8:00 a.m.
Continental Breakfast & Networking

8:30 a.m.
Chairperson’s Opening Of Day Two

Jacqueline Taggart, Vice President
AON HEWITT

8:35 a.m.

How To Engage Your Employees So That Their Behaviour Represents Your Values, Mission, Brand And Business Strategy

Creating an authentic brand goes beyond developing a catchy tagline or eye-catching logo.  An effective brand encapsulates an organization’s mission, vision and customer promise.  Employees can be your organization’s best brand advocate yet many marketers ignore leveraging this powerful marketing resource. 

In this session, you will hear how Meridian, Ontario’s largest credit union, successfully fostered a highly-engaged and enthusiastic workforce that not only advocates the brand but lives it with every customer interaction.

More importantly in this session, you will hear how to outline how engaged your own employees so that they too play an instrumental part in driving business success. Since its creation in 2005, Meridian has aggressively grown its assets under management from $3 to $12 billion. Employee brand ambassadors were the secret ingredient that fueled this industry leading growth.

During this interactive session, you will learn how Meridian took five essential steps in creating an award-winning employee brand ambassador program, including how they:

1. Created a brand voice
2. Defined brand behaviours
3. Celebrated successes aligned to the brand
4. Created two-way communications programs
5. Managed employee engagement

Scott Windsor, Vice President, Corporate Communications
MERIDIAN CREDIT UNION

9:05 a.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

9:10 a.m.

Why Should You Give A Tweet About How You Communicate With Your Staff? How To Integrate Social Media Tools With Your Traditional Communications To Reach Your Employees More Efficiently & Effectively

APEX PR has been successfully implementing social media strategies for their roster of blue-chip clients since the advent of Web 2.0 and increasingly, those programs have included an employee engagement element. Yet, they were not “walking the talk” regarding their own employee communications program.  They were stuck in the habit of using their “tried and true” communication tools, such as weekly staff meetings and intranet updates, thinking that these were more in keeping with their 25-person agency culture.  But were they? 

In this session, you’ll hear how APEX PR took a long hard look at how (and what) they were communicating, what new and surprising social networking sources their staff were intuitively using to communicate with each other, and how we they could integrate the traditional with the digital to cultivate a more engaged and motivated staff that delivered on their bottom line expectations (an extra bonus!).

This interactive session will also delve into how they made their culture even better, what worked and what bombed.

Finally, you will learn about the value of:

• Empowering your staff to introduce new social media tools into internal communications systems
• Encouraging social media skill development that can benefit the bottom line
• Teaching old dogs new tricks without the pain

Linda Andross, President
APEX PUBLIC RELATIONS INC.

9:40 a.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

9:45 a.m.

Morning Refreshment & Networking Break

10:10 a.m.

Digest Session: Discuss And Brainstorm

Whether it’s a weekly update, emergency broadcast, or contest – every organization is looking to communicate in a more efficient way with their employees. Discuss and brainstorm with fellow attendees and speakers techniques you’ve had success with, or concerns you’re having, in communicating company information to your employees.

10:40 a.m.

How To Engage Employees Throughout Your Entire Organization

BASF Corporate Communications designed and launched the “We create chemistry” World Tour to build a shared baseline of understanding. In late 2011, BASF rolled-out its updated long-term global strategy, “We create chemistry.” Citing BASF’s global footprint, vast product portfolio and broad range of expertise, the strategy holds that the company is uniquely positioned to provide, through collaborative innovation, the functionalized chemistry innovations to sustainably feed, power, move, house and keep well a growing world population.

In this session, you will get a behind-the-scenes understanding of BASF’s the empirical impetus behind the tour, the strategic objectives, tactical development, execution as well as the measurement of results.

In this session, you will learn the strategies and tactics that were put in place to educate, engage, and inspire everyone about the “We create chemistry” World Tour. Specifically, you'll get an inside look at how BASF:

• Drove revenues and increased profitability
• Aligned 100,000 employees on six continents
• Drove culture change
• Built executive engagement that increased employee engagement

Robin C. Rotenberg, VP, Corporate Communications and Chief Communications Officer
BASF CORPORATION

11:10 a.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

11:15 a.m.

