Jump-start your conference experience by attending these interactive and practical workshops. These information-packed sessions are a great opportunity to network with fellow attendees while taking a hands-on, common-sense approach to mastering strategic internal communications strategies that will enhance your understanding of the informative, case study presentations throughout the entire conference.

*** Choose ALL FOUR for Maximum Value and Learning ***

"I've Chosen My Communication Tools, Now What?" How To Develop And Implement Compelling Content For Your Internal Communications Strategy To Drive Employee Engagement

You’ve narrowed down the tools you want to use for your internal communications plan – that’s a great first step. Now, how do you go about creating content to utilize those tools effectively?

In this workshop, you will be guided to greater understand the ins and outs of creating compelling content for use in your internal communications. You’ll learn practical approaches and tips to developing content that grabs the attention of your audience, allowing you to not only share your message, but more importantly, to create a personal connection that opens the door to further communication. Case studies will be presented to illustrate how video content was created and implemented for internal communications purposes, and demonstrate how in some cases, this content can serve double-duty as an outward-facing strategy.

• Create a content strategy
• Develop compelling content that your audiences want
• Create content that utilizes social media tools including Yammer, Facebook and You Tube to communicate with your audience where they’re spending their time
• Implement video content in a wide range of internal communication approaches: from emails and newsletters to online magazines and beyond
• Apply these approaches to your specific content needs

WORKSHOP LEADER: Denise McKee is COO at AboutFace Media Inc. AboutFace is a content marketing agency that creates short form documentary videos for their clients, and then optimizes that content for use within social media. Specializing in the documentary genre, their directors are award-winning filmmakers whose work has been screened at Sundance, South by Southwest and the Tribeca Film Festival among others. Clients include Sears, Kmart, Wilson, CNH, 3M, Trek Bikes, Quill, Florida Tourism and The Merchandise Mart. Denise speaks at events across the country on the topics of social media video content strategy and distributed web marketing, and has presented alongside companies including YouTube, Microsoft, Nike, IBM, and Ford.

Testimonials From AboutFace Media Inc. Sessions:

"I love the group interaction—it forces conversation that makes me think outside the box. I’m taking back some great commentary and “arguments” to our senior leaders."

"This was so good. Great information, great collaborating, and I have tools to take home."

"Denise was great!! :) Absolutely useful! I know what my homework is now. Thanks!"

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Afternoon break/lunch on your own

12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
PRE-CONFERENCE AFTERNOON WORKSHOP B

How To Use Social Media To Advance Your Internal Communications And Advance Your Brand: A Step-By-Step Process

Social media has become an organic part of companies’ daily communications and an integral way to both advance brands and measure impact. Though engaging in social media has become less of an option for companies and more of a necessity, it can be difficult to know how to effectively get the results you want. As with most successful initiatives, leveraging the power of social media involves starting with a well thought out strategy and an understanding of the investment required. How do you make sure you’re getting the right return?

• What it means to effectively be ‘social’
• What the most impactful social media platforms are and why you should be using them
• How effective measurement can be part of your organization’s plan

The world of social media is continually expanding and growing, providing endless opportunities for those who strategically join the conversation. There are also unique codes of conduct you may unwittingly break at the risk of your brand if you’re not careful. Impactful social media programs begin within an organization and flow outward. This session will examine how to organically use social media to engage and empower your employees, and in the process, have them become some of the most important brand ambassadors your organization has.  In addition, you will learn how to maintain your brand’s voice and incorporate your core messages.

WORKSHOP LEADER: Marisa LeVeque is a senior strategist at Siegel+Gale, and has worked with clients in a wide variety of industries spanning healthcare (Baylor Health Care System, Emblem Health,), technology (McAfee, Microsoft, Yahoo!), logistics (Penske, Agility Logistics), energy and utilities (Southern California Edison, FMC Technologies), gaming (Activision, Sony PlayStation), agriculture (Dow AgroSciences), professional services (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLC) and nonprofit organizations (Aidmatrix) on brand strategy, naming, alignment, and interactive initiatives, including mobile and social media strategy. Prior to joining the strategy group, Marisa was a business development analyst, responsible for prospect research, marketing strategy and lead generation.

Change Management: Communicating And Connecting For Results

As a business leader, it’s never enough to simply be heard. It’s not even enough to be understood. Whether you’re talking up, down, across or outside of your organization, your meetings, events, speeches and conversations must move others to change. Whether it be one-on-one or one-on-one thousand, leaders must create change when every time they talk.

In this challenging, engaging, and highly-interactive workshop, you will be introduced to the to his “Delta Communication Model” -- a powerful strategic methodology for driving results in any important business communication.

• A compelling and strategic thinking and planning process for selecting ideas and images that move others to action one-on-one or one-on-one thousand
• The psychology and physiology of greater comfort in challenging communication situations
• The physical choices each must make to express greater authority, commitment and connection
• The power of committing to genuine presence and connection
• The liberating possibilities of life without PowerPoint

WORKSHOP LEADER:  Dan Sapp has almost 20 years experience consulting and coaching with senior executives and their teams.  In 1997, Dan founded Dan Sapp & Associates and quickly gained a reputation for his ability to help executives brand their leadership through their impact as communicators.  With Dan’s help, his clients have raised capital, closed deals and secured funding for hundreds of millions of dollars. Dan has lectured at Berkeley’s Haas business school’s executive education and Masters in Financial Education program, the UCSF Investor Relations Program and Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. For years, Dan worked with Bob Joss, then Dean of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford and he currently consults with the dean and the development team at the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley. His current and recent corporate clients include the international architectural firm Anshen + Allen, The Stanford Center on Longevity, Silicon Valley Bank, Mellon Capital Management, CMEA Venture Partners, private equity firms JIM Equity, Hellman & Friedman LLP as well as Ernst & Young and many others.

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Afternoon break/lunch on your own

Linking Communication Measurement To Your Business Strategy To Deliver Results

Executives usually ask for one of two types of help from communicators: to create a communication tool or to increase awareness/understanding of a topic. This session will help communicators get beyond communicating just for awareness or understanding of broad organizational messages, to communicating more specifically and concretely to deliver business results by measurably influencing your audience’s behaviors.

• Determining which stakeholder groups are most important in helping to achieve a particular goal
• Identifying the ideal behaviors for each stakeholder group to reach the goal
• Discovering through informal research which knowledge and attitude messages are contributing to the current (incorrect) behaviors and which messages would better motivate the ideal behaviors
• Choosing the best channels for the ideal knowledge and attitude messages, and especially finding the balance between traditional and social media
• Setting measurable objectives for the messages, channels and desired behavior outcomes
• Using measurement to demonstrate achievement of those objectives

WORKSHOP LEADER: Angela Sinickas is President of Sinickas Communications, Inc. (www.sinicom.com), a consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations achieve business results through focused diagnostics and practical solutions. An award-winning organizational communicator since 1974, she has been measuring the effectiveness of communication since 1981. She wrote the manual "How to Measure Your Communication Programs" and has developed a range of Communication Starter Kits on CD-ROM and online modules available by subscription that provide tools for communicators to conduct their own focus groups, surveys and strategic planning.

Rave Reviews From Past Sinickas Communications Sessions:

"She was the best presenter of the whole conference. Very, very good
information and covered depth of subject."

"Very good. There was a great deal of information provided that can be
used immediately in my workplace."

"Measurement of employee publication content is a great idea!"

"Very enthusiastic presenter. She made the issue clear and easy to grasp.
Measuring results seems possible!"