8:00 a.m.
Continental Breakfast & Networking

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

David Moorcroft, Principal, Co-founder
Strategy2Communications
Conference Chairperson

8:40 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.

9:10 a.m.

Creating Communications Strategies and Approaches to Build Engagement And Drive A Culture Change Across A Diverse Stakeholder Group

The introduction and effective implementation of strategic corporate initiatives often require a significant change in an organization’s culture, and culture changes cannot be mandated or forced.

MMM Group Limited, a 2,000-person consulting firm, recently unveiled a dynamic new strategic plan and new mission, vision, and values. As MMM team members comprise many different disciplines and are located in locations across Canada, it was important that communications and engagement initiatives spoke to them directly – addressing their specific concerns and ensuring that they felt a part of the changes and were engaged around the changing corporate culture.

During this session you will hear about the range of approaches and initiatives MMM Group used to ensure that diverse internal stakeholder groups embraced the culture changes to proudly live the brand.

You will gain insight into how to:

• Ensure that the concerns and motivators of various diverse stakeholder groups are understood, and that that understanding is used to develop appropriate communications strategies that address them
• Develop creative communications tools and programs that reach internal stakeholders in the ways that speak to them most directly
• Introduce outlets that allow passionate brand messengers to share their pride in the organization and showcase their contributions

Cathy Spark, Director, Marketing and Communications
MMM Group Limited

9:40 a.m.

Questions, Feedback, Collaboration

9:50 a.m.

Creating Chemistry With eTV –Employee Television To Engage And Connect Employees Across A Global Organization

With almost 113,000 employees worldwide and close to 385 global production sites, BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Its products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life.

The company’s size and breath create numerous opportunities but it also generates challenges - BASF, like many companies, is constantly seeking new ways to leverage its global know-how by engaging and connecting employees working across the country and around the world.

In 2011, BASF Canada developed and piloted eTV, an employee video blog available on site LCD screens and the company intranet. Employees from across the country were invited to introduce themselves, discuss the importance of safety and share ideas for making BASF better. Despite skepticism that employees may be unwilling to step in front of the camera, the pilot experienced tremendous success, with over 25% of the Canadian workforce recording videos in less than three months.

In this session, you will hear the grassroots strategy behind eTV, the tactical development and the benefits the organization has derived from introducing this new communications medium, including how to:

• Cultivate an internal community across a global organization
• Innovate the way your company communicates
• Foster employee visibility and enhance your organization’s entrepreneurial culture

Oleta LaRush, Communications Manager
BASF canada

10:20 a.m.

Morning Refreshment & Networking Break

10:30 a.m.

How To Use Social Media To Be Authentic And Engaging, Both Internally And Externally: Having A Flexible Style Within A Rigid Framework

Nestled in an increasingly urban setting – Canada’s official fastest growing city – Conservation Halton tows the line between a government regulatory agency and a community organization focused on recreational activities, conservation, and education. They’re never more than a tweet, “like,” or follow away.

Conservation Halton is an environmental agency responsible for flood control, environmental planning, forest management, ecological monitoring, education, and recreation. Their stakeholders are varied, and their staff is just as diverse. Furthermore, they encourage their staff to become official social media contributors as well as brand ambassadors, with some explicit guidelines and policies of course.

Much like the environment they strive to conserve for people, what good is social media without those very people?  So how does Conservation Halton make the conversations rich and the digital experiences of their fans and followers worthwhile?           

The modest answer is as follows: by being authentic, responsive, and by making an effort to be a part of the conversation, rather than just managing the conversation. They do this by engaging their staff to contribute to social media content – it is internal communications with a twist!

During this session, you will learn how to apply 5 social media objectives to your own programs, including how to:

1. Lend authenticity to social media content by nurturing the writer within us all
2. Show off wins, peer-to-peer, by using public-facing social media to internally demonstrate staff talent and breadth of skills within the organization, and encourage others to do the same
3. Enhance collaboration by temporarily breaking down inter and intra-departmental silos
4. Encourage personal brand management for both staff, career-development and organizational recruitment
5. Boost morale by overcoming the fear of negativity on social media, and focusing instead on the level of public engagement and enthusiasm, i.e. people aren’t just pleased with the organization; they are pleased with YOUR efforts

Hassaan Basit, Director, Communications and Marketing
Conservation Halton

11:00 a.m.

Benchmarking your Intranet:
How social is your business?

Today, the tools we use at home are starting to disrupt traditional work practices and technologies, including how we think about the corporate intranet.

According to Prescient Digital Media, a leading web and intranet consulting firm, 71% of organizations have at least one social tool available to some or all employees. The most popular being instant messaging, blogs, discussion forums, wikis, and user commenting. But while the data suggests we are maturing in our adoption of social, satisfaction rates vary greatly. Many organizations still suffer from sub-par intranets with poor usability, governance, and continual problems regarding content and search.

In this session, you will:

• Learn from Prescient’s Global Intranet Study (and more than 650 organizations) on the prevalence and extent of social technology usage
• Discover the barriers preventing organizations from implementing a social intranet effectively and the 10 steps you can take to address them
• Hear how NII Holdings (formerly Nextel International) rebuilt their intranet and transformed their business using social, mobile and cloud technologies

Andrew Dixon, Senior Vice President
Igloo Software

Adam Wasserman, Senior Consultant
Prescient Digital Media

11:30 a.m.

