‘Building Bridges: Communication as a tool to boost interest in standardization’
 
14/15 September,Stockholm, Sweden, SIS headquarters

CEN – the European Committee for Standardization and CENELEC – the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization held their joint CEN/CENELEC PR Round Table 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden under the auspices of SIS, the CEN Swedish Member Body.

This year’s theme highlighted the importance of having an effective and powerful public relations and communication plan to build bridges and to bring the various standardization actors closer together. Bridges not only between existing members, not only between young members and old ones but also with potential new members and affiliates, and with the media, by rendering the field of standardization attractive and accessible. The contribution and presentations of some new and old members, not only exemplified the theme but also stressed the many common challenges that all PR and Communication Managers face in their effort to bring general understanding of the relevance of the work of Standards Bodies and its impact on society.

On this occasion, CEN and CENELEC gave for the 2nd time its PR awards to a National Standards Body for its excellent performance in 6 identified categories. The jury 2006, composed of CEN Communication Manager, CENELEC Communication Manager, CENELEC Communication Officer and SIS Director Corporate Communications, received no less than 50 entries. Competition was extremely tight in some categories as members produced high quality communication supports with a very creative and diverse approach. After a day-long deliberation, the following National Standards Bodies were awarded the prize for:

Ø 'Best annual report': SIST - Slovenian Institute for Standardization
Ø 'Best brochure': BSI - British Standards Institution
Ø 'Best website contribution': BSI - British Standards Institution
Ø 'Best promotion of CEN and CENELEC': ON - Österreichisches Normungsinstitut
Ø ‘Best contribution of Young Member’: ASRO - Romanian Standards Association
Ø ‘Best contribution of Affiliate’: HZN - Croatian Standards Institute

From left to right, Mrs Stanka Miljkovic, Mrs Speranta Stomff, Mrs Naomi Cohen, Mr Johannes Stern and Mrs Vesna Strazisar.