There’s no shortage of theory, hyperbole and pure BS (or baloney, or hot air) about social media marketing. Learn what social media’s challenges and opportunities really are – in plain English – via case studies from three experts who are in the trenches with household name corporations.

Heads up … this is not another web conference about social media tools such as blogs, vlogs, podcasts, social networks and microsharing. The technology is important, of course, but not nearly as crucial as the need to understand how to engage in instant, two-way conversations stripped of safe corporate-speak or spin. Grasping that reality and executing it is the sweet spot of social media, and that’s where this webinar is focused. Learn by successful examples and studies of major brands who have pioneered in the space.

What You Will Learn:

• What your audience expects from your social media efforts
• What resistance you’ll meet from inside your own organization — and how to overcome it
• Top 6 reasons your company should not blog
• Top 5 reasons you should have a blog
• Why most corporate social networks fail
• How smart companies are using social networks now and how you can too
• The way to get your company banned from a social network
• Which social networks matter and which ones don’t

Who Should Attend

This webinar is primarily aimed at individuals responsible for corporate communications, public relations, corporate affairs, human resources, employee communications, media relations, and issues management. It will help those in the early stages of implementing or learning about social media, although it will also help more advanced practioners to focus their efforts. It is especially suitable for:

• Small and mid-sized business leaders
• Corporate executives who are new to social media

Presented by:

Christopher Barger is Director, Global Communications Technology. In this role, he leads the social media (blogging, podcasting, user-generated content, wikis, social networking, etc.) efforts for General Motors – both in developing the company’s own content and building relationships with influential voices outside the company. Barger is a communications professional with nearly 10 years experience at Fortune 20 companies. He is a seasoned media spokesperson, communications strategist, and public speaker. Barger’s specialties are “Social Media”/Web 2.0, social networking and media; public speaking.

B.L. Ochman helps companies integrate social media tools and blog advertising into their communications to engage their audience and increase their sales. She is an Internet marketing strategist to Fortune 500 companies including IBM, McGraw-Hill, American Greetings, Ford Motors, Simon & Schuster, Cendant, Kaneka Corporation and others. She is internationally respected blogger whose blog about Internet marketing, What’s Next Blog, is rated in the top 50 in the world by Ad Age Power 150, where she also is Number One among women business bloggers. She heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. Her articles and case studies about Internet marketing trends appear in MarketingProfs, MediaPost, Businessweek Online, and several other publications. Before turning her talent to the Internet in 1995, Ochman ran an award-winning New York PR firm that she grew to one of the 100 largest independent PR firms in the US, with clients including Stew Leonard’s, Miracle-Gro Plant Food, The American Dairy Association, Kaneka Corporation and many more.

Mike Prosceno runs “new” media relations at SAP. He is also a social media evangelist inside the company promoting both the internal use of social media for productivity gains as well as its use externally for reputation enhancement. Having been in corporate or marketing communications for 18 years he has held a variety of management and non-management positions in the IT, manufacturing and financial-services industries.

Attendee comments:

• “BL definitely added value for my particular perspective on what I am trying to accomplish.

• “Great overview by Ms. Ochman. Good, practical experience from GM.”

Universal search changes everything! The advent of Google’s Universal Search has been called “the most radical change to its search results ever.” So, how do you take advantage of Google’s new approach that blends listings from news, blog, video, and image search among those it gathers from web search? In other words, how do you get found in all the right places? Purchase this CD and learn strategies and tactics for expanding the audience for their content through Google News, Yahoo! News, Google Blog Search, Technorati, Google Image Search, Flickr, YouTube, Yahoo Video and a growing variety of other sites. 

Learning Topics:

• How to optimize, distribute and measure press releases, RSS feeds, images and video files
• Pick your target keywords for news, blog, image, video and web search engines;
• Position your keywords in crucial locations;
• Create original and unique content of genuine value, including text, images and video;
• Avoid search engine stumbling blocks;
• Build inbound links intended to help people find interesting, related content;
• Just say no to search engine spamming;
• Submit your Sitemap, RSS feeds, and videos to search engines and directories;
• Verify and maintain your listings; and
• Go beyond web search engines to include key vertical search engines. 

Presented by:

Greg Jarboe is the president and co-founder of SEO-PR, a search engine optimization firm and public relations agency with offices in San Francisco and Boston. He is also a partner in Newsforce, developer of an integrated suite of press release SEO tools.

Greg is a frequent speaker at Search Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld’s PubCon, and public relations conferences. He is also the news search, blog search and PR correspondent for the Search Engine Watch Blog.

Greg has more than 25 years of experience in public relations, marketing, and search engine optimization at Lotus Development Corp., Ziff-Davis, and other companies. He graduated from the University of Michigan, attended the University of Edinburgh, and worked on his Masters at Lesley College. 

What’s the bottom line on gamification, that strange new word creeping into business conversations? Cha-ching … plenty. 

Companies on the front of this new wave of social are seeing unprecedented engagement and stronger business outcomes in areas such as employee communications, HR benefits, training, sales, health and wellness and call centers.  According to Gartner, more than 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application by 2014, and more  than 50% of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify those processes by 2015.

In this special webinar, three experienced gamification pros will describe why, where and how game mechanics works in the workplace, and how to play some serious games in your organization. 

They will present gaming case studies from organizations such as Michelin, Yahoo! and Fugifilm, and offer practical advice on helping your organization exploit the competitive advantages of blending work and games. Join us for an educational and fun and session.

What You Will Learn:

• Why gamification works (psychology)
• Where game mechanics are being used in the workplace 
• How different game types resonate with different employee segments
• What processes can be gamified?
• Best practices and examples
• How to get some gamification started in your organization 

Presented by:

Omar Divina is responsible for leading Badgeville’s sales and business development efforts out of our New York office. Over the course of his 15-plus-year career,Omar has held a variety of senior positions in sales, business development and operations, with the past four years focused on growing SaaS companies. Prior to joining Badgeville, Omar was at enterprise social collaboration leader Socialtext, where he established critical footholds in media/entertainment, publishing, advertising, financial and professional services sectors, among others. As vice president of client services for SunGard Trading Systems/BRASS, he managed a team responsible for driving the adoption and increased usage of high-speed trade order management and execution platforms. Omar has a B.A. in philosophy from Yale University and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

In medical school, Rajiv Kumar M.D. realized that many of the worst health problems we face as a nation–diabetes, heart disease, cancer, hypertension, osteoarthritis, depression–are related to our collective unhealthy lifestyle. He also learned through his clinical encounters that the patients who succeeded in adopting and sustaining healthy behaviors were those who leveraged their trusted social network for support, motivation, and accountability. By launching a community non-profit organization (Shape Up Rhode Island) and a for-profit company (ShapeUp), Kumar has dedicated his life to helping people reverse and prevent obesity-related illnesses through group behavior change models. Gamification is playing an important role in ShapeUp’s goal is to build the largest online social application that connects people around the world to improve their health.

