Charity Comms, the professional membership body for charity communicators, recently held a conference exploring the opportunities digital media offers to reach key audiences, build profiles and demonstrate impact. To support the event sounddelivery created a number of audio reports with delegates and speakers. These were recorded, edited and uploaded online within the day allowing sharing and promotion to take place almost instantaneously. ]]> Charity Comms, the professional membership body for charity communicators, recently held a Digital Communications conference exploring the opportunities digital media offers to reach key audiences, build profiles and demonstrate impact. The conference aimed to show how charities are using the latest technologies and demonstrate how anyone can make digital communications work for their charity.

To support the conference sounddelivery created a number of audio reports with delegates and speakers.  These were recorded, edited and uploaded online at the event allowing sharing and promotion to take place almost instantaneously.

We also created a highlights package from the day combining many of the main speakers and common themes.

CharityComms-Digital-Communications-Conference by sounddelivery

If you’re interested to find out how this could work for your event or conference, please do get in touch.

For this year’s London Advice Conference, organised by advice UK, Citizens Advice, Law Centres Federation and Lasa, sounddelivery was employed as “conference reporter” to capture interviews with key speakers and delegates and create a highlights report of the day. The interviews were uploaded to AudioBoo and tweeted out over the course of the day allowing Twitter followers of the conference to engage with the content. ]]> Conferences can be wonderful experiences – meeting new people, making connections, hearing inspiring presentations.  But after the day the momentum can slow down and you’re left waiting for the next one!  For this year’s London Advice Conference, organised by advice UK, Citizens Advice, Law Centres Federation and Lasa, sounddelivery was employed as “conference reporter” to capture interviews with key speakers and delegates and create a highlights report of the day.

London Advice Conference – Highlights Report by sounddelivery

The conference was held on the 30^th floor of the swish offices of Clifford Chance in Canary Wharf with incredible views across the city. The two key-note speakers, Tony Travers and Karen Buck MP, addressed some of the difficult issues facing the sector at the moment including the housing benefit changes and legal aid proposals.  Chief Exec of Lasa, Terry Stokes, has written this blog about the day, as has Wesley Harcourt of Advice UK.

As our reporter at the conference, Mark carried out short interviews with the main speakers capturing their main points and key arguments.  The interviews were uploaded to AudioBoo and tweeted out over the course of the day allowing Twitter followers of the conference to engage with the content.  You can check out some of the interviews below:

OneTwoEight is a small community centre in Myddleton Road, North London, which aims to create a space for the local community to come together for different groups and projects. sounddelivery was commissioned to produce an intergenerational project, titled “My Bowes Park”, to bring young and older people together from the local area and create a snapshot of what it’s like to live in the Bowes Park area.]]> OneTwoEight is a small community centre in Myddleton Road, North London, which aims to create a space for the local community to come together for different groups and projects. sounddelivery was commissioned to produce an intergenerational project, titled “My Bowes Park”, to bring local young and older people together to create a snapshot of what it’s like to live in the Bowes Park area.

We engaged a group of local young people and trained them in interview and audio production skills. After their training, the young people put their new skills into practice by interviewing the older people, many of whom had spent the majority of their life living in the area, on their experience of Bowes Park. Those interviewed were from a wide range of backgrounds, with nationalities including English, Irish and Jamaican and the stories they told us were truly fascinating.

The young people then edited these interviews into short podcasts and created an audio slideshow to support the project.

With stories about local shops and street parties, train conductors and beautiful flower arrangements, the project has captured a snapshot of the history of Bowes Park.

Really great. The interviews are very moving and full of lovely memories. – Ruth Cherrington, OneTwoEight

Listen to what Lurlene McIntosh had to say about her experience of moving to the area. You can also visit the legacy site which we have created to support the project to listen to the rest of the interviews with local residents and see the photos taken during the project.

You can also watch the audio slideshow overview of the project here:

My Bowes Park from sounddelivery on Vimeo.

The National Portrait Gallery offers free Visualising Portraits picture descriptions for Blind and Partially Sighted Visitors on the last Thursday of each month. To help promote their work the Gallery commissioned sounddelivery to produce a series of audio features to illustrate what happens at the sessions and encourage more people to attend.
Listen to Marion Cole as she guides her group through Joseph Severn's portrait of his friend John Keats. ]]> The National Portrait Gallery offers free Visualising Portraits picture descriptions for Blind and Partially Sighted Visitors on the last Thursday of each month. To help promote their work the Gallery commissioned sounddelivery to produce a series of audio features to illustrate what happens at the sessions and encourage more people to attend.

