2011 was quite a year for travel, as my online travel diary shows! I think I’d like a rather more settled 2012. Happy new year to you and yours, if you’re celebrating it at this time of year.
Just last month, Croydon Minster was packed out for an evening concert which included Carmina Burana. It was very pleasing for everyone who had worked hard on the concert to see the Minster so full. After the concert, I reflected on why it had been particularly popular – even on a dark winter evening.
To my mind, we overcame the iffy problem – the barrier which prevents people who enjoy going to concerts from attending events which take place in church because, to them, church feels somehow iffy. A bit suspicious. Unknown. Possibly even slightly threatening.
Churches with active concert and event programmes need to:
We hold a huge, global, annual competition each year at CIMA called the Global Business Challenge. There are several rounds of the competition, culminating in country finals, and then the global final.
This year’s global final is in Chengdu, China. Our team on the ground have been providing a constant stream of social media updates, which my team and I have been gathering, editing, and adding to over the weekend in a Cover it Live embedded on our website and on Facebook. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve written a piece commenting on university marketing operations, which you can find over at Dale and Company.
“Every time someone is interviewed on the news about universities, it’s always that guy from Buckingham or Bedford or wherever” – so said a consultant to me during my time as Director of Communications at the University of Westminster.
Though she didn’t know it she was referring to Professor Les Ebdon, Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire. Professor Ebdon is a capable media performer, and an asset to the sector. But why is he alone so prominent?
First, he is chairman of the Million+ mission group of ‘new’, widening participation Universities. Second, he’s within an hour’s taxi of most news studios. Third, he delivers the goods – he has a clear message from his mission group, and sells it well. Read the rest of this entry »