Vlad Gyster is the Cofounder and CEO of H Engage, a SaaS platform that uses social, gaming, and mobile technologies to make HR programs more engaging and measurable. Vlad has spent his career introducing concepts from the consumer world to HR. Prior to starting H Engage, Vlad spent five years with Towers Watson where he cofounded and led the social media practice, helped Fortune 1000 companies such as 3M and American Express adopt emerging technologies, and partnered with MasterCard to develop prepaid products related to wellness and health care reform.

Who Should Attend:

•  This webinar is specially geared for internal communicators, PR, marketing, HR, learning and development, innovation, and customer service professionals.

Attendee testimonial: “I liked that the three presenters gave overviews of their produces and how they were being applied (case studies). That’s a good way to go from the conceptual to the practical with a relatively uninformed audience… like me.”

Internal Social Networks are starting to appear inside some organizations. Early adopters are finding positive business results by helping employees connect through “internal Facebooks.” By effectively harnessing these new networks, organizations are seeing positive impacts on internal brand building, as well as employee engagement, satisfaction and motivation — which leads to higher levels of productivity, revenue, and profit.

But the world of the internal social network is the opposite of command & control. That said, reasonable guidelines, a group of informal influencers, and a posse of community managers who help keep the dialog lively and the network on track.

It’s clear that no matter where your company is on the social media ladder, social networks and Web 2.0 skills are becoming a part of today’s work landscape. All businesses need to be aware of how to deploy networks for higher ROI, collaboration, innovation and customer service.

Listen to this webinar replay to learn what works and what doesn’t in this brave new world of internal social networks from companies that are already figuring out the path to success.

What You Will Learn:

• How to avoid pitfalls and leverage opportunities as you venture into the world of building and managing social networks and a Web 2.0 savvy workforce
• How best to overcome cultural barriers and introduce social networks into traditional organizations
• How to handle the sensitives of employee privacy; governing participants’ behavior; and ensuring that participants balance professional and social time.
• How to set up strategic, internal alliances which mitigate concerns of Command & Control leaders and help build positive momentum

Reasons to Learn About Internal Social Networks

• Get more out of your existing resources by finding, unlocking, and engaging hidden employee intellectual capital Reduce company cost, waste, travel expenditures, and carbon footprint
• Establish, grow and maximize a culture savvy with social networks.
• Further your PR and Branding dollars by unleashing the silent experts that exist within your companies today
• Enhance your employees’ motivation and satisfaction in your company as a place to work
• Develop products and offerings faster, without regard to organizational silo or organization
• Build a more sustainable company which should well serve your shareholders for years to come

Lee Aase is manager of Syndications and Social Media for Mayo Clinic. His team’s focus is developing quality medical news resources for mainstream media, and using social media applications to create more in-depth, extended relationships directly with key stakeholders. You can see examples of Mayo Clinic’s social media offerings through the Mayo Clinic News Blog at http://newsblog.mayoclinic.org/

By night, Lee is Chancellor of Social Media University, Global (SMUG), a free online higher education institution that provides practical, hands-on training in social media for lifelong learners. Visit SMUG.

Prior to joining Mayo Clinic in 2000, Lee spent more than a decade in political and government communications at the local, state and federal level. He received his B.S. in Political Science from Mankato (Minn.) State University in 1986.

Polly Pearson is VP Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement, EMC Corporation.

Polly Pearson is an employment branding leader passionate about Web 2.0 engagement tools with nearly twenty years of FORTUNE 500-level experience spanning marketing, human resources, branding, investor relations, public relations, advertising, and professional speaking.

Her employment branding work has recently been featured in media outlets such as CBS News, National Public Radio, Financial Times, Boston Herald, Dice.com and in the new Penguin Press business book, “Closing the Engagement Gap; How Great Companies Unlock Employee Potential For Superior Results.”

Her leadership in Investor Relations contributed to EMC being the NYSE Stock of the Decade for the 1990s, when it outperformed all other listed stock and increased in value nearly 90,000 percent.  Polly was the first woman at EMC to be promoted to Vice President. Polly writes a popular blog dedicated to careers, culture and cool.

Paul Pedrazzi heads a small team of professionals (AppsLab) focused on emerging technology and novel business practices. Most recently, his interest has been on Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 and the transformation of the enterprise in light of these new modes of operation. Additionally, Mr. Pedrazzi spearheaded the creation of Oracle’s first two social network projects; Connect for internal users and Mix for customers, partners and media. Before heading AppsLab he ran product strategy for PeopleSoft’s Portal Product Suite, catapulting the flagship product into the leadership position in Gartner’s annual product evaluation. Prior to PeopleSoft, Mr. Pedrazzi held various other product strategy, marketing and consulting roles in organizations such as Deloitte & Touche LLP and Groundswell, Inc. Mr. Pedrazzi holds a BS in Managerial Economics from the University of California at Davis.

Who Should Purchase:

• Individuals responsible for employee communications, public relations, IT, corporate affairs, human resources, media relations, and issues management.

“The two case studies were excellent. Polly was a wonderful presenter; Paul was good too.”

“We’re in the process of developing a number of employee engagement communities so very timely.”

On the surface, it would seem social media is at odds with investor relations.  The new media channels — Twitter, blogs, podcasts, social networks, company websites etc. — are all about conversation, informality and transparency.  Investor Relations has by necessity always been necessarily buttoned down.  After all, employees can go to jail for violating SEC fair disclosure rules.

Still, if investor relations is charged with enabling the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial community, and other constituencies, which ultimately contributes to a company’s securities achieving fair valuation, why should social media tools not be used?  In this webinar, our experts will give an overview of the new financial communication landscape and offer practical advise on deploying all the newest tools including shareholder forums, Twitter, Facebook, Slideshare, docstock and YouTube to supplement traditional channels to achieve broad, simultaneous and fair disclosure. They will also talk about the risks of using social media channels for communicate financial performance and avoiding disclosure hot water.

