Potentially, executive communications is the most powerful PR tool your organization has. In reality, lots of effort is wasted and you’re hard-pressed to figure out what the bottom-line results your C-suite communications’ activities are yielding. Fret about this no more. We’ve assembled the world’s three leading experts on how to create a disciplined executive communication program. Moderated by Vital Speeches of the Day editor David Murray, this all-star panel includes the founder, the manager, and the chief evangelist of the original strategic executive comms program.
You Will Learn:
- How to match executives with messages and messages with audiences: matrices and message-mapping.
- How to evaluate speaking and interview opportunities so you take only the ones truly worthy of your executives’ time.
- How to get executives on board and keep them on board by showing them real results.
- How to use social media to magnify the power of your program.
- How to introduce strategic executive communications to organizations that have been running the function ad hoc.
Who Should Attend
- C-level and senior executives from Fortune 1000, mid- and small-sized companies
- Speechwriters and Executive Communication Managers
- Directors of corporate communications, PR, marketing, community relations, public affairs, finance and HR
- Executive directors, leaders and managers of non-profits, NGOs, churches, educational institutions and philanthropic foundations
- Leaders of federal, state, county and municipal government departments and agencies
- Members of the national media including bloggers
Presented by:
Steve Soltis directs the Leadership Communications function at The Coca-Cola Company. In this role he is responsible for executive communication and positioning for the company’s chairman and CEO and is also the architect of the company’s senior executive speakers bureau. Soltis joined Coca-Cola in September of 2006, after spending 10 years directing executive communications for UPS, and two years as a speechwriter for MCI. Prior to his corporate communications career, Soltis worked in a variety of editorial positions for The Global Network, Harte Hanks, Ackerley Communications and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. In 2006, Soltis was a recipient of the PRSA Silver Anvil Award for B2B Marketing for the work he led in developing UPS’s global customer conference, Longitudes. A graduate of the University of North Texas and Mary Washington College, Soltis also serves on the Advisory Board of the College of Science and Technology at Georgia Southern University. He is the author of two travel guide books and lives in suburban Atlanta with his wife, Stacy, and two children, Annie and Christopher.
Bruce Danielson is a thought leadership consultant who designs and implements strategic communications programs to help companies achieve their next level of growth. He recently completed an 11-year career as Executive Communications Manager at UPS, where he was responsible for message platform development, forum placement, speech writing and message repackaging to support the company’s senior executive communications strategy. Prior to joining UPS, he served as a speechwriter and event manager at MCI. Danielson began his corporate communications career at Harland, serving as Director of Corporate Communications. Away from the world of thought leadership, Bruce plays old-time fiddle and is an avid whitewater canoeist and hiker. He lives in Atlanta with his musical wife.
David Murray writes and speaks about communication—business, political and personal. He’s editor of Vital Speeches of the Day, a monthly collection of the best speeches in the world. He writes about sports, people, politics and travel for magazines, newspapers and websites. publications and websites. And he discusses the communication life at his popular personal blog, Writing Boots.
For more than two decades, through his ongoing study, The Search for a Simpler Way, Bill Jensen has been researching how our managers and workforce communicate with each other.
In the past few years, something critical has happened: They have hacked our capabilities.
They can do what we do. Often, better than we can. How do we leverage that, instead
of fighting it? How can we learn from them?
Two-way communication means listening to what the workforce has to tell us. If you are
interested in learning from them, this is the most crucial webinar you will attend all year!
What You Will Learn:
- What benevolent hacking is, and how we are being hacked
- How companies waste massive amounts of time and energy…
and how we are complicit in this act - The top three things you should be doing to save your
organization from itself - Practical tips for getting started, and getting praise from above
Who Should Attend
This webinar ideal for communicators with:
- VPs, Directors and managers of internal communications, social media, marketing,
corporate communications, public relations, and branding - Anyone responsible for integrating external communications — marketing, sales, customer service, branding, etc. — with internal change efforts
Presented by:
Bill Jensen is today’s foremost expert on work complexity and cutting through clutter to what really matters. He has spent the past two decades studying how work gets done. (Much of what he’s found horrifies him.) Known as Mr. Simplicity for his first book, Bill has written five best-selling books based on his research. His latest, Hacking Work, was hailed as one of 2010’s Top Ten Breakthrough Ideas by Harvard Business Review. It reveals an underground army of benevolent hackers — breaking all sorts of rules so everyone can do great work. Bill is CEO of The Jensen Group: his list of clients includes the top companies in the world and he is constantly on the road, speaking in places from tech-shops in San Fran to sweatshops in Asia to palaces in Europe. Most importantly: Bill’s personal life fantasy is to bicycle around the globe via breweries.
