Sunday, October 21, 2018

OPTIONAL PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

Workshop A: 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

17 Video Tips, Tricks, and Tactics You Can Use Today
Rocky Walls, CEO, 12 Stars Media

In this session, Rocky will break down examples from high-end video productions to simple, straight-to-the-point, tips, tricks and tactics for creating higher quality video whether you’re using a $50,000 camera or your smartphone. From shooting to sharing to editing, you’ll learn how to incorporate video into your communications and marketing strategy.

Attendees of this highly interactive workshop will learn and get hands-on practice in the following areas:

1) How to shoot high-quality, creative video no matter what device you use

2) How to prevent common mistakes during the recording and editing processes

3) What to do after your video is finished (hint: you’re not done!)

Rocky Walls has one simple belief fueling his personal and professional life: people need connections and the best ones come from communication that’s real and simple.

A communicator to the core, all work and no play wouldn’t really bother Rocky, but he has his fun too: he loves hanging out with his wife and three sons whether at home or on the road. He’s an amateur chef who spent last summer building a traditional brick pizza oven in his backyard. And like any real professional at a video production company, he’s an avid fan of watching movies.

The project he’s currently most excited about is Finding Hygge, the first feature-length documentary film he and his team have produced. It’s a journey to find the real meaning of the Danish word hygge, through a glimpse into the lives of the happiest people on the planet.

WORKSHOP B: 12:30 – 4:00 p.m.
The 17 dos and don’ts  of co-creation: A workshop on creating together
Pinaki Kathiari CEO, Local Wisdom

Today’s businesses often fall into the trap of planning a project as a team before everyone splits off to create, review, and rebuild on their own. The process is often daunting, and, when the team comes back together, the results are often disappointing.

These old, every-man-for-himself methods don’t cut it in the modern world of collaborative business, as new players learn to innovate solutions faster than their more traditional, market-leading counterparts. Pinaki Kathiari’s digital agency, Local Wisdom, uses “co-creation” to expedite the creative process while gaining valuable insights and producing amazing products. So what is co-creation? Co-creation is both a mindset and a set of techniques that bring groups together to produce mutually valued outcomes. In this highly insightful and interactive talk inspired by disruptive companies and startups, you’ll discover the speed and creativity that comes from co-creating across teams, employees, customers, suppliers, and even people in our personal lives.

After learning a framework, stories and techniques for co-creation, you’ll put it all into practice by co-creating with fellow participants. You’ll walk away with powerful tools to take back to your organization, such as:

• Knowing why and when you should co-create
• Getting the right people to the table
• Facilitating productive co-creation session 

Pinaki is the CEO of Local Wisdom, a digital agency that helps design, execute, and manage strategic solutions for marketing, communications, and product development. With 18 years of experience working with global Fortune companies, conglomerate interactive agencies, startups, and entrepreneurs, Pinaki has honed skills in digital strategy, user experience design, marketing, communications, and new business development.  

At Local Wisdom, Pinaki and his team have built and managed numerous digital platforms, such as internal innovation communities, employee awards systems, data visualization for business intelligence, executive blogging platforms, and news portals that reach beyond the office walls, just to name a few.

Click here to Register Now

Monday, October 22, 2018

8:00 – 8:40 a.m.
REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

8:45 – 9:00 a.m
WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR
Priya Bates, President
Inner Strength Communication Inc.

9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
KEYNOTE: Corporate communications 3.0
Steve Crescenzo
Crescenzo Communications

The role of the corporate communicator is changing . . . don’ risk becoming irrelevant at your organization.

As social media and other factors chip away at the traditional role of the communicator as “publisher,” organizations are going to take a harder look at just what they’re getting from their communicators . . . and whether or not they need them at all.

You’ll learn:

• What skills and talents you need to start developing nowin order to have a job five years from now;
• Seven crucial communication roles that will be in demand in the future, no matter what organization you work in;
• The tools, tactics, talents, and tricks you’ll need to master in order to succeed in the changing communication environment.

10:00 – 10:15 a.m.
NETWORKING REFRESHMENT BREAK

10:15 – 11:15 a.m.
Only you can own the employee experience
Kristin Hancock, Manager of Communications
College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba

In “Only You Can Own the Employee Experience” I’ll share tangible tips on how you can build the strongest foundation for a fulfilling employee experience. You’ll leave with a renewed sense of leadership (regardless of your career level) and the tools to make it all happen.  You’ll leave with the confidence to:

1. create an environment that encourages employees to bring their whole selves to work
2. structure your meetings so they are productive, relevant and fun
3. overcome hesitation from team members

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Find your inner consultant: four ways to be more strategic
Maliha Aqeel, PMP, SCMP, Past President, IABC/Toronto &
Assistant Director of Brand, Marketing and Communication, EY

Internal communicators can sometimes be the most valuable but least understood professionals in an organization. We want to be seen as strategic advisers, but often struggle to articulate what that means in a language that leaders can relate to. If you want to gain the trust and respect of leadership, you have to find your inner consultant and demonstrate ROI through strategy and execution.

