
Workshops and webinars
Our bi-monthly 2-hour workshops and our monthly professional skills webinar series. All sessions are recorded but we encourage you to join live, to interact and ask questions with session speakers.

Experience and content design to support student wellbeing
Join us for a fireside chat between Sunny Gill, Student Communications Manager at the University of Birmingham, and Tracy Playle, founder of ContentEd, as we explore the role that empathy, compassion, and experience and content design plays in supporting student wellbeing.

Delivering engaging content training sessions
In this Premium Members’ workshop Tracy will share from almost 20 years of delivering content workshops and training sessions her ultimate tips for planning and delivering highly engaging content workshops that participants love and learn from. She'll share advice on planning sessions for different levels of experience, and provide a range of tried and tested activities that participants get well and truly stuck into.

Making SEO count: cutting through the noise to demonstrate ROI
In this Premium Members’ skills session, we’ll break down why SEO is so notoriously tricky to measure, and introduce practical ways to cut through the noise, focus on what matters, and demonstrate meaningful impact.
We’ll explore how to design an SEO strategy that supports your wider objectives, track what matters without getting lost in the data, and communicate results in a way that makes sense to non-specialists.

Impact on the cheap: website performance is priority one
Making your university's website load faster is perhaps the most cost-effective work you can do when budgets are strained. Learn how to maximise your existing website with web performance expert Joel Goodman, and discover why site speed is so critical to your website's impact.

Gaining a deeper understanding of content audiences
In this premium members’ skills session with Tracy Playle, we'll expand your skill of curiosity, and invite you to get deeply inquisitive about your audiences.
Instead of just knowing user needs, top tasks and channel preferences, what if we had an ever deeper understanding of their wants, their motivations, their beliefs, their fears, their values? How might that transform your work?

Taking your storytelling to the next level
Join us for a discussion between John Hill and Tony Sheridan as they discuss what makes a great story, creative ways of embracing storytelling on our campuses, how to find great stories on a campus (and beyond), and how to get a great story out of just about anyone.

Using trauma-informed content methods in higher education
It’s estimated that 70% of the population has experienced some kind of trauma. Join Steph Mann from the University of Cambridge for this premium skills session to learn what trauma-informed content design is, how it impacts young people, and how you can build it into your skillset.

Spotting and eliminating "action bias" - the desire to always publish something
Action bias is a psychological instinct to “do something” rather than “do nothing”. It’s natural and it happens all the time. Join Adrian Imms from the University of Sussex if you have ever despaired of the ideas of others or the volume of information on the internet – whether you’re a creator, commissioner or manager of content, or a leader of people.

Brand storytelling in education
Join Cameron Pegg for our February skills workshop on brand storytelling in education.

How much carbon is your website consuming?
In a world where reducing emissions across the board is becoming not only the norm, but essential, just how much carbon is your university website consuming? Join Andrew Millar, Head of Web Services at the University of Dundee for a presentation and fireside chat about how to better understand and quantify the carbon impact of our web estates.

Prioritise like a pro: Collaborative content decision-making techniques
Join Rob Mills in this interactive two-hour workshop exploring how content teams can streamline their efforts and make informed decisions about what matters most. By the end of the session, attendees will be equipped with practical tools to prioritise collaboratively, focus on delivering high-value content and navigate conflicting priorities with confidence.

From conversion to connection: integrating empathy mapping into your email strategy
Email communication is often focused on driving actions, but this can lead to overlooking the personal experiences, emotions, and distractions our readers face. Explore with Day Kibilds how empathy mapping can be applied throughout the customer journey to create meaningful connections, identify moments to delight or support your readers, and cultivate long-term loyalty.

Content strategy maturity review - trends and discussion
Join Dana Rock and Robert Perry as they share new insights from Pickle Jar’s content maturity assessment tool and share how the education sector is performing across all 10 pillars.

