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: I can work with your organisation in more depth, to review and improve your marketing and social media, 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.” ”
All my social media training is aimed at helping organisations navigate the volatile post-X social media landscape, using multiple channels together to deliver meaningful engagement rather than empty numbers.
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.)
Learning outcomes include:
•Understand how to align social media with wider knowledge and library service goals
•Understand strengths, weaknesses and demographics of key social media channels, in order to evaluate and select platforms to focus time on
•Establish a professional but engaging tone online, tailored to your particular library sector
•Recognise key factors in driving engagement and interactivity online, rather than simply broadcasting routine updates
•Design accessible digital content
•Make the most of limited time and resources with social media
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.
reputational resilience: handling online hostility and trolling
1.5 hour | How to encourage and then manage engagement with your social media, especially when covering difficult conversations around controversial topics, or themes which encourage trolling online. The aim is to develop a toolkit for first categorising, then responding to (or not) problematic online interactions.
Social Media for FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
Half-day or full-day | This workshop is aimed at researchers, post-docs and project comms leads who are having to navigate the post-X, fragmented social media research landscape. How to satisfy funder dissemination requirements, reach policymakers and key communities, and build genuine research impact, without spending all your time on social media.
Social Media for University Departments and Professional Services
Half-day or 2 hour | This workshop is aimed at Academic Departments and Professional Services using social media in Universities. Practical guidance on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Bluesky.
Social media for academic libraries / Social media for public libraries /Social media for health libraries / Social media for school and college libraries
Half-day or full-day | The same core content as Purposeful Social Media For Libraries (above), but in sector-specific, focused versions.
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!!” ”
lean Strategic Marketing: maxmising reach on restricted budgets
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. The workshop assumes teams are operating with reduced staff and have no budget for ad spends.
proving your value: internal marketing and advocacy
1-hour | A session on marketing upwards: how to articulate the value of the library to Leadership of the institution and demonstrate impact.
Marketing with Video: Youtube, tiktok, reels and beyond
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.
brand and branding for non-profits
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?
Introduction to marketing your library service
2-hour or 1-hour | Keeping things simple; audience insight and empathy, framing messages, marketing in campaigns. Suitable for people marketing their service within a library, or marketing the library as a whole.
Strategic Marketing for OA Publishers
A version of the workshop aimed specifically at publishers rather than libraries, covering both campaign marketing and social media.
Marketing academic libraries / Marketing public libraries / Marketing health libraries / Marketing school and college libraries
Half-day or full-day | The same core content as Strategic Marketing (above), but in sector-specific, focused versions.
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, pitching and teaching
““I’ve been to many, many workshops + seminars and this was by far the best - interesting, engaging and very useful. Thank you!” ”
standing out from the ai slop: creating human presentations
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. Whilst everyone else’s presentations look the same, stand out by not using GenAI or Canva…
Interactive teaching and audience engagement
Half-day | Focusing on freely available tools to help you interact with your audience, in-person or online, to create active learning workshops. 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.” ”