://twitter.com/IABCCanberra/status/1230672748311203841 IABC Canberra President, Amanda Dennett, attended the awards presentation in Austin, Texas. It was a 70s themed event, to celebrate the 50th anniver..... Read more »

By now most of us are back at work in the capital after what has been an unprecedented summer of disaster and stress. That is, if you weren't called back to work to assist with the immediate crisis response—many communicators at some of our largest government departments were involved in the initial crisis response.  Each of us were either directly or indirectly touched in some way by the events of the last two months, and all of us were robbed of the holiday break or downtime we were..... Read more »

Communicators from government agencies, businesses and volunteer organisations have played an essential role throughout the bushfire crisis, ensuring the public and media have been kept up to date with relevant, timely information and providing reassurance and critical public safety messages. We acknowledge the work of IABC members who are involved in the response in both professional and voluntary capacities. IABC Canberra member Danielle Bevins-Sundvall from KPMG is a Public Affairs..... Read more »

One of the greatest challenges for the modern communicator is how to keep it simple and authentic without getting distracted by the shiny objects of digital media. In 2020, we can expect to see an expanding divide between organisations and leaders who communicate simply, strategically and sustainably, and those who take a scattergun approach for equally patchy returns. Platforms, be it TikTok, YouTube or Facebook, will continue to be important to reach defined audiences. However, the ..... Read more »