In this final episode of the year, I talk about my experience of the last six months or so and an exciting new business I've set up as a side hustle www.wonkypickles.com (shipping across the UK in the New Year!).From setting up #PRsUnite in March for the global PR community to developing the CIPR's new mentoring scheme for members, to developing and launching my own development and coaching programme for private clients, then developing a framework to help existing and new clients re-ignite out of lockdown... it's been a busy and productive year, despite losing business so early-on.Don't forget to subscribe so you can get the latest episode straight to your streaming app AND if you've listened to my show this year, I'd really appreciate some feedback and a review on your streaming app.Thank you for tuning in! I wish you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous Christmas and New Year.  

People buy People

My solo round-up on 2020

John Brown is not only CEO of agency Don't Cry Wolf, he's also Chair of the PRCA's Misinformation and Climate Strategy Group, which I'm also part of. We're pushing ahead with plans to educate our industry and enable them to have access to resources and tools to help spot misinformation, call it out and to celebrate best practice. In this episode, John and I talk about the group's plans, but more importantly, what and how we can help our clients and organisations get real. If you'd like to support the group by sending us a great case study, offer a spot on your podcast, or guest blog for the new online hub we're developing, you can get in touch with John (or me) john@dontcrywolf.com (laura@aura-pr.com) . Follow @PRCA_HQ @brownbare @laurafromaura. Please share this episode with your network to help spread the word and get more people involved in the conversation and taking action.

Laura talks to John Brown about misinformation and climate change

Community building isn't new, but there's a real opportunity for PR and communication professionals to use their existing skills, and build on them, to build communities. In this episode Michelle Goodall, who's CMO at Guild, talks about the opportunities and the challenges. Some great learning points in this episode about the difference between community platforms vs social media platform groups, too. You can find Michelle on Twitter @GreenWellys and Guild here.

Laura talks to Michelle Goodall about community building

People are one of the biggest risks to businesses. From health and wellbeing to unethical behaviour and more. In this episode I talk about the top 10 risks identified from a Mercer report to the UK and slightly differently, globally. I'll be talking over a further 10 episodes about these specifically. This relates to so much of my thinking and some of my recent work. M&As will be on the horizon, businesses have been relaunched, but these are the risks to manage and the opportunities for the future.  If you'd like to be a guest on the show to discuss any of these 10 points, please get in touch. I'll be kicking off next week with the first.  Thanks for tuning in! Please remember to leave me a lovely review and some feedback plus, remember to subscribe to get the next episode directly to your app!     

Laura talks about people risk and the top 10 identified in the UK

I had the pleasure of speaking to Mark Bond, sorry Webb, earlier in the week and we had a great conversation around disability, having empathy and being human. Some great lessons in here from Mark about how to approach someone with a known disability and also, a great case study about the changing nature of disability and how someone performs. Mark Webb is a public speaker and campaigner for disability and indeed all flavours of diversity. He is also Head of Comms for Shift.ms, the social network for people with Multiple Sclerosis, especially the newly diagnosed. Mark's career has taken him through the PR gears at Disneyland Paris, The Walt Disney Co, David Lloyd Leisure and Dixons Retail. He plays Wheelchair Rugby badly and tweets too much.   Website: Shift.ms Blog: onemanandhiscatheters.com

Laura talks to Mark Webb about disability and inclusion

In this episode Laura talks to Rod about defining issues and crises, leadership, the role we play and ESG.  Rod has launched a new model and we get around to talking about that too. I really enjoyed this episode as it shows how conversation can extract good practice, share with listeners and hopefully get other leaders to start to understand the true value of this type of work.  You can find Rod @RodCartwright on Twitter. For any suggestions of speakers or topics for the future, please drop me a DM or email. @laurafromaura or laura@aura-pr.com    About Rod Rod is the Founder of Rod Cartwright Consulting – a strategic communication consulting firm with a simple mission: to enhance human preparedness, organizational resilience and business performance. He has 25+ years of communication consulting and training experience, specializing in issues management & crisis communication; corporate reputation & thought leadership; leadership communication & executive preparedness; public affairs & stakeholder engagement; and, integrated communication strategy. Rod has held board-level positions at three international top-10 communication consultancy networks (GCI, Hill & Knowlton and Ketchum) – rising to Partner and Global Corporate Practice Director at Ketchum, before becoming EMEA Regional Director at Text100.   He has advised major corporations and brands ranging from Nissan, IBM, Dell, Accenture, Gazprom, KFC, Nutricia and DHL to IATA, Toyota, Quorn, Western Union, McKinsey, P&G and Takeda. His front-line experience in crisis communication and board-level support includes being a key part of the three-person team advising the Chairman, CEO, legal counsel and Emergency Operations Centre team of Malaysia Airlines in the months following the disappearance of Flight MH370 and then advising its sovereign owners on the subsequent restructuring of the airline. He is a Founding Fellow and former board member of the PRCA, was Deputy Chair of the PRCA’s COVID-19 Global Taskforce and leads the Crisis & Risk Communication Working Group of the European Association of Communication Directors (EACD). He is a regular international conference speaker and panelist on crisis communication, reputation management and leadership communication.   Connect with Rod on LinkedIn.    

