Webcast Agenda
We will be webcasting Track 1 live. All tracks will be available as an on-demand recording within seven business days after the event has concluded. You can purchase the webcast here: Purchase Webcast.
MAIN CONFERENCE
Wednesday, Feb. 7
Internal is now external: Content lines are blurred and your strategy must adapt
Show Me: How brilliant brands craft video stories that inspire action
Yeah, we know, video is big. There are live videos and pre-roll ads. We can create long-form video and short-form Snaps or Instagram. But how do we get the most out of the video we create? How do we create content that inspires a real outcome?
What happens when you think like a television executive?
In this exhilarating closing keynote presentation, author and former television producer Andrew Davis will teach us the five secrets to telling stories that inspire action. You’ll learn how to build suspense and foster aspiration. He’ll encourage you to own the entire consumer journey by creating moments of inspiration. Davis will uncover how, and why, some of the world’s most successful video stories work and what we can learn from them.
You’ll walk away ready to create your own moments that inspire new customers and clients to act in predictable and repeatable ways that drive big revenue.
It’s time to stop telling people what we do and start showing them.
The power of the personal: Tell your organization’s story through employee features
Your organization wants to connect with its stakeholders, be they internal employees or external candidates and clients. How can you connect with them in a memorable and meaningful way to achieve your goals, whether it’s creating a collective sense of purpose, attracting top talent or embedding key messages that support your culture? The answer is through your employees and their stories. No matter what audience you’re targeting or messages you’re trying to share, first-person stories are usually the most compelling and far-reaching.
You’ll learn how to:
- Tap into your fiercest evangelists—employees—to tell engaging stories that support your goals and your organization’s overall vision
- Give your content legs that go beyond one channel and tailor stories for more than one audience
- Use a variety of methods to creatively tell stories that stick
Speaking the language of leadership
Great communication is crucial to successful leadership and managing change in your organization. Communicators are often the best resource for developing strong, proactive and effective communications strategies that resonate with both internal and external audiences and move people to understanding and action. Yet, communication directors oftentimes need to fight for a seat at the leadership table. Your success depends on translating communications best practices to become an integrated and essential part of your organization’s strategic goals.
You’ll learn how to:
- Make the case for your seat at the table
- Understand where communication fits in to managing organizational change
- Define key messaging for your board members, leadership and staff
- Make every communication an opportunity for leadership
- Translate best practices into a language everyone can speak
Lunch
Provided on site
Winning the battle for employee attention
Let’s face it: Your employees are not paying attention. Only 10 percent of employees report knowing what’s going on in their organization at any given time. To make matters more difficult, you’re competing for your employees’ attention with some of the best mobile consumer apps in the world. Email, intranets and other outdated technologies are simply not doing the job anymore. It’s time to start thinking about employees as consumers.
In this session you’ll learn:
- Why optimizing for mobile can get your employees coming back for more—even on weekends
- The importance of creating a beautiful, consumer-like experience inside and outside the enterprise
- The reasons why video and other consumer trends are capturing employee attention
- Data insights on engagement trends across industries that communicators can’t ignore
- Best practices and tips for reaching a distributed—and distracted—workforce
Networking break
How to engage your internal and external stakeholders so they are your brand champions before, during or after a crisis
When your organization is faced with an emotionally-charged situation that might challenge your brand and reputation, you must think of a strategic approach to engaging with external audiences. Who can you identify as a trusted partner who can support you during this looming crisis? What about your internal stakeholders, leaders or employees? They can be your best brand champions who support your mission and use your company’s products and services. You must have both internal and external stakeholders in times of crisis. During this session, Vicki will outline what you must think about before a crisis hits.
You’ll learn how to:
- Craft messages for the right stakeholders that resonate with any concerns they might have
- Make your messages timely
- Identify outstanding spokespersons
- Identify which communication vehicles and social platforms to use to reach your stakeholders
Is it time for your organization to go mobile?
How do you reach 53,000 employees spread across more than 100 cities, working around-the-clock shifts, seven days a week—many of them without a computer? That was the challenge facing not-for-profit Sutter Health in Northern California. Their approach? Add mobile to their communications strategy. Nearly 77 percent of Americans own a smartphone. It’s time to think mobile when it comes to communicating and engaging with your employees, especially those without a computer.
You’ll learn:
- How internal and external communications can benefit from a mobile app
- How to increase employee engagement and advocacy through photo, news and video sharing
- What resources you need to launch and maintain a successful mobile communications program
- How to make it easy for employees to share organizational news via their personal social media channels
Perform better PR with less—and have fun in the process
What do Paul Rudd, a crayon shortage, a Microsoft Surface and lawnmower safety tips have in common? How do you pitch stories at a time when newsrooms, attention spans and the organic reach of social media are all shrinking? What could your organization possibly have in common with a local nonprofit children’s hospital? Most importantly, how could this session rise above a good afternoon nap? Jake Jacobson, director of public relations at Children’s Mercy Kansas City, will share those answers—and more in a highly caffeinated keynote where you’ll laugh, learn and perhaps shed a tear.
You’ll learn:
- How strategic storytelling can stretch your content further
- How a crafting, pitching and amplifying content cycle can create ways to interact with journalists and consumers
- How to identify stories your audience love—many of which hide in plain sight
- The importance of identifying champions and cheerleaders both inside and outside of your organization
- The best mix of channels and appeals to achieve your organization’s strategic goals
- How you can crush your goals and help other departments—but leave work in time for happy hour or family dinner
