The Ragan Employee Communications, PR and Social Media Summit is coming up next week. You can always follow my live (West Coast time zone) on Twitter (@kkozlen), or here on this blog. If requested, I might do some live video coverage via this site… please take a look at my plan for the conference and let me know if there are any questions or things I can look into on your behalf.
The first thing I’m attending is a pre-conference workshop on Wednesday, October 3, covering various aspects of employee communication. Here are the workshop sessions I’ll be attending:
9 a.m.-11 a.m (PST)
Transform your corporate communications with SharePoint
Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux), PMP Managing Partner, Innovative-e
By leveraging SharePoint 2010, corporate communicators are empowered to create relevant solutions that can increase productivity by streamlining and automating communication processes and minimizing communicators’ dependence on IT.
- Exploit the key benefits of SharePoint for corporate communicators
- Automate corporate communications processes and workflows with SharePoint
- Integrate SharePoint with existing corporate communication tools
- Create a Web-based dashboard to track and measure relevant corporate communication metrics
- Leverage social and mobile capabilities to better engage corporate audiences
12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (PST)
Leadership communications: How a communicator in the social media world can support and maximize the impact when an executive communicates
Mark Schumann (@dmarkschumann), past Chair, IABC
Mark Schumann, ABC, past Chair of IABC and a 17-time Gold Quill winner, for a compelling workshop on how to reinvent your communication skills to provide the support a leader needs in the social media world. Behind every great leader is a great communicator. And, in this 24/7 business environment of constant interaction, how a communicator supports a leader has significantly changed. No longer is helping a leader craft a message adequate support. Today’s communicator must continually coach the leader to make the most of each opportunity to engage.
This session will cover:
- Help a leader discover a communication style, tone and level of comfort with a range of interactions
- Coach a leader to work within an authentic voice that is natural to express and absorb
- Introduce new media to a leader without forgetting that every tool is a means to an end of stakeholder engagement
- Establish a curriculum of leadership message and content
- Encourage a leader to become more involved in the development of communication strategy and approaches without delegating the task
- Continually reinforce to the leader that communication is a fundamental part of the role
3 p.m.-5 p.m. (PST)
How organizations need to use video and storytelling to create and protect their brand
Drew Keller (@DrewKeller), Owner, StoryGuide
Corporate communicators must explain, defend, and bolster the corporate brand internally and externally with imagination and verve. This is no small task now that social media has made it more difficult to manage your brand on many platforms. Video is one of the strongest weapons in your arsenal to create the look and feel of your brand. When you make a video, your audience pays attention to every detail. They look in the corners of your shots, they listen to the words, and they absorb your message… intended or accidental. Therefore it is critical that every video you produce has an identifiable relationship with the personality of your product.
This session will cover how to use video to tell your corporate stories. You will learn how to:
- Make certain that your stories reflect your company or organization’s philosophy
- Make sure the look and feel of your videos reflect the brand positively
- Avoid common pitfalls of content creation that does not advance your brand
- Capture inspirational and memorable stories that will bring your company renown
- Write the perfect script through employee interviews and brainstorms
