8:00 a.m.
Continental Breakfast & Networking

8:30 a.m.
Chairperson's Opening of Day Two & Presentation:
How To Use Collaboration Tools to Advance Your Internal Communications

In every government agency, there are situations when additional voices and experience are needed to help address key management issues. However, it is often difficult to get everyone in the same room, or even the same time zone, to collaborate on solutions.

Over the past several years, a number of platforms have been developed that will provide your agency with the tools needed to engage in joint discussions aimed at solving specific problems.

• Using various platforms available to foster dialogue and collaboration
• Involving internal stakeholders in a results-driven dialogue
• Creating and foster a culture of internal collaboration

Mike Panetta, Partner
BEEKEEPER GROUP
U.S. "Shadow" Representative, District of Columbia

9:30 a.m.

Inform, Recognize And Involve Employees: Using Electronic Billboards To Improve Employee Communication And Engagement Across A Large, Diverse Organization

In 2004, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) launched an internal communication program and quickly met the needs of the white-collar half of their employee population. Reaching blue-collar staff, who is typically passive information seekers, required different solutions. The electronic billboard approach, with the right content, measurably filled this need.

• Strategic uses for this communication channel
• Practical tips on cost-effective implementation
• How to use the data to keep your clients and upper management informed on your office's results
• How to craft messages that work with this channel
• How to measure effectiveness

Jeffrey Brooke, ABC, Director, Employee Communications Office
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

10:45 a.m.

How To Develop And Implement Value-Adding Internal Communication Strategies That Reinforce Organizational Priorities Without Adding Any New Costs To The Budget

As a major jurisdiction in the capital region, Montgomery County has doubled its foreign-born population in the past two decades, becoming a major immigrant gateway. Today, one in three of the County’s one million people are foreign-born, dramatically transforming the social, cultural and economic landscape of what used to be a suburban bedroom community to Washington, DC.

While the County has benefitted immensely from the intellectual capital, economic competitiveness, and cultural vitality of such a diverse population, the demographic shifts also demand a culturally competent government that reflects the communities they serve and can effectively communicate with and serve all its residents.

To improve cultural competency at every level of the government, the Office of the County Executive partnered with Human Resources in developing and implementing a series of internal communication strategies that reinforced organizational priorities and generated great value without adding any new costs to the budget.

This session will highlight the key elements of their internal communication
strategies, including:

• Consistent leadership communication on expectations and priorities through a variety of channels such as hosting public events, memos to employees, public statements and signing of an Executive Order to improve accountability
• A comprehensive, multi-part series on global cultural competency both in the community and at work, targeting managers, staff, and immigrant professionals to encourage learning and reasonable risk-taking
• Internal and external partnerships including cross-agency and cross-departmental collaboration, community involvement and using existing human capital to generate value in spite of budget cuts

Lily Qi, County Executive's Community Liaison
Anita Brady, Training Manager, Office of Human Resources
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND

11:30 a.m.

Developing A Social Media Strategy Starts Within And Can Be Used To Reach Beyond Your Traditional Audience

Health disparities have been, and continue to be, a public health challenge.  When it comes to cancer, these differences are particularly obvious as many members of special populations experience a greater cancer burden by some measures. In response to this, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) developed a unique communications component to reach these populations with important news and information about cancer.  It began as a radio outreach initiative to broadcast prevention and education information to those in Hispanic, African American, Asian American and Native American communities. In the past year, NCI’s minority outreach effort has reached new heights through pioneering and embracing social media.

For the Multicultural Media Outreach team, social media has actually served as a mediator to the minority communities as the feedback through social media has helped NCI tailor its outreach approach to be more culturally relevant.  The results from employing social media are promising, whether it be steady growth of followers on Twitter or hits for cultural cancer awareness ides on YouTube. Many aspects of the strategy developed for using social media for minority outreach can apply to internal audiences and other specialized audiences.

• Learning how social media tools can enhance and increase the reach of traditional media tools, including reaching special populations and communities
• Ways to tailor your information on social media, especially YouTube, as a way to personalize the broadcasting of important communications
• Learning how to use social media as a great way to point people in multicultural communities to government resources
• Knowing how to select the appropriate social media tools for special audiences -- one size does not fit all!

James Alexander, Public Affairs Specialist, Office of Communications and Education
NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

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

1:45 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 internal communications initiatives.

2:15 p.m.

Developing A Communications Plan To Prepare For And Respond To A Breach In Privacy

Like many organizations in the public and private sectors over the past decade or so, in 2009 the Federal Aviation Administration found itself responding to a breach that exposed the personally identifiable information (PII) of more than 45,000 current and former employees. Having never dealt with such a large-scale event, agency officials were charged with rapidly developing an incident response apparatus aimed at dispelling myths, sharing relevant information, and responding to inquiries from personnel.

Within weeks, agency executives at the highest levels met to devise and deploy a communication plan that addressed the information needs of the public, stakeholders, and employees. As hours became days, and days become weeks, many questions arose and most were answered. With whom do we need to communicate? What do they need to know? And how do we provide them with that information?

Following the immediate incident response effort, officials focused on maturing the agency's privacy outreach and education program in an effort to ensure all personnel who handle agency-held PII have the knowledge required to effectively manage information.

• How to effectively respond to a “crisis communication”
• Lessons learned from FAA agency officials in approaching this issue
• How to implement the FAA’s lessons learned into your own strategy and a “call to action”
• Ways to support privacy awareness and how you can mitigate threats

Carl Robert Lee, Outreach and Education Officer, Privacy Division
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

3:00 p.m.

Afternoon Refreshment & Networking Break

3:15 p.m.

Using Employee Engagement And A Powerful Brand Platform To Invigorate Your Internal And External Reputations

As the world’s largest manufacturer of coins — gold and silver investment, as well as commemorative — the United States Mint plays a crucial role in enabling commerce.

Some critical components of the bureau’s strategic mission include increasing sales of collectible coins, encouraging the use of the dollar coin, and boosting public understanding that the U.S. Mint is the only legal manufacturer of all American coins. In 2010, the U.S. Mint decided to invest in a new identity platform to improve public perception and to meet the challenges of these goals.
 
The key to strengthening the U.S. Mint’s visual identity was to reposition itself with an emphasis on employees. The public's understanding of what it does and sales of collectible coins were two areas that needed improvement. Working with Siegel+Gale, leadership at the bureau came to the conclusion that new employee-focused communications and activities could greatly influence its culture and ultimately, how it is perceived externally.

During this discussion, you’ll hear the strategies that can help your organization reposition their brand and develop their story-telling techniques, which turn employees into advocates. Specifically, you’ll learn about ways to:

• Engage employees using strategic “touchpoints” to reach and activate
  this important audience
• Help your organization understand and use its true voice to drive cost savings through one consistent visual framework
• Raise awareness and excitement about your organization by engaging key stakeholders
• Use clear and elegant visual communications
• Take advantage of new digital tools to help organizations realize their true potential

Mike Stojsavljevich, Chief Strategy Officer at United States Mint
U.S. MINT

Matt Huss, Senior Strategist
SIEGEL+GALE

4:00 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.

Mike Panetta, Partner
BEEKEEPER GROUP
U.S. "Shadow" Representative, District of Columbia