Yes it’s been a busy old time at the Roof lately. And as a result we’re looking for a special someone to join our team over the summer.

Interested? Then read on:

Social Media and PR Intern

• Do you love social media?
• Are you a news junkie?
• Do you want to break into PR?

If you are active on all social media channels, have a burning passion for news and have to be the first to discover the next big thing. We want to hear from you.

Hot Tin Roof is a dynamic, ambitious and independent PR agency. Fast and furious, we create iconic reputations for pioneering UK companies. We have a powerful reputation for getting results offline and online for our clients.

Creative, intelligent and determined, we run our campaigns with skill, imagination and honesty. Our absolute loyalty to our clients, the energy and the gritty single-mindedness with which we tackle every campaign is the secret to our success.

We are currently looking for a social media and PR intern. This role will integrate online and offline PR.

The person we are looking for should be:

• creative thinker
• plain talker
• great writer
• news junkie
• internet savvy
• good fun
• massive energy
• obsessive attention to detail
• unflappable
• multi tasker
• enthusiastic with a passion to learn

The intern will work for two months over the summer with a view to being recruited at the end of the internship.

Key responsibilities:

• manage companies online presence
• maintain website content
• update blogs, social networks and forums
• distribute press releases
• research and engage with relevant blogs, websites and forums
• implement online partnership strategy
• conduct research
• general office administration
• assist with PR campaigns
• maintain and update our databases
• copywriting
• research
• produce documents, briefing papers, reports and presentations

This is the perfect opportunity for an enthusiastic person to get hands on experience and work at the cutting edge of online PR in Scotland.

Please send covering letter and CVs with your favourite film, book and icon to to cat@hottinroof.co.uk by Friday 18 June 2010.

Interviews take place w/c 28 June 2010.

Internship starts 12 July 2010.

The techy carnival is coming to town with TechCrunch and its ‘digital power broker’ Mike Butcher, hooking up with Informatics Ventures for Engage | Invest | Exploit 10 in Edinburgh on 12 May 2010.

This is the first TechCrunch Europe UK event to be held outside of London and its programme has attracted a prestigious line up of speakers and a powerful delegate list of the great and good from Scotland’s tech community.

Informatics Ventures is based in Edinburgh University’s School of Informatics and Engage | Invest | Exploit 10 is its third annual showcase of the most promising, high-growth companies spun out of leading Scottish Universities.

This year’s event will be the biggest to date with an exhibition of 50 start-ups and spin-outs from bio tech, clean tech, social media, gaming and mobile all in one place and in one morning. EIE is Scotland’s biggest opportunity for Informatics entrepreneurs and investors to meet.

During the TechCrunch afternoon sessions, Skyscanner’s Lara Bayley will be presenting on “Why Scotland for Startups?”; followed by fast pitches from some early stage local startups. A panel of entrepreneurs with Adtaily, Onedrum and Cloudsoft will discuss linking Scotland to Europe.

Andrew Nutter looks at “How to turn on an investor”; Rapid Mobile will cover “Mobile innovation in Scotland and finally a panel of investors will discuss “Investing in Tech startups in and beyond Scotland.”

We’ve done a roll call of Hot Tin Roof clients who are attending and we are almost at a 100% hit rate with MoneyDashboard, FreeAgent Central, EdgeCase, Flexiant, Civic and Informatics Ventures (naturally) all signed up. And of course, there’s no show without punch, so we’ll be there too!

Don’t worry – if you haven’t got your tickets yet – it’s not too late – just click here.

Sarah shares her frustrations after her flight is cancelled again.

So last night, I was a bit sad the holiday was coming to an end and the excitement of being stranded was fading. We went for our last meal together in Banff to Earls, one of our top eating spots and then stopped off for a nightcap in our hotel to say goodbye to our pal behind the bar.

But then back in the room we picked up Manchester Airport’s tweet that it had shut. We guessed straight away the flight would be cancelled and that suspicion was confirmed this morning by our lovely travel rep.

Oh dear. All hopes of returning home cruelly dashed. No prospect of rescue. Send help …

The novelty of being pampered and privileged refugees has definitely worn off. My husband Lee spent yesterday writing a presentation he was due to give to 200 fund managers next week. He was worried about presenting to such a big audience, now he’s not even sure he’ll make it there! Oh and he’s missing Jim Jones Revue tonight.

