Baroness Cox discussion on persecution

Public Discussion: Persecution: how to reach the victims?
Introduced by Baroness Cox

8pm Wednesday 8 May 2013, Elham Village Hall
Wine and other cold drinks from 7.30 pm

We have designed the publicity for another fascinating and high quality discussion on the FAQs of life. It should be really interesting and insightful as Baroness Cox has great experience in this issue.

Baroness Cox has many responsibilities and concerns focused on human rights, aiming to help groups abused in different ways. At times she runs the risk of being thought politically incorrect. She took part in an undercover operation on the impact of Sharia Councils on women in Britain which was shown on BBC Panorama yesterday evening. and may be seen now on BBC Panorama iPlayer (for 22 April). Her Private Members Bill in the House of Lords aims to make it illegal for these Councils to set themselves up as family courts. And yesterday, by coincidence, she asked a question in the House of Lords on Female Genital Mutilation, another of her concerns. These are linked with global problems, and as founder and CEO of the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) Lady Cox travels to HART funded aid and advocacy programmes in Nagorno-Karabagh, Burma, East Timor, India, Nigeria, southern Sudan and northern Uganda. She was involved earlier in helping victims of Communist regimes. In introducing the discussion Baroness Cox will tell of her travels so that we can imagine travelling with her, meeting persecuted groups, helping the victims and exposing those who persecute and enslave others. There will be time for questions and discussion about ways to reduce the occurrence of such horrors in our world. For many people in many countries problems such as these raise many FAQs of Life. We shall be, of course, be free to ask in discussion about the feedback on Sharia courts and other concerns. These are sombre and important themes but it should be a lively discussion.

Winter 2013 in Kent

Captured on iPhone, retouched in Photoshop CS5.1, seen on dog walk

Assisted dying public discussion

Public Discussion: Assisted Dying – should the law be changed?All are welcome on Thurs 7 Feb, 8pm at Elham Village Hall

Introduced by Dr Jim Appleyard

Consultant paediatrician at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital from 1971 to 1999, who has among other things worked in Uganda, Grenada and New York, chaired Committees on medical ethics and been President of the World Medical Association.

Wine and other cold drinks from 7.30 pm

Canterbury Choral Society website breaks 80,000 hits per month

The Wordpress website we built and manage for Canterbury Choral Society received 83,417 hits in January 2013.

Website visits, unique visitors, pages and files have all also grown by around 100% since the website was launched 8 months ago.

The statistics are compelling but it is important not to focus solely on these. It's all very well driving traffic to a website but it is even more important that the user experience is as enjoyable, useful and smooth as possible once the visitor arrives.

Tips to improve website visibility and user experience:

1. Match page titles, descriptions, tags and content as closely as possible
2. Be completely truthful about the website in all search engine optimisation as relevant visitors who will benefit from your website are all that matter if your website has any higher purpose (which it must have) than just attracting hits. Also, users will ignore a search engine that sends them to the wrong place and the search engine will ignore your website for hurting its relationship with its users. Ignore quick fix, underhand tricks
3. As well as asking website visitors for feedback, look at search terms used to find the website for a clearer picture of your audience and what they are seeking
4. Once you have a picture of your audience and their interests, write content for them
5. There is no substitute for constant (daily if you can, if not weekly) updates to website content to increase visibility in search engines and deliver a better user experience to returning visitors. Website management must be scheduled into someone's working week or a third party like us must be contracted to keep the website fresh and lively
6. If a visitor makes a sensible request for new information, add it. It will bring loyalty and it is highly unlikely that they are the only person who has been searching for the information

Visit www.canterburychoral.co.uk

Identity Search recruitment consultancy launched

Identity Search is a recruitment consultancy specialising in the UK creative sector. We provided branding, website and marketing for the launch at the end of 2012. A fresh and intriguing presence was needed to be memorable to this design conscious target audience.

The strapline 'finding your future' encapsulates the benefit of the company to all its clients, be them employers or employees. To make this mission statement specific to the creative sector, we used recruitment relevant quotes from great creatives, past and present – as if they themselves were being interviewed.

InTec website in English and Portuguese

At the end of 2012 we launched a new website for InTec, a Brazilian process engineering provider.

The website was produced and launched simultaneously in English and Portuguese for Brazilian and US clients and partners in Brazilian industry. Sectors include Oil and Gas, mining, automotive, paper and cellulose, biofuels, steel, public utilities and chemicals. InTec partners international engineering and technology companies in implanting, expanding and maintaining industrial plants throughout Brazil.