Laura talks to Rod Cartwright about crisis preparedness

Five jam-packed days of content from some truly inspirational speakers from around the world. PRFest has once again changed its game to be fully virtual and using three different platforms to run the event, taking PRFest to where PR pros already hang out. £50 for 5 days, which is £10 a day, to learn from other people's experiences, research, discussions and an opportunity to figure out how you will then take all of that away and apply it to your own practice.  I'm so excited about this year! We're also donating £5 per ticket to the Taylor Bennett Foundation which PRFest has supported since 2017. You can find all details and book tickets at www.prfest.co.uk  Any questions, give me a shout.  I'd be SO grateful if you'd considering sharing the podcast to encourage other people to sign up. 

Laura talks about PRFest 2021

In this special episode, I get a bit excited but rightly so.  My PR business has been re-imagined inline with my passion, what I'm best at and will give me an excellent work-life balance. What else could I ask for?! I talk about focussing on my specialism, stakeholder engagement, and about how every single business and organisation should be reviewing their stakeholder plans, as everything has changed. Tune in, leave a review and on this occasion, I'd be so grateful if you could share my podcast. You can now find me at www.lauramsutherland.com     

Laura re-imagines her business

In this episode of People Buy People, I chat to Steph Bridgeman who runs her own measurement business, Experienced Media Analysts, and is also a Director of AMEC.  As you know, measurement and evaluation is something I preach about often, so this was a great conversation.  It's also interesting to hear how Steph changed her business. Tune in to find out why, how and the impact its had.  You can find Steph here: www.experiencedmediaanalysts.com  https://twitter.com/stephbridgeman https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-bridgeman-134b7014/ https://amecorg.com/ - foundation course, fully online half day course launching in Q2 2021, watch this space!

Laura chat to Steph Bridgeman about measurement and adapting a business

Just off the backstage at the PRCA Virtual Summit and had to record this extra episode of the podcast!  Please let me know if you need support in this area.

Laura Sutherland talks about PR and the Climate Crisis

Helen Jane Campbell is a former PR practitioner and is now a coach to the freelance, founder and creative community. Her now book lands NOW (there's a discount code if you listen to the podcast!), and we talk about why she left PR to be a coach, how the book came about and there are some really useful tips around mindset and how we can approach our work/life. You can find Helen @coachingbyhelen on Instagram or here on Facebook. As always, thanks for tuning in to People Buy People and I'd love it would leave a review/feedback. Don't forget to subscribe so you get the next episode right to your app!

Laura chats to Helen Jane Campbell about being curious, using humour and playing in PR

Shayoni Lynn, Founder of Lynn PR, is my special guest today on International Women's Day 2021. Shay and I have known each other for a couple of years through work with the PRCA. Lynn PR's work, using behavioural science as its roots, to determine the communication strategy, is a shining example of robust methodology and approach to measuring impact, not least actually affecting behaviour change. You can find Shay on Twitter @shayonislynn or LinkedIn, here.  As always please do leave a review and don't forget to subscribe for more discussions!

Laura chats to Shayoni Lynn about behaviour change, data and negative reporting.

For the last year, Claire and I have collaborated on a Zoom/Insta Live journey to help SMEs navigate lockdown and keep communicating with their audiences.I was pleased she agreed to come on the podcast and talk about stuff we chat about regularly, because I don't know if everyone is on the same page?This conversation got interesting when we chatted about community building and how Facebook is evolving with a beta of 'stars', which to me, looks like the start of crypto currency on the platform.Tune in, leave a review for us, and please remember to share and subscribe! I'd love to keep my conversations going with PR and communication professionals, giving different perspectives and food for thought. If you're up for being a guest, get in touch to tell me about your episode idea!

Laura talks to Claire Etchell about social channel evolution, monetisation and integration

My first guest episode of People buy People in 2021 features a discussion with Simon Francis, Founding Member of Campaign Collective and past Chair of PRCA Council. We talk about social impact, the need for collaboration, the need to work closer with business organisations and government, plus the upcoming COP26 in Glasgow. LOTS to discuss and there will definitely be a follow-up episode!Please remember to leave a review and if you want more episodes automatically in your app, remember to subscribe! You can find Simon @si_francis on Twitter or visit https://campaigncollective.org Thanks for tuning in!

Laura speaks to Simon Francis about social impact and collaboration

Hello and Happy New Year!Another year, another lockdown...Welcome to the first episode of People Buy People in 2021. I wanted to kick off with a quick summary of what's on and an invitation to those of you in PR and communication, to join #PRsUnite on 13th and 27th January at 3pm. It's a global Zoom call for people in PR and communication who want to chew the fat, ask questions, bust myths or generally just want to find a good community of colleagues. In this episode I talk about PRCA Scotland new Vice Chairs, my role in a new PRCA working group on COP26, losing some business due to lockdown but the opportunities for my mentees and SMEs to work with me and understand the value of strategic public relations. Please do leave a review and subscribe for the next episode, coming 19 January! 

Laura kicks off 2021

People buy People is a show all about the challenges and opportunities we all face in business.