On 7 and 8 November, the 17th yearly meeting of the CEN and CENELEC PR Roundtable was held in Vienna. Putting together representatives from the CEN and CENELEC community working on communications and Public Relations, the gathering was an opportunity to share best practices and exchange on future challenges.
The CEN and CENELEC PR Round Table (PR RT) is an informal network that brings together the communication, PR, and marketing managers of the CEN and CENELEC Members, Affiliates and CSBs. Its objective is to facilitate the exchange of information across the CEN and CENELEC community and achieve wider impact on topics of shared interest.
After some years of forced hiatus, due to the aftermath of the Covid crisis, the 2023 yearly meeting was the first one to be held again in person. This important gathering was hosted by Austrian Standards (ASI), Austria’s National Standardization Body, in their premises in Vienna, Austria.
Over the course of two days, 40 people from CEN and CENELEC’s community exchanged views on how to communicate about European standards in a quickly changing environment: they identified common challenges, shared best practices, and discussed plans for 2024. What emerged was a shared belief that, with standardization being increasingly strategic in Europe, communications and public relations have an ever-growing role to play to help it achieve its potential.
One of the highlights of the meeting was the first edition of the ‘PRoud to work for standards’ Awards. The awards recognize particularly successful and inspiring communication activities undertaken by participants in 2023 to promote standardization.
In total, participants presented 22 entries, divided in three categories: Best Event; Best Public Affairs Campaign; and Best Social Media Campaign. Given the number and quality of the nominees, two winners per category were selected, showing the diversity and creativity of the CEN and CENELEC community:
- Event: UNE (Spain) and NEN (the Netherlands)
- Public Affairs Campaign: DIN (Germany) and HZN (Croatia)
- Social Media: SII (Israel) and SIST (Slovenia)
Oher relevant topics included: the use of AI tools in communications; a recap on the joint 30 years of Single Market and European year of skills campaign; a conversation with Andreas Zapfl, a winner of ASI’s Living Standards Awards; and a discussion on upcoming plans for the 2024 European elections.
Overall, the 2023 PR Roundtable meeting was an opportunity to learn from each other, confront, and look ahead on how to meet the upcoming challenges to European standardization.
Watch the video below, developed by Austrian Standards, to discover more about the 2023 PR Roundtable and hear the impressions of participants:
Giovanni COLLOT
gcollot@cencenelec.eu
