Of all the rewarding volunteering opportunities available, one experience that is a must to try is to volunteer at a summer music festival. With a whopping 700+ festivals in theUKalone, many are largely staffed by volunteers, and would not be able to operate without the enthusiastic help of those involved.

While some festivals recruit their own volunteers, many also outsource from charity initiatives such as Oxfam, or event management companies such as Seed Staff and Hotbox.

Roles can vary from the traditional stewarding, bar work and wristbanding, right down to site decoration, reception work and litter picking.

Some roles may even see you behind the scenes as a runner, or out front guiding important vehicles safely through the crowds.

As an idea of how vital volunteers are to running festivals, Oxfam recently reported that they employ an average of 5,600 during a summer of festivals, a number that can often rise on years when the historicGlastonburyoperates (a festival which Oxfam are known to recruit up to 2,100 volunteers for).

In return for working your allocated shifts – which can vary from three hours a day to two sets of 12 hour slots – you get the ultimate reward of enjoying the festival outside of work hours. While some positions require you to work shifts during the festival, there are also positions available to work before, or after the main event takes place.

Other perks include a free meal during each shift, with a large majority of companies or festivals offering separate camping and showers for their hard working helpers.

It is important to bear in mind that, while many companies are happy to take those with no experience, all positions require you to be over 18. Also to avoid the risk of phoney applicants, many require a deposit, which is always refunded after the main event.

As is the spirit of volunteering, those who are first timers at helping at festivals, are often known to return the following year, as the friendly and close knit nature of the organised teams, often means a chance to meet and make friends with some extraordinary people.

There is often no need to worry about missing your favourite bands either, as the friendly nature of the teams means that many will often swap shifts, or work something out accordingly.

If this sounds up your street, then check out the Wikifestivals Volunteer Page, where you can find listings from a variety of companies and festivals, as well as a few first hand accounts of what it is like to take part in such a fun and highly respected experience.

This guest post was written by Wikifestival‘s Cynthia.

It started as a small gathering of activists in the railway arches at King’s Cross but it is today a brilliant festival which attracts tens of thousands of people for a weekend of music, food, seminars and other activities celebrating everything good and ethical in the capital. Our friends over at the London Green Fair will celebrate their 20^th anniversary on the 9^th and 10^th of June at this year’s two day event which takes place in the gorgeous Regent’s Park.

London Green Fair is a free event that offers diverse world music such as African rhythms from the Congo and Ivory Coast as well as a fusion of Cuban salsa, soul and funk. The family-friendly area contains free dance and music classes together with storytelling, and the BikeFest (a mini-festival of all things bike) will provide test rides on electric bikes, cycle maintenance workshops, free safety checks along with music-powered cycling.

The aim of the festival is to provide a platform for environment-related artforms from diverse communities and the Speakers’ Arena will showcase talks, seminars, debates and panels about current issues. The Head of Sustainability at Waitrose and representatives from Friends of the Earth are some of the speakers who will attend to discuss this year’s topic: Business – A friend or foe in the fight against climate change?

This is the greenest event in London so if you’re looking for a lovely day out that doesn’t cost the earth, this is it. We’ve attended previously and are very much looking forward to this year’s 20^th anniversary as it’s looking to be even bigger and better! We hope to see you there for some yummy food, fab music, great debates, ethical goodies and some sun in the park!

We’ve had a great year working with some fantastic organisations such as Centrepoint, Blind Veterans UK, London Green Fair, Digital Disruption and Spacehive, launching our microvolunteering platform BrightWorks has been brilliant, and we truly enjoyed the PR Prom!

Since Bright One is entirely run by volunteers we would obviously not have managed without our amazing volunteers – so a massive thank you to all of you that have given your time to a Bright One or BrightWorks project in the last year.

Have a look at our Annual Report to find out a bit more about what we’ve been up to…

Bright One Communications is pleased to call its third Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The meeting will take place on Tuesday 3 April 2012 from 7pm until 8.30pm at Edelman’s offices, 105 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QT (Map)

The purpose of the AGM is to inform you all on progress of the organisation, and in particular to:

• Update on 2011 performance
• Give a snapshot of Bright One going into 2012
• Set out objectives and ambitions for 2012
• Answer any questions you may wish to ask

The AGM will also be a welcome opportunity to meet you all in person to thank you for your commitment, work and enthusiasm in continuing to help Bright One Communications grow.  As we frequently remind ourselves, Bright One would not exist without its volunteers, and we are grateful for your dedication.

So please do come along if you’d like to know more about Bright One’s previous work and what we are planning for 2012.

We will head to the Bag O’ Nails at about 8.30pm for some drinks and we’d love it if you joined us!

Please RSVP by emailing Tove at tove.nordstrom@brightone.org.uk or book your place here, and put firmly into your diaries.

Hope to see you there!

