If last month was all about employee engagement then this month the buzz is around social media and intranets. These two areas are rapidly increasing in importance when it comes to internal communication. Here are five ways you can become more tech-savvy and ensure you're using the right channels to meet critical communication challenges:

1. Attend this conference: Building the Business Case for Social Media in Internal Communication.
2. Take a free trial on the Internal Comms Hub and download this tool: Social media strategy worksheet
3. Watch this video: Lousie Denver Director Corporate Affairs and Communications, Deloitte
4. Sign up to this training course: Mastering Intranet Management
5. Register your interest in this report: How to use Social Media to Solve Critical Communication Issues

Find out more in this issue of the monthly round-up!

1. Training
   Forthcoming training courses including...
   Mastering Intranet Management


2. Events
   Must-attend conferences including...
   Building the business case for Social Media - Europe


3. Case Studies
   The latest case studies and features from Melcrum
   The key principles of social media development – BT


4. News & Blogs
   The latest industry news, views and opinion including...
   Highlights Melcrum Employee Engagement conference 2010
   
   
5. Discussions
   The hottest debates from Melcrum's thriving discussion forums, including...
   A separate job role for measurement?


6. Top Tips/Toolkits/Templates
   Quick resources to help you find solutions to your daily challenges, including....
   10 rules of social media strategy
   
   
7. Video of the month
   Louise Denver - Director Corporate Affairs and Communications, Deloitte.
   
   
8. Jobs
   The best internal and corporate communication jobs around including...
   Internal Communications Manager - Engineering - Pokerstars

Strategic Communication Research Forum

Are you an internal communication executive faced with the challenges of communicating in a large complex organization? Melcrum's Forum provides members with senior-level networking, independent advice, detailed research and analysis of key trends, together with proven tools and strategies. We advise internal communication leaders at 69% of the Global Fortune 100 largest organizations. Shouldn't you join them? Contact Ray Edun for further details.

Mastering Intranet Management - 24th-25th June 2010, University of Warwick
Melcrum’s two-day intranets masterclass equips intranet managers with the skills and core competencies required to transform intranets into much more collaborative resources and become first class portals for business critical information.

The Internal Communication Black Belt Program
Black Belt Module 1 - 17th-18th June, 2010
Being an effective communicator: Black Belt 1 is the original Black Belt course, designed to equip you with the skills and core competencies needed to produce and deliver exceptional internal communications.

Black Belt Module 2 - 21st-22nd June, 2010
Becoming a trusted advisor: Black Belt 2 looks at how you can add value by acting as a partner and advisor, equipping and enabling others to take on an enhanced role in the communication process.

JUST GONE...
Melcrum's 6th Annual Employee Engagement Conference 2010 - Highlights
Attendees at Melcrum's Employee Engagment Conference this year heard about how to put communication at the forefront of engagement from the likes of Jeniffer Schulte, global engagement director at Mars, and Neil Jenkins, european communications manager at Coca-Cola Enterprises. Read the highlights here.

STILL TO COME...
Building the Business Case for Social Media in Internal Communication - 14th-15th September 2010
You'll leave armed with the confidence and ability to convince senior management not just of the value of social media in internal communications, but also its potential to encourage and stimulate employee ideas and promote collaboration that translates into real business results. Over the two days you'll cover:

• Getting a social media project off the ground
• Gaining budget approval
• Securing management and employee buy-in
• How to tailor social media tools to meet your company's specific requirements and restrictions
• And perhaps most importantly, how to calculate the ROI for those all-important budget holders

DON'T FORGET... to catch Melcrum at IABC World Congress June 5th to 9th!

The key principles of social media development
From wikis to blogs to podcasts to MySpace pages and more, the telecoms and IT solutions company provides its 108,000 worldwide employees with a wide variety of social tools and collaborative software. Ross Chestney, head of communications services at BT, offers advice to those who want to get in on the act.

Special focus: Establishing the internal communication function in Germany
For a country that has long been the world’s leading exporter and home to numerous global corporations, Germany has never been seen as a source of leading-edge internal communication thinking or a treasure trove of best practice.

First internal communication institution created

Travel perks lead to high engagement for Travelzoo

Gordon Brown: "I want to book onto Black Belt"

Diary of an Internal Communicator: The final week

Sign in to Melcrum's Communicator's Network Group on Linked In to take part in these discussions:

Employee Surveys - when they don't have a PC

A separate job role for measurement?

What's the greatest mistake(s) an internal communications professional can make?

Who owns social networking contacts when an employee leaves?

TOP TIPS: Ten rules of social media strategy
Use these 10 rules of social media strategy to ensure you roll out social media tools with maximum positive effect on employees and the business.

TOOL: Social media strategy worksheet
Before you start experimenting with social media, use this downloadable worksheet to identify your action points and areas in need of attention.

EXCLUSIVE: Louise Denver, Director Corporate Affairs & Communications, Deloitte
In this exclusive video interview, Louise Denver, Director Corporate Affiars and Communications offers a sneak preview of what she'll be speaking about at Melcrum's Social Media Conference in Sydney in June followed by Brussels in September 2010, including what Deloitte's social media strategy looks like and why the company is a true pioneer in this increasingly important area of internal communication.

Internal Communications Manager - Engineering - Pokerstars - Isle of Man, UK

Internal Communications Specialist - Transport for London - London, UK

Senior Change Communications Advisor - AUS Red Cross Blood Service - Melbourne, Australia

Corporate Internal Communications Specialist - MAPFRE U.S.A. Corp - MA, USA