BEST INNOVATION BY AN ASSOCIATION

Anxiety UK – Anxia

We decided to develop a chatbot that is integrated into our website and available to answer queries at any time of the day or night. Working closely with the chatbot developers we were able to create a chatbot that answers the common queries with regards to support for anxiety. To achieve this, we analysed months of data from our helpline services. We have branded the chatbot, to encourage people to use the service, as Anxia – our friendly eHelper, not human but here to help. The name Anxia was developed by the whole Anxiety UK team to evoke a personal feeling for visitors of the Anxiety UK website. We did this to make clients and therapists feel more comfortable directing questions to a digital helper as mental health and associated topics can be of a sensitive nature. Additionally, we commissioned a designer to create a visual persona bringing Anxia to life. This chatbot is able to provide guidance on managing anxiety to any person at any time. This is a huge development in reassuring those that deal with anxiety that they are not alone and this is manageable.

British Dietetic Association – The BDA Future Leaders Programme

The BDA’s Future Leaders Programme is a highly successful development programme preparing associations members for strategic leadership roles, running associations. Now adopted by 12 associations it has become multi professional in its approach and benefits associations regardless of their legal framework. It is the only leadership and development programme dedicated to the associations sector, developed and run by associations.

Event & Visual Communication Association

EVCOM represents corporate filmmakers, event organisers and creative comms professionals who produce and deliver work from companies, brands, charities and not for profits. Over the last two years, creating a more diverse and inclusive sector has been a key focus of ours, and we have instigated multiple initiatives to reflect this. All of these initiatives centre around one thing: young people. We looked at the predominantly white senior and mid-level of our industries, and realised we needed to start at the beginning. We needed to encourage young diverse people to choose our sector, we needed to make it more accessible and we needed to create opportunities for them. Out of this focus came our shadow board (a group of 18-25 year olds who advise our policy), a new dedicated resources area for young people, three awards scheme for young people to win mentorship and work experience, shadowing opportunities with our member companies and greater links with educational establishments. We are committed to continuing this work, to ensure young diverse people see the corporate film and events industries as where they’d like to be, and are given the tools and opportunities to get here.

Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales – All Too Familiar drama film

Waking up the inadvertent professional enablers of economic crime. The drama film, All Too Familiar, is ICAEW’s innovative response to the need to raise awareness of the important role which accountants play in the fight against economic crime. It aims to create something memorable to change attitudes to AML compliance. The film shows the appalling human cost of money laundering (human trafficking and modern slavery) highlighting that money laundering is not a ‘victimless crime’. Watch the trailer at icaew.com/alltoofamiliar.

All Too Familiar is the product of an innovative public/private partnership between HMRC and ICAEW and is part of an important public interest initiative. The film and accompanying training materials were provided for free to 25,000 UK accountancy firms following a launch event where the film was endorsed by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury and by the Chief Executive of Stop The Traffik. In just 7 weeks, the film has already been streamed over 7,500 times. The innovative nature of this training aid has already sparked international interest. This is likely to result in the film being shown all around the world while, at the same time, ensuring, through international fees, the funding for further films.

Pensions Management Institute – PMI Academy

You’ll never take me alive!

Change is difficult and never ideal it raises barriers and creates friction most of the time. After 45 years of working one way the PMI was not alien to this. It was the quick wittedness of grasping the mettle, embracing changes – even the ones we didn’t know or understand yet – and delivering on them It was about bringing people on the journey with us. We had the negative comments like the one above and worse, but these same people now are working with us, some are working for us, but all are in agreement the approach of this team has improved everything. We are at a point where those who suggested this would not work in their lifetime are now asking for more exams, and how can they get involved in the process(es) of making that work. For the PMI change brought though the intangibles of closer engagement (borne out of the initial activities of one team) enlightenment and closer relationships. It allowed us to look to the future rather than concentrate on difficult times (of the past 2 years) but moreover it showed the positive effects and benefits of a collaborative team.

Railway Industry Association – My RIA story

#MyRIAstory campaign, is a marketing reinforcement campaign that the Railway Industry Association (RIA) created to, firstly, strengthen and reiterate RIA’s core values and benefits to their current members, and secondly, showcase to potential members all the great work being done by RIA and how this helps them grow their business. All this, told by the RIA members themselves.

Suspended Access Engineering & Maintenance Association – SAEMA User Training
SAEMA (Suspended Access Engineering & Maintenance Association) is the national trade body for the permanent and temporary façade access equipment industry.

SAEMA User Training was launched on 18th January 2021 as a new and unique way for those who work at height, operating suspended access equipment, to be assessed on their technical understanding of the processes and equipment involved. The aim is to help create a safer façade access industry.

Part 1 of SAEMA User Training is taken remotely, at the user’s convenience, at saema.org.
Upon passing Part 1 of the test, a certificate is sent to the user as proof of their accreditation. The user is then also issued with a virtual card ,which is stored on their smartphone and can be checked by Duty Holders in real time when users arrive on site for

Part 2 Training.
The cost for accessing SAEMA’s e-learning suite of 10 videos, for completing the innovative multiple choice test system and for producing and sending a certificate of competence, is just £75.00 per person.

The online training platform continues to grow in popularity. By May 2022, the 750th virtual card was issued – less than 16 months after its launch in January 2021.