Cicada's managing director Di Burton is to speak at the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists’ (BSHAA) national congress next week (Friday 5 June).

Di will deliver a presentation on the value of marketing and PR to almost 250 delegates.

Phil Willis MP will open the congress and exhibition at the Harrogate International Centre. The event will feature experts from the UK, USA and Europe who will address a broad range of topics including the future of hearing aid technology, customer service and the management of tinnitus.

‘Is there any point to marketing and public relations?’ will look at the issue of visibility and how an increased profile can lead to more sales. Di will examine the management of reputation and lay out a step-by-step guide to achieving the best results.

Di, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, said:

“Now more than ever, the effective management of company reputation is a fundamental element of business success. The value of PR and marketing is now being understood by professionals across all types of industries and I’m delighted to be able to address the delegates of the BHSAA congress.”

Cicada Communications is a full-service agency, specialising in public relations and corporate communications. The agency works for a variety of clients in the public, private and voluntary sector and current clients include Diabetes UK, Carter Jonas, Halliwells and Grant Thornton.

Cicada Communications has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award.

We are one of the nominees in the ‘Not-for-profit’ category of the CIPR Excellence Awards for our work on National Insect Week 2008 for the Royal Entomological Society (RES).

Cicada created the bi-annual National Insect Week for the RES in 2004 to help the Society in its core aim of raising awareness about the importance of insects. Building on the success of the two previous National Insect Weeks, the 2008 event embraced a raft of new elements including video and online polling.

The Cicada team achieved over 600 pieces of media coverage, which included everything from the Daily Telegraph and The Beano.

The Excellence Awards aim to recognise and reward best practice in public relations throughout the UK and acknowledge personal and team achievement at the highest professional level. This year, more than 900 entries were received across the 27 categories.

Cicada’s senior account manager, Liz Powell, said: “National Insect Week is always great fun to work on but we knew we really had to pull something out of the bag to make it bigger and better than in previous years.

“The team worked exceptionally hard this year and I’m pleased that our creativity, dedication and expertise has been recognised.”

CIPR director general Colin Farrington added: “It gives me even greater pleasure than usual to be able to announce we received a record number of Excellence Awards entries this year. Over 900 submissions across the 27 award categories entered to win one of these highly esteemed awards.

“We all know that awards are profile raising gold for the finalists and winners, but they have significance for the industry as a whole too. By demonstrating the value public relations can add to business and society they make it that bit easier for us to prove our worth and justify our budgets, which is of even greater import at this time.

“So, congratulations to those short listed on reaching this stage. Your success is a good result all round.”

The overall winners will be announced at an Awards Dinner at the Honourable Artillery Company Gardens in London in July.

Cicada Communications has been appointed to support the team behind the newly relaunched Welcome to Yorkshire, formally the Yorkshire Tourist Board.

Using the organisation’s new marketing campaign as a blueprint, Cicada will develop a media strategy to encourage journalists from across the UK and target European countries to visit Yorkshire. Cicada is also tasked with developing a strategy for the new executive board to engage with some of the major events taking place across the region.

Managing director Di Burton said: “We are delighted to be on board with Welcome to Yorkshire at such an exciting time in its development. Yorkshire is a fantastic brand – and one that we’re passionate about as a team.”