Watch: Jenni Field updates members with her first President's monthly video

In her first monthly update to members, 2020 President Jenni Field outlines her plans for the year and highlights some of the work already done. Summarising her three-point focus, she points to "improving the service for our members, on making sure we have a focus on our volunteers and on looking at professional conduct and how important that is in this profession."

More generally, Jenni explains her vision to position PR as not being "just about media relations" and promises to champion the work of our members in public affairs, internal communications, and other disciplines that make up what we do as a profession throughout the year.

January Highlights:

• CIPR's #AIinPR Panel launched their report - 'The Effects of AI on the Professions' - at The Alan Turing Institute. More here.
•  We defended the role of public sector communications following yet another attack on the essential work practitioners in this area do and called for case studies to help us champion this work. More here.
•  We joined forces with the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed (IPSE) asking members to write to their MP to #stopIR35 and called on the government to delay rolling out new off-payroll tax rules without a full review. More here.
•  We responded to reports of unethical activity highlighted by a Buzzfeed article into so called "black PR" practices (here) and Facebook's decision to ban a company claiming to "subconsciously alter people’s behaviour" (here), using the opportunity to remind members of their ethical responsibilities as outlined in our Code of Conduct.
• We highlighted key findings from the Edelman Trust Barometer (here) and the Professional Associations Reserach Network (PARN) (here) - both exploring issues related to public trust in institutions, including the professions. 
•  We welcomed the government's decision not to implement the EU Copyright Directive once the UK leaves the EU. More here.
•  We wrote to all new MPs with a copy of our Guide to Professional Lobbying. More here.

Finally, Jenni reminds members to log their CPD points before the deadline at the end of February and, due to the changes in the CPD platform, to download or print copies for your records.