Attendees will learn:

1. Four essential skills that internal communicators need to have
2. Developing the strategic adviser mindset
3. Using data analytics to demonstrate your value

12:15 – 1:15 p.m.
NETWORKING LUNCHEON

1:15– 2:15 p.m.
EXECUTIVE PANEL: The elevation of internal communications
Facilitator: Priya Bates
Panelists:
Brigitte Kocijancic, ABC, Principal and Consultant, Xenia Communications
Heather Whyte, MBA, APR, Senior Vice-President, Marketing, Communications, and Public Affairs, CPA Canada
Kerry Gaetano, Head Communications & Public Relations, BMO

2:15 – 3:15 p.m.
Bridging the generation gap – Millennials @ work
Russell Evans, AVP Culture and Communications at Foresters Financial

In 2017, Millennials became the single largest generation in the US and Canadian workforce, with career expectations that are dramatically different than previous generations. As internal communicators, engaging a millennial workforce is our largest challenge and most promising opportunity.

In this session, you’ll learn:

1. Techniques to enhance the tone and voice of internal communications to reach millennial employees
2. The role authenticity and decision rationale play in engaging millennial employees in your company’s mission, vision and values
3. How Foresters Financial empowered employees of all ages to crowdsource internal communications via a Gold Quill award-winning video contest

3:15 – 3:30 p.m.
REFRESHMENT BREAK

3:30 – 4:30
KEYNOTE: Better Communication with Diversity Intelligence™
Dr. Leeno Karumanchery
Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Enkidu

How effectively do you communicate with people who are different from you? How well do you recognize the impact that human differences have on how we interpret the world and how everyday interactions impact us? Understanding the connections that runs between “Diversity” and “Emotional Intelligence” is key to how we build better communications between diverse people in our organizations.  In this brief session we will explore:

• How brain chemistry, physiology and emotions act as crucial pieces in the diversity and inclusion puzzle.
• How to effectively communicate in a changing word to bridge caps, and plumb the potential of all organizational personal.
• Inspire high-performance teams and improve overall organizational communication and success

4:30 pm          CONFERENCE CONCLUDES FOR THE DAY

Click here to Register Now

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

8:00 – 9:00 a.m.
REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
KEYNOTE: The power of storytelling through video: 7 Comms Lessons from Finding Hygge
Rocky Walls, CEO
12 Stars Media

After producing thousands of corporate videos over the last ten years, Rocky Walls led a team of 20 in producing a feature-length documentary about the Danish concept of hygge. Rocky reflects on the lessons learned on his adventures that took him to Denmark, England, Canada and the US that could help take business communicators from good to world-class. Attendees of this session would not only see and hear incredible stories from behind the scenes of the film-making process, but they’d also learn:

• Why the world is ready for you to share stories like Finding Hygge
• How to find the stories that engage viewers accused of having attention spans shorter than goldfish
• What the film distribution industry can teach you about your comms strategy

10:00 – 10:15 a.m.
NETWORKING REFRESHMENT BREAK

10:15 – 11:15 a.m
Everything changes: Lessons learned moving 800 employees from 11 locations into three
Lindsay Turner, Senior Communication Advisor
ErinoakKids Centre for Treatment and Development

ErinoakKids employs 800 people who support more than 16,000 children with disabilities each year. In early 2018, the organization moved everyone from 11 buildings into three and learned a lot about change and culture along the way.

Learning objectives:

• How to support employees with various levels of change comfort through major organizational change.
• The challenges of merging multiple workplace cultures.
• Tactics that support employees through a workplace move.

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Some assembly required: Ten steps for building effective, strategic relationships internally
Martha Muzychka, MC, Principal
Praxis Communications

Partnerships are essential to driving business growth and communications are key to establishing them. Too often though, partnerships flounder because of unclear expectations, broad assumptions, or poor maintenance. How we build the partnership matters. This session will help communications professionals understand the dynamics of partnership building and why the investment of time, people, and resources adds value to our work. We will explore the opportunities partnerships offer for innovation and creativity inside organizations. Participants will learn how to assess their readiness for partnership development, identify the key factors for success, and recognize the signs of a failing partnership and how to repair it.

