The 2024 IoIC Festival took place on 12 and 13 June at Tewinbury Farm and I was lucky enough to attend. Whilst I was excited to attend having seen the incredible line up, I was a little unsure of what to expect given that this was the first IoIC Festival I had been to.
My first impression upon arrival was that the venue was incredible, it felt like we were off the beaten track. The registration team were really welcoming, handing out personalised welcome packs from Resource, and explaining where to go and where you could grab a much-needed coffee. I arrived quite early but the atmosphere was already buzzing, with people chatting and exploring all the sponsor stands.
Jennifer Sproul, IoIC CEO, kicked off the event before we were offered a sneak peek at the IC Index 2024. Susanna Holten and Tsara Smith from Ipsos Karian and Box ran through some of the highlights and key themes that are featured in the report. This edition of the index focuses on trust and there were plenty of interesting facts and statistics to take away before the full report arrives.
The first keynote speech was by Dr Paul Redmond. What a way to start! Every single person in the room was engaged, laughing at his jokes and soaking in his information on the generation divide and how to communicate across generations. He explained that the world has shifted, and instead of knowledge being power as it once was, now attention is power. Once he had finished, everyone was full of enthusiasm and ready for the day ahead.
The next session I attended was a workshop by Jo Eyre on belonging and how to deepen connections in distributed teams. She spoke about the challenge of creating a culture of belonging in a world of flexible working. She offered some new approaches to maximising belonging in hybrid teams.
Following on from the workshop, Rachel Miller led a great session on creating an internal communication strategy you love. One of my favourite quotes she used was ‘Internal Communication is not a support function. We are a business function – we help the business to function.’ Rachel took us through the Miller framework and how to use it to transform communication and create a robust communication strategy.
After lunch, which was a fantastic opportunity to network and meet others with similar challenges and experiences, there were plenty more sessions to get stuck into. Two I chose to attend were Laura Wager’s talk on how internal comms helped nurses go on strike, and Michael Geeleher explaining how SIE launched three new values to its global audience.
Lauren Winney talked through the role of IC professionals during change management projects, highlighting the role of line managers. She mentioned that ‘employees are nine times more likely to support change if they heard about it from their line manager compared to reading it in the company newsletter.’ Lots of insightful conversation was had amongst the group and key tips were shared.
The jam-packed day was wrapped up by keynote speaker Rohit Talwar who spoke about the future and AI. By the time I left the event, my brain was full and my enthusiasm was overflowing.
The networking opportunities throughout the day were brilliant, I met so many people and had some great discussions. I always think it is both reassuring but also a little disappointing that we all seem to share the same issues and challenges. Whilst it is nice to know we are not alone, it would be great to be told a special formula to solve all of our problems!
The second day began with a keynote speech from Dr. Naeema Pasha who discussed ethical AI and how the role Internal Communication plays in building trust is critical.
The next session I attended was hosted by Emma James from Moto Hospitality. She explained how she managed to reach front line colleagues by launching a new app and how they engaged with it. Emma shared lots of great tips and suggestions, sharing that their most engaged with content was simple graphics that people could scan as they scrolled through their newsfeed. She brought such a great energy to the session and was so open and honest with the answers she gave to questions.
After lunch I attended Emily Hecker’s session on IC road shows. She spoke about how to create a compelling road show to be able to bring internal communication to the front of mind for people. She also discussed how to build meaningful connections with key stakeholders, and how to build awareness of the function so communication becomes more than just reactionary.
The next session was held by Peter Lyons, Head of Internal Communication at British Airways. He set the scene with how the pandemic challenged the business like never before and how they navigated their way back and made their employees feel heard. The videos he showed were so impactful and how he built and rolled out his campaign was really interesting. One thing he said that really stuck with me was, ‘people don’t resist change, they resist being changed.’ They used multiple focus groups and listened to feedback from their employees while making changes, so they felt heard, which really worked for them.
The last talk I attended was facilitated by Ranjit Sidhu. The focus was on transformative comms. Discussion was had about what types of change communications people were currently working on and what challenges they faced. It was a great collaborative session that everyone got involved with. Change fatigue and lack of trust were just of the two things discussed.
The final keynote by Mike Bates left the room feeling inspired. It was a great way to close the festival. One of my favourite comments he made was ‘if you’re the smartest person in the room, find a new room.’ We shouldn’t aim to be the smartest, but instead surround ourselves with smarter people who we can learn from and grow as people and professionals.
This was the first IoIC Festival I have attended, but I really hope it won’t be my last. I learnt so many invaluable things that I’ll take away and apply to my role. I made some great connections and left feeling inspired, motivated and like I was a part of something bigger.
