Last week, we hosted a warm and lively get-together in London — a chance for internal communication and employee experience professionals to step away from the day-to-day and reconnect around a shared ambition: creating communication that truly puts people first.
Every so often, it’s good to step away from Teams calls, email threads and slide decks, and spend time with real, actual humans. That’s exactly what we did recently with a little London get-together to celebrate all things People-First Internal Communication.
No big stage. No formal agenda. Just a cosy room, a great mix of friends, clients and collaborators, and an excuse to raise a glass to everything that’s been happening behind the scenes over the last couple of years.
A relaxed night with lovely people
The best part of the evening wasn’t anything “on the agenda” – it was the people in the room.
There were long-standing friends of People Lab, newer faces we’ve only ever met on screen before, and people who’ve been quietly cheering on the People-First IC work from afar. Bringing everyone together in one space felt pretty special.
We chatted about:
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The reality of doing internal comms in busy, complex organisations
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The shift towards more people-centred, experience-led communication
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How the ideas in the book and our People-First IC work are landing in the real world
But mostly, it was about connection. Swapping stories. Laughing. Putting faces to names. And enjoying a rare moment to slow down at the end of a busy year.
Why it mattered to us
For us at People Lab, the evening was a lovely reminder of why this work matters.
People-first internal communication isn’t just a concept in a book or a framework on a slide. It lives in the everyday reality of the people who do the work: the IC pros, EX leads, HR partners and leaders who are trying to make work better – one message, one conversation, one experience at a time.
Spending time with the people who are bringing that to life in their organisations was the perfect way to celebrate how far things have come… and get excited about what’s next.
Thank you to everyone who came along and helped make the evening such a positive one. We’re excited for what’s next — for the profession, for the book, and for the growing People-First IC movement.
Can you spot yourself?
Of course, we couldn’t resist snapping a few photos on the night…
