In 2006 Jude Habib became a Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs and created sounddelivery with a vision to enable not-for-profit organisations to tell their stories with greater impact and to give a voice to people and issues rarely heard.  We continue to do this through our training programme and outreach projects.

But while the opportunities for captivating storytelling have never been better, making the most of stories is still a challenge for many organisations. Our hope for 2012 is that managers and leaders across the sectors recognise the importance of demonstrating impact through effective storytelling.

We’ve compiled our highlights of 2011 below and you can follow the links to our end of year newsletters: for the charity and cultural and heritage sectors.

Charity                                             Cultural and Heritage

Kirsty talked about the charity’s success at engaging with its supporters worldwide using social media and the power of video. As a surprise extra we were joined, via the power of Skype, by Lucy Buck the founder and heart of Childsi from her home in Kampala.  She spoke passionately about why she had started the charity and how their approach seems to be working.  The Storify below provides a collection of tweets, pictures, videos and an AudioBoo from the night:

The media landscape has changed dramatically. Newspapers are now broadcasters and mainstream media increasingly incorporates digital content produced by others. At the same time, social media has enabled charities to be broadcasters themselves, providing amazing opportunities to engage and reach new audiences.

Are you using multimedia content as effectively as you could to get your stories seen and heard? This interactive half-day seminar  will bring together a stellar line-up of experts and real case-studies to ensure you have the vision, strategies and practical know-how to maximize the opportunities.

You will learn:

• The Dos and Don’ts of producing multimedia content
• From the horse’s mouth: what journalists are looking for
• Which charities are getting it right and why
• Jude’s “10 channels rule”: how to use content across multiple outlets
• How to use content to increase support and funds

Who should attend:

• Marketing managers
• Press and PR officers
• Fundraising managers
• Strategy managers

This seminar is specifically targeted at the charity and not-for-profit sectors.

Seminar Facilitator:

Jude Habib, Founder & creative director, sounddelivery

Jude is passionate about the power of digital storytelling. She set up sounddelivery a digital media training and production agency in 2006 to help non-profit organisations including charities, museums and heritage organisations and socially minded enterprises  to embrace the changing media landscape.

Jude’s media experience includes twelve years of working forthe BBC as a reporter and producer. She developed and delivered campaigns for radio, TV, online and mobile phones. Campaigns included Children in Need, Ring Around Carers, Hitting Home (Domestic Violence), Talking Teenagers (Parenting) and Comic Relief. sounddelivery has worked with a wide range of clients including Carers UK, The Big Lottery Fund, Museum of London and The Family Holiday Association.

Guest Speakers:

Simon Carter, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications The Scout Association

Simon has worked in the not for profit sector for over 25 years. Simon currently is the Assistant Director for Media Relations at the Scout Association. He devised and implemented the Association’s highly successful media relations work during its centenary year. He was also part of the team that managed media relations across the globe for the worlds 28 million Scouts. He travels extensively in his work around the UK and Europe offering training support and advice on effective media relations. He is equally at home cooking sausages over an open fire in his back garden as he is in a TV studio supporting the UK’s celebrity Chief Scout Bear Grylls. Simon has experience of working with organisations at all levels. He has advised Trustees of major UK charities and supported youth workers based in small hand to mouth operations who work with the hardest to reach youngsters on the streets of London.

Clare Horton, Editor, SocietyGuardian.co.uk

Clare has  been a journalist for more than 20 years. After starting in local papers, she was the news editor of the Big Issue in the North in Manchester.  She then worked for a news agency in London before joining the SocietyGuardian web team a fortnight before the site’s launch in November 2000. She have been the site editor for the last three years. Clare is a champion of digital storytelling and encourages charities to harness their multimedia content. She has had great success in featuring content produced by charities in relevant Guardian editorial.

Laura Sleight, Head of Media Relations, The Blue Cross

Laura Sleight has been working in media relations for over 10 years, with a breadth of experience across the private, public and third sectors. Since 2007, she has been head of media relations at The Blue Cross, one of the UK’s leading animal charities which helps many thousands of sick and homeless animals every year. Laura is responsible for media strategy and reputation management, communicating the excellent work of the charity to its service users and supporters. She heads up a small team who are focused on identifying and exploiting opportunities across different media, using innovative tactics to maximise media coverage in a somewhat crowded market place. In the last year, The Blue Cross has successfully quadrupled its national media coverage with stories ranging from quirky animal rehoming appeals to campaigning for change in dangerous dogs laws.

Guardian Voluntary Sector Network member discount

Guardian Voluntary Sector Network members receive a 20% discount on the standard delegate rate. If you’re not already a member, you can sign up here – it’s quick, simple and absolutely free of charge.

For more information, call 0203 353 4059 or email seminars@guardian.co.uk or book your tickets on the Eventbrite page.

Alongside these events, we also offer tailor-made in-house training, so do get in touch to discuss your needs. You can download the handbook directly here.

The Reading Agency commissioned us to support them in the project working alongside library project managers and the groups of young people.  We have helped select audio and video equipment and designed flexible training sessions to cater for differing levels of experience.  The workshops have covered everything from interview skills and using the audio/video kits to promoting and sharing content online.  We chose AudioBoo as our audio-hosting platform as it has great share-ability, and libraries are being encouraged to set up their own Flickr and YouTube accounts to post their content.  Some already have their own Facebook and Twitter accounts, but as expected others are still working to convince their local authorities of the benefits.

