Member Advisory Panel hailed a ‘success’

1 July 2011

A new working panel set up to look at member communications has been hailed a success by both members and staff at The Grange.

The Member Advisory Panel, which held its first meeting in May, was formed to explore ways in which IOSH can better communicate with its members – and how members communicate with each other.

The panel has looked at various topics, including the use of social media, e-communications, handling external media and IOSH’s campaign work.

The 12-strong panel, made up of a cross-section of the membership, will meet again in September with the emphasis on exactly what communications IOSH members want.

Ian Smart, IOSH’s Interim Director of Communications, sees the Member Advisory Panel as a two-way process and a chance for members and staff to bounce ideas off each other.

“It’s important that IOSH talks to its members, and gets their feedback, on the services it provides – and communications is no different.

“The members of our advisory panel have been invaluable so far in being a sounding board for our proposals as well as bringing new ideas to the mix themselves.

“We’ve got a good cross section of our membership, including members of groups and branches, as well as a Vice-President and web champion. We hope all our branches and groups will start to see the ideas we’ve discussed put into practice soon.”

Bridget Gilmour, a member of the Consultancy Group who sits on the Member Advisory Panel, said:

“I think everyone who’s involved in these meetings wants to achieve the same thing, and that’s improve areas of communications and suggest ways forward.

“At the moment, IOSH has had considerable success in terms of Connect and its use of social media, but there’s still some work to do in other forms of communications. I feel very positive as a result of the meetings we’ve had and look forward to what happens next.”

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