8:00 a.m.
Registration & Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m.
Chairperson's Welcome & Opening Remarks

Jacqueline Taggart, Senior Consultant, Communication and Change Management
Towers Watson

8:40 a.m.

Building Your Internal Brand To Motivate Employees, Develop A Positive Culture And Create A Winning Organization

Canada has been one of the fastest growth markets for American Express' international business. It's no coincidence that the company also ranks high in its internal employee engagement scores and has received external recognition from programs like the Canada Awards for Excellence and listings of the best employers in the country.

American Express Canada places strong emphasis on building employee engagement and runs a robust employee communication program that considers its own people as a key target audience. To reach this audience, they have created an internal brand that serves as a motivational rallying cry for their workforce.

• Building employee engagement, commitment and motivation using a focused internal communications program built around your core brand philosophy
• Applying the principals used in building your external brand to developing a clear proposition for internal audiences that supports the development of a positive culture and winning organization

David Barnes, Vice President, Advertising, Sponsorship and Communication
American Express Canada

9:30 a.m.

How To Leverage Social Networks To Engage, Educate, And Build Awareness With Employees And Consumers

In 2007, RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) committed $50 million in water protection projects globally. The company uses a combination of traditional communications vehicles as well as social media to share its story both inside and outside of the company.  In the early days of the RBC Blue Water Project, the company used rich, interactive Quiz Polls to educate employees and the general public about sustainable fresh water use.

Last year, it ramped up its use of social media to launch the first ever RBC Blue Water Day, engaging RBC’s 78,000+ employees in their 'Adopt a Project' and ‘Facebook Fan Challenge’ campaigns.  These campaigns were light-hearted ways for the company to provide information about RBC and water to employees, while also creating an easy way for employees to share the RBC Blue Water story with their network of friends and colleagues through Facebook.

From this groundbreaking initiative, you will hear about the challenges, successes and metrics and behind the efforts at RBC, and be able take their learnings back to your own organization.

Lynn Patterson, Director, Corporate Responsibility
RBC

Steven Green, President
Pollstream Inc.

10:20 a.m.

Break-Out Blitz! Network And Discuss Strategic Internal Communication Challenges With Your Fellow Conference Attendees

This session will open the conversation by connecting you with other conference participants and gain greater understanding into many similar issues, concerns, and challenges that your peers are also facing. Become acquainted with your fellow conference attendees in this fun and fast-paced forum!

11:20 a.m.

How To Integrate The Latest Communications Channels -- Twitter, Facebook, YouTube And More -- And How You Can, Too

Social media tools are being used to reach various audiences to address strategic business needs including: function and brand marketing; promotion of employment opportunities to specific target groups; effective and efficient collaboration across a geographically dispersed audience; and knowledge retention and access.

For the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry, the benefits of using these new tools have included: the ability to communicate with, and target information delivery to, a specific audience; representation of a modern, organizational culture; engaged internal staff; horizontal information gathering, consolidation, sharing, analysis, and retention of dispersed corporate knowledge; multi-stakeholder client collaboration and access to large knowledge brain-trust; document control.

• Involving key internal participants
• Explaining and demonstrating the strategic business value
• Fostering business enablers, such as appropriate policy framework (security, access), right technology, ensure Executive and corporate support
• Recognizing that social media is one of many communication tools and the tool must be appropriate for the target audience
• Understanding participation objectives (optional vs. mandatory) and the culture of adoption

Dr. Andy Fyon, Director, Ontario Geological Survey, Mines and Minerals Division
ONTARIO MINISTRY OF NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT, MINES AND FORESTRY

12:10 p.m.

How To Get Your Employees To Understand Your Strategy And Deliver The Promise You Make To Your Customers

Good organizations ensure that their business strategy is communicated to every single employee. Outstanding organizations harness the power of communication not only to tell employees what the strategy is, but to engage them it delivery.

• Create a line of sight between each employee and the strategic goals of your organization and positively impact employee engagement
• Distinguish between messages that resonate and messages that don't
• Measure employee engagement and comprehension against your bottom line

Jennifer Arnold, Director, Communication and Marketing
Bentall Kennedy (Canada) LP

1:00 p.m.
Lunch On Your Own -- But Not Alone!

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.

2:30 p.m.

How To Use Internal Communications To Get Buy-In From A Large And Widely-Dispersed Staff

In December 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted far-reaching reforms on human resources management impacting the Organization’s global 44,000 strong workforce. To conform with the General Assembly decisions, the Office of Human Resources Management is responsible for implementing an ambitious reform agenda covering: contractual reform, the harmonization of conditions of service across the global Secretariat, the launch of a Talent Management tool replacing existing Headquarters and Field Human Resources systems, the launch a new Performance Management system and a new Learning Management System. These are daunting change management efforts that span from 1 July 2009 to the end of 2011, possibly 2012, which significantly affect the way human resources are managed by the UN which, in turn, will affect the way Staff perceive the Organization.

To support these efforts, a communications strategy was developed to inform staff across the global secretariat of the several human resources change management initiatives under way; explain the rationale for change and the need to adapt to a new working environment; explain and educate staff on the policy reforms and what implementation and other forthcoming actions.

• Create a global information campaign that is straightforward and interactive to engage as many staff as possible in a timely and continuous manner
• Get buy-in from a multicultural, geographically-dispersed 44,000 strong workforce
• Win over feelings of doubt, cynicism and fear

Miguel Mourato Gordo, Senior Management Officer
UNITED NATIONS

3:35 p.m.

Nurturing Your Internal Allies During Major Organizational Change To Strengthen Employee Engagement

As internal communicators, you have a responsibility to connect employees with the notion that their existence counts. But the need to control information from the top – stemming from a range of fears, some reasonable, some not – often leads to unnecessarily heightened secrecy, which can alienate employees from business strategy and change. As a result, employee buy-in comes too late or not at all.

This session urges you as internal communicators to influence your organizations to involve employees in the bigger picture whenever possible, even when confidentiality stakes are high. You will gain tips and tactics for managing the highs and lows of transparency, learning from one communications’ team’s efforts to engage employees in a major company change.

Hear why sharing as much information as possible, without overloading employees, can pay off – even instill a sense of loyalty and pride strong enough to reinforce the confidentiality that was sought in the first place!

Amy Diaz, Communications Specialist
FortisBC

4:25 p.m.

Telling The Story To Inform And Engage Your Team

For a company with a dispersed presence in North America – 130 stores, head office, design center, manufacturing facilities and a large distribution/warehouse operations center – Roots Canada attaches great importance to keeping all its employees on the same page. Vital to the brand’s success is updating its staff regularly in a lively, informative manner about the ever-evolving world of Roots.

As a high-profile company with not only compelling products but also a rich culture and a strong involvement in the community, Roots takes pride in its heritage, diverse activities and many achievements. To nurture a winning spirit and sense of belonging among its staff, Roots uses various channels for creative company-wide communication. One of the most effective vehicles has proven to be a colour magazine, produced in-house and sent to every employee. Since it was created in 2005, it has greatly strengthened the sense of community among Roots staff in addition to other spin-off benefits.

During this session, you will learn about the components that go into each issue, why it’s proven so effective and how the same rudiments behind it can be applied to any business or organization.

Robert Sarner, Director of Communication and Public Affairs
Roots Canada

5:15 p.m.

End of Day One

5:20 p.m.

Networking Reception: Please Join Us!

We invite you to join us for a drink as you relax with your peers. All conference 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 Toronto's fine dining while you continue to network with your colleagues.