The lectures are very lively and interactive and provoke much discussion and conversation. Each session takes place in the gallery, seated in front of the painting whilst experienced artists and describers give a detailed verbal description of a particular work from the collection. Each month focuses on a different portrait, from the famous to the infamous!

The sessions we were asked to attend covered a whole range of portraits and styles taking in contemporary artists like Eduardo Paolozzi to legends of Romanticism like John Keats.

Joseph Severn, who had nursed his friend in Rome, described the circumstances recreated in this posthumous portrait: ‘This was the time he first fell ill & had written the Ode to the Nightingale on the morning of my visit to Hampstead. I found him sitting with the two chairs as I have painted him & was struck with the first real symptoms of sadness in Keats so finely expressed in that poem.’

Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi was a Scottish sculptor and artist. He was a major figure in the international art sphere working on his own interpretation and vision of the world. Paolozzi investigated how we can fit into the modern world to resemble our fragmented civilization through imagination and fantasy. One of his most well known sculptures is of Sir Isaac Newton which oversees the comings and goings in the courtyard at the British Library.

Join David Brindle and Jane Dudman for this month's societyguardian Charity Effectiveness podcast. The programme looks at the qualities that make a successful leader in the charity and voluntary sector and what we should be doing to foster the leaders of the future. Plus we look back at the 2010 charity year and ahead to examine the priorities for the coming year. ]]> Join David Brindle and Jane Dudman for this month’s Charity Effectiveness podcast. The programme looks at the qualities that make a successful leader in the charity and voluntary sector and what we should be doing to foster the leaders of the future.  Plus we look back at the 2010 charity year and ahead to examine the priorities for the coming year.

Working in the Third Sector there are specific challenges which leaders – our senior managers and chief executives – face. Whether that’s enacting change and keeping supporters, staff and trustees on board; or just striving to bring in the funds in a difficult economic climate.

In this month’s programme, we look at the qualities that make a successful leader in the charity and voluntary sector and what we should be doing to foster the leaders of the future.

Where do they come from? Do we grow them from within, or look to other sectors for inspiration? For Debra Allcock-Tyler, the chief executive of the Directory of Social Change, bringing in people from the private and public sectors is “absolute poop”. She says “some of the most powerful and effective leadership behaviours happen in the voluntary sector”. Do you agree?

We hear from a cross section of people working in the sector and discover who has inspired them through their working lives. Plus we discuss the issue of diversity amongst charity chief executives and ask: why are their so few BME leaders?

And as we turn another page of the calendar, Ian Bruce, the president and founder of the Cass Centre for Charity Effectiveness gives us his review of the charity year and a look ahead to what 2011 will bring.

Do remember the Guardian’s new voluntary sector network – a new online space where professionals working in and with the voluntary sector can discuss and debate the issues which affect their professional lives – and get advice and insight from peers and experts.

Programme Guests

Debra Allcock Tyler, chief executive of the Directory of Social Change
James Partridge, the founder and chief executive of Changing Faces
Caroline Beaumont, Clore Social Leadership fellow
Ian Bruce, president and founder of the Cass Centre for Charity Effectiveness
Debbie Ariyo, founder and executive director of AFRUCA – Africans Unite Against Child Abuse.

Programme Links

dsc.org.uk
changingfaces.org.uk
cloresocialleadership.org.uk
cass.city.ac.uk/cce/
afruca.org
Acevo pay survey

Recorded live at the Guardian's Social Enterprise 2010 conference, this episode of the charity effectiveness podcast gets under the skin of social enterprise - the role it plays in the UK today and the opportunities and challenges it brings. Featuring contributions from Allison Ogden-Newton, Rod Schwartz, Dai Powell and social entrepreneur Steve Bomford. ]]> Social enterprise sits at the heart of public sector reform. The drive to cut public spending and engage communities has opened up real opportunities to rethink the way we provide local services in a more sustainable way.

With this in mind this episode of the charity effectiveness podcast gets under the skin of social enterprise – the role it plays in the UK today and the opportunities and challenges it brings.

Recorded live at the Guardian’s Social Enterprise 2010 conference we hear from some of the leading lights of the sector and get their views on a range of issues ranging from the impact of government cuts to the qualities needed to run a successful social enterprise.

And do remember to check out the new Guardian social enterprise network – a new online space where professionals working in or with social enterprise can talk to one other, get advice and insight from peers and industry experts and grapple with the challenges that face the whole sector.

