8:00 a.m.
Registration & Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m.

Chairperson’s Welcome & Speed Networking

Become acquainted with your fellow training attendees in this fun and fast-paced forum!

9:15 a.m.

Understanding Where Social Media Is Today And Where It Is Heading

The Ontario Ministry of Labour is one of the country’s leading government departments in the field of social media use. It is now in its fourth year of including social media in its communications planning and execution. The ministry has seen success over success using social media as a public service, and has been applauded internationally on its work.

The rising question at the ministry and other early adopters is “now what?” What does the future hold in the short, medium and long range? Is social media a passing fad or here to stay in government communications? Is social media a specific job title or a skill set now needed for all communicators? Are any of those people making predictions on the ball, or just speculating? Hear where the ministry’s Social Media Planner expects the Ministry of Labour will be going tomorrow and beyond in the realm of social media.

In this session, you will learn:

• Options for thinking about the future of social media in your organization, short, medium and longterm
• How to sustain internal staff interest in social media, and at what level
• The kinds of daily routines and standards to make on-going social media operations efficient and not burdensome

Bruce Skeaff, Social Media Planner
ONTARIO MINISTRY OF LABOUR
@OntMinLabour

9:45 a.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

9:50 a.m.

Shifting From One-Way Messages To More Meaningful Two-Way Conversations: Using New Media To Increase The Effectiveness Of Your Communications

Beginning in 2010, BC Assessment (BCA), a provincial Crown corporation, realized they needed to begin to embrace new media tools. After attending a social media training session in 2011, BCA gained the confidence they needed to begin to formulate a strategy to implement new media within their agency.

Starting first with internal tactics such as Intranets, blogs, video and discussion forums, BCA’s efforts quickly expanded its online toolbox to include YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and a QR Code to its online toolbox. Within a year, BCA was recognized as having the world’s best Public Information Campaign in 2012 by the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) – the property assessment industry’s most influential organization. Providing easily accessible self-serve information through new media channels helped reduce assessment appeals by 25% in 2012.

In this session, you will find out how BCA is shifting its social media efforts from strictly one-way messages to more meaningful two-way conversations in the natural evolution of its business and customer service delivery.

Through BCA’s experiences, you will leave this session with ideas on how to apply some of the same principles to your social media strategy.
 
John Barry, Manager of Corporate and Online Communications
BC ASSESSMENT

10:20 a.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

10:25 a.m.

Morning Refreshment & Networking Break

10:45 a.m.

Digest Session: Your Training Goals

This is your chance to discuss with fellow attendees and speakers what your most pressing social media concerns are and what solutions you hope to gain during this training.

11:15 a.m.

How To Incorporate Social Media Into A Comprehensive Strategic Communications Program Using A ‘Go Slow Approach’ -- And Measure Your Success

For a variety of reasons, many organizations continue to be cautious about implementing social media. In this session, you will hear about the myths and realities of integrating social media into public sector operations from Halton Region, an acknowledged leader in the municipal world for successfully integrating social media in all aspects of communications planning.

In 2009, the Region achieved senior management buy-in to move forward with a ‘go slow approach’ to launching social media. Since that time, there’s been nothing slow about it! Through the Region’s successes (and failures), some common myths about implementing social media have been challenged and overcome, such as:

• “But people will say bad things about us”…possibly, but the positive outweighs the negative
•  “We don’t have the staff”... neither did the Region, but they made it happen
• “We might fail”…the Region did, and they’ll tell you about it as well as the many lessons learned along the way
• “You can’t measure success”…social media fits into the evaluation of every communications plan and goes beyond likes and followers

This informative session will provide you with the knowledge you need to integrate social media into your communication strategies and will help you gain an understanding of some of the common issues to consider when using social media tools in a government environment.

Carleen Carroll, Director Strategic Communications
HALTON REGION

11:45 a.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

11:50 a.m.

How To Deliver Key Information To A Wide Range Of Stakeholders Using Multiple Social Media Tools, In A Highly Secure Environment

The Delta Police Department (DPD) is an independent municipal police agency in Delta, British Columbia. DPD uses social media to deliver key messaging to various audiences utilizing different strategies. Because Delta Police has a wide-range of stakeholders looking for different types of information, their social media strategy does not include a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. DPD allowed its social media strategy to grow organically and focused on being flexible and nimble in order to ensure authentic messaging to specific audiences.  
 
