EACD 5th Anniversary Celebration

For the first time in its history, on the occasion of the association’s fifth birthday, the EACD moved its annual anniversary celebration from Brussels to Paris. In order to better reflect the association’s regional diversity, the EACD Board agreed to move the celebration to a new European city every year, starting with Paris this year. On November 24, the celebration took place in the French capital, at the premises of Alcatel-Lucen International, in the glow of the nearby Eiffel Tower. In total, nearly 100 EACD members came together for this occasion.

This year’s programme started in the early afternoon with an exclusive guided tour at the prestigious Musée du Quai Branly, allowing the attendees to explore the museum’s fascinating exhibitions. After the tour, participants were invited to attend a discussion about the museum’s branding activities with its Director of Communications, Nathalie Mercier.

The traditional Working Group meetings were held later in the afternoon, before the evening reception and panel discussion. Four of the groups had scheduled events in Paris: The Head of the EACD’s Social Media Working Group, Philippe Borremans, presented a hands-on workshop on the topic of online monitoring; Yannis Freris, Head of the CSR Working Group, invited two speakers, Yves Garenne (Sociologist and Consultant, Go Between) and Misha Pinkhasov (Principal, Nair-Safir), to present useful tips and recommendations for the communications profession on CSR practices and tools; Neil Wholey (Head of Research and Customer Insight, Communications and Strategy, Westminster City Council), George Ellis Ruano, (Director, Gellis Communications) and Louis de Schorlemer, Head of the Working Group, led the Evaluation Working Group meeting, which had a focus on practical evaluation instruments and strategies; and the freshly relaunched Working Group Energy organised its inaugural gathering under its new Head, Andrew Hogg (Vice President Communication, Exploration & Production, Total SA), where those gathered took part in a productive discussion on the organisation of the Working Group, as well as its future agenda and initiatives.

This year’s evening programme featured a panel discussion entitled “Never Ending Crisis – Risk and Crisis Preparedness in a Rapidly Changing World”. The panel included: Bernard Valero, Director of Communications and Spokesman at the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs; Pierre Bayle, Head of Communication at EADS France S.A.S.; and Jean-Pierre Beaudoin, Managing Director of i&e and an Associate Professor at Paris Sorbonne University. The discussion was moderated by Prof Dr Arne Westermann, Professor of Communication Management at Quadriga University Berlin.
The diverse professional backgrounds on the panel truly enhanced the value of the discussion, and thought-provoking questions from the audience challenged the panellists and contributed to a successful event.

After the panel discussion, participants were invited to mingle at a networking reception in Alcatel-Lucent’s Atrium. In a relaxing atmosphere, participants enjoyed sharing their impressions from the panel discussion and exchanging experiences from their professional lives.