Workshop for the AUA@OU Professional development programme

This week saw me at the Open University contributing to the AUA professional development programme. They’ve already been looking at Professionalism, Careers and Personal Branding, they invited me to come in and share some thoughts and lead a discussion around what social media might add, in terms of both risk and reward.For the benefit of the workshop participants the slides are embedded below.

The session was structured around personal experiences, and sharing our own preferences and prejudices. In most of these types of workshops I ask what social media people are using. It was a bit of a surprise for me that almost all of the participants were using Twitter, as well as a lot of other tools.

It was nice to be in room with people who used linked-in very effectively, and who shared my opinion with regards to endorsements. And to clarify, yes my brother really did endorse me for public speaking, we hadn’t spoken in over a year, and he’s never seen me speak publicly!

It was a really enjoyable day for me, with the exception of the OU’s understanding of vegetarian. Some of the tweets reveal the content and discussion, and I’ve had a few comments and questions by email which I’ll post as comments later if the person asking agrees.

Helen Cooke ‏@cookiehj1
Personal vs professional? Visitor vs resident? #auaatou

Sam Dick Sam Dick ‏@sam_d
What does my network look like and what does it say about me? #auaatOU

Sam Dick Sam Dick ‏@sam_d
Important to contextualise your LinkedIn profile if using it professionally #auaatOU

Helen Cooke Helen Cooke ‏@cookiehj1
Glad I’m not the only one fed up with LinkedIn endorsements! #auaatOU

Julie Gowen Julie Gowen ‏@j_gowen
Have just googled myself and found out I have a namesake who is a psychologist living in San Antonia #auaatOU

Sam Dick Sam Dick ‏@sam_d
Have just ‘Googled’ myself – as part of a workshop you understand! #auaatOU

2 comments

  1. An engaging session with some very helpful food for thought on the personal versus professional use of tools – thank you Lawrie.

  2. Thanks Lawrie (and apologies for the delayed comment!). A really useful session with lots of positive feedback from attendees.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.