Thank you for your valuable participation in our recent membership pulse survey. Your feedback is incredibly valuable, and we are truly grateful for the time and thought you invested in sharing your insights with us.
We are thrilled by the positive feedback from many of you, highlighting strong satisfaction with your membership. It's clear that a key motivator for joining IoIC is your desire to develop and build your knowledge, which reinforces our focus on providing resources to help you advance your skills, progress your career, and stay updated on the latest in internal communication. As we move forward, we are dedicated to enhancing our offerings to better support your career goals and professional growth.
With that in mind, we have carefully reviewed your suggestions and are excited to share the steps we will be taking to enhance your membership experience with IoIC.
What We’ve Learned and How We’re Responding
- Enhanced Career Support: Many of you are looking for more career development opportunities. In response, we’re excited to launch a new Careers Hub and IC Diagnostic later this autumn. The Careers Hub will provide a variety of free e-learning, careers and coaching resources, while the IC Diagnostic will offer interactive assessments and personalised development recommendations. We’ll also highlight how to make the most of ‘My CPD’ to track and reflect on your achievements.
- Expanded Free Training Opportunities: You expressed a strong desire for more free training resources as part of your membership. We hear you and are committed to offering additional no-cost training sessions, workshops, and resources. This year, we introduced our Accessibility course and plan to expand these offerings in 2025 to ensure you have access to the training you need.
- Platform for Collaboration: You’ve asked for a more effective way to connect and collaborate with fellow members. Earlier this year, we launched a new online community using the Discourse platform. We’re continually working to improve this space and encourage you to engage actively. Your participation will help us tailor resources and foster a collaborative environment.
- Personalised Content and Experiences: You wanted content that aligns with your specific interests and career goals. We’re beginning this journey by creating ‘Key Topic’ pages on our website to make it easier to find relevant content. Building a more personalised experience based on your personal needs will take time and investment, but we aim to develop this area further in 2025. Keeping your profile updated will help us better tailor content to your needs.
- Access to Industry Reports and White Papers: You requested more industry reports and white papers. We’re committed to increasing both the frequency and scope of our research and thought leadership. We’re also working on an AI ethics charter and are looking to provide more guidance on emerging trends. A comprehensive review of our content offering is scheduled for 2025.
- Clearer Materials for Benefits Usage: You’ve asked for clearer materials and simpler ways to understand and use your membership benefits. We’ve started reviewing our website and communication materials to make it easier for you to navigate and utilise your benefits and you will see improvements in the coming weeks.
- Mentoring Programmes: Mentoring is a top priority for many of you, especially newcomers to the IC field. We’re continually enhance our mentoring programme and encourage newcomers to take advantage of this opportunity. If you’re interested in becoming a mentor, please reach out to us at [email protected]. Your involvement can make a significant difference.
- Regional Networking Opportunities: You’ve asked for more regional connections and networking. Since COVID-19, reviving our local networks has been challenging and depends on our dedicated volunteers. We’ve now appointed new network leads across the UK and Ireland and are supporting their efforts. To make these events successful, we need your increased engagement. We're also working on better communication about local events, so please connect with your regional lead through the community platform. Additionally, we’re launching One Day conferences this year to host more events across the UK and Ireland. We plan to expand these in the future. More details on these conferences are available here and here.
- Strategic Partnerships & Advocacy: Developing more strategic partnerships was a key request from you. We’re committed to exploring new collaborations that will add significant value to your membership and build our advocacy efforts. This is a priority for our Board, to include building a robust, long-term strategy that not only supports and advocates for the internal communication profession but also strengthens our voice within the wider world. Our leadership team is focused on investing in this area to ensure we deliver meaningful benefits and advocacy for our members.
- Roundtable Discussions with Senior Leaders: You’ve shown interest in engaging with senior communications leaders. We’re excited to launch a series of panel events this autumn featuring industry experts. We plan to expand these discussions in 2025 to explore key trends and challenges aligned to our content, providing valuable insights for our members.
- Dedicated Networks for Senior and Global Communications Professionals: You requested dedicated networks for senior-level and international communications professionals. For senior IC professionals, we encourage you to apply for Fellowship and participate in new initiatives such as our Knowledge Circles, which will address key issues and foster collaboration. If Fellowship isn’t the right fit for you, we invite you to volunteer to help establish and run a network for senior professionals.
For our international members, we’re expanding our support and have set up a working group to explore new opportunities. One of our plans includes a dedicated listening session for global communication professionals in 2025. We’re committed to developing initiatives that cater to both senior and international members, ensuring robust support and networking opportunities across the board.
Summary
We deeply value your feedback and are dedicated to improving your membership experience. While some changes will require time and resources to implement, we are committed to making meaningful progress.
In the short term, our focus will be on expanding career support, building local networks, enhancing community engagement, and hosting more events with industry experts. We’re also working on improving how we communicate your membership benefits.
Looking ahead, we plan to expand our reports and research, enhance our content, create dedicated spaces for leaders and global communicators, and invest in personalisation and strategic partnerships.
As a small but dedicated team, we are incredibly grateful for the support from our Board and volunteers and continue to work on our strategy plan, you can read more about this here. If you’d like to help shape our future or support a local network, please let us know by completing our ‘Get Involved’ form here.
We hope this update is helpful and encourage you to keep your profile up to date to make the most of your membership benefits.
Thank you for your continued support and engagement.