Katy, my nineteen-year-old daughter, should be spending this week preparing her portfolio of this year’s work so she can apply for entrance to second year at art college in Dundee. A year’s work is at stake and she needs to get back into the Studio. She’s missing her friends and judging by her chat she has had enough ‘family’ time.

Cartoons, Dr Pepper and Chunks Ahoy are keeping Joe’s (14) spirits high and missing his first day back at school doesn’t seem to have traumatised him too severely. Of course there’s a party on Friday back in Edinburgh and if that starts to look under threat things may kick off.

The beauty of my work is I can do it from anywhere and so far being away hasn’t affected me. The time lag is an issue but if I get up early and get all my calls done first thing it should be do-able.

The main issue for me is isolation from the office and clients – PR is all about generating ideas and opportunities – picking up on trends and news. Clearly this is not sustainable long term but surely the end is in sight?

What we need now is a big cork to stick in the top of that volcano.

PS – We got a mention in PR Week

Money Dashboard’s eagerly anticipated beta testing programme launches today. Testing is by invitation only and thousands of people have already signed up to take part.

For the first time testers will get a feel for how Money Dashboard will finally look when it launches next Spring. Users can aggregate their bank accounts, tag transactions and use the budgeting tools provided. A forum to provide feedback is also now live.

Money Dashboard is a free online personal finance service for the UK consumer. It brings a person’s bank accounts, credit cards, store cards and loans together on one screen – giving a clear up to the minute picture of their personal finances, making it the one place to manage your money.

Consumers can access the Money Dashboard application from any PC and by using it for just ten to fifteen minutes a month it allows them to track spending, set budgets and helps them save. It will also send email and text alerts of budget overspend, suspicious transactions or important events.

Independent of banks, building societies and lending organisations, Money Dashboard is the consumer’s friend. It puts people in control of their finances and helps them identify suitable products and ways to save.

The feedback from Money Dashboard’s testers will help shape the final product and ensure that it can put the UK consumer back in charge of their own finances.”

Money Dashboard will be rolling the service out to those that are currently signed up over the next few weeks – applications for access are still being accepted at www.moneydashboard.com/signup.aspx.

An open letter of thanks from Jackie Calder to the supporters of Wish For Rwanda

My goodness what an amazing start! And we haven’t even launched yet!!

Thank you to everyone who turned out in such fabulous style for Wish for Rwanda’s first fundraising fashion show and lunch on Saturday 28th November. Over one hundred of Edinburgh’s most glamorous ladies and gentlemen were there to help us raise money and create a real buzz about Wish for Rwanda.

The Christmas-themed event was held in the Balmoral Hotel and opened with a champagne reception. Clothes for the fashion show were provided by Booby Trap Boutique, John Lewis and Retucco. In addition to ticket sales, a charity auction and raffle raised money for the charity. Guests were also invited to leave personal messages on a wishing tree for a small donation.

My good friend and long-time supporter of Wish for Rwanda, Lisa Henderson, hosted the fashion show and took to the catwalk like a duck to water, ensuring the show ran smoothly and charming the crowd with her enthusiasm and good humour. Professor Gerda Siann, the Honorary Consul for Rwanda to Scotland, later joined her on stage for the auction and raffle.

Once again, thank you to everyone who has donated to Wish for Rwanda so far. Your contributions bring us closer to our target of raising £1million for the widows, widowers and orphans of the Rwandan genocide.

Our first project will be the building of a Health Centre in the district of Gasabo, near the capital city of Kigali. A health centre in this area will provide the community with stable healthcare and my vision is to provide well-equipped premises and trained medical staff.

We hope to build a brighter future through the introduction of clinics to educate the community about hygiene, child welfare, nutrition, family-planning and the avoidance of malaria and HIV/AIDS.

I hope to see you all again for our official launch event in the new year.

If you’ve been following the blog you’ll know that we’ve teamed up with new charity Wish For Rwanda. Set up earlier this year, the charity is aiming to raise £1million for Rwanda and it’s starting this month.

The first event will be a Christmas-themed fashion show and lunch at The Balmoral Hotel on November 28th. Guests will be welcomed with a champagne reception and models will be showing off this season’s must-haves from John Lewis, Retucco and lingerie boutique Booby Trap. For more information on the fashion show or to buy your ticket, please visit www.wishforrwanda.co.uk.