Ebay: Engaging Employees in Innovative Social Responsibility Projects
Amy Skoczlas Cole, Director, eBay Green Team
Amy Skoczlas Cole has worked at the nexus of business and sustainability for 15 years. As a thought leader in embedding authentic and strategic corporate responsibility programs into business operations, Amy has advised dozens of Fortune 500 companies. Her expertise covers a myriad of CSR issues, including greening operations and supply chains, creatively engaging customers and employees in environmental efforts, and partnering effectively with stakeholder communities.
Today, as the Director of the eBay Green Team at eBay Inc., Amy leads eBay’s efforts to engage their 88 million active users in making more sustainable buying choices that both can save consumers money as well as help protect the planet. Building off a grassroots efforts started by eBay’s own employees, the eBay Green Team is a community of over 100,000 people who have pledged to be smarter, greener buyers and sellers. Launched in March of 2008, the eBay Green Team has focused on raising awareness of the environmental benefits of using products that already exist today, and demonstrated how small actions can collectively add up to a big difference. Within eBay, the employee Green Team, which numbers over 2,000 employees in 23 countries, has spearheaded a number of projects to make eBay a greener company, from developing alternative commute programs to planting the first ever Fortune 500 company sponsored community garden. In her role, Amy also serves as on the company’s Sustainability Steering Committee, the executive body empowered by eBay CEO John Donahoe to set and implement eBay’s own operational commitments, including installing the city of San Jose, Calif.’s largest solar installation, building eBay’s newest building to LEED Gold standards, and most recently, announcing a commitment to reducing eBay’s greenhouse gas emissions by an ambitious 15% by 2012 over 2008.
Prior to joining eBay in early 2008, Amy was a co-founder and Vice President of Conservation International’s Center for Environmental Leadership in Business. For well over a decade, she engaged business leaders across a wide range of industries in creating strategic sustainability programs that benefited the global environment and the bottom line. In that role, she led multinational companies through the process of understanding, measuring, mitigating, and offsetting their environmental footprint and that of their supply chain – and in doing so, creating leadership brand enhancement and marketing opportunities. Amy applied this expertise during three years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she helped to found a Brazilian sustainability organization focused on engaging Brazilian companies in environmental efforts. A seasoned expert in crafting partnerships between the business and non-profit communities, Amy launched relationships with companies as diverse as Starbucks, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Vale do Rio Doce, Intel, Petrobras, Office Depot, Aracruz Celulose, Fiji Water and Bank of America.
Amy holds an MBA in marketing and finance from George Washington University, and a BA in Environmental Policy from Vanderbilt University. She is the author of various articles on business and sustainability issues, and a frequent speaker at national and international events, conferences and business schools. She is the associate editor of Footprints in the Jungle, a book about natural resource companies and the environment. Amy serves on the advisory boards of the Brazilian sustainability organization Instituto BioAtlantica, and Climate Earth, an enterprise carbon accounting start up. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband and son.
We are living in an era where social media not only impacts the way human beings interact with one another, but is influencing business decisions and customers’ perceptions of brands. By making employees confident in the fact that they can reach out to customers and by providing them with the necessary resources, you grow your external reach exponentially.
The Social Media Ninjas team at Sprint has done just that with their award winning employee advocacy program. Through the implementation of a training program that gives a fly-by of the corporation’s social media policy along with placing strong employee-facing support resources in a variety of channels, Sprint has created a program that drives employee engagement while protecting and enhancing its brand reputation.
Find out how internal communications is your best fuel for active advocacy and why a too formal social media policy can actually deter employees from joining your force. You’ll see how Sprint empowers its employees with real-time, company-approved, social media updates.