MyVoice groups have been meeting since around April and have put together a programme of workshops and speakers for a Roadshow event happening at the end of July.  We will be there for each Roadshow running short drop-in digital workshops for young people attending the days, and supporting the MyVoice groups in recording and documenting the day through photography, video and audio.  Expect to hear and see loads about it and look out for #MyVoiceUK

Check out Abigail and Esther’s guide to their Roadshow:

In terms of delivering the project so far, it’s felt a little like a UK tour: so far Mark has travelled to Sunderland, Portsmouth, St Helens, Great Yarmouth and Weymouth.

Following the Roadshow events libraries get a little bit of breathing space over the summer before we all meet again in October to learn some best practise tips from each other and develop plans for Digital Reading Clubs across the country.  This is just the beginning!

soundinnovation’s aim is to develop innovative projects which tackle social isolation and give a voice to marginalised groups. Using seed funding from grants and sponsorship, we create pilot projects to test, evaluate and refine our ideas. Ultimately we try to find ways to turn pilot projects into sustainable initiatives that will provide long-term benefits for individuals and society.

” I realise I wouldn’t choose to ever be a carer as a job. I don’t feel cut out for it.”

David, Carer

 

We’re extremely proud to introduce Give Us a Break as the first project from soundinnovation. We are grateful to our funders; The Body Shop Foundation, Awards For All, Unltd and donors who supported Jude’s London Marathon Run in 2010 all of whom have helped to enable this project to take shape.

Give Us A Break tackles the feelings of social isolation that are too often experienced by people caring for an ill, frail or disabled family member, friend or partner. The project aims to ease the burden of caring by providing a few days away from day-to-day responsibilities, as well as ongoing support over the phone and online. It is a project and an issue that I am extremely passionate about.

It is also very timely as only recently the campaign Give Carers A Break has been launched by the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. And last month Carers UK  brought out a report highlighting the fact that unpaid carers save the state £119 billion pounds a year.

Helen has cared for her daughter Lucy for 50 years, in this audio story she describes what having a break means to her:

How you can support us:

Take Part and Spread the Word About Our Give Us A Break Survey.

We have produced an online survey (as well as a printable word document) to help us undestand what breaks mean to carers. Please do share this with your networks.http://ow.ly/4Wjwy

Be part of an evening brainstorming ideas around breaks for carers

On Thursday 9th June from 6pm we are hosting an evening at our offices in Aldgate East to develop ideas around breaks for carers. We will be specifically looking at how the web can be used to make access to breaks easier, from geotagging carer friendly B & B’s (no you don’t have to get up for breakfast at 8am) to lastminute.com-style ideas for break availability.

The evening will bring together techies and non-techies alike – all with the same aim – to make the lives of carers slightly easier. If you know people who have great ideas do ask them to get in contact with me.

Tell people about Give Us a Break

Between the 28- 30 June 2011, 25 carers from the charity Carers Together will be coming to London as part of Give Us a Break. They have been offered a free two-night stay at a private home in London through the generosity of host families working withThe London Bed and Breakfast Agency. This short stay will provide a real opportunity for carers to rest, recuperate, relax and take time out for themselves and enjoy some of what London has to offer. Some of the carers have never been away before so we want to make sure that the break is memorable.  If you want to be part of a small team of volunteers during this break or want to be involved in some way please do get in touch.

Give Us a Break has been a project has has been long in the planning stage and we’re thrilled that is has gone from a seed of an idea to a pilot project.  To keep up with the project,  you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook. You can also sign up to the monthly soundinnovation newsletter.

We’ll also be at the Museums and Heritage Show in Earl’s Court. During the two day event, we’ll be leading a social media lab where you can drop in and talk to us about any of your digital media questions. Mark will also be leading a seminar on engaging new audiences using digital media. This event is free, but you need to register in advance for tickets by visiting this page.

To book your place on any of these courses, or even to have a chat about which workshop may suit you, get in touch. We look forward to seeing you this Digital Media May!

We were commissioned by Sutton CVS to provide bespoke training workshops for seven different community groups and local charities.  The training was part of the Take Part Pathfinder initiative of which Sutton CVS is a key partner, which is designed to build the skills and confidence of local people allowing them more input into local decision making.

We designed each workshop from scratch focusing on the needs of the staff and volunteers and their existing knowledge.  We concentrated on free online tools and basic social media applications including blogs, RSS feeds, online video, Twitter and Facebook.  After the workshop we then provided follow-up meetings and telephone support as people took their first steps into blogging or social networking.

The results have been really encouraging with new blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages created either at workshops or directly afterwards.

So why not check out the new online profiles of Sutton Mencap, SCILL, Sutton YAP, Merton & Sutton Mediation, Eurasie, Sutton Arts Council and EcoLocal.

Better still if you book 2 places for any of our courses we’ll offer you a third place half price.

To book your place on our training course email you details to training@sounddelivery.org.uk or call the office at 0207 993 6340

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To find out more about our work this year with charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups, please click here.

To find out more about our work this year with museums and heritage organisations, please click here.