Today is the first day of the new recording cycle for Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) continuous professional development (CPD) points
Earlier this year I recorded my points in much the same way as I’ve done in previous years. A last minute look through the list on the CIPR websites to see what I’d done that I could get points for. I detailed my experience here and was delighted that my blog post encouraged several other CIPR members to record their CPD points as well.
This year I’ve resolved to do it differently and am going to try and plan out in advance what I need to learn so that it’s genuine continuous professional development. But as an independent practitioner it’s harder than being in a company. No 360 degree review meetings for me.
That’s why I need you help. I’ve identified some areas where I know I can improve, but it’s not enough for my 60 points. So what do you my friends, colleagues and just readers who I don’t yet know think I need to learn. The criteria is that I already accept that everything I am good at I can be even better at. I want to choose the things that:
- I’m less accomplished at
- I’m less confident at (more on that later)
- Are becoming more important and prominent for the public relations business
- Will contribute not just to my personal development, but the development of the PR profession
- Are free or very cheap to do, because as an independent I can’t share training costs by cascading knowledge to my team
My CIPR CPD targets for 2015
| What do I need to know? | How can I learn? | Who can help? |
| I already have a good understanding of how to use paid media strategically and tactically, but don’t know enough about the practical nuts and bolts of actually setting up and running paid Facebook, Twitter, Google/Bing search and LinkedIn adverts. |
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| Refresh and improve my understanding of coding. I’ve long been able to edit basic HTML (that’s how I created this table) and can play with PHP to tweak WordPress, but I need to know more. |
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| Improve my training skills. Last year via my work as a CIPR trainer I did an excellent CIPD ‘Train the Trainer’ course which improved the way I run my PR training courses. |
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| Improve my knowledge of Google Analytics from good to a ‘lot better’! |
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| Improve my public speaking skills. I speak at a lot of conferences and get very positive feedback, but I also often hear speakers who ‘blow me away’ with their presentation style. I’m always most confident during difficult Q&A sessions, so I want to be a better speaker when just presenting. |
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| Ethics is a new compulsory module where you must log at least 5 points. Given the international nature of my work the best way I can record points here is to contribute to the development of ethical best practice for the PR profession globally. |
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| Learn how to use Zapier and IFTTT to automate certain PR related tasks. I’ve already experimented and done this, but know I can do so much more. |
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| Use video more often and improve my own video shooting and editing skills |
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| Write my book! |
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| My crowd-sourced skill. What do you think I need to learn? Can you point me in the right direction to learn? |
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I’ve deliberately left off the list above all of the things that I already do that are eligible for points as I want to test myself and see if I can get 60 points without using any of these:
- Committee participation – 20 points for more than 14 hours activity so I could get 20 for CIPR council and 20 for CIPR social media panel
- Networking – 5 points for each formal networking event (up to a maximum of 20)
- Judging awards – as a jury member of several awards I could potentially get 10 points for each jury – SOME Social Media awards, C4F Davos World Communication Forum awards, PRAVDA and KIAF awards in Ukraine.
- Volunteering – professionally related community voluntary work up to 20 points for minimum of 14 hours
- Delivering training – in addition to my paid work as a PR trainer and lecturer I also occasionally give guest lectures at other universities and provide training for voluntary groups which is eligible for 10 points per session
To do this I really need your help so let me know in the comments, via Twitter or Facebook what resources I should be using to learn, if you can help in any way and what have I missed. What should be my additional learning goal?
Also published on LinkedIn Pulse where you can also comment.
My CIPR CPD (continuous professional development) goals for 2015:
Today is the first day of the new recordi… http://t.co/D2DDVFCdo9
I’ve just published my @CIPR_UK goals for 2015, but need ideas for one more from you and advice how to do them http://t.co/xX5O8tfFSv
another great @CIPR_UK CPD related post by @stuartbruce – My CIPR CPD goals for 2015 http://t.co/r7fadSFpiP
RT @stuartbruce: I’ve just published my @CIPR_UK goals for 2015, but need ideas for one more from you and advice how to do them http://t.co…
The brilliant @stuartbruce outlining his approach to @CIPR_UK #cpd for 2015. Going to do the same http://t.co/fCbMVotOkg
My CIPR CPD for 2015 http://t.co/3zBnY2Hv2I < transparent personal development, inspiring @stuartbruce inspiring. Must do the same