How To Develop A Social Media Plan And Craft An Engaging Narrative To Achieve Your Strategic Communication Goals: Objectives, Tactics And Success Measures

Conservation Halton isn’t your parent’s government agency. Nestled in an increasingly urban setting – Canada’s official fastest growing city – they tow the line between a government regulatory body and a community organization focused on recreational activities and public engagement. They’re never more than a tweet, “like,” follow, pin, tag, reblog or check-in away. Like the environment itself, what good is social media without the people that make the conversations rich and the experiences worthwhile?

Conservation Halton is an environmental agency responsible for flood control, environmental planning, forest management, ecological monitoring, education, and recreation. They do everything from issuing building permits to operating Ontario’s fifth busiest ski and snowboard centre. Their stakeholders are varied, and their staff is just as diverse. From engineers and ecologists to educators and administrators, they encourage their staff to become official social media contributors as well as unofficial brand ambassadors, with some explicit guidelines of course.

While their foray into social media has been cautious, it was never without a clear plan – several plans in fact. It’s all about having a flexible style within a rigid framework. As Facebook and Twitter became popular destinations for brands to showcase themselves and engage their customers in image-building, they took a strategic approach, complete with objectives, tactics and success measures.

You will leave this session with new ideas to integrate social media into your traditional communications, including:

• How social media is relevant to every organization
• The benefits of social media, even when your employees are not able to access it at work
• How to get started on Facebook and how to create a narrative around your posts
• How to overcome the fear of negativity on social media platforms

Hassaan Basit, Director Communications
CONSERVATION HALTON

11:45 a.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

11:50 a.m.

Digest Session: Engaging 21st Century Employees

Discuss what tools you are using in your organization successfully to inform and include your employees in the day-to-day tasks of your organization. Share common obstacles you have overcome in getting your employees involved.

12:20 p.m.
Lunch On Your Own -- But Not Alone!

Join a group of your colleagues for lunch with an informal discussion based on an internal communications hot topic. Take this opportunity to join others in a small, interactive group setting to network and brainstorm solutions to your most pressing internal communications concerns.

1:50 p.m.

Group Exercise: Brainstorm Solutions And New Ideas You Can Use

Interact and discuss solutions to your internal communications challenges with your fellow attendees and our experienced speakers. You will leave with new tools and hands-on experience and ideas for more successfully applying best practices to your own internal communications initiatives.

2:20 p.m.

Current Trends And What’s Next In Internal Communications

Social media, mobile, Intranet 3.0, employee engagement and now gaming! Join our expert speakers for this fascinating discussion and debate about the hottest trends in internal communications, what you need to do to prepare for the challenges ahead, and what’s coming next. How will the latest trends impact the traditional tools in the communicator’s toolbox? Don’t miss this chance to hear about the latest trends in internal communications and how they may shape your own future communication strategies.

Panelists:

Steven Green, Founder & President
TemboSocial

Shannon Ryan, President & CEO
non-linear creations, inc.

Jacqueline Taggart, Vice President
Aon Hewitt

2:50 p.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

2:55 p.m.

Stretch Break

How To Incorporate An Intranet Radio Station Into Your Toolkit For Improved Communications

Mary Washington Healthcare (MWHC) has launched the first-ever radio station dedicated to its internal stakeholders. This includes employees, physicians and new potential recruits. MWHC Radio is available via the internet at work, at home and on smart phones and is hosted on the organization’s internet site. All content can be managed in house while the agency manages the modified play clock.

MWHC has grown from a central campus, where its tertiary care hospital is located, to a multiple campus. This growth occurred rapidly, creating a gap in communications and in culture. 

After attending this session, you will be able to:

• Assess your organizational culture and communication needs to strategically consider internet radio as an effective communication channel
• Develop an internet radio strategy and platform
• Recognize the benefits of internet radio to garner senior leadership support

Kathleen Allenbaugh, Director of Communications
MARY WASHINGTON HEALTHCARE

Katherine Kammer, Managing Partner
THE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC

3:30 p.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

3:35 p.m.

Digest Session: Key Takeaways And What To Do When You Get Back To The Office

Discuss with fellow attendees and speakers what you will do when you get back to the office.

4:00 p.m.
Chairperson’s Recap:

We’ll recap the highlights of the past two days and send you home equipped with new tips and tools you can start incorporating into your communalization plan immediately.

Jacqueline Taggart, Vice President
AON HEWITT

4:15 p.m.

Close Of General Sessions