The Bright One Team

Bright One’s inaugural PR Prom took place on Thursday the 23^rd of February at Shoreditch Town Hall in London with UK’s top communications professionals rocking their most fabulous prom outfits! The Bright One team had a great night and we would like to thank you all for coming and for supporting the work we do – we’re highly grateful for all the positive feedback we’ve had and we’re also very happy to see our Bright One stickers finding new homes…  ;)

We truly enjoyed getting glammed up (I for one can’t remember the last time I was that dressed up or was wearing that amount of make up!), it was lovely seeing old and new friendly faces and crowning Kat Shenton and Robin Davies PR Prom Queen and King was one of the highlights of the night! They won a bottle of champagne each thanks to Realwire and the rest of us were treated to Brite Fizz cocktails by Katie McPhee at Eventbrite and yummy food from our fantastic caterers.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all those lovely people that made the PR Prom possible:

• Tracey Milham for her amazing event management skills
• Andrea Davids for her fantastic design work
• The fabulous volunteers who helped out all afternoon and all evening: Laura, Oana, Dumi, Jaz, Irina, Anna, Chloe, James, Chris, Ruth, Issi and Louise
• GPS Lighting for their sound and lighting work
• Eat. St: Stewed & Baked, The Rib Man, Banhmi11 for the delicious food
• Laura Kidd from She Makes War for playing live on stage
• Matt Brawn for his DJ set
• The Hoxton Pony for hosting the after party
• GetTaxi for making sure everyone got home properly afterwards
• Our great sponsors: Realwire, DWPub, Meltwater, Eventbrite and Communicate Magazine

The fabulous PR Prom-goers from Speed Communications

She Makes War live on stage

Glamorous guests 'Under the Sea'

UK's future PR stars from University of Gloucestershire

For more photos from the night and a brilliant selection of ‘Under the Sea’ themed prom photos of our glamorous guests and their octopus mates, have a look at Bright One’s Facebook page.

Thanks again for coming and for making the inaugural PR Prom such a great night!

 -  Tove and the Bright One team

How we receive news is ever-changing, and these days it’s faster than ever and we’ve got access to more outlets than we’ve ever had. The reason for this is of course new technology and the fact that news can be posted in an instant, by anyone, on social media. The latest example is the news of Whitney Houston’s death which was reported on Twitter only minutes after she was declared dead with 2½ million tweets being tweeted within the first two hours.

New technology is changing the way we can record what’s happening around us and many spoke of 2011 as being the year of the camera phone with the Arab Spring being broadcasted to the world straight from the streets, and fashion designer John Galliano having his career ending because of a racist rant caught on a dinner guest’s phone.

As it’s Social Media Week at the moment there are events taking place all over London (check #smw12 and #smwldn for latest updates and events). I attended one organised by The Good Agency and MyNewsdesk where participants discussed journalism, social media, eyewitness news and professionalism. The panel was chaired by The Good Agency’s Head of Digital Charlotte Beckett.

Speakers:

• Jason Mills  –  Web and Techology Editor, ITN/ITV
• Lauren Wyper  –  Communications Strategist, The Good Agency
• Fergus Bell  –  Digital Newsgatherer and Senior Producer, Associated Press
• Adam Baker  –  Founder, Blottr
• Stephen Sidlo  –  Head Publisher, Demotix

All panellists agreed that social media has created change for news reporting, but Fergus argued that media always changes so this isn’t anything new. Jason agreed and stated that a good journalist is still doing the same thing. However, Adam argued that social media has transformed news more than perhaps TV did as it is now different for the public – people can contribute rather than just consume. The challenge for journalists as well as the public is to cut through the information overload, irrelevant reporting and actual lies. Blottr’s Adam suggested that if something is trending on Twitter it is probably true but others on the panel and most people in the audience seemed to disagree.

We live in a fast-paced society and we have learned to expect to know about events as they happen. Journalists have to, with reduced resources, keep producing news, fast. Nick Davies uses the term ‘churnalism’ to describe the result of journalists having to churn out news but whatever you may call it there is this constant worry that something has got to give in this quest for quick news. Can we still trust that thoroughly checks are being made? The recent phone-hacking scandal has done a lot of damage to journalists’ credibility and many more of us have probably started question what the consequences of ‘a good story’ are. We might sometimes doubt the accuracy of citizen journalism but it is traditional (professional?) journalists that are going through this media ethics inquiry.

Today’s diversity of media can create a challenge when charities are trying to reach out to their publics as it’s easy to get lost in the maze of different types of sources. But it can obviously also be seen as an opportunity – as long as you take the time to find the most suitable outlet for your cause/campaign. Tips from the panel on how charities can make it into the news included the importance of making sure you’ve actually got a story and understanding how readers/viewers might relate to it. There was emphasis on exclusivity with Jason arguing that today when everyone’s got a voice, exclusivity offers something different. The panel also suggested that communications professionals shouldn’t be relying too much on social media as 140 characters isn’t always enough – make sure you pick up the phone and talk to someone in person about your story. But in some cases using social media may be enough and it might be worth asking whether your story actually needs to be on the news or whether it might do as well going viral across social networking platforms.