Real world questions addressed:

• What are the respective roles of the key IR players in your company, i.e. CEO, CFO, Legal, IRO with respect to participation, review, approvals?
• How difficult was it to sell the idea internally to start using social media for IR?
• How effective has your use of social media been in engaging investors and building/improving relationships?
• How do you measure the effectiveness?
• For IROs who aren’t doing these yet but are thinking about it, what issues should they keep in mind, what possible obstacles/roadblocks should they be aware of and plan for?
• Where do you see your company going/growing next in use of social media for IR?
• How is the overall financial communication paradigm is shifting and why is that important to your company?
• What are the pros and cons of setting up a shareholder forum, and what is involved?
• What are the risks of using social media for investor relations, and how do you manage them?

Presented by:

Ruth Cotter is the director of investor relations at Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD). Her responsibilities include leading AMD’s global relationships with shareholders and analysts. AMD is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing, graphics and consumer electronics markets. Ruth has 12 years of IR experience. Prior to joining AMD, Ruth’s expertise spanned several years at CRH plc, one of the worlds largest building materials
groups listed on the Irish, London and New York stock exchanges. Following that, she spent a number of years at Trintech Group plc, co-headquartered in Ireland and the USA. A leading provider of transaction risk management solutions listed on Nasdaq. In addition, Ruth has public relations experience within the public, banking and consumer industries. Ruth holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and History from University College, Cork, Ireland.

Laura Graves is Director of Global Investor Relations at Cisco, a Fortune 50 company with sales approaching $40 billion annually.  Ms. Graves joined Cisco in late 2004 and assumed leadership of the Company’s award winning IR practice in 2006.  Since that time, she has expanded Cisco’s IR activities on a global basis and is recognized by Wall Street for having developed thought leading processes for IR engagement and outreach.   At Cisco, Ms. Graves manages a diverse team responsible for strategic corporate and financial communications, including M&A and Treasury communications.  She is a senior executive on Cisco’s Corporate Communications team, and regularly collaborates on strategic public relations, executive & employee communications, social media planning and corporate social responsibility.  Previously, Ms. Graves was Director of Investor Relations at InVision Technologies, a homeland security explosive detection company.  Graves was responsible for increasing corporate visibility, analyst coverage and institutional holdings for InVision, and was instrumental in positioning the sale of InVision to General Electric Company in 2004.  InVision products continue to protect air travel under the GE umbrella today.

Abe Wischnia is Principle and CEO of Abe Wischnia and Associates. A respected investor relations and public relations professional with more than 20 years of experience, Wischnia, APR, has created successful investor relations, public affairs and corporate communications programs for clients in a broad range of industries including biotech, high tech, defense, financial services, chemicals and energy as well as government agencies. He is a published writer with articles on investor relations, public relations, and other subjects, not to mention articles he has written for corporate publications. He has also taught writing at the university level. He has been a television news anchor, radio talk show host and a paid public speaker at conferences. As a journalist, he won awards for television news reporting on public issues. Prior to forming Abe Wischnia & Associates to specialize in investor relations and shareholder communications, he was senior director of IR and corporate communications at Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc., a biotech company headquartered in San Diego. Before that, he headed IR and PR for San Diego-based Cubic Corporation. He also spent ten years as a public affairs executive at Chevron Corporation.

• “It gave insight into areas we have yet to consider in our IR mix.”
• “It’s a relevant issue in my industry.”
• “I learned a lot on Social Media in a short time frame.”
• “Gave me enough background to start seriously planning for introduction of social media in my IR Program.”
• “Learned how other companies view the IR and social media dynamics.”

Get instant access to this webinar replay. Or Subscribe to ASK and access all replays (best value).

On the surface, it would seem social media is at odds with investor relations.  The new media channels — Twitter, blogs, podcasts, social networks, company websites etc. — are all about conversation, informality and transparency.  Investor Relations has by necessity always been necessarily buttoned down.  After all, employees can go to jail for violating SEC fair disclosure rules.

Still, if investor relations is charged with enabling the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial community, and other constituencies, which ultimately contributes to a company’s securities achieving fair valuation, why should social media tools not be used?  In this webinar, our experts will talk about the opportunities and risks associated with using company websites, blogs and social media to supplement traditional channels to acheive broad, simultaneous and fair disclosure. They will also talk about how to approach and practice the delicate balancing act of using social media channels for communicate financial performance, without getting into disclosure hot water.

What You Will Learn:

• What the US SEC’s public disclosure requirements are.
• How some IR professionals are creatively pushing the envelope on using social media in investor relations
• Do’s and Don’ts when integrating social media into your IR program
• How to not violate any disclosure rules
• How to calculate the ROI of using social media for investor relations
• What is the social media news release and should every news release be social?

Presented by:

 Richard Brewer-Hay is Senior Manager, Corporate Communications at eBay.Richard has more than a decade of communications, marketing and production experience. In January, 2008, he joined eBay as Chief Blogger to direct its social media initiatives and launch “eBay Ink” (http://ebayinkblog.com), where he captures and shares his insights and perspective on the company and provides another conduit for corporate communications.Richard launched the ebayinkblog Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/ebayinkblog) in June, 2008 that allowed eBay to become the first Fortune 500 company to live-blog financial announcements and earnings’ calls via Twitter. In March, 2009 Richard introduced the first social media guidelines for corporate disclosure for both blogging and micro-blogging. Prior to joining eBay, Richard was with PodShow (now Mevio), a new media network where he oversaw the company’s programming lineup for two years. As Sr. Director of Talent and Marketing for PodShow, Richard grew the signed talent pool from 25 to over 250 contracted individual video and audio show producers, and contributed to network growth from 25 to over 16,000 shows before his departure in December, 2007.

Robert (Rob L.) Williams II serves as director, Investor Relations for Dell Inc.  He is responsible for the strategic direction of the investor relations function and executing Dell’s global investor communications program in conjunction with the chief financial officer and senior management. Dell’s Investor Relations is involved in global industry conferences, a large-scale analyst conference, on-site investor visits, quarterly earnings, the annual shareholders’ meeting, strategic research projects and a broad competitive analysis function. Mr. Williams also provides guidance regarding Dell’s operating results and business strategies to global institutional investors and sell-side securities analysts.  Mr. Williams is a 17-year Dell veteran and has served as director of investor relations for the past seven years.  Prior to joining investor relations in 1995, Mr. Williams held positions in corporate treasury, finance and marketing at Dell. He serves as president of the Austin-San Antonio chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute and is an active national speaker on topics ranging from strategic impact of investor relations to social media.  Mr. Williams received a bachelor’s of business administration degree in management from the University of Texas  and  a master’s of science degree in finance from Texas A&M University. He serves on the board of the Austin Children’s Museum, where he is a member of the executive committee.