As well as gearing up for the fashion show, we’ve been getting the word about Jackie and her mission out to the media. Thankfully our hard work has paid off and the Edinburgh Evening News and The Daily Record both carried features on Wish For Rwanda this week.

You can read the Edinburgh Evening News story here and the Daily Record piece is online here.

Hopefully you’ll be sharing a glass of fizz with us on the 28th!

The last couple of months have been great for Hot Tin Roof so we’ve decided to pay our good fortune forward. We can now proudly announce that we’ll be donating our PR services to Wish For Rwanda, a new charity set up by Edinburgh’s very own Jackie Calder.

Jackie visited Rwanda in March on a study tour and she was struck by the hope and potential of a country in recovery. On her return to Scotland, Jackie founded Wish For Rwanda with the aim of raising £1million to deliver projects that will bring comfort and aid to the widows, widowers and orphans of the genocide.

The first project will raise money to build a Health Centre in the district of Gasabo, near the capital city of Kigali. Sessions will also be introduced to educate the community about hygiene, child welfare, nutrition, and family-planning. Hopefully, this will be the first of many such projects over the coming years.

Jackie is an events organiser by trade so she’ll be putting her skills to good use at Wish for Rwanda’s first fundraiser in November. Watch this space for more details or visit www.wishforrwanda.co.uk.

The Fringe may be over but there’s no time to relax as we’re getting busy with our work for next week’s EdTwestival Local.

Taking place in cities across the world, global Twestival events bring together Twitter followers to raise money for charity while having fun.

Having worked with organisers of the inaugural EdTwestival in February 2009, we’ll be running the PR campaign and raising awareness of the second event in the press and online.

Twestival Local, the second Twitter festival, is set for Thursday 10 September and hundreds of events, held around the world, will fundraise for charities in their area. EdTwestival will be held at Electric Circus on Market Street in support of local children’s cancer charity, CLIC Sargent, following a vote by Edinburgh Twitter users.

Entertainment on the night will include sets from The Banana Sessions, Cornelius Pierce, Chutes and Calamateur.

Hot Tin Roof’s Chris Welton will also be appearing on Leith FM on Tuesday 8th September to promote the event so tune in to hear more.

To buy tickets for the event visit http://www.amiando.com/edtwestlocal.html.

Don’t worry, there’s not a swarm of bees taking over HTRHQ, it’s just the buzz exuding from the team as we get going with our newest arts client, Gecko Theatre Company.

The high profile physical theatre group have signed us up to promote their show The Overcoat at The Fringe. It’s their fourth visit to Edinburgh and starting tomorrow evening they’ll be headlining at the Pleasance Grand. Set in an office, it is an epic tale of romance, greed and desire and the story is told using dance, physical theatre and cinematic imagery.

We’ve got five pairs of tickets to give away to the festival-goers with the most outrageous office romance confessions. To be in with a chance to win just email your stories to gecko@hottinroof.co.uk or post them on our Facebook page. The competition closes on August 16th and the cast will choose the winning entries.

There’s a lot planned for Gecko while they’re here so you can keep up with their movements via Twitter and on our blog. We’ll all be heading down tomorrow for the opening night so if you have tickets we’ll see you there.

Listings info
Gecko present ‘The Overcoat’

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard, Grand Venue 33
Dates 13-29 August (not 18, 25)
Time: 17.20 (ends 18.40)
Tickets: http://www.edfringe.com/ticketing/detail.php?id=16257

It’s smiles all around the office this week as we’re pleased to announce that Hot Tin Roof has won the account for Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA).

It’s great news for Hot Tin Roof as we’ve worked hard over the last few months to build a strong presence in the arts sector with campaigns for Museums and Galleries Scotland, Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre and The Fringe.

Located amidst the hustle and bustle of Sauchiehall Street, CCA is a unique space for artists to explore their ideas and push their boundaries. The only organisation of its kind in Scotland, CCA is vital to the continued growth of the arts in Glasgow so we can’t wait to start raising awareness of the opportunities it offers artists and the community.

CCA is an icon of the Scottish arts scene and over the last few years it has reversed its fortunes, achieving financial stability and developing a ground breaking open source model for the arts. We’re proud to be part of the team.