HISTORY

TO PREPARE THE FUTURE WE HAVE TO KNOW THE PAST

(Here is FEIEA’s tribute to the past)

The roots of FEIEA are in France. It was in 1948 when the French Association invited representatives of national associations to Paris for an exchange of views and experiences, this was the first European conference.

1949: BAIE was founded by 51 members and affiliated with the,”International Council of Industrial Editors”.

1951: The Convention in London was attended by 50 overseas delegates and became a Pilot European Congress. There was again a discussion about the idea of cooperation and coordination, and this was the second european conference

1955: FEIEA became reality the third conference and first FEIEA conference was held in Copenhagen, 22nd-25th of August, Chairman was Gustav Weidner, President of Danish Association and with the help of the British Colleagues, FEIEA was founded there ordinary. From this time on FEIEA Congresses were held all thre years regularly, more or less. The memberfee- was 1 DM per member.

1955-1958: FEIEA President was Hedrik Anriessen from the Dutch Association

1958: 4º Congress Scheveningen

President was Wolf in der Maur, Austria, † 2005

1961: 5º Congress Vienna, FEIEA had 14 members: B, DK, D, GB, SF, F, Gr, I, NL, N, A, S, Ch, E

The session were prepared by all the countries and divided in three main themes:

The cultural importance of the industrial press

The status of the editor

Schientific questions

An exhibition of magazine of all the countries was traditionally organised

1964: 6º Congress Turin

President is Dr. Martin Nebe, Germany

1967: 7º Congress Berlin

President becomes Geoffrey Phillips, GB, PR and advertising division manager BP Chemicals

1970: 8º Congress London, 500 Delegates, 180 Begleitpersonen und Gäste

Präsident wird Maurice Walter, France

In his welcome speech Mr Phillips said: „Ho many industrialists would stat publicly, as has Lord Robens chairman of Britain´s National Coal Board with ist 350.000 employees, that his house journal is the biggest single factor in our success in industrial realtions? – Now why, in the name of good sense, cannot more managers say that? It is because most house journals are not objective, because they are not a true reflection of life within the company…with ist successes and failures, ist highlights and ist shadows.

Yet all this is part and parcel of good communications, about which all those pious words have been uttered, often by those very managers who have house journals – if they have them at all – which look, read and are about as useful as last year´s railway timetable.“

The first European statistical survey was published.

1971: Council meeting in Vienna (September).

main topics: 

• to promote scientific research on industrial journalsim and communication and training for industrial editorsto stimulate the quality of the house journal and other media of internal communication by contests
• to maintain contact with other international non-governmental organisations, employer´s associations, trade unions and government authorities

1973: 9º Congress Paris

Eduard Scherz from Switzerland is the new president.

1976: 10º Congress Bern

Maintheme of the Congress was „Information – Communication – Cooperation“, more than 500 Delegates came, including USA, Canada, South-Africa and the Philippines

The new president is  Rolf Kittel, Sweden

Member fee was 1 DM per member, or 0, 5 Euro.

1977: Executive meeting London

Council meeting in Scheveningen, Holland

1978: Executive met in Belgium, the Council meeting was in Helsinki. 

1979: 11º Congress Stockholm

302 Delegates came,

President was Fernand Poot, Belgium, the next congress was meant to be in Brussels

Apllication from Greece for membership.

1981: Council meeting in Vienna, 12 Members, A, B, Dk, SF, F, D, GB, I, NL, N, S, CH

1982: 12º Congress Scarborough

President Dr. Willi Meier, Siemens AG Germany, he followed Fernand Poot of Belgium

1983: Council Meeting in Arhus, Denmark. Members at this time: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Norway Sweden and Switzerland. It was a difficult year for Sweden and they considered the withdrwaing from FEIEA, but had decided to remain as member by a majority of just four votes. Also Norway, Denmark and Switzerland reviewd their membership.

It seems that this last year was very hard for FEIEA and that thefuture of the European association was in doubt. In the BAIE news from 1983 was mentioned, that FEIEA had enormous troublewith the budget, with an extra support of Great Britain, France and Denmark they survived. The subscription was 1 Euro at this time, but those countries paid more to save the association. The Scarborough Congress had attracted a very large turnout of European countries and this gave FEIEA new support. Norway and Finland have merged their house journal editors associations with the public relations associations.