Shifting your relationship to overwhelm
Join Tracy Playle for this ContentEd+ Premium skills webinar where we'll explore techniques and tactics for recognising patterns and symptoms of overwhelm in the workplace, with a specific emphasis on the role of content, communications and marketing professionals.

Top 10 AI tools for content professionals
Join Brian Piper and Tracy Playle in a conversation as they share and discuss the top 10 AI tools that they use as content professionals.

Visual content strategy
Join Mike Powers as he explore how to put together a practical content strategy for visual content: from figuring out what you need, to finding or producing those assets, to publishing them to best effect on your website.

Transforming academics into social influencers
In this session with Mikki Collins and Florence Largillière, we’ll explore how to strategically transform academics into social media influencers. You’ll learn how to get their buy-in and how to communicate the benefits of social media, for their personal brand and your institution.

Structuring your content to make it work harder
Could your content work harder? Or could you and your colleagues be working smarter?
Join Pickle Jar’s Dana Rock to learn how structured content could help.

Planning and delivering a discovery workshop with internal stakeholders
A discovery workshop is essential for engaging stakeholders, gathering insights, setting direction, and building support for a new project. Join Ellie Lovell for a skills workshop on identifying stakeholder needs, planning activities, and effective facilitation techniques to ensure a productive and engaging workshop.

Content strategy maturity trends in the education sector
Join Ellie Lovell and Dana Rock as they share insights from Pickle Jar’s content maturity assessment tool and share how the education sector is performing across all 10 pillars.

Different models for thinking about your audience
Join Robert Perry to learn about the different models and tools to use to think about and plan for your audience.

Creating a plan for your content career growth and professional development
Join Tracy Playle to plan the next steps in your career as you progress in content and digital roles within the sector.

Embedding AI into your content marketing workflow
Join Tracy Playle as she shows how different types of AI and machine learning can play a role at different stages in the content marketing workflow.

Managing projects on time and on budget
Join Ellie Lovell to explore critical project management skills. Gain actionable advice for staying on time and on budget.

How the FikFok to use TikTok in Higher Education
Navigating TikTok can be challenging, but it offers significant potential for Higher Education Institutions due to its search capabilities and algorithm. In this webinar, Mikki Collins will share strategies that helped her achieve top rankings for a UK university, showcasing how institutions can effectively engage audiences on the platform.

Content governance: providing consistency, clarity, and compliance for your organisation
Arguing over what should or shouldn’t get published on the website? Unclear who is responsible for maintaining the content?
Developing a clear content governance can resolve a myriad of thorny content problems. Join Dana Rock for this two hour workshop on navigating these thorny problems.

Ensuring your team has the right size, shape, and resources
Organisations and their content teams vary, making it crucial to determine the right team size, roles, and skills needed. This webinar will guide you in assessing these factors, involving your team in the decision-making process, and offering practical tips to address skill gaps.

Using Canva to create great visual content
Canva is a fantastic tool for creating effective designs - particularly across marketing teams within higher education. But are you making the most of it?
Join our 45 minute webinar focusing on making the most Canva for creating impactful creative outputs.

Social listening to better understand your audiences
Need to better understand your audience but short on time?
Join Flo and Mikki to learn how social listening can provide valuable insights.
They will share practical tips and techniques to help you observe online and offline conversations to learn about your audience on a short deadline or a small budget.

Concept testing for your creative content
Join Robert Perry and Rich Endean to advance your approach to planning and testing content so that it really works for you and for your audiences.

How to overcome your creative blocks
Blank pages, blank screens… They can trigger creative blocks. Simon Fairbanks will help keep your creative cogs turning.

Conducting powerful stakeholder interviews for content strategy development and buy-in
Tracy Playle explains the style and types of questions to have in your toolbox to craft powerful and productive stakeholder discussions.

Explaining experience design and content design to anyone
Experience design? Content design? Dana Rock will help you understand and explain each concept to stakeholders.

How to create accessible social media content
Join Simon Fairbanks to discover how to create accessible social media content: words, images, videos, hashtags, and emojis.