12:15 – 1:15 p.m.
NETWORKING LUNCHEON

1:15 – 2:15 p.m.
Rethinking how we lead organizational change
Jan Campbell, CEO
StrategiSense Consulting

All organizations must deal with change. McKinsey estimates that 70 % of change programs fail to achieve their goals, in large part due to employee resistance. We are told that If a handful of people resist, maybe something is wrong with the people. If resistance from employees continues to impede change programs, then maybe it is not the people that need fixing, it’s the change model. In a world impacted by constant volatility, ambiguity and uncertainty with increasing conservatism, disruptive competition, globalization, increased collaboration and continuous innovation, are we still using the right approach? Do we need change the way we approach organizational change?

Drawing on over 25 years of consulting and coaching with thousands of leaders in over 300 organizations, this practical and interactive session will support participants to identify and explore:

• what currently works in organizational change and transformation, and what doesn’t;
• what the next major shift may be in thinking and approaches for organizational change and transformation;
• how your organization currently works with change and transformation, and how it might best change its approach to change.

2:15 – 3:15 p.m.
Engaging employees through corporate responsibility
Paula Bernardino, MCM, Communications Manager
Corporate Responsibility & Engagement – RSA Canada

The message is clear that people want to work at places where they feel like they are engaged and learning. Companies that engage in social and environmental stewardship also benefit from employees who are more aware and involved. To increase employee engagement, organizations can clearly articulate what their corporate purpose is, and then give employees a way to take part in that purpose. Once the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy and programs have been defined, how do you ensure your communication strategy, plan and actions are aligned and will help deliver the desired results to get employees interested and engaged? How much of a proactive role does communication need to play to align CSR and employee engagement?

3:15 – 3:30 p.m.
NETWORKING REFRESHMENT BREAK

3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
KEYNOTE: 5 Drivers shaping the future of work
Lisa Taylor, President
Challenge Factory & the Centre for Career Innovation

It is easy to believe that the world of work today is chaotic, precarious and unpredictable. It would be understandable if we were to hunker down, stick to proven practices and wait for the dust to settle. And, in doing so, we will have missed internal communication’s greatest opportunity to impact society. We are currently living through talent-focused revolutionary times shaped by five trends. Using a variety of tools, analogies and examples, this talk will challenge outdated career thinking and explore the role communication professionals play as myth-busters and sense makers. From demographics to new models of career ownership, the freelance economy and new business models, we will explore how to make sense of what the workforce of 2020 and beyond will look like – and what will be needed from communications as companies transform into employers of the future.

4:30 p.m.
CHAIR’S CLOSING REMARKS AND CONFERENCE CONCLUDES

Click here to Register Now

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Workshop C: 8:30 a.m.- Noon

Master Your Internal Communications Strategy
Steve and Cindy Crescenzo
Crescenzo Communications

Use creative tactics, channels and measurement strategies to help transform your corporate content and help your organization achieve its strategic goals and objectives

Are you tired of being a private publisher? Do you find yourself writing mostly reactive stories? Do you spend your time putting out fires instead of changing behavior? Do you have too many vehicles with no idea of what’s working and what’s not? Then this workshop is for you!

Through dozens of case studies and proven measurement, planning and writing tactics, you’ll walk out of this workshop with ideas, tools and strategies you can put to use right away— no matter the size of your organization or your communication team.

You’ll learn how to:

• Redefine your role – shift from a communication order taker to a strategic counselor
• Transform those tired, boring corporate stories into engaging content that motivates and educates your audiences – and use the best channels to reach them
• Craft a measurement plan that delivers the insights you need to fuel a successful communication plan

Steve Crescenzo– Through his work as a consultant, writer, speaker and seminar leader, Steve Crescenzo has helped thousands of communicators around the world break the habit of creating boring, formulaic, jargon-ridden corporate content.

 Using proven strategies, tactics and best-practices he’s shown communicators how to take the ‘corporate’ our of corporate communications and replace it with ‘creative’— and at the same time — create content that is linked to the strategic goals of their organizations.

 Steve has been voted the #1-rated speaker at the International Association of Business Communicators World Conference seven times, including three years in a row. He has also received top ratings at numerous IABC chapter and regional events throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.  

Cindy Crescenzois the President of Crescenzo Communications and brings over 15 years of experience to the communications industry. Cindy specializes in research, measurement and strategic planning.

Her passion for numbers and audience research have helped thousands of communicators all over the world transform their roles in their organizations by teaching them how to get the ammunition they need to build successful communication strategies that deliver results.

Click here to Register Now

REGISTER NOW