8:00 a.m.
Registration & Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m.

Chairperson's Welcome, Opening Remarks & Presentation
The Read/Write Intranet: How To Drive User Engagement
And Productivity

Commitment. Trust. Credibility. Focus. Hallmarks of engaged users and high-performance organizations...and the holy grail for most communications strategies.

So what does the Read/Write Intranet have to do with employee communications and engagement? Everything. Growing percentages of your user population prefer - and increasingly expect - to interact with their organizations in the very same way.

With the power of user-generated content roaring across the internet, organizations have been slow to enable such read/write capabilities on their existing intranets and enterprise portals.

At this stage in the rapid evolution of social media, there are many different strategies, tools, and approaches. Some organizations are thinking about basic collaboration, others about two-way communications, and still more about workflow, motivation and a range of other issues.

In this session, we will explore the various facets of user-generated content, and how such robust technology can be harnessed within the enterprise.

Michael Rudnick, Global Intranet & Portal Practice Leader
Watson Wyatt Worldwide

9:40 a.m.

Speed Networking

Become acquainted with your fellow conference attendees in this fun and fast-paced forum!

10:40 a.m.

Southwest Airlines: Nuts About Online Communication - - How To Leverage Today's Social Media Tools To Successfully Support Company Efforts

A blogger once wrote that Southwest Airlines was riding the blogosphere "like a wild horse." Ask anyone on the Southwest Communication Team, and they'll agree that it has been a wild ride.

For more than two years, Southwest Airlines has navigated the uncharted territory of social media - first, with its award-winning corporate blog, Nuts About Southwest, and later with tools such as YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Along the way, Southwest has experienced both highs and lows, but they keep saddling up for more. From virtual riots to an industry crisis, Southwest has learned how to leverage today's social media tools to successfully support Company efforts. Through real-life case studies and examples from the last two years, the Southwest Team will show you how to effectively make, manage, and maintain successful online communities and share every lesson they've learned along the way.

• How to strategize and develop web 2.0 campaigns that move your company ahead
• How to use social media tools for crisis communications
• How to read, analyze, and understand online conversations
• When to just listen to online conversations and when to chime in
• How to woo and leverage online influentials

Christi Day, Public Relations Specialist
Southwest Airlines

11:35 a.m.

How To Use Social Media Tools To Turn
Your Organization Into A Community

Social networking has become a buzz-phrase, but what does it really mean and how can your organization benefit from it? As a company with over 300,000 employees in over a hundred countries, IBM employees have a real need to be able to connect and feel part of a team with people who may not share the same location or language. To unite the company IBM CEO, Sam Palmisano, issued a mandate to "make IBM small."

• Social networking and how you can tailor programs for your large or small organization
• Global jams where thousands of employees around the world can voice ideas that get turned into real corporate programs
• Simple tools, used to drive culture, such as instant messaging to create an atmosphere where everyone from individual contributors to vice presidents are accessible
• Existing and emerging tools – open source and otherwise – you can use today to start building communities

It's about building a culture and content and, good news, it doesn't have to cost a fortune!

Kevin Winterfield, Internal and Executive Communications
IBM

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

2:00 p.m.

Building The Corporate Community: How One Company Launched A Social Network To Engage Employees, Reduce Costs And Create Efficiency

Sabre Holdings knew it needed to connect its disperse workforce around the world. The global travel marketing and distribution company's employees were feeling disconnected and needed to find ways to work with little-known colleagues in other offices.

Sabre could have tried lots of traditional communications efforts, excessive travel, job swapping and other more expensive ways to bring people together. Instead it launched SabreTown, a breakthrough online corporate community that generated 65 percent adoption among Sabre’s 9,000 employees worldwide in just three months after launch, with even 50-somethings joining in. Thousands of questions have been asked and answered, hundreds of groups formed, with countless people found, walls knocked down and geographic barriers overcome. All of it has led to more efficiency and cost savings. Now other companies are following suit.

• How social networking inside the company can save your company money and your people time.
• How social networking in the workplace can beget real business results
• How to sell-in social media to the C-suite by using physical-world analogies
• What to avoid when setting up your social network
• How to get people who are turned off to terms like "social networking," "social media," "Web 2.0" and "corporate community" turned on to actually doing these things

Al Comeaux, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
Sabre Holdings

2:55 p.m.

Afternoon Refreshment & Networking Break

3:10 p.m.

Using Social Media To Reach And Engage The Fast-Growing Generation Y Workforce

With an estimated eighty-five percent of college students in the U.S. using Facebook, it is a natural way to reach students and other younger audiences in today's high-tech landscape. Ernst & Young (EY) launched its Facebook Sponsored Group in 2006 and was the first professional services firm to use Facebook to enhance its recruiting efforts. EY’s Facebook page currently has over 16,000 "fans" that can view news, videos, and interview tips as well as interact directly with EY recruiters through "The Wall" discussion board.

In this session, you will hear the story behind EY's experience with Facebook, including the process of gaining buy-in from firm leadership to enter into the world of social networking. You will also gain insights on best practices around campus recruitment and common stereotypes of Gen Y. Practical tips and strategies will also be shared to help you understand how to better reach and engage this fast-growing component of the workforce in your own organization.

Daniel Black, Director, American Campus Recruiting
Ernst & Young LLP

4:05 p.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

5:00 p.m.
End Of Day One

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 New York's fine dining while you continue to network with your colleagues.