Serena Ehrlich recently started her own consulting firm focusing on social media strategies and implementation for public and private companies. During her years at Business Wire, Serena worked closely with public and private companies providing guidance on investor relations and public relations trends, marketing, product development, social media, SOX trends, XBRL and trade show services. In addition, she worked with some of the largest companies in North America, including ExxonMobil, Walt Disney, Mattel, Textron and more. In her spare time Serena serves as chairman of the interim social media club (www.socialmediaclub.org ) board of directors as well as a senior advisor for the international YoungPrPros (www.youngprpros.com) and is a 8 year board member for NIRI – first in Dallas and later in Los Angeles.

• “The webinar was great today … helpful and insightful.”
• “Both presenters gave real-world examples. Much better then other Webinars I’ve attended where it’s just a vendor trying to sell you a product.”

PR & Marketing Is Changing – Are You? Online PR provides the means to reach target audiences directly, with or without participation of the news media. Internet marketers have been doing that for years, but public relations professionals have been slow to get on board. No PR professional can afford to ignore online PR or outsource it to specialists; it is an essential part of the skill set all PR professionals must have. It’s as fundamental as writing, pitching and building relationships.

So, what must you know to thrive in this ever-changing online environment? If you’re like most public relations pros, you need a broader knowledgebase, greater online skills – and perhaps, a new mindset. PR pros are doing a better job with social media than keyword research and SEO, which much change. To define online PR simply as social media is short-sighted and will lead PR pros astray. This jam-packed webinar will give you a critical understanding of the basic online PR skills you need to master fast, for the sake of your clients, employers and your career.

Learning Topics:

• When SEO meets PR: how to write effectively for sites, releases, articles and newsletters
• When PR meets social media: which sites, what to monitor, and how do you know it’s working?
• How keyword research for Online PR differs from online advertising
• Online PR best practices for your website

• Optimizing online press releases—what’s most effective now

What You Will Learn:

• 4 results-driven SEO techniques for online PR
• A 10-minute keyword research method that always yields insights
• The right and wrong role websites play with Online PR
• 3 proven ways to write copy for both humans and search engines
• Traditional vs. online releases: the real data may surprise you
• An overlooked yet powerful method to gain consistent web site traffic
• The Online PR Social Media blueprint: it’s not what you think
• Buzz and reputation monitoring: recommended tools and tactics.

Presented by:

  Jim Bowman has broad experience in all functional areas of public relations and corporate communications, with an emphasis on media relations. As Vice President of Corporate Communications for Nokia Inc., he was part of the global team that established Nokia as one of the world’s top 10 brands. Jim’s strategies and creative thinking have helped build the brands and images of some of the world’s most respected companies and get small companies known. As owner and President of J. R. Bowman and Associates, LLC, Jim now concentrates on serving small-to-medium-size businesses. Jim’s ability to diagnose PR problems and suggest solutions earned him the name, “The PR Doc®” among his associates. He has launched http://www.theprdoc.com to help small agencies and individual public relations practitioners get affordable access to PR tools and expert help from senior practitioners. Jim was recognized by his peers with election to the Arthur W. Page Society, a selected-membership organization of senior public relations executives, and appointment to the client advisory board of the Council of Public Relations Firms. 

Mike Moran, is author of the acclaimed book on Internet marketing, Do It Wrong Quickly, on the heels of the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc., Mike Moran led many initiatives on IBM’s Web site for eight years, including IBM’s original search marketing strategy. Mike holds an Advanced Certificate in Market Management Practice from the Royal UK Charter Institute of Marketing, and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He also writes marketing columns for Internet Evolution and Search Engine Guide. Mike frequently keynotes conferences on Internet marketing for marketers, public relations specialists, market researchers, and technologists, and serves as Chief Strategist for Converseon, a leading digital media marketing agency. Prior to joining Converseon, Mike worked for IBM for 30 years, rising to the level of Distinguished Engineer. Mike can be reached through his Web site (mikemoran.com), which is also home to his Biznology newsletter and blog.

Marc Harty is CEO of MainTopic Media, Inc., a strategically focused, values-driven, marketing consultancy and training company. Ever the entrepreneur, Marc has owned an ad agency, a web development firm, and a search marketing firm. A marketing strategist with over two decades of distinguished service, Marc has won over 200 local, national and International awards, including two Clio’s and “Best Of Show” from The Dallas Ad League. Marc speaks regularly on Online PR, Thought Leadership, Social Marketing and Internet Business Transformation. His true passion? Developing proven marketing programs that can help anyone get the visibility and results to successfully manifest their life purpose.

Simplify Your Social Media Strategies and Relations (and now….Breathe)

Q: What if you had five simple principles you could apply to all your social media initiatives instead of chasing after all those “best practices” and the coolest, newest tools, and then trying to mash them up to meet your specific situation?

A: You could confidently face your social media planning, campaigns or learning without panic, feeling overwhelmed or behind the curve.

Linda will simplify your life and arm you with just five principles that you can apply as “universal truths” in implementing social media. These five principles can act as your “check list” and be your guide whether you are trying to learn about social media, are embarking on engaging in social media relations or are building out a social media strategy. We aren’t saying you won’t have work to do afterwards, but it will be clearer what social media work is the right work.

If you ever asked yourself “how to I get started in social media?” “what social media tools should we be using?” “how do I keep up on it all?” or “how do I stop all the social media noise in my head?” purchase this webinar replay and start simplifying your life – really.

Replay 

What You Will Learn:

• The difference between social media “best practices” and “best principles.”
• Why relying on best principles is better than continually searching for best practices.
• The five principles anyone can apply to be effective in doing social media relations, creating a social media strategy or learning about social media
• What is truly necessary to focus on to be successful in social media.
• Learn about at least ten resources that will simplify your social media life or learning.
• How to decide on the best social media tools to use.
• How to bring your newsroom into the social media century.
• At least one way to convince your boss on the value of using social media.
• Why you need a Creative Commons copyright license.
• How to limit the “social media” noise that can confuse you and your efforts and help you stay focused on what’s really important.

Presented by:

Linda Zimmer is a digital media consultant and modern marketing strategist, serving an international clientele. She specializes in assisting organizations in benefiting from, managing and innovating with new media for marketing, communications and internal and external collaboration.

Linda is CEO of Marcom:Interactive, sits on the Advisory Board of Web Wise Kids, and is a consulting council analyst for the Gerson Lehrman Group. She is founder of the Modern Media Institute, a professional development institute for new media practices (launching September 2008) and she regularly trains public agencies for the State of California. She currently is an advisory board member for the Extension University at California State University, Fullerton on developing Web 2.0 curriculum.

