At the CiB Conference in Brighton,  Ross Chestney, head of communication services at BT looked at how social media is changing the workplace.

He kicked off by asking how many in the audience wrote a blog and how many people “Twittered”. The response showed that few people did (if you don’t know what Twitter is please visit the Twitter website), Steve Nichols reports.

Steve Nichols takes a look at a free alternative to Microsoft Word for the Apple Macintosh and comes away very impressed. If you have been hearing bad things about Office 2008 for Mac, this could be a good alternative.

Steve Nichols looks at the problems with handling Microsoft Word 2007 Docx files. If you haven't come across these yet, you soon will! The information in this feature could save you a lot of aggravation. 

Julie Blunt is a business coach and training consultant, specialising in personal, career and leadership skills for those in internal consultant roles. Here are her top tips for developing your own “personal brand”.

Organising an “event” effectively is perhaps one of the most challenging and yet satisfying responsibilities faced by professional business communicators.

Judi Goodwin runs CiB’s “Zap up technical and tricky text” course. It is aimed at anyone writing on dry or difficult topics including science, technology, finance, medicine, insurance, engineering and construction - or anyone who feels their writing style is in need of a boost.

Here are top ten tips:

Wolseley UK’s communications team, created just over two years ago, has already won 18 major international, national and regional awards for transforming the way the company engages with its employees. Jackie Davis finds out how it was done.

The United Kingdom would be up to £50 billion a year better off if organisations made a greater effort to communicate with their employees. Years of economic buoyancy and a ceaseless drive towards greater competitiveness have created a business climate where effective IC is no longer a luxury, but an essential. That was one of the key findings after Headlines Corporate News worked with University of Oxford psychologist Laura Godwin to create a definitive study of the role of internal communications.

Of all the many topics we discuss on CiB web writing courses, there is one that will guarantee a lively debate - should we use ‘click here’ as a link phrase – or not? The answer is not quite so cut and dried as some might want to make out and I fervently believe that we shouldn’t insist on an outright ban on click here. Malcolm Davison looks at the pros and the cons: