I have a huge amount of experience helping libraries, cultural organisations and University departments find confidence, techniques and new ways forward. I aim to provide a comfortable, supportive atmosphere in which to learn and develop new skills, and everything in my workshops is designed to be applicable right away, as soon as you return to work.
I lead workshops for training organisations across multiple sectors, and I also run bespoke sessions for individual institutions. I’ve worked with over 100 clients including Jisc (“It was very easy to follow and Ned was really engaging. Interactive too with questions in the chat. Simple, specific, easy takeaways that we can implement”), the British Library ("...this course was excellent, one of the best courses I have attended at the BL... ALL the content was useful - Ned was excellent. I have already recommended this course to colleagues!”), the NHS (“Fantastic training session, so useful... Best course I have been to in a long time”), and the Bodleian Libraries ("The best course I ever have been on"). There’s a larger list of clients on the homepage, across multiple cultural sectors and from 15 countries.
My training can be in-person or online, and covers three broad areas detailed below: social media, strategic marketing, and presentation skills.
Photo by Andy Priestner
Marketing and UX Consultancy: occasionally I have undertaken full consultancy with an organisation, working with them to review and improve their marketing, or provide user insight via UX fieldwork. If this is something you’d like to explore, please send me an email.
““Very, very worthy use of my time, and enjoyable too! This will spur me and my colleagues on to continue improving our social media practices. Excellently organised and delivered course. Thank you.” ”
PURPOSEFUL Social Media FOR LIBRARIES
Full-day or half-day | How to reach and engage with your communities; tone and voice; content types; coordinating the platforms; and analytics. Focus on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky and Facebook. (This workshop has also been adapted for Archives, Museums, and other non-profit orgs: just ask if you’d like a variation.)
Managing difficult conversations online
2 hour | A workshop on how to encourage and then manage engagement with your social media, especially when covering conversations around controversial topics, or themes which encourage trolling online.
Bluesky for libraries, archives and museums
Half-day or 2 hour | A workshop offered due to the exploding popularity of Bluesky as an alternative to Twitter / X. If your organisation is ex-X, Bluesky now offers a genuine alternative, and we cover what works, what doesn’t, starter packs and custom feeds, posting media, and examples of successful accounts.
Social Media for University Departments and Professional Services
Half-day or 2 hour | This new workshop is aimed at Academic Departments and Professional Services using social media in Universities. With the impending demise of X (Twitter) where should we be focusing our efforts in HE from now on? Practical guidance on Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky.
Instagram for Libraries
Half-day or 2-hour | Instahacks! Understanding Instagram’s many types of content (Grid Posts, Reels, Stories); what works and what doesn’t; interactivity; content types; analysing success. I also run a less library-specific version of this, aimed at organisations across the GLAM sector, and non-profits.
Introduction to Social Media
Half-day or 2 hour | This workshop is aimed at organisations (or people within organisations) using social media in a professional capacity for the first time. It covers what the main platforms are; how they differ from one another and how they work together; setting up accounts and building audiences; and content types.
Feedback for social media workshops
““Ned Potter was a very engaging speaker and structured the session perfectly, taking us through the best practice for each social media tool. I have now discovered new analytical tools that will be useful in improving our library’s social media engagement. He also offered very useful advice in terms of what content is purposeful to put out on social media.” ”
““Fantastic! The hands-on exercises were useful - not only did they help the learning to sink in but they encouraged us to think about real workplace-based ways in which tools could be used. The content was all very relevant because you had investigated what we already do/use. It all felt new and exciting.” ”
“”I really enjoyed the day, opened my eyes to lots of new tools and made me realise that digital marketing doesn’t have to be Facebook””
“”Really enjoyed the day - I enjoyed the mixture of listening and hands-on practical work.I liked the relaxed style of the day. I learnt a lot and came away filled with ideas for better/new usage of social media. Thanks very much - really beneficial day.” ”
““Fantastic day again with Ned Potter. Lots of ideas, really knows his stuff. Really helps you choose what will work best for your library.” ”
““I’ll be bringing loads of new things back to teach others. I’m bursting with ideas. Great content, all legitimately relevant. Lots of good tips. I agree that everything Ned taught us can be used immediately as opposed to just talking about future trends like a lot of presenters do. Super practical!!” ”
Strategic Marketing
Full-day or half-day | Understanding brand and branding; how to frame messages and choose platforms; understanding your audience and using UX to inform marketing; analysing impact; marketing in campaigns. Participants will work on campaign marketing document in the session, to take away and develop with colleagues.
brand and branding
2-hour | A session focused entirely on the organisational brand. How do we find out what our brand is now, what do we want the brand to be, and what are the key tools in making that happen?
MARKETING UPWARDS
1-hour | A session on internal marketing specifically: how to articulate the value of the library to Leadership of the institution.
Introduction to Library Marketing
2-hour or 1-hour | Keeping things simple; audience insight and empathy, framing messages, marketing in campaigns.
Marketing with Video
Half-day | Creating effective video marketing using freely available tools. Using software like Adobe Spark; screen-capture; using PowerPoint to create video; getting the most out of YouTube; and traditional horizontal video versus the vertical video of TikTok, Instagram Reels and YT Shorts.
Creating engaging online content and writing effective newsletters
2-hour or 1-hour | The library website and library emails are two of the last remaining marketing tools we can fully control, unlike so many social media and video tools. Writing for websites; newsletter tools; crafting effective newsletters and updates - develop a digital marketing toolkit for creating content online.
NEW: Strategic Marketing for OA Publishers
A version of the workshop aimed specifically at publishers rather than libraries, covering both campaign marketing and social media.
Feedback for marketing workshops
““Lots of useful information presented in a fun and clear away. I came away with my head buzzing with ideas for things I wanted to do, learn more about, or information I wanted to pass on to colleagues.” ”
““Comprehensive and useful, at a level that is readily understandable. Lots of useful tools to take away. Really, really valuable. Great presentation style. Relaxed and informative, lots of practical examples and visuals” ”
“”Thank you. I learned a ton and will start using it immediately. So useful.” ”
““I loved the content. It made sense, it was practical, and gave me lots and lots to think about. Best thing: we’ll DO something with it!” ”
““Make the speaker come more often for different subjects. Ned Potter was super!” ”
““Very well delivered and paced. Ned was really engaging and the workshop was definitely useful and thought provoking. Really enjoyable session, I left with a lot of respect for Ned’s attitude and advice on communications and felt that it was really helpful to hear from someone who actually understands libraries and how librarians work!” ”
““My thanks for your wonderful workshop – it was more than useful, it made me think very hard about some of the preconceived ideas I didn’t even realise I had about Library marketing!” ”
Presenting and creating presentations
““I’ve been to many, many workshops + seminars and this was by far the best - interesting, engaging and very useful. Thank you!” ”
Presentation Skills
Full-day or half-day | Golden rules of creating presentation materials, different slide-making methods, PowerPoint and alternatives to PowerPoint, presenting itself and making your message stick.
Interactive Tools for Presenting and Teaching
Half-day | Focusing on freely available tools to help you interact with your audience, in-person or online. Includes Menti, Padlet, Google Slides, and creating interactive PowerPoint.
PowerPoint is your Secret Weapon
Half-day, 2-hour or 1-hour | In-depth hands-on time with PowerPoint, a surprisingly versatile tool which can make brilliant posters, digital content for screens and social media, and video, as well as presentations.
Alternatives to PowerPoint
2-hour or 1-hour | Hands-on time with newer presentation tools such as Sway, Prezi and Google Slides.
Feedback for presentation skills workshops
““Fantastic course, wonderful trainer. One of the best training sessions I have ever been on! Presentation and pace was perfect with plenty of time to try things out.” ”
““I will definitely become a better presenter it was a really worthwhile training event. 10/10” ”
““I found the day very useful - a very practical session with time for hands-on practice and a lot of good advice given. I have heard a lot of about Ned’s presentation expertise. He was great!” ”
“”I was not expecting to find this course interesting, as I despise bullet points and white-background PowerPoint presentations that make my eyes hurt, but this was the exact opposite. It has actually made me look forward to practicing the skills I learned, and doing presentations. The instructor was excellent and his advice was spot on!” ”
““I found this session very useful indeed and will be using all the tips to help improve my presentation skills. For me it was the perfect balance of information, activity, and experimentation. Hugely enjoyable, when are you coming back??” ”
““I would definitely offer it to other colleagues as I feel the techniques covered are ones that could be practically incorporated into working practice i.e. they’re not just a gimmick to do once to show you’ve attended the workshop, but something that you can build in to your presentations to continue that search for best practice and therefore better experience for attendees – whether they’re students, staff, or members of the public.” ”