Ms. Zimmer has more than 25 years of experience in applying emerging media to organizational issues. During her career she has provided digital services to many of the Fortune 100/500 companies and Internet startups; the FDA, U.S. Forestry Services, and U.S. cities and counties; non-profits of all sizes; colleges and universities, and entertainment properties. Linda serves as a resource to the news media and she publishes extensively on the Web. (http://freshtakes.typepad.com)

A new generation of online tools can amplify the voice of business leaders and individuals and turn them into thought leaders with amazing speed.

Blogs, podcasts, digital video and social networks enable business people to bypass expensive advertising and media gatekeepers and take their messages directly to their stakeholders.

With expertise, dedication and savvy use of search engines and syndication, you can now reach a targeted audience with minimal cost and waste.

This webinar introduces the most popular social media concepts and provides step-by-step advice on how to put them to work.

What You Will Learn:

• How to choose from among more than a dozen social media options to fit the tools to your strategy
• Secrets of gaining traffic, search-engine visibility and business
• Why search engines love blogs
• How to use syndication to turbo-charge readership and awareness
• Debunking myths about ROI
• Matching social media to business strategy
• Packaging content for maximum visibility and search engine impact
• Read Q&A with Paul Gillin on social media marketing and becoming an influencer.
• Read excerpts from Secrets of Social Media Marketing

Presented by:

Paul Gillin  is a veteran technology journalist with more than 24 years of editorial leadership. Paul was founding editor-in-chief of TechTarget, one of the most successful new media entities to emerge on the Internet. Previously, he was editor-in-chief and executive editor of Computerworld. Currently, he writes the social media column for BtoB magazine. His critically acclaimed new book, The New Influencers, is about the changes in markets being driven by the new breed of online publishers. Published by Quill Driver Books in spring, 2007, it is in its third printing. His second book, Secrets of Social Media Marketing, will be published in the fall of 2008.

Paul specializes in advising business-to-business marketers on strategies to optimize their use of online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is particularly interested in social media and the application of personal publishing to brand awareness and business marketing.

Paul is an accomplished speaker and media spokesman. He has keynoted more than a dozen technology conferences, including annual user group meetings for IBM, Oracle, Cognos, Business Objects and J.D. Edwards. He has also spoken at scores of other events about technology trends and social media.

His ability to translate complex technology topics into plain English has made him a favorite source for journalists. He has been widely quoted in newspapers and on the airwaves, including appearances on CNN, PBS, Fox News and MSNBC.

Paul is a research fellow at the Society for New Communications Research and he chairs the social media cluster of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. He blogs at http://www.paulgillin.com.

Sometimes it’s good to step back and have someone help you re-think your strategy. 

That’s why we asked Christopher Barger, author of the new book, Social Media Strategist, to peel back the social media strategy onion. He has labored in the social media trenches at two big corporations (IBM and GM). He knows the potholes to avoid and the things you can’t skip over.

In this special webinar he will be sharing the critical questions, decisions and maneuvers you must choreograph to bring true business value to your social media efforts.

Don’t miss this no-nonsense, cut-to-the-chase learning event, and if possible, attend with your entire team.

What You Will Learn:

• Who should own social media
• What internal potholes keep most social media efforts from truly taking off
• What departments and roles are critical to create a social marketing power team
• What are are the seven elements to a winning social media program for corporations and organizations
• Why organizations need to become content publishers to succeed in social media, and what that means
• How can a big company work effectively with bloggers to get social media results
• How to build a fire-proof social media crisis team and process
• How to create well-defined metrics and use the right tools to measure them

Presented by:

Christopher Barger is senior vice president of global programs at Voce Connect. He works with clients around the world to develop and execute social media strategies. Before joining Voce, he built and led GM’s social media program from 2007-2011 where he learned not only about how to build a corporate social program but about managing crises online. Before GM, he was IBM’s first “Blogger-in-Chief” for two years. His book, “The Social Media Strategist,” (McGraw-Hill, fall 2011) focuses on the unique challenges of building a social media program at a large brand or organization. Barger writes “The Social Media Report” for Forbes.com, where he covers the challenges companies are facing as they navigate the social web, trends and emerging technologies as they affect businesses and big brands, and how implementing social web tactics as part of your overall strategy can supplement and enhance your communications and marketing efforts.

How to wrap a blog into your overall content and communications strategy

Corporate blogging means the use of company-sponsored blogs as a way to connect with internal and external audiences. Interactive, instant, efficient, often revelatory, corporate blogs are no longer optional.  With the total number of blogs surpassing 55 million, we’ve entered the era of Corporate Blogging 2.0. You need to know now how can you can use this new communications channel. Organizations as various as Dell, General Motors and McDonald’s are using blogs to spread their message, learn from stakeholders and create a body of knowledge encapsulated in a digital trail.

What You Will Learn:

• Who should write your blog and what the topic should be
• Case studies on what works – and what doesn’t in a corporate blog
• Blogging guidelines and other nuts & bolts of managing an internal or external corporate blog
• How to measure results
• How to assess whether your organization is blog-ready

Presented by:
Debbie Weil is a corporate and CEO blogging consultant and author of The Corporate Blogging Book (Penguin Portfolio 2006). She also writes BlogWriteForCEOs, considered one of the most influential blogs about business blogging.

As a consultant, she shows the big dogs how to use blogs as a next-generation marketing and communications strategy. She invites you to download Chapter 1 of her new book for a meaty introduction to the topic of CEO and corporate blogging.

Debbie has a unique background as a veteran journalist with an MBA and corporate marketing experience. She has worked as an Internet marketing consultant with startups as well as Fortune 500 companies (including HP and Wells Fargo) for over a decade.

She’s the publisher of award-winning WordBiz Report, an e-newsletter read by nearly 20,000 subscribers in 87 countries.

She has been quoted on the topic of corporate and CEO blogging in Fortune, the New York Times, BusinessWeek.com, the Washington Post and numerous other publications.

A graduate of Harvard with a degree in English, she has an MBA from Georgetown University and a Masters in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin. She is based in Washington DC.

http://www.debbieweil.com
http://www.BlogWriteForCEOs.com
http://www.TheCorporateBloggingBook.com

Do you know where your social media payoffs are? Unfortunately, most organizations don’t.

Now that we’ve done a few years of toe-dipping and experimentation it’s time to treat social media like any other PR or marketing activity.  Do the research, find the audience, figure out what their needs and wants are, what they’re interested in, what they want to hear, what’s motivating them, what they share.