What is social media’s role within professional journalism? Where do you normally pick up news stories – TV or your Twitterfeed? Are we more interested in eyewitness news and citizen journalism rather than traditional media these days? How do you get heard above the noise? 

Are you looking for a volunteering opportunity overseas but don’t know where to start? Would you like to know more about potential countries or roles? Would you like to meet experienced volunteers who could give you advice? ‘Meet VSO’ might be something for you.

Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) arranges regular events where you can go and chat with VSO staff and returned volunteers about volunteering. They share experiences and expertise in order to give you an insight into what it’s like to volunteer.                                                                                                                                               

The next ‘Meet VSO’ event is taking place tomorrow, Thursday 8 December at 7pm, so go along for your chance to ask questions and learn more. At the moment VSO is recruiting for skilled professionals within areas such as healthcare, education and business.

The event is free but booking is essential so take a look at the website and book here

We’re very excited to announce the date for Bright One’s inaugural PR Prom that will take place on February 23rd 2012. The PR Prom is a fundraising event in support of Bright One and will be held at the fabulous London venue, Shoreditch Town Hall. There will be food, drinks, live performances by She Makes War and The Olympians, dancing, the opportunity to take classic prom-style photos, a silent auction and other surprises.

According to Ben Matthews, founder of Bright One “The PR Prom promises to be a fantastic event and will provide some much needed support to the valuable work that Bright One does. We want to see the industry come out to support their own and have fun while doing good.”

The night is looking to be a lot of fun – and there will even be a Prom King and Queen that you’ll be able to nominate and vote for on Twitter ahead of the night, like this: ‘I nominate @xxx for #prpromking’ or ‘I nominate @xxx for #prpromqueen’.

We’ve had some fantastic support in organising the PR Prom, especially from Amanda Rose, founder of Twestival and advisor to Bright One. Amanda said: “For our inaugural Bright One fundraising event we wanted to put together something special and quirky that everyone in the UK PR industry would look forward to each year. Many of the events out there are limited to those PR companies winning awards or at a price that only a few staff can attend – we hope to see lots of new faces out for PR Prom.”

The campaign to promote the event features well-known faces from the PR and communications industry, who Bright One thanks for their support; Kerry Bridge (Dell), Jon Silk (Waggener Edstrom), Kate Matlock (Ketchum Pleon), Reda Haq (Cohn and Wolfe), Jordan Stone (We Are Social) and Nik Thakkar (Exposure). Stephen Waddington, MD of Speed, has also lent his support to the event, “Bright One makes a huge difference to the reputation of charities through the work of its volunteers. PR Prom is a chance for everyone in the PR industry to contribute to Bright One’s work – and have a great night out. Have you booked your ticket yet?’

Details:

Date: February 23rd 2012

Time: 7pm till late

Venue: Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, City of London, EC1V 9LT

Tickets: £25 – on sale at www.prprom.eventbrite.com

Follow @prprom for more info or check out the website www.prprom.org

We can’t wait and we hope to see you there!

As the guys at Made By Many pointed out, these events aren’t easy to keep track of. There’s always Twitter, Plancast and Lanyrd, but with multiple locations moving in real-time there’s frequent opportunities to miss hearing about events.

So, inspired by Made By Many, we present to you Bright One’s list of meet ups, conferences and events for our volunteers, our charity clients, PRs and anyone else interested in communications.

If you know of events that should be on the calendar and aren’t, send us an email or notify @brightonecomms on Twitter and we’ll add it in. You can also come back at any time and view the PR Events Calendar here.
 

After a great first two Social Impact Camps in partnership with UnLtdWorld and Leap Anywhere, Bright One are happy to announce the details of the third Social Impact Camp. A big thank you goes to Hotwire for hosting the event..

• Date: Tuesday 16th March 2010
• Time: 6:00 – 8:00 pm
• Location: Hotwire, 33-41 Dallington Street, London EC1V oBB (Google Map)

You can reserve your place by signing up on the Social Impact Camp wiki.

Social Impact Camp is a monthly meet up for people to discuss different ways of measuring social impact. We compare tactics, think of ways to improve it and wonder if there will ever be a standard set of metrics against which to judge success by. It’s a friendly place, we don’t try and sell to each other; instead we’re honest, pretty and will never wear name tags.

To get a feel for what has happened at past events, take a look at the fantastic blog posts by Rob Greenland of The Social Business and Max St John of Nixon McInnes.

We look forward to seeing you all there for some great conversations…and lots of tea and biscuits.