Social media lecture goes live

Communications expert, Helen Standing, will host the session at the Rose Bowl at 6pm on Thursday 6 December, where both the audience and web viewers will be encouraged to submit questions via Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #leedsmetlive prior to and during the event. Streamed live online at www.leedsmet.ac.uk/bigscreen, questions can also be emailed to pressoffice@leedsmet.ac.uk.

Helen, who is co-founder and director of the Yorkshire-based communications consultancy, Engage Comms Ltd, and has been named in PR Week magazine's esteemed annual list of "Top 29 under 29", commented: "In such a competitive jobs market, graduates and others need to demonstrate entrepreneurial spirit and a real drive to make a difference. But many are missing out on potential career and personal development opportunities by not effectively building and managing their online personal brand. My lecture will go through the steps of developing and implementing a personal branding strategy."

The lecture will address the role of social media and how to utilise it in creating an individual's personal brand as well as using media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to create business opportunities and establish professional relationships. Helen, a part-time lecturer at Leeds Met, will also talk about how organisations can use social media to communicate with their target market and their consumers more effectively.

An Accredited Practitioner of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) with an MA in Public Relations, Helen has worked in a variety of communications roles in consultancy and in-house and specialises in using social media to influence and engage. She has been named Yorkshire & Lincolnshire's Outstanding Young Communicator by the CIPR and was a finalist for Some Comms' brightest social media communicator under 30. She also sits on the CIPR's regional committee as Treasurer.

Barbara Colledge, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law, said: "Helen Standing's lecture will be of immense interest to our students, the wider business community and to anyone with access to the internet who has an interest in using their social media accounts to progress personally, professionally or commercially."

The event is free, with a reception from 5:30pm and the lecture starting promptly at 6pm. Places are available on a first come, first served basis. To book your place, please email guestspeaker@leedsmet.ac.uk.