In this unique and insightful webinar, you’ll learn simple and straightforward ways to monitor and mine social media intelligence to get you to your business goals. This session introduces the most popular social media intelligence tools and and offers step-by-step advice on how to put them to work.  Data mining is the way to hit the jackpot.

What You Will Learn:

• Find the right conversations to listen to
• Dig into the data in those conversations and find insights
• Discover the communities and groups that talk about you
• Figure out your share of voice in a particular conversation
• Decide where to spend your time and resources
• Evaluate opportunities and threats

Who Should Purchase

This webinar is primarily aimed at those in the early stages of implementing or learning about social media, although it will also help more advanced practioners to focus their efforts. It is especially suitable for:

• Small and mid-sized business leaders
• Corporate executives who are new to social media

Presented by:

Sally Falkow is the co-developer of PRESSfeed, the social media newsroom.  A veteran of the PR industry, Sally has translated her extensive experience in marketing, PR and communication to the Internet and her blog, Proactive Report, is a resource for PR professionals who want to learn about digital PR and social media. Her book, Mastering Social Media Strategy: a handbook for PR professionals will be available in May 2011. She is an adjunct professor at the Annenberg School for Communication  and Journalism at USC lecturing in  Social Media Strategy, Content and Tools. Sally is also a Sr. Fellow with the Society for New Communication Research, a new media research think tank based in Palo Alto, CA.

As Twitter takes off as a branding tool there is an overriding sense of uncertainty. What is the set of tools (video, text, photo, audio, search, clients, etc.) that comprise microsharing? What does it do? What can we use it for? How do we reach our audience here? How is this different? How can we measure success? How do we govern it? What works? 

Smart businesses understand how best to approach the microsharing opportunity. In this webinar, we’ll learn and develop standards of excellence, authenticity and engagement that will work for your organization.

Testimonial: “At first I thumbed my nose because Twitter struck me as a mile wide and an inch deep; but Pistachio knew her stuff and quickly engaged me with relevant material.”

What You Will Learn:

• Understand the territory and shortcut your learning curve
• Innovate productive, valuable, profitable uses of microsharing
• Save time and money
• Avoid damaging mistakes
• Be engaging, genuine and use the medium to its fullest
• (and… have fun doing it!)

What You Will Learn:

• Understand the territory and shortcut your learning curve
• Innovate productive, valuable, profitable uses of microsharing
• Save time and money
• Avoid damaging mistakes
• Be engaging, genuine and use the medium to its fullest
• (and… have fun doing it!)

Questions Answered:

• Landscape for business use of Twitter and microsharing generally
• How to think about brand opportunities in microsharing
• What’s on the horizon? What trends should we watch for next

Who Should Purchase

Brands …engage more deeply with their consumers and markets in strategic and powerful ways that microsharing makes possible.

Individuals …build your network, access better professional relationships, faster knowledge-sharing and leveraged problem-solving. Microsharing is particularly valuable for Executives, sales and marketing professionals, consultants, freelancers and celebrities.

Anyone … develop dynamic and engaging “behind the scenes” personalities, content, sneak-previews and other genuinely engaging “teaser” content during the normal process of producing your product.

Presented by:

Laura “@Pistachio” Fitton is one of the first prominent “microbloggers,” with roughly 6,500 readers on Twitter. An early beta tester of Seesmic and Qik, she connects people to new ideas and innovations using all the tools of microsharing.

Her innovative use of social media has also gotten the attention of the top minds in technology, as profiled by Naked Conversations author Shel Israel for his Global Survey. Laura has also been quoted in The New York Times Magazine, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, The LA Times, Newsweek.com, Inc.com, CIO Magazine, CNET, ZDNet and many other magazines, publications, web shows and blogs. She speaks at technology conferences, private industry and guest lectures at Bentley College.

Laura is a magna cum laude graduate of Cornell University’s eclectic College Scholar program. In “past lives” she studied science writing with Carl Sagan, rock climbed, sailed on a schooner, raised a niece, ran a hobby farm, traveled and lived abroad.

Today she lives in Boston with two toddler daughters and a giant Leonberger. She practices Ashtanga yoga and plays ice hockey in her “spare” time, and is a stroke survivor dedicated to raising awareness.

There’s a new social media world order and its tentacles are reaching inside organizations.
Employees expect to connect and have conversations with coworkers as easily as they do with old high school chums on Facebook. Meanwhile, corporate communication, HR, IT and leadership are struggling with how to unleash social tools in a way that amps up communication, collaboration and employee engagement.

Dan Pontefract, head of Learning & Collaboration at TELUS, believes strongly that traditional management styles are obsolete and that organizations need to adopt a collaborative, open leadership approach, one that engages and empowers all employees. This inevitably means social software.

In this webinar, you will learn from someone who’s paving a trail through this new terrain. Pontefract, author of the new book, Flat Army, will give us a tour of the TELUS intranet and tell how he has driven a philosophical and cultural shift in the way TELUS communicates, collaborates and learns.

What You Will Learn:

• The importance of social tools to an organization’s culture, leadership programs and learning model
• How leaders can provide context, content and a vehicle for conversation through social tools
• Specific examples of social tools in leadership action

Who Should Attend

Social business is a team sport. Business leaders from many disciplines have a role to play and should attend this webinar, preferably as a group:

• internal communications, HR , learning, marketing, corporate communications, public relations, customer service, legal and media relations.

Presented by:

Dan Pontefract is a passionate leader in social business, Enterprise 2.0, learning, leadership and collaboration. He is author of Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization.

As head of Learning & Collaboration atTELUS, Dan championed the introduction of the TELUS Leadership Philosophy (TLP), an open and collaborative-based leadership framework for all 40,000+ TELUS team members. He further championed the use and deployment of collaborative technologies to complement both the learning and leadership frameworks. In 2010, Pontefract was acknowledged as a Vanguard Award winner and is a two-time winner of the Corporate University “Best in Class Awards” for the Leader of the Year. In 2012, SkillSoft awarded him the “Learning Leader of the Year” for his work at TELUS. Pontefract holds a Masters of Business Administration, a Bachelor’s of Education, and multiple industry certifications and accreditations. His first book, Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization publishes in March, 2013.

Social media is a two-edged sword. We tend to only talk about the positive side — how social channels creatively deployed can greatly expand your organization’s marketing reach. Not much attention is paid to the dark, destructive side of social media — how a single customer complaint ignite a firestorm sweeping the Web and causing the most hardened organizations to panic. What to do? What to say?

