Institute of Internal Communication

IoIC offers a lot to freelancers, including the circulation of work opportunities, networking, discounts on conferences and advertising, free entry for IoIC members into the online Freelance Directory and much more.

Circulation of work opportunities
Requests submitted to the Forum from clients needing freelance help are circulated to Forum members, who are invited to pitch. These, in the past, have proved financially very rewarding for some members and have often led to ongoing working relationships.

Here are some candid views of Forum members concerning the
IoIC Directory of Freelancers:

"An insurance company contacted me after reading my pdf entry and I ended up writing a corporate brochure for them - so it IS worth having an entry!" - Carole Seawert

"I have had just one call from the PDF - but it was a very large contract
which kept me busy for several months. Interestingly, the call came from a
design agency on the Continent." - Charlie McCormick

"I have had two enquiries over the last year, though neither turned into
work" - Mike Thompsom

"I've had two calls - one of which resulted in a lucrative month's work." - Heather Beresford

"Someone contacted me the other day after typing some keywords into a search engine and one of the results it came up with was the freelance directory. It's definitely worth it!" - Carole Seawert

Local networking
Forum members occasionally meet socially at venues around the country, at regional CiB meetings, at the, at freelance training seminars and at a Christmas party in London. annual conference

National networking
A proportion of the 700 non-freelancing members work for some of the largest companies in Europe. Forum members have opportunities to meet these full time communication professionals socially at events, and this can lead to winning freelance work.

IoIC Directory of Freelancers
The ioIC Directory of Freelancers has searchable details on 100 freelancers. Follow-up enquiries have resulted in important contracts for some members.

Using the search facility enables potential clients to locate an individual freelancer by name or to find all the freelancers specialising in a particular subject such as health or finance, or to look for members based in a particular town or county.

Discounted training and events
Freelance forum members are offered spare last minute places on IoIC training courses or events - this can save up to £200 off normal prices.

Cut price advertising
Members can advertise at a discounted rates in IoIC's monthly magazine, circulated to 1,000 communicators.

Click to download a sample copy in PDF format.

Fun
Working at home as a freelancer can be a lonely existence. Forum members find that the Forum is like working in a large office with others always there to share problems, give advice and keep others sane when the pressure is on.

You can choose to ignore the emails, and be a passive member, or actively take part. We have few arguments and actively stall them before they do damage to the community - but we enjoy and encourage positive exchanges.

IoIC monthly e-zine
This free e-zine is circulated to a rapidly growing audience of more than 5,000 subscribers in 50 countries.

The publication keeps corporate communication professionals in touch with important issues, events, relevant news and product developments.

Topics include PR, marketing, internal communications, intranets, printing, digital imaging and the new media - and draws from sources from around the world.