Questions, Feedback, Collaboration

11:40 a.m.

Leveraging Internal Communications Technology and Strategies To Drive Associate Engagement, Efficiency and Performance Across A Diverse Audience

In a recent survey of our associates, 88% felt that internal communications has improved or significantly improved over the course of the last 12 months. Internal communication at OfficeMax Grand & Toy is complex because some of our associates are “connected” through emails and access to our intranet while others have limited access to computers and emails or in some areas none at all. The complexity of connecting with such a diverse audience has led us to take a multifaceted approach to deliver internal communications.

Just over two years ago, we rolled out SharePoint as the communication and collaboration platform for OfficeMax Grand & Toy.  The initial implementation focused on using the technology to deliver a dynamic corporate intranet.  As the implementation has evolved we are now leveraging the flexibility and power of the SharePoint environment to develop “solutions” to address business efficiencies, share best practice, drive engagement and empower our associates to perform at their best.

During this session, you will hear about the technology, the strategies and tactics that have helped us to achieve significant improvements in internal communications. In addition, you will gain valuable insight into how to:

• Leverage the features of the SharePoint platform to create collaborative portals that enable business units and teams to deliver a higher level of customer service internally and externally
• Use content such as in-house videos to communicate results and train associates nationally
• Use tools such as streaming video webcasts to communicate and update our associates nationally on key corporate strategies and objectives

Lil Sawyer, Internal Communications Manager
OfficeMax Grand & Toy

12:10 p.m.

Communications As
A Change and Strategy Enabler:
How You Can Get A Seat At The Table To Help Your Organization Grow And Your Career Thrive

Communicating business strategy and major change is at the core of the value we provide as communications professionals.  Yet, many of us are not at the table to help our organizations improve this critical communication need.  As a result, many organizations continue to fail to connect their business strategies with the jobs on the front line that are so critical to implementing it.

Why has it been so difficult to help our organizations communicate strategy and change? How can we change the way we do business to claim our place at the strategy table?

Through a case study of a major Canadian energy supplier, you will hear how traditional communications was not doing the job on its own. It found successful communication to drive strategy and effective change was driven by leadership signals and business actions. Formal communication – CEO letters, online magazines and social media – were needed to reinforce these signals.

This session will show you the shifting importance and role of communications inside organizations and how it is increasingly relied upon to help drive successful change and strategy execution. It also provides useful tips on how to build your skills to help you transition your role within your company from tactical implementer to change and business strategy enabler.

You’ll learn how to:

• Position and use communication as a mechanism at the foundation of business strategy and alignment
• Mobilize organizational leadership signals as a powerful communication medium driving business change
• Identify and use your personal strengths to deliver unprecedented strategic value to your organization

Chris G. Anderson, Principal, Co-founder
Strategy2Communications

12:40 p.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

12:50 p.m.
Chairperson’s Recap: Key Takeaways And What To Do When You Get Back To The Office

We’ll recap the highlights of the past two days and ask you to share key insights and next steps with the group.

David Moorcroft, Principal, Co-founder
Strategy 2 Communications
Conference Chairperson

1:00 p.m.

Close Of General Sessions

2:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m.

COMPLETE YOUR CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE WITH POST-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP D
Take the information you gained from the general sessions and focus on your individual needs and applications.  You will leave this hands-on workshop inspired and ready to embark on your own social media journey.

How To Integrate Social Media Into Your Internal Communications Strategy: A Step-By-Step Process To Achieve Your Organization's Objectives

The social media phenomenon has gathered a significant amount of momentum over the last few years. Just about everyone wants to rollout social media, but not everyone understands how to do so most effectively and how it can significantly enhance the internal communications within an organization.

Does the brave new world of social media and Web 2.0 excite as well as concern you and your organization?

Given the runaway popularity of Twitter, Mashups, Facebook, blogs, and many other web-based forms of communications and networking, perhaps you have been wondering about the possibilities and the risks for your organization?

Join this interactive workshop and learn proven ways of identifying the right technologies, or social media platforms, like Yammer, Google docs, Jive, Igloo, and Newsgator to achieve your organization’s strategic objectives.

In addition, you will:

• Learn how 1400+ organizations from all around the world are using Intranet 2.0 tools. A Social Intranet Study (sponsored by IABC Research Foundation) will be shared and will give you an exclusive look into how and to what extent organizations of all sizes are using social media on their intranet. The global perspective of the survey, will allow you to develop a new understanding and appreciation for intranet 2.0 tools that is difficult to attain elsewhere
• Review case study examples of blogs, wikis and other social media tools from IBM, Cisco, Sony, Siemens, and others
• Gain knowledge from lessons learned and get key recommendations for undertaking an Intranet 2.0 and internal branding initiative
• Discover the exciting promises as well as the challenges of using Web 2.0 tools
  

WORKSHOP LEADER: Carmine Porco, Associate Partner at IBM, has over 18 years of experience in the areas of Internet consulting, IT management, and software development.