The language is highly technical and specific so it is a great comfort to our Brazilian clients that we translate from Portuguese to English in-house so translators are guaranteed experts in their business.

Visit website

Signpost JobClub

We've just completed the branding and marketing for the Signpost JobClub

Signpost is a charity giving free and confidential counselling for 11-25 year olds in Watford, Three Rivers, Hertsmere and surrounding areas. The JobClub helps young adults into employment with a package of support to help them 'tick all the boxes' employers are looking for. The branding has been designed around this idea. The marketing uses 'tools of the trade' to highlight JobClub support and link it to a workplace context.

Highlights include:

1. Coaching to develop confidence, self-belief, appreciation of your strengths and how to sell them
2. Develop job search skills
3. Improve CV and interview technique
4. Identify marketable skills and experience
5. Drama coaching on body language and voice projection
6. Counselling for anxieties and phobias
7. Work placements giving references for job applications

We hope the JobClub is a great success. It's an excellent and very useful initiative in a confidence-sapping economic climate.

Want to feed blog posts automatically to Facebook company page?

Feed blog posts automatically to your company Facebook page. Easy for Facebook Personal Profiles but trickier for company pages.

Blog feed to Facebook company page:
http://www.networkedblogs.com/
You need to sign in with a Facebook Personal Profile but you will be able to direct your blog feed to your company Facebook page.

Other blog feeds:
Blog feed to website: feedburner (google)
Blog feed to Twitter: twitterfeed

Six design myths (and one fact)

By John Spencer in Design Week

An interesting insight with some points about design that really ring true:

1. Most definitions of brand are incomprehensible, pretentious or just plain daft. Here’s another one, ‘Brand is not a product; it is the product’s source, its meaning and its direction, and it defines its identity in time and space’. Hmm. Brand is forever being ‘re-defined’ but I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s anything you want it to be, and that no one in the real world really cares.
2. It is a myth that there are ‘creative types’ and there’s everyone else. The latest scientific research has shattered the myth of ‘creative types’ once and for all. It turns out that creativity isn’t a ‘gift’ that only some of us have but a catch-all word for an assortment of distinct thought processes that everyone can learn to use better.
3. Decades of research have shown again and again that brainstorming groups come up with far fewer ideas than people who work alone and pool their thoughts later.
4. Henry Ford said, ‘Design is bedevilled by people who allow market research to make their decisions for them.
5. Fact: Good design is honest. Design does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept. Good design is making something intelligible and memorable. Great design is making something memorable and meaningful.

Read the full article here:

http://www.designweek.co.uk/3034955.article?cmpid=DWE05&cmptype=newsletter&email=true

IKEA 2013 printed catalogue with smartphone interactivity

I love this. The way the printed catalogue interacts with smartphones and tablets is a genuine enhancement. The example of the smartphone screen revealing the inside of a cupboard that is closed in the printed catalogue is really well done and is actually useful.


http://youtu.be/QQ8HNXtl7jQ

YouTube for business

Great use of YouTube for business:

Wild Country Tents
They have found a good use for video (tent pitching/assembly – so ambiguous in written or pictorial instructions) that genuinely helps buyers choose their products.


The impression is that the thought came first and then the solution instead of first choosing a medium and then throwing something at it.
...
Also interesting:
http://www.lisaeldridge.com
A good example of embedding YouTube into your website.
...
To get started with YouTube:
http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=guide.cs&guide=2403720

44,000 hits a month and rising

44,000 hits for Canterbury Choral Society's new website in June (it's first month) and the daily figures so far for July are higher

www.canterburychoral.co.uk

It has been built on the WordPress platform, is hosted in the UK and is monitored by Webalizer. It's well stocked with useful, current information and this has led to the high visitor numbers.

Why WordPress?

1. It's an intuitive CMS system
2. The availability of plug-ins to expand functionality is great
3. It is easy to restrict a section of the website to users only
4. The support forums are extensive and there's so much help out there to Google
5. It is an excellent way to minimise the costs for voluntary groups, small charities and not for profit organisations.

Why Webalizer?

I chose it because unlike Google Analytics, it does not use cookies so bypasses the whole issue of conformity to the new EU cookie legislation. Be aware that different stats packages collect information differently. You can't compare one with the other as you are not comparing like with like. Be wary of concluding, for example, that your new website using Google Analytics is less effective than the old website that used Webalizer because the hits are lower. This is a reasonable starting point to understand why: http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55614

Who said the British are eccentric?

'Round-a-bouts of Great Britain' was featured on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning. Brilliant.

