On Thursday, March 23^rd, a full-house gathered at PRII HQ to discuss the issues and challenges facing internal communications practitioners. A panel of Emily Maher, MPRII, Internal Communications Manager Deloitte; Debbie O’Brien, Head of Group Internal Communication at Ervia; and Orla Burke, FPRII, Partner, EMEA Head of Healthcare at FleishmanHillard led the discussion which was hugely informative and engaging. The event was chaired by Padraig McKeon, FPRII.

The Storify here captures the main themes discussed but the main takeaway was a massive desire for a greater PRII focus on events and discussions focused on internal communications into the future. To facilitate that, attendees were asked at the end of the meeting to list up to three Internal Communications topics that they wanted to see covered by the PRII into the future, and also to let us know if they were willing to share their own case studies on best practice.

Based on the attendees at the meeting, the most popular areas for immediate follow up are around:

• getting greater management buy-in to the internal communications function;
• enabling managers to be better communicators;
• internal communications during times of major change or crisis;
• improving staff engagement; and
• measurement and evaluation.

We will use this feedback to set up further internal communications focused events over 2017. If you think there are other topics that need consideration or have a case study that you can share, please do not hesitate to contact Frank Condon, the PRII’s Development and Research Manager at Turn on Javascript!.