This webinar explains the dynamics of customer activism in today’s democratized media world. It offers practical, actionable avoidance and response strategies for business executives and professional communicators. It also outlines processes to building an attack-proof culture that centers on customer satisfaction.

The good news is that bad buzz can be countered by earnest and savvy customer engagement. You can actually turn the angriest customers into raving fans.

“Great information that I can share with others who handle social media. Very informative and loved hearing the case studies.”

What You Will Learn:

• Why common business responses to customer complaints often make matters worse;
• Why complaining customers can be some of an organization’s most valuable assets;
• How vocal critics can be turned into raving fans with an active response strategy;
• How to manage and respond to comments on customer review sites;
• Customer support strategies for Facebook and Twitter;
• How to organize a team to identify and respond to attacks in minutes; and
• How to create a culture that puts customers first.

Who Should Attend

This webinar is designed for everyone who would like to help their organizations react to any online crisis that might erupt. It is especially suitable for:

• Brand managers, marketers, PR pros, social media managers, communications department staffers, public affairs, security, employee communications, media relations and issues management professionals.

Presented by:

Paul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is a popular speaker who is known for his ability to simplify complex concepts using plain talk, anecdotes and humor.

Paul is a prolific writer who has written five books and more than 200 published articles since 2007, in addition to two blogs. His award-winning 2007 book, The New Influencers, chronicled the changes in markets being driven by the new breed of bloggers and podcasters. His most recent book is Attack of the Customers. It documents the increasing incidence of online customer negativity and  tells of businesses can avoid being victimized.

Because they have access to the tools that personally connect them to their friends, family and peers, employees are jeopardizing their organization’s brand stature, reputation and competitive edge, often without realizing it. Without thinking, employees are sharing candid and damaging thoughts and updates — intentionally and unintentionally – that possess an uncanny ability to surface when least expected and be discovered by people who were never supposed to see them in the first place. And, perhaps accidentally, employees are sharing company secrets and information that should never see the light of day, and are doing so simply because they aren’t aware of the reach and power they have on the social web. This CD is aimed at helping corporate communication, marketing and PR professionals understand and lead their organization’s into the new world of online engagement, where the most operative rule may be simply: Don’t be stupid.

“I have attended a few “freebie” classes from other services, but found yours to be much more informative on the action side.  Giving real life, no kidding ideas on how to do things.”

“Very informative and worthwhile. The speaker was articulate and knowledgeable and made me think.”

What You Will Learn:

• What are the absolute rules of engagement that all your employees should know
• Social media horror stories and some policies to avoid them
• Building marketing and service teams around social media programs
• Top 10 guidelines for social media participation
• Teaching employees to talk: it’s not only what you say, it’s how you say it
• Who answers what … the best processes to manage brand conversations
• New roles and responsibilities in the era of emerging media
• How to guide the rise and evolution of social media in your organization

Presented by:

Brian Solis is globally recognized as one of most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has influenced the effects of emerging media on the convergence of marketing, communications, and publishing. He is principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning New Media agency in Silicon Valley, and has led interactive and social programs for Fortune 500 companies, notable celebrities, and Web 2.0 startups. BrianSolis.com is ranked among the top of world’s leading business and marketing online resources.

Brian’s newest book is Engage! The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, cultivate and Measure Success in the New Web.

Solis along with co-author Deirdre Breakenridge released Putting the Public back in Public Relations in 2009. Published by Financial Times Press, the book has become a best seller and is highly regarded a must read by anyone in marketing, communications, and also journalism.

In concert with Geoff Livingston, Solis released Now is Gone in 2007, an early, award-winning book that helps businesses learn how to engage in Social Media. He has also written several ebooks on the subjects of Social Media, New PR, Customer Service, and Blogger Relations.

If employees weren’t getting fired for what they are saying and doing on social media channels, your organization might simply pass on writing a social media policy, and this webinar. But they are, and a sound social media policy is a company’s first line of defense against risk in social media marketing. Which means you must embark on the delicate balancing act that is required to write or evolve your organization’s social media policy. If you policy is too complex or restrictive, you will scare employees and diminsh the significant business value that social media offers. And if you’re policy is too lax, or nonexistent, some of your employees may wind up as another social media horror story, fired for doing something they shouldn’t have. In this important webinar, our expert panel will share their experiences and advice on writing and enforcing a social media policy that does more good than harm. Attend and put your process ahead of policy.

“Gave me a lot to think about and actionable items for my organization.”

Learning Topics:

• Why your organization needs a social media policy
• What’s the best process to assure your policy is positive?
• What are the must-have elements of a social media policy?
• Do you need one policy, or many?
• What departments should be involved in policy creation and enforcement?
• What are some excellent policy writing resources you should review?

Presented by:

Chris Boudreaux is SVP of Management Consulting for Converseon. He created SocialMediaGovernance.com to provide tools and resources for leaders and managers who want to get the most from their social media and social application investments. Chris leads teams of business and technology professionals to improve their Marketing, Sales and Customer Service capabilities, from strategy through execution. In the past, he led product development and business transformation initiatives at Fortune 100 companies and online start-ups, and I am a former Naval Officer.

Jennifer Cisney, Chief Blogger and Social Media Manager, has been with Eastman Kodak for eleven years, resulting a broad knowledge of the various businesses and in depth experience with the corporate website, kodak.com. Her contributions to Kodak’s online experience have been inspirational photography, design expertise and creative content. She helped create and now manages the corporate blogs. After launching Kodak’s social media initiatives, she oversees Kodak’s presence on social media sites Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Flickr.

Laurie Buczek is Platform Vision Team Manager & Social Media Strategistwithin Intel Corporation’s Digital Marketing organization.  Prior to joining Digital Marketing, Laurie spent over two years as the Social Computing Program Manager where she was responsible for the major enterprise wide strategy & implementation of social computing for employees to connect & collaborate internally. Laurie began her social media journey three years ago while blazing a new trail for online marketing efforts by helping to launch & manage the first external social media community for Intel.  Laurie’s work has been published and showcased across the industry.  She is also a member of the 2.0 Adoption Council and Social Media Business Council. In addition to the experience within the social media space, Laurie has almost 18 years in high technology working in marketing, consulting and sales. In her life before Intel, Laurie worked for Forrester Research and Gateway, Inc.

Top down, bottom up, lateral and inside-out communication have all been around forever.  But the arrival of social technologies is dramatically changing the way people communicate with each other, their friends and their colleagues both inside and outside the corporate walls.

Is it already out-of-control?  Or are their powerful ways to support and channel this “social communication” so that it builds positive synergy around your brand, focuses organizational activity, and reduces friction in the path of change and performance.

