Something we’ve noticed over the past couple of weeks is a real desire for more face-to-face contact, with clients and contacts alike, increasingly enthusiastic about in-person meetings rather than Zoom.It was also evidenced by the enthusiasm for our January reception with Senator Jane Hume, where we had a record turnout despite the lurking pandemic. It showed that people wanted to get out and socialise again, catch up on the latest developments and were looking for face-to-face contact.Things were not entirely back to normal, however, and we had to be flexible with our planning, format and approach. For example, linking to Senator Hume by video (which she handled brilliantly) in case sudden travel restrictions were imposed and she became stuck in Sydney. And, because of social distancing rules, instead of having the usual cocktail party format we were forced to have a sit-down reception.But it gave us a taste of things returning to normal, whatever that is. Overall we were relatively fortunate with our business operations in 2020. We managed to maintain services to our clients, we think quite successfully, as well as being active in new business development and reassessing our own business plans.There is no doubt that last year was stressful, disconcerting and extremely worrying. The way we had to work because of the pandemic was much different than before, and to a lesser extent still is, but we were motivated to analyse our business in light of the changed operating environment.We used down-time to re-evaluate. To work out how we wanted to be seen, what our strengths are, how we could continue to add value for clients, and to redefine (if necessary) where we wanted to go.This led us to decide to be positive and invest in the future, updating our five-year plan, deciding on a name change that better reflected who we are, moving to new premises, and employing another account manager to help us further strengthen and broaden our services.As a result, in January we started operating as PritchittBland Pty Ltd with Gabi Pool joining us in our new 20 Bond Street Sydney offices as an account manager. We have also developed a new website https://pbcommunications.com.au/ so please visit it and let us know what you think.We have regenerated ourselves to service our clients even better, to handle any hurdles that 2021 might throw at us, and are in a position to take advantage of the opportunities we are already seeing.One thing we found during the review was that we only needed to fine-tuned our strong commitment to clients. Our approach to service is a main pillar supporting our business.We base this on:

• Being part of the client team
• Being responsive, creative, disciplined and delivering what we promise
• Adding value above any contracted fees and service
• Conscientiously working to maintain and improve our reputation, work relationships, skills and knowledge to the benefit of clients
• Only being paid for hours actually worked on behalf of a client and not accepting any commissions or supplier incentives
• Committing to ethical behaviour.