8:00 a.m.
Continental Breakfast & Networking

8:30 a.m.
Chairpersons' Opening of Day Two

Jacqueline Taggart, Senior Consultant, Communication
Adam Wootton, Senior Consultant
Towers Watson

8:45 a.m.

Using Digital Networking To Visualize Your Corporate Goals, Communicate More Efficiently And Increase Employee Morale

In today’s competitive marketplace, corporations must leverage innovative technology to keep employees at the top of their game. Digital networks help to create a dynamic environment for employees and visitors by effectively broadcasting a company’s corporate brand, mission and message.

• What to consider during the installation and integration of digital signage within your existing corporate infrastructure – best practices and avoiding common pitfalls
• How to best design and develop content broadcast on the network – including tips on how to take advantage of free or low cost / high quality existing content
• Exploring the various stakeholders, and properly addressing their needs for digital networking
• How to take advantage of recent advances in the technology to reduce costs, increase effectiveness, and minimize ongoing manpower requirements

This session will also highlight the latest innovative technologies, including audio equipment, digital signage and software that can be used to build a corporation’s digital network. Many organizations are effectively using this technology to break through the clutter and address communication challenges.
 
We will take a close-up look at several organizations (with actual content examples) who have used this technology to:  build their brand and welcome important visitors; effectively track sales goals, revenue and stimulate performance; communicate with employees spread over large geographic areas; increase employee morale and build organizational unity; reduce workplace accidents by effectively communicating safety procedures and motivating production workers.

You'll leave this session with new ideas on how to integrate or build a corporate digital network into your own communications plans.

James Fine, President
Telecine Multimedia

Tom Nix, Vice President, Americas and Oceania
Scala

9:30 a.m.

Empowering Your Employees To Be Social Media Champions - - How To Tap Into Their Strong Potential To Boost Your Company’s Online Presence

If used correctly, social media can be a powerful tool for engaging with your company’s internal and external stakeholders. However, many companies fail to include their greatest advocates in their social media initiatives – their employees. Employees can be your brand’s best evangelists, and there are numerous tactics for ensuring that you’re taking full advantage of their strong potential to help boost your company’s online presence.

• Create a social media usage policy that encourages social media usage in the workplace and does not stifle engagement among employees
• Provide ongoing education and professional development resources to ensure that employees are aware of new social media platforms and communities
• Identify internal champions across multiple departments and company functions
• Encourage participation in LinkedIn groups, on the corporate blog, and other platforms
• Implement ongoing checks and balances to ensure consistent and successful engagement
• Provide opportunities for employees to engage and participate in the company’s social media initiatives (live tweeting from events, sharing company announcements, etc.)
• Educate employees on how to effectively maintain separate personal and work accounts

Leslie Campisi, Vice President & Partner
Affect

10:35 a.m.

How To Leverage An Integrated Communications Strategy - - Including Face-To-Face, Print And Your Intranet - - To Drive Employee Engagement And Results

Health Canada has had a renewed focus on internal communications.  The intrinsic value of internal communications and its ability to create a sense of belonging among employees, and as a result, improve performance, was becoming more and more clear.  New buzzwords like “employee engagement” and “workplace health” were becoming the norm.

Health Canada’s internal communications team responded with an energized approach seeking to reach employees on a personalized level, relate to them and increase accessibility to the information that would help them in their work and career.  The MY Story initiative, Heath Canada’s intranet, is an integrated communications approach that was developed to market Health Canada’s programs and services to employees through real stories and first-hand experiences.

• How to connect with a wide-range of employees from varied backgrounds and specialties
• Leverage a variety of print, face-to-face and electronic vehicles to increase engagement
• The roles both frontline supervisors and senior leaders play in supporting internal communications with employees
• The importance of research in building an effective approach

Linda Watson, Manager of Internal Communications
Nadine Boudreau-Brown, Director, Corporate and Internal Communications
Health Canada 

11:20 a.m.

Experiencing Explosive Growth: How Your Organization Can Leverage Social Networking To Become A Social Enterprise

Salesforce.com, like many companies around the world, were stuck using antiquated technologies to collaborate and communicate internally. Most of these technologies were created before Mark Zuckerberg, the Co-Founder of Facebook, was even born, so the company realized something had to change. The consumer web had shown Salesforce.com a better way to stay in touch with what really mattered in their private lives using social networking, yet when employees showed up at work they were stuck with email, file servers, and stale intranets.

In this session, you'll hear how Salesforce.com revolutionized their own internal technologies to become the fastest growing enterprise technology company in the world, with more than 80,000 customers.

• Ditch old technologies and embrace new ideas
• Approach social networking in your enterprise
• Get started fast for your company

Renny Monaghan, VP of Solutions
SALESFORCE.COM

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.

1:35 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.

How To Turn Your Organization Into A "Wow" Place To Work: Increasing Employee Morale And Leadership Involvement Through An Employee Culture Survey

Back in the day, 1997ish, the City of Kitchener, Ontario’s employee morale was at a low point. – an all time low point! In response, the City decided to do a survey to find out what was going on hoping to get some ideas on how to change things. So, a survey was developed, completed, analyzed, and then put up upon a shelf.

A decade later, the City still employed many of the same staff, but had a decidedly more positive culture. Nonetheless, they knew they had some problem areas that needed to be addressed. More importantly, they wanted to nurture a budding culture shift away from the traditional bureaucracy, toward a culture of leadership - where leadership is a verb, not a corner office. The answer was to exercise an "Employee Culture Survey" as the tool for reaching their goals.

Between January 30 and February 14, 2007, 1,328 City of Kitchener employees completed the Employee Culture Survey, delivered by Metrics@Work, a survey company based out of St. Catherines, Ontario. With over 80% of their staff taking the time to share their feedback through this important survey, the City achieved the highest response rate of any municipality! When they repeated the survey in 2009, their response rates fell only slightly and the head of the survey company told the City "You are a "wow" organization. Change your name to the City of Wow!"

Learn how your organization can support positive culture change through two-way  communication, regular and meaningful participation, measured action, and regular feedback. Hear how internal communications plays a major role in engaging employees, including how to:

• Engage your employees in discussion and problem solving – they want to participate and have much to contribute
• Capture the attention of your people through campaigns that will ensure promises will be delivered – and get their help in delivery!
• Create excitement around your survey, making your employees your "champions for a great place to work"
• Engage senior managers – have them commit through word and action to make those changes, as long as staff can help
• Track the progress of the results

Shelley Adams, Director of Strategic Planning and Innovation
City of Kitchener, Ontario

3:00 p.m.

Afternoon Refreshment & Networking Break

3:15 p.m.

Enterprise Web Conferencing: A New And Collaborative Way To Communicate In Real-Time With Your Employees Across The Globe

As the need for coordination and collaboration of efforts increases, new methods to share information and promote learning are vital for communicating throughout your organization. Future Electronics, a leading innovator in distributing and marketing semiconductors and other electronic components, operates in 169 countries and needs to communicate to their employees spread across 42 countries.

This session will focus on the implementation of a tool designed to improve communication through highly-interactive Web conferencing capabilities. This interactive method allows for highly-engaging, virtual training, cost-effective online meetings designed to enhance business collaboration across the globe for employees and outside business partners.

See how your organization can leverage technology to gain real-time social collaboration across the extended enterprise by facilitating connections between your people and resources.

Stacey Karpman, Corporate Vice President Worldwide
Strategic Planning and Human Resources
FUTURE ELECTRONICS

4:00 p.m.
Chairpersons' 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.