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Marco Greenberg - Meeting a force of PR Nature

I have this afternoon come out of a truly inspiring session at the International Association of Business Communicators World Conference in Washington. I had the great privilege to meet Marco Greenberg who spoke about the work he has done on publicising the story of Ian Burkhart. Ian is using ground breaking technology, called NeuroLife, to bypass a spinal injury that left him with quadriplegia and he is regaining the use of his arms - amazing, uplifting and insightful story. Marco gave us a brief and fascinating look into exciting world of bionic technology, exploring the cutting edge ways in which humans are integrating computers into their bodies. Ian Burkhart, his client is one of world's foremost pioneers in this realm. Although paralyzed from the chest down, when he is hooked up to the computer, and the computer is connected to a special sleeve wrapped around his forearm, he can use his hands to pick up and put things down. The technology reanimates his arm and allows him

Keynote at Public Relations Institute of Ireland's Annual Conference

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What a great honour to be asked to give a keynote address at the Public Relations Institute of Ireland's Annual Conference held on Thursday 20th October in the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin. Fantastic to hear great case studies and examples of best practice from colleagues across the industry. Laoise O'Murchu, Keynote Address: Leading from within: the secret to business communication. If you would like to get a flavour of the event and the atmosphere on the day watch the video below.

Best of Show: Experience top speakers from the 2015 World Conference

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What an honour - I've been invited to participate in a webinar series along-side my communication idols. Below is the information on the webinar series from the IABC website. The Best of Show webinar series is a global virtual learning experience that takes highly rated sessions from the World Conference and brings them directly to you. IABC are building on the success of the 2015 event and offering you a chance to draw from some of the best presentations at the conference and preview the kind of high-quality learning you can expect at the 2016 event in New Orleans. Choose from five outstanding webinar sessions—or get a discount and sign up for all five! The elite among our conference presenters are prepared to share their new ideas, best practices and innovative thinking with a global audience of thousands. Plus, these sessions are tailored to your specific needs. Sessions have been matched to IABC’s Global Standard and career paths , giving you the opportunity to map your learnin

Fresh thinking: Insights from the IABC World Conference, San Francisco, 2015

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The IABC World Conference is an annual feast for communicators. It offers a mix of exceptional and visionary keynote speakers through to small expert workshops. I was delighted to once again be invited to speak at the world conference, this year in San Francisco. As always it was a fantastic chance to meet with leading communication experts from around the world, to pick up insights, socialize and make new friends. With almost 2000 delegates from all over the world and many exceptional speakers the most difficult challenge was to decide what sessions to go too. Too many sessions, too little time. A good complaint. Firstly we kicked off with Sally Hogshead’s opening session on the science of fascination. Her tests and presentation had everyone buzzing and was a conversation kicker for the welcome reception that evening. Her insights into how to capture people's attention and land that project were inspiring. Storytelling was a recurring theme, and according to Subhamoy Das

IABC World Conference in Toronto

I am just back from speaking at the International Association of Business Communicators World Conference in Toronto where I had the pleasure of meeting a fantastic group of professional communicators. Over this week I hope to post a number of key leanings and interesting information that was shared and discussed at the conference. The first key note speaker was Mike Walsh a leading digital futurist and authority on building businesses for the 21st century. Rather than focusing on the distant future, Mike takes an anthropological approach - scanning the near horizon for emerging technologies and disruptive shifts in human behavior, and then translating these into pragmatic plans for business transformation. One of the interesting anecdotes Mike shared was the list of words General Motors instructed their staff not to avoid using. The list included the following 68 words: annihilate, apocalyptic, asphyxiating, bad, Band-Aid, big time, brakes like an “X” car, cataclysmic, catastrophic, C

IABC World Conference New York 2013 Presentation

I had the honour of presenting at the World Conference of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in New York last week. The theme of my session was 'How to change behaviors, attitudes and outcomes'. More specifically, it outlined how the key to behaviour change lies in understanding that people are 80 percent emotional and 20 percent rational. My session demonstrated how to drive performance and change behavior by connecting with employees on an emotional level. It outlined how to make employees feel good about themselves, and how to transform their thinking and attitudes. Here is the connection to the presentation for those of you who have requested a copy. Dr Laoise O' Murchu, PhD, presentation at IABC World Conference, New York, 2013 Thank you to IABC for inviting me to present. It was a privilege to speak along side such high profile speakers as former Marvel CEO, Peter Cuneo, Edelman PR’s Richard Edelman, Duarte Inc.’s Nancy Duarte,
I'm delighted to be speaking in London later this month at an event entitled 'Engaging Change' a half day seminar being run by IABC UK. Information on the event is outlined below. Looking forward to meeting everyone in London. IABC UK Seminar   Change can mean an exciting transformation for some – for others, it’s a revolution after which their lives are never the same. This is especially true in the workplace where employees are increasingly concerned, worried and disengaged. The very term ‘change’ is becoming redundant – in today’s world, change is a constant. As many studies reveal, employee engagement is falling while it continues to rise on the agendas of senior management. Will they be disappointed and frustrated when efforts to increase that engagement seem to fail? Is the world such a different place that engagement needs to be rethought? Can employees still be motivated and committed to business success and go the proverbial “extra mile?” These are some of the iss