Programme guests

Allison Ogden-Newton, chief executive of Social Enterprise London
Rod Schwartz, CEO of ClearlySo
Gordon d’Silva, CEO of Training for Life
Dai Powell, chief executive of the HCT Group

Programme links

In our latest podcast for Society Guardian we get under skin of charity campaigns and campaigning - what are the best ways to engage supporters and trustees alike. We take a look back at the recent party conferences and look ahead to the impending Spending Review and examine how its likely to affect the sector. Featuring contributions from Tom McLaren-Webb, Head of Campaigns at Action for Children and social entrepreneur, Craig Dearden Phillips. ]]> As the government cuts start to bite there’s no doubt individuals and organisations will gather together and start campaigns to protect public services. In terms of civil society, these campaigns take many guises – they may be fundraising, awareness-raising or lobbying campaigns.

Campaigning is integral to charities’ ability to get their message across and achieve their vision – whether that’s helping people to better healthcare, or a louder voice in society. But what’s the best way of starting a campaign and how can you attract people to your cause? Plus how can you show your campaign is having an effect? In this edition of the podcast we take a look at charity campaigning and hear from three individuals who all have first hand experience of the conducting hard-hitting campaigns.

A great opportunity to mix and mingle with MPs and ministers? Or a three week canapé vacation? The party conference season is now a mainstay for the policy and lobbying teams of many UK charities – but how to make the most of your time away, and maximise the networking opportunities. We get the lowdown from Jonathan Ellis of Help the Hospices.

And whether we like it or not the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review is looming fast. For many organisations tough decisions will need to be made. Social entrepreneur, Craig Dearden Phillips suggests it’s simply a game of cards and we have to decide which hand to play.  Listen to the podcast below, or check out the microsite for more information.

Programme guests

Tom Levitt, former MP and charity sector consultant

Tom McLaren Webb, Head of Campaigns – Action for Children

Noori Bibi, Project Manager – Young Muslim Voices, a recent winner at the Sheila McKechnie Foundation 2010 campaigner awards

Brian Lamb, former Executive Director of Advocacy and Policy at RNID & author of NCVO’s Guide: Campaigning for Success

Jonathan Ellis, Director of Public Policy & Parliamentary Affairs – Help the Hospices

Craig Dearden Phillips, social entrepreneur and regular Guardian columnist

Programme links

http://www.participationworks.org.uk/spotlight-pwne-members/noori-bibi-islington-council

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/news/archive/989729/Digital-Campaign-Week-Action-Children/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH

http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/products-services/publications/campaigning-for-success

http://www.2020publicservicestrust.org/publications/

In this edition of the podcast we take stock of the fundraising sector and look at what’s working, how to keep supporters giving and the role online plays in the mix. The Guardian's David Brindle visits a British Heart Foundation charity shop to find out how retail fits into the fundraising mix PLUS Ian MacQuillan of the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association gives his defence of the humble face-to-face fundraiser.]]> It takes perseverance, innovative thinking, and a strong belief in your mission to be a successful fundraiser during a recession. With government cuts and the public’s fears about where their next paycheck is coming from purse strings are tighter than usual and charity incomes have dipped while pressures on services have inevitably increased.  In this edition of the podcast we take stock of the fundraising sector and look at what’s working, how to keep supporters giving and the role online plays in the mix.

With endorsements from Dame Helen Mirren, the recent television series fronted by Mary Portas and a hike in year-on-year profits it would seem charity shops are riding high.  We ask how important they are to charities and how they contribute to overall fundraising.

And it’s certain that Face-to-face fundraisers, or Chuggers as they’re more commonly termed, are never going to win any popularity contests.  But many charities use them, and they most definitely produce results. Ian MacQuillan from the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association offers his defence of the humble fundraiser…  which certainly gets the guests talking!  Listen below, or check out the Guardian’s Charity Effectiveness microsite…..

Programme guests

Clara Avery, Head of Supporter Insight & Development at Macmillan Cancer Support

Peter Storey, Director of Marketing at Kidney Research UK

Martin Brookes, Chief Executive of New Philanthropy Capital

Warren Alexander, Chief Executive of the Association of Charity Shops

Debbie Dixon, BHF Regional Manager for London and South East.

Programme links

• http://www.charityshops.org.uk
• http://www.bhf.org.uk/shop%20with%20bhf/our%20shops.aspx
• http://www.kidneyresearchuk.org
• http://www.macmillan.org.uk
• http://www.philanthropycapital.org/
• http://www.pfra.org.uk/