This website refers to The Big Yak, which took place on Saturday 9 October 2021.

If you are looking for information about Comms Reboot, run by Jenni Field, please see her website.

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Thank you to everyone who attended The Big Yak on Saturday 9 October 2021.

Thank you to our sponsors for helping us make this non-profit event from The IC Crowd possible.

If you didn’t attend, you can check out the conversations via Twitter @TheICCrowd or #TheBigYak.

Thank you to our photographer Thomas Jackson from Tynesight Photographic Services for capturing the day so beautifully.

A feedback form has been issued, so please check your inbox. If you’ve attended in previous years, we’d still love your feedback via that form please.

Thank you for having a big yak about internal communication, employee experience, leadership comms, digital comms and everything else in-between.

We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

The IC Crowd.

Welcome to The Big Yak’s website. This is the place to discover all you need to know about the unconference for communicators.

We’re looking forward to seeing you on Saturday 9 October 2021.

We can’t wait to host the event, in person, for internal comms professionals everywhere!

Venue
The Big Yak will be hosted by The IC Crowd on Saturday 9 October 2021 at etc.Venues, 50 – 52 Chancery Lane, Holborn, London, WC2A 1HL.

Download travel instructions.

Timings
Doors open between 9.15am-9.30am. Breakfast will be served until 10am. The Big Yak will start just after 10am and finish at 5pm.

Drinks will be served at the venue and end just before 7pm.

COVID-19 update
We’ll keep an eye on the advice and make any necessary adjustments in line with guidance. Hand sanitisers will be at the venue and you’re encouraged to use them.

Please make sure you’ve taken a lateral flow test before attending. If you have a positive result, please stay at home and stay well, and let us know you won’t be coming.

The venue has published its COVID plan via its website.

Thank you again for supporting the event.

The IC Crowd co-founders.

What is The IC Crowd?
The IC Crowd is a community and a place for people to connect and communicate. It’s the brainchild of Comms professionals Rachel Miller, Jenni Field and Dana Leeson.

You can find out more about us on the team page of our website and @theICcrowd on Twitter.

What is The Big Yak?
The Big Yak unconference from The IC Crowd connects in-house and independent communicators face-to-face so they can learn and network. To yak is a colloquial way of saying to talk.

It has been designed by and for professional communicators. The venue will be in London. This will be the fifth time The Big Yak has taken place, as we gathered comms pros in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018.

We’re proud to be a different type of event and offer in-house practitioners the chance to shape the agenda on the day (which is what an unconference means) and get help and advice from their peers.

Trust us, you’ll love it!

Our hashtag for the event is #TheBigYak.

Feedback from delegates over the years means we know what works and what doesn’t and it’s a format that works.

Who can attend?
In-house internal communicators and independent practitioners are welcome to come to The Big Yak.

This website will be tell you all you need to know and we’ll be updating it between now and the unconference.

This is an event to share learning and experience with other like-minded professionals. Based on feedback, only agencies who are sponsoring are able to attend. As ever, we request a no pitching, selling of services or products to other attendees as this is what makes The Big Yak unique and we’d like to keep it that way.

We will be closely monitoring the attendee list.

Agenda
Want to know what will be discussed at The Big Yak?

So do we! As it’s an unconference, the content is decided by you, the attendees, on the day.

We’re expecting 150 in-house professional communicators to come together, shape the agenda and enjoy being together.

Here’s the agenda from a previous event – as you can see, it was set on the day:

Dress code
We want you to feel comfortable, so do come in jeans and trainers or whatever you prefer. It is a Saturday after all.

Cloakroom
There will be a place for you to leave coats. Please note it is unmonitored, so items are left at your own risk.

The Big Yak is an excellent place to network. However, if you need a quiet corner to recharge your batteries, there will be space to chill out.

What we’ve communicated to date

The first batch of tickets were released on 27 February 2020 and went like hot cakes, selling out in 25 minutes. The final batch were released on 5 March 2020 and sold out in record time.

After watching the news and government advice, we postponed The Big Yak unconference from 6 June 2020 and February 2021, to 9 October 2021.

As you know, we run this as a not for profit event, so ticket money and sponsorship will stay in the account ready for when the timings kick in around the new date.

Do Tweet us @theICcrowd if you’ve got a query we’ve not covered.

Make some noise

Do Tweet on the day using #TheBigYak and @theICcrowd.

The venue will plenty of plug points – don’t forget your chargers. See the reviews page of this website to discover what it’s like to attend The Big Yak. We’d love you to join us.

Do Tweet us @theICcrowd if you’ve got a query we’ve not covered on this site.

Venue
The Big Yak will be hosted by The IC Crowd on Saturday 9 October 2021 at etc.Venues, 50 – 52 Chancery Lane, Holborn, London, WC2A 1HL.

Download travel instructions.

Timings

• Doors open between 9.15am-9.30am
• Breakfast will be served until 10am
• The Big Yak will start just after 10am and finish at 5pm
• Drinks will be served at the venue and end just before 7pm.