1984: Council meeting in Paris

1985: 13º Congress München

President Dot. Paolo Benzoni

1988: 14º Congress Bologna

President: Jacques Dehedin, France, he was followed by  Ghyslaine Pertusot

1990: Councilmeeting in Madrid, FEIEA has two new members: Portugal and Hungary

1991/2: FEIEA Grand Prix 1st edition (Paris / France)

1992: 15º Congress Paris

President: Christian Fessard, Suisse

1993: Council meting in Copenhagen, Belgium is again – after a five years pause – a full active member. 

1994: FEIEA Grand Prix 2nd edition (Award Ceremony in Crans Montana, Suisse)

1994: 16º Congress Crans Montana

President Jose Gonzalez, Spain, because the next congress was supposed to be in Sevilla,  due to major problems he was the first president who was dismissed in 1996. The next president Alan Peaford, Great britain, took over the presidency one year earlier, but this was also the reason that the statutes have been changed, the presidency should no longer be combined with the congress, the next president was elected by the Council

1996: FEIEA Grand Prix 3rd edition (Award Ceremony in Den Haag, Netherlands)

1997: FEIEA Grand Prix 4th edition (Award Ceremony in Billund, Denmark)

1997: 17º Congress Billund

1998: FEIEA Grand Prix 5th edition (Award Ceremony in Lisboa, Portugal)

1998: Council meeting in ljubljana, Slovenia.

1999: Council meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden, the first election of the next president, Dr. Birgit Snizek from Austria

2000: 18º Congress London

2002: Council meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Birgit Snizek was elected for a second term, the statutes have been changed

2003: 19º Congress Eindhoven – cancelled

1999: FEIEA Grand Prix 6th edition (Award Ceremony in Gotheborg, Sweden)

2000: FEIEA Grand Prix 7th edition (Award Ceremony in London, United Kingdom)

2001: FEIEA Grand Prix 8th edition (Award Ceremony in Salzburg, Austria)

2002: FEIEA Grand Prix 9th edition (Award Ceremony in Ljubljana, Slovenia)

2003: FEIEA Grand Prix 10th edition (Award Ceremony in Vienna, Austria)

2004: FEIEA Grand Prix 11th edition (Award Ceremony in Bern, Switzerland)

2004: start of the FEIEA Academy in Bern

2005: 20º Congress Brüssel, 50th anniversary

2005: FEIEA Grand Prix 12th edition (Award Ceremony in Brussels, Belgium)

2005: Council meeting in Brussels, Belgium, for the election of the next president, Daniel L. Ambühl from Switzerland

2006: FEIEA Grand Prix 13th edition (Award Ceremony in Vienna on the 13th of October, Austria)

2007: FEIEA Grand Prix 14th edition (Award Ceremony at Sheraton Park Lane Hotel on the 9th of November in London, United Kingdom)

2008: FEIEA Grand Prix 15th edition (Award Ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland)

2008: Council meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, for the election of the next president, Steve Doswell from the United Kingdom

2009: FEIEA Grand Prix 16th edition (Award Ceremony in Podčetrtek, Slovenia)

2010: FEIEA Grand Prix 17th edition (Award Ceremony atthe House of Industry on the 15th of October in Vienna, Austria)

2011: FEIEA Grand Prix 18th edition (Award Ceremony at the prestigious Landmark Hotel on the 17th of November in London, United Kingdom)

2012: FEIEA Grand Prix 19th edition (Award Ceremony at the UBS Conference Centre on the 7th of November in Zürich, Switzerland)

2013: Electoral Council meeting in London, United Kingdom, for the election of the next president, António Rapoula from Portugal (between the 16th and 17th of February)

2013: FEIEA Grand Prix 20th edition (Award Ceremony on the 28th of November in Brussels, Belgium)

2013: Council meeting in Brussels, Belgium (29th of November)

2014: Presidents’ Summit in Lisbon, Portugal (between the 14th and 15th of March)

main decisions:

• It was decided to mantain the same acronym “FEIEA” with a differente name: “FEIEA – European Association for Internal Communication”
• It was decided to assumes the signature: Connecting internal communicators since 1955
• To elect 3 major projects: FEIEA’s Grand Prix, the Eopean Certification project called EPIC and a study of European internal communication trends

2014: Daniel Ambühl (President of the FEIEA Council) and Carlos Manuel de Almeida (FEIEA’s Secretary General) were invited as speackers at the 8º World Public Relations Forum in Madrid.

2014: FEIEA Grand Prix Judgment Weekend in Lisbon, Portugal (between the 10th and 12th of October)

2014: FEIEA Grand Prix 21st edition (Award Ceremony on the 13th of November in London, United Kingdom)

2014: Council meeting in London, United Kingdom (14th of November)

2015: Launch of the FEIEA’s new website and new identity (16th of June 2015)