Communication is a two-way business and we are always glad to hear from members at any time about anything appropriate. And if you're not sure whether it is appropriate or not, please feel free to be in touch. We are here to serve you and genuinely enjoy member contact!
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But we specifically want to hear from every one of you that we have all your contact details correct, and that information about your principal job and place of work is correct too. We have a heightened responsibility under the Data Protection Act to ensure the personal information we hold about you is accurate.
Several hundred of the 4,000+ who received the February eNewsletter responded straight away by clicking on the links and rapidly updating two forms which are a priority for us. If you haven't done that yet, and do have internet access, please go to the homepage at www.cmf.org.uk. At the top of the left hand sidebar is a bar for member admin; if you click on that, in addition to the smiling faces of the central services team, you'll see a bar for membership changes. Please click on contact details and confirm your data there, and then on professional details to confirm or update. The two should only take you a couple of minutes. Thank you!
CMF is subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act and is registered with the Information Commissioner (no. Z1341734). Your personal information will only be used for CMF ministry and administrative purposes, and is subject to our Data Protection policy and procedures. If you don't have email or internet access, and think some of your details may have changed, we'd love to hear from you by letter or by phone (020 7234 9671).
If you have an email address that we don't yet know, please do let us have it. If you haven't told us so far because you're concerned about being overloaded, you don't need to worry. You won't get more than two emails a month on average, and the content will always be clear from the description in the subject bar. Our emails are well focused and use links so you can spend as long or as short a time on them as you want.
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We also want to be serving you effectively with the material we publish in our periodicals:
- Triple Helix
- CMF News
- CMF Files
- Nucleus (for students) and on the CMF website, www.cmf.org.uk.
Ten years ago we conducted a limited survey of what CMF members read and what they wanted. The technology has moved on a long way since then, and we again want to know what sort of material you want and how you want it presented. Somehow, we all seem so much busier, and the digital revolution means there are so many options competing for our limited attention.
We want to offer you more audio material – short clips to listen to there and then, and longer pieces to download for your iPod. We want to offer you short pieces of relevant video. We are progressing rapidly towards the launch of new CMF media options, but really would value your opinions so we can scratch where you or those you know may be itching. Everybody for whom we hold an email address will therefore shortly be receiving an online questionnaire. When it comes, please complete it. Thanks again! We are still finalising our strategy for surveying those with whom we do not have email contact.
Telling them: more broadcasts than ever
In the first two months of this year, CMF staff have done more than 80 radio and TV broadcasts, compared with about a dozen for the same period last year. These have mainly been about end of life issues, and a growing number are international programmes in many different parts of the world.
New Head of Communications needed for 2011
A new department Head will be needed from spring 2011 when I retire. We are not yet clear how all the components of hte current job should be divided, but a medically qualified person would certainly be required for the 'ethics and public policy' aspect. If you want to explore this possibility, please be in touch.