This webinar explores this brave new world of social communication and takes a hard look not only at the tools–but at strategies and stories of how this works in reality. Our three experts will address the topic from the vantage point of

• “stakeholder re-engagement” (mutual recognition of changed business climate and required new ways of working)
• “brand advocacy” (the essential steps to identifying internal advocates, develop guidelines and training, and how to create an integrated communications strategy that gives your employees a reason to live and socialize your brand)
• Technology (moving from facilitating and growing relationships likeTwitter to fundamentally changing tone and content of internal dialogue)

What You Will Learn:

• How to identify your organization’s key social communicators and how to best engage them
• Starting a pilot, nurturing it, and making the case for broader implementation
• Encouraging and managing participation
• Identifying what if any extra technologies to use
• Processes for keeping your organization’s values and messages present
• Figuring out the metrics

Who Should Attend

This webinar is primarily aimed at those in the early stages of implementing or learning about social media, although it will also help more advanced practioners to focus their efforts. It is especially suitable for:

• Small and mid-sized business leaders
• Corporate executives who are new to social media

Mike Klein–The Intersection/CommScrum is a Brussels-based strategic communications pro specializing in social, network and tribal communication in organizations and in the public sphere.  An MBA graduate of London Business School,  Mike is a partner in Commscrum, a blog for alternative voices in the internal and business communications world.  Mike was a political campaign manager for state and local candidates and initiatives in the United States from 1987-1996, and has worked for Shell, Cargill, easyJet Airlines, the US Department of Transportation and Smythe Dorward Lambert in ten years as an internal communicator.

Elizabeth Lupfer is Senior Manager, Web Technologies and Interactive Media, at Verizon, where she drives the employee experience of the corporate intranet. Elizabeth is a member of Verizon’s Social Media Council, and advocates the use of social media within internal and external communication channels to drive employee engagement — recently working with colleagues to launch the pilot of Verizon’s Social Media Ambassador program. Prior to Verizon, Elizabeth worked in Corporate Employee Communications for AOL, where she honed her passion for leveraging web technologies to support integrated communications efforts. Elizabeth also authors strategies to drive engagement, collaboration and productivity through the judicious use of social media tools through her blog,The Social Workplace.

Georg Kolb is Business Director at communication software firm straightto. Prior to straightto, his roles included social media director and key accounter at Ketchum Pleon Germany, chief of innovation at Text 100 Global PR in New York, and Managing Consultant for the same firm’s German business. Georg was a lecturer for international PR at the Munich University and for PR on the Internet at the Bavarian Academy for Advertising and Marketing. He is also a regular speaker on the future of communications and blogs on his Corporate Communications Compass.

Social media poses some important new challenges for the internal communicator. On the one hand, the influx of new communications platforms has the potential of transforming how organizations work and communicate. On the other hand, as conversation channels expand and are available to everyone in an organization, how do you keep key messages from being diluted, and the corporate culture intact? Bottom line, what should the role of internal communications be in the age of social media? This panel continues the opening keynote discussion started at the Communitelligence Employee Engagement, HR & Social Media 2010 Conference in Chicago. Join this critical conversation and make sure you and your program stay relevant in this new age of internal communications.

Learning Topics:

• Key steps to ensure you and your department remain relevant and have the right impact.
• The role you should be playing: what is new and what remains the same
• Why clarity of message has become more critical with the decentralization of communication.
• What key skills communicators have that are the best antidote to obsolescence
• What are the best antidotes to obsolescence?

• “Excellent session! Worth the time investment!”
• Excellent high-level view”
• “I learned how important it is to know your intenal audience.”
• “The Avoiding Extinction piece by Cathi Killian was great.”
• “The greatest single benefit was learning about specific tools that were being using by other companies such as Yammer for “employee jams” and thinking like an intern by hiring a teenager.”

Presented by:

Gary F. Grates is President/Global Managing Director of Edelman Change and Employee Engagement, the organizational communications counseling practice of Edelman, the world’s largest independent public relations/communications counseling firm and the third largest overall. He has more than 25 years of corporate, marketing/brand, labor, and strategic communications experience with a particular expertise in change management/employee (internal) communications.  Grates has counseled more than one hundred organizations including PepsiCo, Starbucks,  Guardian, General Motors, Volvo, Nissan, Caterpillar, Shell, Visa International, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart,  British Airways,  ITT, GE Healthcare, eBay, and Dell, to name a few. Prior to joining Edelman, he served as Vice President-Corporate Communications/North America at the General Motors Corporation. In this role, Grates was responsible for brand, product, media, internal, financial and public policy communications for GM’s North America Region, the largest in the company.  He was also the global process leader for internal communications reporting to Chairman/CEO, G. Richard Wagoner, and a member of General Motors’ North American Strategy Board, the senior most governing body in North America.  In addition, he was on the teaching staff at General Motors University (GMU) and selected to join the company’s exclusive Senior Executive Program – a leadership development program. 

Jill Feldon LaNouette is vice president of Internal Communications in the Public Affairs Department at Cardinal Health. In this capacity, she counsels senior executives in effective communication strategies and leads her team in developing and implementing communication plans and programs to support the company’s objectives. She also is responsible for crisis communications and issues management. Ms. LaNouette joined Cardinal Health in 2003 as director of Organizational Communication where she provided communication support on several major change initiatives and brand-building projects. In her 30 years of helping organizations effectively communicate with different constituencies, Ms. LaNouette has received numerous awards for marketing and communications from various organizations including the Gold Quill from the International Association of Business Communications and the Silver Anvil from the Public Relations Society of America. She has worked with companies from healthcare to Hollywood, including Victoria’s Secret, The Procter & Gamble Company, Kaiser Permanente, Lucasfilm Ltd., and public radio. Also Jill is a free-lance writer and consultant, has been published in several publications, and worked as a sports reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Cathi Killian is Vice President, Internal Communications at Walt Disney Company. In her role leading internal communications and corporate responsibility, Cathi is responsible for enhancing the reputation of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts through strategies driven by excellence in internal communications, stakeholder engagement and community outreach. She develops the strategic plan for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts internal communications, which leverages communication to reinforce our values and brand and foster the visibility of executive leadership. She works with the internal communications teams at each business unit in taking an integrated approach to delivering relevant information to inform, motivate and engage Cast Members, Crew Members and Imagineers. Additionally, she leads our efforts focused on issues management and stakeholder engagement to identify issues, track trends and understand the impacts to our business, while developing allies that support our goals.

How do communicators speak truth to power?