8:00 a.m.
Registration & Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m.

Chairperson's Welcome, Opening Remarks & Presentation:
Building Communications That Make An Impact, And Proving It

Communications are the means by which virtually all organizational efforts are accomplished. Personnel systems reform, policy changes, organizational restructuring, budget challenges, and individual performance management – every major initiative requires a concerted communications approach to achieve results. What makes the communications function truly effective? The key is impact. So the question is how do you measure impact?

• Does the communication capture people's attention?
• Does it provide information people can act upon?
• Does it change behavior?

• Apply the principles of change management to the shaping of strategic communications
• Make the business case for strategic communications
• Capture return on investment for the communications function
• Establish a communications strategy, not just a series of messages

Christopher N. Sonnesyn, Senior Consultant
WATSON WYATT WORLDWIDE

9:30 a.m.

Speed Networking

You'll have a chance to meet and greet fellow attendees in this fun and fast-paced forum.

10:20 a.m.

How To Use Strategic Communications To Create Organizational Excellence And A Culture Of Openness, Even With Limited Resources

During this session, you will learn how a few committed Department of Education employees leveraged their professional leadership development training at the Council for Excellence in Government Fellows Program to create regular conversations with their colleagues about leading with the goal of enhancing the quality of the workplace.

• Why the CAL program was created – its communication goals and results to date
• How to create a similar tool at your workplace – even when faced with limited resources
• Why such conversations are important
• How to think about success with this endeavor

You will leave this session with numerous lessons you can apply to create your own culture of openness and excellence at your organization.

Kitty Wooley, Regulatory Information Management Services
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Jacquelyn Zimmermann, Director, Editorial Policy, Publishing and Student Art Exhibits
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

11:10 a.m.

How To Integrate Social Media (Blogging, Podcasting & Other New Media) With Traditional Channels To Maximize Your Communication Efforts And Results

The Department of Defense (DoD) is increasingly turning to "New Media" to improve its communications and information sharing. In this session, you will learn how DoD is using web 2.0 & beyond, mobile content, blogger engagement, podcasting and other new media tools to reach its audiences without breaking the budget and without mainstream media filters.

DoD is using the new media definitions to define its audiences. It's all about connectivity. Understanding this connectivity helps promote your own website search engine results and takes your information directly to your audiences.

• Did you know that the top government and organization podcasts downloaded from iTunes are from DoD?
• Did you know that when you talk to one blogger, you are potentially talking to 2 million virally-linked people per blogger?
• Did you know that the blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months? Did you know that more than 1.1 billion people worldwide are now online?
• Did you know that web traffic to blogs of the top 10 online newspapers grew 210% this past year?

Web 2.0 & beyond and social/consumer generated media is changing the way we work, communicate and live. As a result, DoD is engaging in two-way communications with the blogger community – it's all about the viral spread of your message via the connectedness of the blogosphere.

• Applying simple, low-cost, effective ways to broaden your communications reach using new media tools
• Repackaging your existing communication products to streamline your messages

Jack Holt, Chief, New Media Operations
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

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.

1:30 p.m.

How To Change The Behavior And Mindset Of Your Employees To Work Safer And Smarter With Targeted And Strategic Communications

Can internal communications really change behaviors? The answer is yes, but you’ve got to make the employees care – at all levels of the company. In this session, you will hear how Sandia National Laboratories successfully launched and maintained a strategic internal communications campaign focused on employee safety and health to lower near-miss rates and on-the-job injuries amid constant regulatory scrutiny.

• Branding was used to differentiate this endeavor from previous ones
• The tone of communications (in visuals and context) was used to send persuasive messages about the severity of the safety issue
• Buy-in at the top management levels was essential to building credibility — they also had to change behaviors too
• Messages and targeted communication products were created and evaluated to motivate change

Through learning about the experiences at Sandia National Laboratories, you will be able to apply their lessons learned to your own communication strategies.

Noel Fletcher, Homeland Security & Defense Strategic Management Unit
SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES

2:20 p.m.

One Giant Leap To Portals... Small Steps To Web 2.0

Moving from Microsoft FrontPage to a collaborative portal environment was a significant step for the American Diabetes Association (ADA). A cross-functional team at ADA completely rebuilt its Intranet two years ago, and since then, the "MyADA" site has become a critical business tool for the organization.

In the time since its portal launch, ADA, like many organizations, has experienced a turnover of staff. ADA also has a new CEO and senior leadership, and they are supportive of an active approach to the Web 2.0 world.

During this session, you'll learn about the benefits that ADA’s staff and community-based volunteers have experienced, lessons that the portal's support team has learned since the deployment, and new ideas under consideration to move into the 2.0 landscape.

• How to adopt a Web 2.0 strategy and the importance of support from organization leaders
• Internal vs. external strategies
• Quick wins to get you started
• How to gather and measure employee feedback and usability testing

Rob Cork, Director, Internal & Volunteer Communications
AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION

3:25 p.m.

How To Align Internal And External Communications To Assure Continuity Within Your Organization And Advance Agency Objectives

Does your agency "speak with a forked tongue?" If its internal and external communications don't match up, if the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, if you don't communicate on message inside and outside the agency, then this session is for you.

The value of communication is based on relevant and timely information, without which, internal and external audiences can be lost. Communications is the rudder of your organizational ship, but the importance of linking internal and external communications components is often overlooked. As communicators, we know the value of what we do, but we may also take aligning our internal and external messages for granted, thereby losing the impact of melding the two towards achieving our organization's strategic goals.

• Understand your impact as the communications leader within your organization
• Identify internal and external organizational communications needs
• Utilize communications mechanisms to help your organization maximize its message
• Employ communications strategies to enhance organizational outcomes

Deborah Sturm Rausch, Director of Public Information
NEW YORK STATE CONSUMER PROTECTION BOARD

4:15 p.m.

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.

• 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.

Terri C. Ehrenfeld, Employee Communications Specialist
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

5:05 p.m.

End of Day One

5:15 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 DC's fine dining while you continue to network with your colleagues.