The seventh Chartered Institute of Public Relations Northern Conference took place last Friday at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall attracting 120 delegates from all over the UK. It was our third as Don’t Panic and continues to be the biggest and best CIPR event outside of London with a line up which would put most conferences in the capital to shame.

Keynotes included Katie Perrior of InHouse PR on Boris Johnson’s campaign for London mayor; Phil Hall of PHA Media on celebrity crises; Paul Newman of Liverpool Capital of Culture on the rise of all things Scouse and Alex Aiken of Westminster City Council.

Delegates also chose to attend four of the following master class sessions: Reputation - Andrew Fairburn, Regester Larkin; Creativity - Andy Green, GREEN Communications; Crisis Communications - Jenny Hails, Hull City Council; Media City - Brian Greasley & Jason Leggett, MediaCityUK; CSR - Justin McKeown & Paul Thomas, Trimedia; Social Media - Stephen Davies, 3W PR; Budgeting - Paul Willis, Leeds Business School; Ethical PR - Elaine Mitchell Hill, Koan; Futurology - Neville Hobson.

It’s rare to see such unanimously high feedback for an event but every delegate who responded marked the conference, venue and organisation as either excellent or good. I think that says a lot about the commitment of all those involved in the Northern Conference, the calibre of our speakers and the kind of content which is vital to the future of the public relations industry.

Thanks go out to everyone who made it such a memorable day and we hope to see many of you again when we bring the Don’t Panic Guide to Social Media to the Bridgewater Hall on 5 December.

As Lou says, you reap what you sow.

I’ve often wondered how much business our events generate. We’ve certainly picked up new clients as a result of our conferences and our speakers too are regularly approached by delegates looking for the benefit of their expertise.

Social media still remains one of the hottest conference topics around, rapidly evolving and presenting communication opportunities and challenges for organisations who often need guidance in an online world. Now there’s a new name we’re very pleased to recommend to anyone who’s looking for informed, intelligent advice.

3W PR is an online communications consultancy launched today by Stephen Davies, the man behind PRblogger.com, one of the world’s leading PR blogs.

We originally met at the University of Sunderland’s ‘Making the News’ conference, one of our first events as Don’t Panic and also the UK’s first ever event on social media. Little did I realise at the time how significant and influential this event would turn out to be.

Stephen was in his final year studying PR and had been drafted in to help out on the event reception desk. I remember his warmth and charm as well as his constant disappearances to catch presentations by the likes of Neville Hobson and Tom Murphy. Despite his unsuitability for event work he already had a reputation as being the one to watch.

Following his degree, no one was surprised to learn he’d landed a dream job at Edelman or that he was subsequently poached by Frank PR before deciding to head back home to the North East to work for webitpr.

Over the years we’ve had the good fortune to get to know Stephen and have the pleasure of him speak at our events. His passion for online PR and the shock of the new has always been self evident and we just want to wish him luck with 3W, a company which promises to redefine the role of public relations in an online world.

So if you’re looking for assistance with a social media strategy, online reputation management or new ways to reach your audience do get in touch with 3W, you won’t be disappointed.

Here's someone else who always kept ahead of the times.