8:00 a.m.
Continental Breakfast & Networking

8:30 a.m.

Chairperson's Opening Of Day Two & Presentation:
Communications Best Practices To Ensure Employee Engagement And Customer Loyalty

Huge gaps exist between what most companies tell their customers they stand for, and how employees describe their workplace experience. The lack of integrity between customer and employee promises can cause disengagement on the inside and lack of loyalty in the marketplace. Bridging these gaps is one of the greatest points of value that communications can offer to the enterprise.

In this compelling presentation, you will be led through a series of pointed inquiries that can facilitate breakthrough thinking to improve both employee engagement and customer loyalty within your own organization.

Specifically, you will learn how to:

• Position communications as the catalyst to bringing brand promises to life
• Build a holistic organizational strategy, supported by traditional and non-traditional communications
• Engage and facilitate business partners through the process

In addition, you will walk away from this session equipped with best practices and creative ideas for each component of the communications effort.

Gordon Rudow, CEO
BONFIRE COMMUNICATIONS

9:30 a.m.

The Role Of Internal Communications In Organizational Transformation

Over the past 18 months, the employees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have sought to create renewed optimism in the face of an economic meltdown - from an unprecedented level of global poverty to pandemic outbreaks - all while navigating organizational change themselves.

Under the leadership of CEO Jeff Raikes and with Microsoft founder Bill Gates bringing focus to critical social issues, internal communication plays a critical role in transforming the organization to solve some of the world's most critical issues - poverty, disease, and education.

• Learn the role of internal communications in bringing greater organizational transparency, accountability and efficiency
• Understand how you can be a catalyst for cultural and operational change

Pamela Austin, Director, Internal Communications
THE BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

Caroline Sanderson, Senior Vice President, Social Innovation
WAGGENER EDSTROM WORLDWIDE

10:45 a.m.

Communicating And Connecting Employees To Your Business Strategy: An 'Entertaining' Corporate Intranet Makeover Story

Sony Pictures Entertainment lights up screens around the world with its film, television, home entertainment, and online content. In this session, you'll learn how the company revamped its intranet site to connect employees to the business of entertainment and the vision of its senior leaders.

• Taking an intranet from functional to findable and fun
• Putting the spotlight on its product and its people
• Making the call to use social media…or not to use social media

Erica Netzley, Vice President, Employee Communications
SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT

11:30 a.m.

Practicing What You Preach: How A Communications Firm Started A Worldwide Conversation Among Employees

As the world's largest independent public relations company, every day Edelman helps clients engage effectively with their many stakeholders, ranging from reporters, elected officials, consumers and their own employees. Thus, it only made sense that in 2009, the firm employed its own advice to engage 3000+ Edelman employees in rolling out a new strategy. The result was a 48-hour global "jam," an online discussion that drew 30 percent of the firm's workforce. Several factors helped make the Jam a success: senior leaders that moderated lively online debates, a complete online learning module that accompanied the discussion, and a novel - and somewhat unexpected - technique that generated buzz in advance of the Jam.

• Get social media-loving employees on board early to influence
  opinion and drive dialogue
• Crowd-source examples that demonstrate the company strategy in action
• Tap into leaders to set an example as discussion leaders and encourage
  their own teams' involvement
• Choose the right tool to host a global discussion
• Analyze employee dialogue for trends and adjust communications accordingly

Tamara Snyder, Vice President, Change & Employee Engagement
EDELMAN

Join a group of your colleagues for lunch with an informal discussion facilitated by one of our expert speakers. Take this opportunity to connect with others in a small, interactive group setting to network and brainstorm solutions to your most pressing internal communications concerns.

1:45 p.m.

Group Exercise: Brainstorm Solutions And New Ideas You Can Use

You asked for it, you got it! 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 communications and engagement initiatives.

2:15 p.m.

Learning The “Sweet Science” Of Message Balance To Inform, Educate And Inspire Your Employees

Cox Communications is an entertainment and communications company founded in 1962. The company has grown from a provider of solely cable video services into a multi-service provider of video, Internet, telephone and wireless services in less than 15 years. Obviously with that type of change for its more that 22,000 employees, internal communications is more complicated than ever.

There are numerous messages that need to reach employees on a regular basis. To help them navigate the immense amount of information necessary to service over 6 million customers and keep the company successful, Cox has invested heavily in internal communication. In this session, you'll get an inside peek at how Cox keeps their employees informed and engaged.

• Create and manage a communications ecosystem that cycles your messages and keeps them relevant
• Leverage Web 2.0 technology and multimedia to reach your employees and drive the message adoption you want
• Engage boundary partners to ensure their messages align with the overall organization
• Work with field and/or local counterparts to balance messages and ensure message consistency at a local level

Steven Barringer, Director of Internal Communications
COX COMMUNICATIONS

3:15 p.m.

How To Launch An Employee Engagement Strategy To Harness Employee Potential And Fuel Company Growth

In 1966, Alfred Peet started a revolution in coffee and tea. He was an artist and craftsman, whose legendary passion for the perfect cup forever changed the way people experience coffee and tea in this country. In fact, the founders of Starbucks learned to roast from Mr. Peet and their first stores sold Peet's coffee beans. Today, Peet's Coffee and Tea continues to be a leader in a dynamic and evolving specialty coffee and tea industry.

The challenge is to retain what made Peet's great while adapting to change, innovating and growing the business with integrity. To meet this challenge, Peet's launched an employee engagement strategy called Peet's Passions. The core idea is simple -- align people to a clear vision and growth strategy, then unleash their passion - individually and collectively - to get there.

• Create and communicate company values that support the company's growth strategy
• Connect employees' personal passion to the values of the company, or Peet's Passions
• Open dialogue that enables people to bring their whole selves to work
• Tailor implementation and communication plans to different audiences from the roasting plant to retail stores
• Build in operational reinforcement systems to sustain the change

Kristi McFarland, Sr. Director, Employee Engagement & Development
Cheryl Magat, Communications Manager
PEET'S COFFEE & TEA, INC.

4:00 p.m.

Communicating In A Storm Of Constant Communications: Focusing Your Message To Cut Through The Clutter And Deliver Your Key Messages Effectively - Including The Use Of Social Media

Does your target audience really want to hear from you? And if they do, how do you get your message heard above all others? And if they don't, how can you convince them to care!

Coldwell Banker Real Estate, a 104 year-old industry leader, has uncovered some great ways to deliver viable content to its nearly 100,000 agents.

With a franchise network and company-owned operations not forced to adopt brand initiatives, coupled with agents who are independent contractors, the Coldwell Banker internal communications team faces daily challenges.

• Showcase brand messages
• Explain brand strategy
• Promote internal news
• Deliver information about critical events

Learn the latest tips, tools and proven solutions to help you get your own key messages communicated and break through the clutter.

David Siroty, Senior Director, Communications
COLDWELL BANKER REAL ESTATE

4:45 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.