We're just recovering from our busiest week of the year so far but thought we'd take some time to share our latest news.

To begin with we're pleased to announce that the first in the University of Sunderland's Delivering the New PR 2.0 series of conferences will be taking place in Newcastle in March. The event will see the old team reunited to deliver all new content and insight into the fast moving world of social media and its increasing impact on PR and communications. You can find lots more information on the event by following this link.

Regular visitors will know that the blog you're reading now was inspired by the first series of conferences and this week eventualities celebrated its first birthday. Event management is such a niche area but we've been astounded by the amount of people who've dropped by and it's a great way for us to talk about what we do and share the passion we have for our business.

Last Tuesday we were at Manchester Conference Centre for the Chartered Institute of Marketing's The Pitch '07 student competition. Seven teams from across the region had received a brief to research the potential target audience and create a viral campaign for a four in one fax/photocopier/scanner/printer from the event's sponsors Brother.

It was a long day of co-ordinating student presentations throughout the afternoon and managing the competition and awards at the evening event but the smiles on the faces of the winning team from UCLAN made it all worthwhile.

All the teams who participated did a fantastic job and showed a depth of determination and knowledge which bodes well for the next generation of marketers in our region.

The day after we were in Warrington for an extremely well attended joint CIM/CIPR event on Unlocking the True Value of PR. The seminar featured some great presentations from CIPR North West Chair Sally Sykes, Tangerine PR's Sarah Halton and Lisa Ashurst from Urban Splash.

Perhaps our biggest news this week is that we are about to branch out into promoting a series of our own branded events. The Don't Panic Guides will offer delegates unrivalled content and expertise from the UK's leading speakers in their field.

Our first event will take place in Manchester in May and focus on the essential subject of crisis communications. We're not announcing the speaker line up just yet but we do want to thank everyone who has supported our vision and agreed to participate in what will undoubtedly be the hottest conference on the subject in the UK...

We're currently in the thick of preparing for next week’s Chartered Institute of Marketing's The Pitch ’07 student competition and occasionally we do find ourselves wishing there were actually more days in a week. It’s one of the highlights of their events calendar and attracts student teams from all over the region who will be responding to a brief issued earlier this year.

We’re also working on what we believe is one of the first joint CIM / CIPR events in the region which also takes place next week. So what’s best, marketing or PR? As Harry Hill says, there’s only one way to find out...

Last Thursday we were in Liverpool for one of our ongoing series of CIPR Meet the Media events. It took place at The Racquet Club on Chapel Street and we were pleased to have Radio Merseyside’s Roger Phillips as our guest speaker.

Roger’s never been short of an opinion and his insight into everything from running his hugely popular and often controversial talk show to the Beeb’s projected move North were delivered with a great deal of eloquence and humour. He’s a seriously great speaker if ever you need one.

He also provided a candid and personal view on the state of PR in our region and how passion and the people angle tends to always win the day when you’re trying to sell in a story to the media. Good advice for sure and it's worth saying Roger received some of the highest marks we've ever seen in event evaluation forms.

Finally a quick plug for the Euroblog 2007 conference which is taking place in Ghent on the 16 and 17 March. Anyone interested in the impact and implications of social media as a communications tool should really consider attending this event.

We managed to get a great deal on BA flights and the Sheraton in Brussels via Expedia and will be making a full weekend of it. We're looking forward to seeing old friends, sampling lots of fruit beers and attending something as delegates as opposed to event managers!