• DAY ONE CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

• DAY TWO CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

• PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

• BOOKING FORM

  ---

Employees expect to be part of the decision-making process. Being closer to the customer and the business, they have much to offer and will take their ideas elsewhere if they don’t feel involved and engaged. The new role for the communicator is to design ways to help leaders govern inclusive decision making."

After leaving SmytheDorwardLambert in 2003, McKinsey and Co. invited John Smythe to take a role as a Visiting Organizational Fellow, researching 60 corporations and institutions in Europe and North America. The Chief Engagement Officer is Smythe’s seminal new book based on research and practice in the new world of corporate communication. The compelling evidence and examples show how to succeed now that the rules have changed.

In this session, find out how:

John Smythe is a founding partner of Engage for Change, a London-based consultancy dedicated to engaging leaders and everyone at work to transform organizations and raise day-to-day business performance.

Read a profile of John Smythe to find out how he got to be the UK's top guru on employee engagement.

10:45 Social Media Master Class

Create and share content on the edge:

How to participate in and use consumer-generated media

In the digital do-it-yourself age, everybody is a content publisher; the technical and economic barriers have crumbled, allowing anybody with a computer and an Internet connection to become part of the consumer-generated media movement. With everybody publishing, the need for centralized publishing is diminishing. How will this change your role as organizational communicator?

In this revealing session, online communications authority Shel Holtz will explain how organisations can tap into this content that resides “on the edge.” Instead of aggregating content and publishing it in a central resource (like a magazine or Web site) you’ll learn how to:

Read Shel's profile on simply-communicate.

11:45 Junk in, Junk out: Communicators in the brave new world

With the rise of social media and the acceptance of employee engagement as a useful tool, this is a fabulous time to be an internal communicator. There’s just one big problem: Most of the communications coming out of companies are dry, boring and uninspiring. If you’re going to ride the revolution, you have to first focus on the fundamentals. That means giving new employees the proper foundation, and giving seasoned writers a way to shed bad habits and recharge their batteries.

In today’s hectic business world, it’s easy to lose sight of what we know works best: simple, clear and useful communication. Int his lively session, Ragan CEO Mark Ragan and Publisher Jim Ylisela will remind you how to:

Read Mark Ragan's profile.

13:45 The Task Manager: Now the most important position in any web team — and how you can become one

Opportunities like these don’t come often. A critical new role and function is emerging within modern organizations—the task manager.This role straddles IT and communications, combining skills of content management and technology management. Learn how you as a professional communicator are better suited to this role than anybody else, once you learn new skills.

Gerry McGovern published two books with Financial Times Prentice Hall, Content Critical and The Web Content Style Guide. Gerry’s new book, Killer Web Content, arrives this spring. Gerry has spoken about Web content in 35 countries. His consultancy client sinclude the BBC, Microsoft, Pioneer, American Academy of Ophthalmology, Cisco, HSBC and Hewlett Packard.

15:15 Social media, social conscience: Engaging hearts and minds through blogs

Amnesty International has an international membership of almost 2million and a vast network of employees and volunteers around the globe. Increasingly Amnesty is turning to social media to improve communications and knowledge sharing, and to engage the international human rights movement. Learn from this case study how Amnesty is using wikis, blogs and other social media. The lessons learned from dealing with an international, multilingual audience in an organisation slow to change will show you how to:

• Use social media to harness the goodwill both inside and outside your organisation
• Create communications that cut through the noise
• Build networks that last

Eva Appelbaum is director of Web & Social Media at Amnesty International.

16:15 Integrating print and online: How to use every tool in your communications arsenal

So here’s the burning question: What’s the best way to use each channel? In this dynamic session, Steve Crescenzo will show you how to:

• Harness the strengths of your vehicles—while minimizing their weaknesses
• Make sure your vehicles are working with each other—and not competing against each other
• Put the right message into the right medium—and deliver your most important messages without overloading employees
• Incorporate “old” tools—such as print—into your new online strategy

Read Steve's profile.

