It’s been quiet around these parts lately, hasn’t it?

What can I say, there just seems to be so much going on. All. The. Time.

(And that’s where I’ll leave that.)

But before I go any further, I hope you and yours are staying as safe and well as possible.

Now: do you remember my three words for 2020?

If you don’t, they were: shed, ground, and own.

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

I have some pretty big news that is literally the manifestation of all three, and for which I am so grateful:

The Social PR Virtuoso® Master Course has a new home!

The Social PR Virtuoso® Master Course – which you might remember is the flagship online training program I launched in 2015 – is now one of the first in-depth, asynchronous online trainings proudly hosted and offered by Australia’s Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence.

CSCE training offerings

If you’re wondering why I’ve “re-homed” something I built from scratch with such love, passion, and, yes, tears (there were a lot), here’s why:

With everything that’s gone on the last couple of years, I’ve been doing a lot of rethinking and re-evaluating of my life.

And I realized that as much as I love, and am proud of, the Master Course (and I am), I don’t have the bandwidth to maintain it the way it deserves.

So, rather than shutter it completely – which I would have hated to do – I started to think of colleagues who would have such bandwidth, and with whom I could partner.

I knew I wanted to work with someone who:

  • had serious creds in PR & Comms
  • had been working in the training space for a while
  • was not new to e-learning and the managing + marketing of digital products

Adrian Cropley

My friend and colleague from my IABC days, Adrian Cropley, fit the bill perfectly.

Not only has he done incredible work all over the world, and been of service to our profession for years (including past chair of IABC International), Adrian started focusing on training much, much earlier than most pros I know.

Having been on Adrian’s email list for a while now, I was impressed by the quality and consistency of his training programs, as well as how consistently he was growing the Centre.

I reached out to him for a chat (we were long overdue), asked what he thought, and boom. Instant magic!

Once we worked out the details, then we got to work on all the technical stuff. And now, I am absolutely thrilled that the Master Course doors are back open!

This is in absolute alignment with my three words, and how my own “new normal” continues to evolve:

I’ve shed the stress and guilt of not having the bandwidth to give the Master Course the attention it deserves.

I’ve grounded it in a really good place – the Centre, and what Adrian and his team (now including me 😊) are producing is world-class training content.

And I’m owning my new reality, (re)discovering who I am, and what I’m meant to do next, with gratitude and joy, even though it feels (very) scary at times.

So, there you have it. Some pretty big news from me that I wanted to share as we kick off September.

What about you? What’s been going on with you lately? I’d love to know, so do use the comments below to tell me.

PS: If signing up for the Master Course was something you always planned to do, but never got around to it, you still can. Just click on over here, and sign up (note the fee is listed in AUD, not USD).