Every home should have one of these:

Roundabouts of Redditch 2013 Calendar, Special 10th Anniversary

Cookie Law: how the cookie crumbles

Major changes for some, minor for others. Pretty murky as to exactly how the regulation will be interpreted and applied.

Thinking of using Twitter for your Business? Start here

Twitter best-practice tips on using the site for business.

10 Useful tips from HSBC Business on using Twitter for business

Few could doubt that when used well, Twitter can raise a business' profile and help it to attract, sell to and retain customers. But when used badly, you can pay a very high price. So what key Twitter etiquette rules should you be aware of?

1 Create a good profile page. As well as letting 'tweeps' (ie Twitter users) quickly know what you do, it helps them to find you. Go for a simple but eye-catching and professional-looking page design. Use a high quality logo or photograph as your profile picture. In just 160 characters, your 'bio' information must strike the right tone and sell your business. Include your website address, obviously.

2 Be a follower. When someone follows you – follow them back. Don't wait for followers to come to you – search for them (sites such as Twellow are useful). As well as potential customers, it could be suppliers, membership organisations, trade bodies, media organisations, small business or networking sites. Retweet or reply to tweets regularly. Sort the people and organisations you follow into categorised lists (eg customers; suppliers; media, etc) using Twitter's 'List' tab.

3 Be a regular user. You risk losing followers or followers losing interest in you if you show up every once in a while with a few random tweets. Three or four well-considered tweets a day provides a useful benchmark, although occasionally you might tweet more or not at all. If someone makes an enquiry by direct message via Twitter, reply quickly.

4 Watch your manners. It pays to be polite on Twitter. Say thanks when people follow you, mention you or 'retweet' your tweets. Mind your language, too. Swearing isn't big or clever – especially for businesses. And use the 'Direct messages' function if a message is best kept private.

5 Don't get personal. Sharing deeply personal information with people you don't know probably isn't wise. Don't criticise competitors and steer clear of contentious topics. You don't want to upset customers or get drawn into a slanging match on Twitter.

6 Don't bore people. Some measured wit, intelligence and personality can win you followers, but only if you're capable of it. Write engaging tweets about interesting subjects; use teases that encourage people to click-through to find out answers to questions you pose. Leave out the mundane stuff – no one's really interested in what you had for lunch. And don't just tweet about yourself or your business all the time. It's not just about you, you know.

7 Don't just broadcast sales messages. It turns people off. Instead, engage them in a conversation. Ask questions. Provide valuable, interesting or entertaining information. Include links to other websites, not just yours. Share information that can help them. Encourage your followers to like and trust your business, then they won't mind occasionally hearing about products or special deals. Just don't overdo the selling.

8 Recommend others. Let your followers know about people you follow and why they should follow them. 'Follow Friday' is perfect for this, when every Friday you list the Twitter address of users you recommend following and add #followfriday or #FF in the tweet so others see it. If someone's tweet appeals to you, retweet it.

9 Don't forget your hashtags. The # symbol ('hashtag') marks keywords or topics in a tweet (eg #smallbusinesses). Tweeps organically created hashtagging to categorise tweets. Using hashtags will mean your tweets will show up in searches, which could win you new followers. Don't use more than three hashtags per tweet.

10 Maximise your efficiency. Clicking a button on your Twitter profile page will mean tweets appear automatically on your business' Facebook page, if you so wish. And rather than logging into your Twitter page every time you want to post, sites such as TweetDeck or HootSuite enable you to schedule your tweets in advance.

Marketing in a recession

I gave a talk on marketing in a recession at Employment Relations Solicitors Business Breakfast Forum on Friday 20th January.

I based it on the cost effective options available to add to other marketing activity. There are many things that can be done so easily and economically that it makes no business sense to ignore them. Even if you're sceptical about the usefulness of social media (Facebook, Blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, etc), no one can deny their positive effect on your Google presence.

Download the pdf here

'You've got to find what you love,'

This hugely inspiring speech was given by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005, to Stanford University graduates.

Full transcript here

Elham Renewable Energy Presentation

The Elham Environment Group presentation on renewable energy on Friday, 7 October 2011 went well. A good turn out and a heated debate.

I gave the presentation on Solar PV which you can read below:

School, Slow down

We've just finished a project with Elham CofE Primary School to slow drivers down around the school.

The school children were tasked to draw a sign and the best one was selected to form the basis of the sign. It was a great project and, not surprisingly, the standard of creativity was really high. Such fun working with the complete freedom of thought that children have.

The idea was to connect the sign with the reality and fragility of the actual children we're trying to protect. Let's hope it works.