During this session, you will hear how DPD worked its way through the multitude of social media platforms to determine what worked best for their community.  You’ll also gain some insight on how DPD manages the risk of security and firewall protection with the need to reach out to the public and maximize efficiencies.
 
You will leave this session understanding how to:

• Evaluate risk versus reward in a highly secure environment
• Determine the best social media tools to relay your message to the appropriate audience
• Manage new media accounts effectively
• Manage chaotic situations

Melissa Granum, Manager, Public Affairs and Corporate Planning
Ciaran Feenan, Media Relations Officer
DELTA POLICE DEPARTMENT, DELTA, BRITISH COLUMBIA

12:20 p.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

12:25 p.m.
Lunch On Your Own -- But Not Alone!

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

2:00 p.m.

While there is no way to protect employers from all the risks associated with using social media, when you educate your employees about the nature of social media and set out clear expectations and guidelines, the risks can be mitigated.

During this session, you will learn how the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) developed their social media guidelines to respond during a crisis and the evolution of their social media centre of excellence.

By the end of this session, you will know how to:

• Develop social media guidelines to handle a crisis
• Structure your organization for social media success
• Plan your next steps to continue the conversation

Eric Lowe, Senior Social Media Strategist
BCLC

2:30 p.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

2:35 p.m.

How To Engage Your Employees With A Social Intranet

Great people are the backbone of great organizations and at BC Hydro, they know that every watt of electricity used by their customers is made possible by each and every one of their employees. Engaged employees are your organization’s key ambassadors – they amplify messages about your organization, its culture, and its products and services, and their engagement builds confidence in your company and your brand. Internal social tools are efficient, instant and measurable ways to connect with employees.

To inform, engage and connect with their employees, BC Hydro launched its first social intranet last July introducing tools, such as profiles, commenting, ratings and alerts. With the growing use of social features, their communications teams are evolving and adapting their communications tactics and senior leaders are paying more attention to what employees have to say.

How can you leverage your own intranet to engage employees, bridge regional divides and create an inclusive, transparent culture? This session outlines examples of how to effectively integrate social tools into your communications planning, specifically, how to:

• Turn people connections into business connections -- examples of how internal classifieds ads keep your employees networked, safe and productive.
• Support safety culture -- ways to connect employees that promote safety and knowledge sharing.
• Bridge regional divides -- incorporating social features that encourage sharing from all areas of your organization.
• Create an opportunity to gauge public response -- tools that provide a pulse check on corporate communications before the message goes external.
  

Christina Ferancik, Intranet Business Lead and Communications Advisor
BC HYDRO

3:05 p.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

3:30 p.m.

Casual, transparent and non-bureaucratic aren’t the first words that come to mind when people think of a Crown corporation. Yet that is exactly how the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) hoped to come across when launching their Twitter account.
 
ICBC uses just one staff member to engage with their customers on social media in order to communicate correct information with the public, provide customer service, manage their reputation, and bring a face to a company just proving that it doesn’t take much to get started using social media!

You will leave this session with practical tactics on how to create a social media platform that successfully represents your organization, including how to:
 

• Shorten the approval process in order to respond in a timely fashion
• Communicate with your audiences online in a manner that is casual, yet professional
• Reach multiple demographics with a variety of messages
• Mitigate the fears of risk-adverse senior management
• Establish a privacy policy for your audience while providing effective customer service

Karin Basaraba, former Senior Communications Specialist at ICBC
& current Account Manager at PR Associates
INSURANCE CORPORATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

4:00 p.m.

Your Opportunity To Ask Questions

4:05 p.m.

Digest Session: Connect The Content

You’ve heard from a number of speakers, now we’d like to hear from you. Network and discuss with fellow training attendees and speakers what social media tools you’re using to communicate with citizens and where you have found the most success.

4:30 p.m.

Day One Wrap Up

4:45 p.m.

Networking Reception: Please Join Us!

We invite you to join us for a drink as you relax with your peers. All training attendees and speakers are welcome to join us for this special opportunity to continue networking. Don't miss this chance to benchmark new ideas over complimentary drinks!

Sign up during the day for dinner with a group. Take advantage of Vancouver’s fine dining while you continue to network with your colleagues.