DAY TWO CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

9:15 Blogging, Outside In: How to Build an Employee Blogging Community

Hill & Knowlton are at the forefront of developinga community ofbloggers to share information, build a sense of corporate camaraderie, and enhance the agency’s reputation. This network has now developed into one ofthe most read and respected resources for corporate communication advice.

Niall Cook is the man responsible for founding and nurturing this international network. As he describes their experience with Collective Conversation you will learn:

10:45 Is your Mum embarrassed about where you work? How McDonald’s used video to change perceptions of McJobs

What if there’s a word for the kind of job your company provides and it’s not a compliment? Your brand might be one of the most recognised on the planet— but how do you improve employee loyalty and pride in the face of a huge perception gap?

This is a session about how inspirational communication across different media can turn this kind of difficult situation around, allowing employees, new recruits, media and influencers to look past the McJobs myth and seeing the reality of a job with great recognition, flexibility and potential.

McDonald’s hard hitting film addressed a major taboo: How do you feel if your mum’s embarrassed about where you work? In this practical case study, you’ll see:

Pete Stevenson is director of The EdgePicture Company.

11:45 Hard times for the middle men: How the BBC got everyone talking

6 years ago Euan Semple established The Forum—a bulletin boardfor all staff at the BBC. Today it has become the mainstay of one of the world’s most respected broadcasting organisations. The journey has been exciting, insightful and a huge challenge for the internal communication function as they moved to globally distributed, near instant, person-to-person conversations. This informative, example driven session will answer:

13:45 Social Media Forum

In the final session, in true social media style,we are giving delegates the opportunity to shape the agenda: What more do you want to hear from speakers? What are the most critical issues for your organisation? How might you address these issues?

Using Crystal Interactive’s unique brainstorming technology, delegates will:

• Brainstorm the major threats posed by engaging in new conversations
• Prioritise the major issues and,
• Work with peers to develop the solutions.

The session will be chaired by Lee Smith, UK Editor of simply-communicate.com. Chris Elmitt, Managing Director of Crystal Interactive will facilitate the interactive process and our speaker panel will analyse and respond to the delegates’ ideas.

Networked laptops allow you to make comments on the presentations in real time–comments, questions and issues that are shared with all delegates during the Social Media Forum. The system is anonymous and simultaneous, transforming staid panels into genuine exchanges of vibrant ideas.  Joining the Panel are Niall Cook of Hill & Knowlton, Pete Stevenson of The Edge Picture Company, Marc Wright of simply-communicate.com, and Paul Miller of Cision.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

10:30 From organisation-centric to Customer-Centric: The journey that all great websites take—and how to make it

The Web is about customerpower. The customer is in control on the Web, not the organisation. The customer searches, the customer clicks on that link (or not), the customer quickly scans your webpage. What will your customer do next? Click on one of your compelling links or hit the Back button?

Whether you manage an intranet, university, government or commercial website—the principle of being customer-centric and not organisation-centric still applies. Practically all websites start off as organisation-centric. The better ones are making the shift and gaining the results. This masterclass will give you the tools and the arguments to show why a customer-centric approach is how you achieve the maximum return on investment for your website.

13:30 Podcasting Bootcamp

There’s a lot of hype around podcasting. But, for a toddler of a medium, the rules are still being written. Still, there’s a lot you can learn about podcasting, from the elements of a successful podcast to strategising content to support your communication objectives to recording a podcast that just sounds good. You’d be hard-pressed to learn from two better presenters — Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz are the co-hosts of “For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report.” The twice-weekly business podcast began airing in January 2005, a mere four months after podcasting’s birth.

Beginning with zero knowledge of the medium, they became authorities in both the substance and style of podcasting. In this dynamic, interactive session, you’ll learn:

15:30 Video Podcasting: How to marry TV to the Web

You know video is all the rage in the new communication, but how do you get it into your programme? In this lively, hands-on workshop, simply-communicate’s Marc Wright and Kelly Kass will show how you can utilise video storytelling to enhance communication within your organisation — without breaking the budget.

Offering perspectives and examples from both sides of the Atlantic, the award-winning duo will demonstrate the strategic importance of vidcasts (aka vodcasts) to connect with your audience. During this informative and entertaining session, you will also learn the basics of video podcasting,including how to: