8:00 a.m.
Registration & Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m.
Chairperson's Address

The Good, The Bad, And The Uninformed: Effectively Communicating
Performance Information To Drive Organizational Performance

Performance information is some of the most valuable data an organization ever possesses. It has the power to motivate, the potential to avert disaster, and the incredible ability to align the efforts of thousands of individuals who might otherwise never cooperate to achieve anything. Unfortunately, in many organizations its value goes unrealized. Lacking real performance information, individuals often divide into three camps: those who claim everything is great, those who claim everything is terrible, and those who claim to know nothing at all. It’s the Good, the Bad, and the Uninformed.

Communications professionals hold the key to avoiding this spaghetti western outcome. By ensuring that every individual in the organization is kept up-to-date with relevant, actionable performance data, they can unleash the full value of performance data and create an organization where actions and outcomes are clearly linked.

In this session, you will learn how to:

• Work with executives and other stakeholders to clearly define the meaning of success
  
• Collect and manage performance information
• Report progress toward organizational objectives
• Involve all employees in a two-way dialog about results
• Create a culture of performance

These skills will give you the power to ensure that the full value of performance information is realized in your organization and make you the hero of your own western story.

Marv Weidner, President & CEO
WEIDNER, INC.

9:45 a.m.
Speed Networking
You’ll have a chance to meet and greet fellow attendees in this fun and fast-paced forum.

10:15 a.m.
Morning Refreshment and Networking Break

10:45 a.m.
Case Study

Ghosts, New Years’ Resolutions and Other Agency Information: How To Create Simple Employee Polls That Gather And Distribute Important Information

The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) started polling employees on October 31, 2007 with this question: Do you believe in ghosts? From this humorous beginning, a weekly employee poll located on the home page of GPO’s intranet site caught on like wildfire. GPO’s Employee Communications Office uses their weekly polls to gather business-related information, to solicit suggestions, to entertain – and to provide education and resources.

In this presentation you will learn how to:

• Use simple, commercially-available software to launch your own employee polls
• Promote the poll site to employees and encourage participation
• Create a mix of questions that gathers and distributes valuable information – and uses educational entertainment to keep employees coming back for more

This session will provide a live demonstration to show how easy it is to create your own employee poll.

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

Using Social Media To Increase The Effectiveness Of Internal Communications, To Boost Employee Morale And Productivity

Internal organizational communications are changing. Organizations are now discovering the benefits of social media. But how are leading organizations actually using these communications tools?

Drawing on professional, practical and personal experience, you will learn how large- scale organizations are employing social media to increase the effectiveness of internal communications to boost morale and employee productivity. Specifically, you will learn how Northrop Grumman is using social media to communicate with their employees. We will take a look at perceived obstacles working with social media and compare them with the realities of working with these new communications channels. At the end of this session, you will be able to build a business case on how the internal use of social media can enhance your own organization’s efforts.

Rene Freeland, Manager, Communications, Western Region
NORTHROP GRUMMAN INTEGRATED SYSTEMS

12:45 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.


2:00 p.m.
Case Study

How To Use Effective Internal Communications To Keep Employees Engaged And Maintain High Employee Morale

Recruiting and retaining a qualified and effective workforce can be challenging within the limitations of the public sector, but many agency executives overlook their greatest asset in this effort – their employees. Employees who feel appreciated will naturally talk about their employer and the jobs they enjoy to their families, friends and colleagues. Internal communications plays a vital role in fostering this positive employee satisfaction.

In this session, you will learn how to use effective internal communication tools to:

• Keep employees engaged, connected and informed
• Help employees accept change and transition
• Recognize employee achievement
• Maintain high employee moral

Janelle Guthrie, APR, Communications Director
WASHINGTON STATE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Sarah Lane, Internal Communications Manager
WASHINGTON STATE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

3:00 p.m.
Afternoon Refreshment & Networking Break

3:15 p.m.
Case Study

How To Achieve Results Using Deliberate, And Targeted Communication In A Large, Diverse And Highly-Dispersed Environment

The U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a large, diverse, and geographically dispersed organization with more than 70,000 employees and contractors in facilities around the world. The Office of the Assistant Administrator for Information Services and Chief Information Officer (CIO) are a key player in the leadership and management of the agency’s information technology (IT) enterprise, including applications and infrastructure. The CIO has purview over and establishes policy and guidance in the areas of IT capital planning, enterprise services, information management, information systems security, portfolio and program services, privacy, and research and development. Leveraging resources and facilitating partnerships with internal and external stakeholders is a chief component in achieving success.

The FAA invests in excess of $2.5 billion annually on IT, with the thousands of applications and programs that fall under this umbrella being managed by hundreds of groups and individuals at various levels. Thus, to achieve results and limit chaos, accurate, deliberate, and targeted communication is essential.
This session will focus on the need to develop and implement effective communications tools and solutions aimed at bringing about clarity, consistency, and transparency in messages and actions.

Key points of discussion and takeaways will include:

• The importance of communication to organizational success
• The invaluable return on investment that can be achieved from stakeholder and customer outreach – working with stakeholders and customers to determine what they need to hear from you
• Ways to develop a cohesive internal and external message
• Ways to increase the visibility and importance of communications in your organization

Carl Robert Lee, Communications Services Officer
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

4:15 p.m.
Case Study

How To Communicate Radical Change And Save Costs Too!


At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, the Media Relations and Employee Communications Office was tasked with communicating three major initiatives within the past year:

• The privatization of the organization for the first time in its history of more than 50 years
• Encouraging employees to save costs, such as meeting a federal goal of cutting electrical use by 9 percent within one year, due to a $380 million budget shortfall
• Converting its employee communications to all electronic, as part of the cost saving initiative

In this case study session, you will learn how the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employed online employee communications to engage employees, and how their office shifted their resources and efforts when they stopped print publications as a cost savings measure.  You will walk away with valuable lessons learned and tips and pointers for your organization’s challenges.

Nancy Garcia, Public Information Officer, Office of Media Relations & Employee Communications
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY

5:15 p.m.

Close of Day One & 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.

6:30 p.m.

Dine Around
Sign up during the day for dinner with a group. Take advantage of San Diego’s fine dining while you continue to network with your colleagues.