There’s a version of IoL communications you never see. The version before the polished email, the finished social post, and the neat conference programme. This is that version, a closer look at what’s actually been going on behind everything IoL puts out, some of it going well, some of it still taking shape, none of it as tidy as the end result usually looks. 

Social media has been a big part of our work in the last year. Let’s start with Licensing Flashes, our weekly round-ups of the biggest licensing stories. They’ve been running for a good while now and have always been well-read. What we’ve added in the last year is a new graphic design and the social copy that goes out with each edition, building it into a full visual package across LinkedIn, Facebook and X. Alongside that, and receiving the same treatment, are our breaking news coverage, engaging event announcements and live posts from events as they happen, all following the same tone so it reads as one consistent voice wherever you find us. Did you notice all of that?

Email is something we’re working hard on in a different way. Everything you get from us, event reminders, membership updates, all of it, is meant to feel worth opening rather than something you scroll past. That’s a harder thing to build than it sounds; trust with an inbox is slow to earn and quick to lose, and we know we haven’t always got the balance right. We would rather send you three emails you actually want to open than ten you learn to ignore, and we’re hoping that shows more with each one that lands.

The website is next on our list. A renewal is coming, partly to make it easier to keep everything above properly joined up and partly because parts of the current site have quietly been due an update for a while. Alongside that we are doing the less visible work of making sure your licensing questions on Google actually find IoL answers, the usual search engine work, but increasingly also making sure IoL shows up when people ask AI tools the same questions instead of typing them into a search bar.

Two campaigns have taken up a fair amount of our year. The Partnership Charter for the Nighttime Economy, the UK’s first of its kind, brought together the IoL, the police, industry bodies and others around a shared set of principles for how licensing authorities, trade and communities work together after dark. And the Primate Licensing Campaign, run with Monkey World and the Jim Cronin Memorial Fund, has been helping local authorities and the public get ready for the new licensing requirements for privately kept primates, which came into force in April. Both took real coordination across a lot of different organisations, and both are the kind of work we’re genuinely proud to have helped bring to your attention.

Then there’s NTC2026, our thirtieth Annual Conference, running from 18 to 20 November in Stratford upon Avon. Early bird pricing has already closed, unfortunately. However, we are currently running a free prize draw for a three-day residential ticket; no purchase is needed, just an entry. There’s also a brand new conference app for NTC this year, and we’re genuinely excited about it. It means the schedule and speaker details will live on your phone rather than a paper programme, with plenty of added features that make the event a lot more interactive. Look out for that, and in the meantime don’t forget to check out our new dedicated hub page for the whole event; it’s worth exploring.

Our publications deserve more than a passing mention as well. The Journal of Licensing has been running since 2011, three issues a year. It offers a roundup of important cases and analysis on topical issues from practising lawyers and licensing professionals. LINK magazine is a bit younger, running since 2018 and with four issues a year. In it you’ll find shorter pieces from across the sector, councils, trade bodies, trainers, specialists, and more of a snapshot of what the profession is currently talking about and where it stands. A bit different pace for each, a different purpose, but both are genuinely worth your time. We’re always looking at how to make both better, so if you’ve got thoughts on either, we would genuinely love to hear them.

That’s the shape of things right now. Social media is running on a solid system, email we’re still earning your trust with, a website renewal is on the way, two campaigns we’re genuinely proud of, a thirtieth National Training Conference we’re super excited about, and two publications that deserve your attention once they land on your doorstep. Some of these are finished; some are still coming together.

This is the first of what we’re planning to make a regular thing, a post like this every month or two, each one picking up wherever the last one left off rather than trying to say everything at once. So we’ll leave it here for now, not because there’s nothing left to tell you, but because that’s exactly what next time is for.