What You Will Learn:
- How to align internal communications and social media goals
- How to create a winning cross-functional team
- How to communicate a policy that works for advocates and Legal
- What motivates employees to participate voluntarily
- What resources you can put in place to optimize success
- Various channel to stay connected with your employee advocates
- The effect that extra reach can have on your organization
Presented by:
Jennifer Sniderman, Group Manager – Employee Communications leads news, editorial and social media for enterprise-wide employee communications at Sprint. She specializes in interactive multimedia engagement programs which have garnered numerous awards. Jennifer is the co-creator of Sprint’s Social Media Ninja program leveraging employee advocacy to bolster the customer experience and improve Sprint’s corporate reputation. She provides counsel to Sprint’s Human Resources team to deliver leader-focused communications programs. Prior to joining Sprint, she was Assistant Vice President, Corporate Communications at Zurich Scudder Investments in Chicago, IL. Outside of work, she serves on the board of Chameleon Arts & Youth Development, a non-profit organization providing arts education for homeless and under-served children.
Sara Folkerts, Internal Social Media Manager is passionate about sharing, communicating, transparency and being open-minded. This has led her to her current job as a community manager and social media evangelist at Sprint. In addition to her role as community manager, Sara co-leads the Ninjas program at Sprint. Sara has presented on internal social media strategies at several conferences and at other companies. Where can you find her? On Twitter, of course! @saramiller.
Nic Lazowski, Communication Specialist is driven to engage employees and deliver information that will result in action. His role is centered around employee involvement and advocacy. As a Communication Specialist for Sprint, Nic is responsible for helping to drive employee education and advocacy through social media with other members of the Social Media Ninjas lead team.
Who Should Attend
- This webinar will cater to individuals who recognize the growing need for immediate and far-reaching contact with customers and potential customers. The information provided will allow you to start making your organization more nimble and approachable while improving reputation among customers.
Webinar attendee: “I appreciated all the information on how to put together a social media program for employees; the tools to use, the benefits of involving employees, how to set up the training program, etc.”
When it comes to humanizing your brand in social media, nobody can do it better than your employees. The 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer found “conversations with employees” remain one of the most credible sources of information about a company – ahead of news coverage, online search, or ads.
Pepsico is one company that has done the social media math. On Facebook alone, average users have 130 friends. Multiply that times Pepsico’s 300,000 employees and you have potentially millions of trusted conversations.
With that vision, Sharon McIntosh, senior director of global internal communications at PepsiCo, set out last year on a methodical process to empower employees to share their pride in the company on their social networks. In the process, the PepsiCo intranet has become a key platform for delivering and tagging the content that gets shared outside.
In this unique webinar, Sharon will share her journey to empower employees to be social media brand ambassadors. It has taken a balanced combination of tools, trust. Every company needs to figure this out – get a head start by attending this important webinar with your team.
What You Will Learn:
- Where you should start; who needs to be onboard
- How do you sell a social ambassador program to management, and employees
- How do you create a voluntary, online training program to educate employees on engaging in conversations that are authentic, responsible and interesting.
- How do you decide on the right content for employees to share – and a seamless process to make sharing easy
- How to make sure your social media policy doesn’t scare employees away
- What about incentives?
Presented by:
Sharon McIntosh is senior director of Global Internal Communications for PepsiCo, overseeing the internal strategy and channels for the company’s nearly 300,000 associates. She previously worked in internal communications, corporate communications, marketing and media relations at a range of companies, including Sears, Waste Management and the Illinois Hospital Association. Connect with Sharon on Twitter: @mcintoshs.
Who Should Attend
- Social media is a team sport. Business professionals from all of these departments have a key role to play and should attend this webinar, preferably as a group: internal communications, HR ,marketing, corporate communications, public relations, customer service, legal and media relations.
“Excellent information … Great job Sharon!!”
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Whether explicit or not, all corporate communication has an underlying goal of persuading an audience to do something, i.e., like you, trust you, embrace a scary change, buy your product or service, etc.
Even if you buy this logic, you probably aren’t yet persuaded that you need to purchase this webinar on moving an audience to action. Why? Because facts and data alone do not convince audiences; they have to desire to act. That’s where rhetoric, the study of understanding, discovering and developing arguments for particular situations, comes in. It behooves all of us in business, especially those in corporate communications, to know and use the essential time-tested secrets for changing an audience’s mood, mind and willingness to act.
Don’t miss this chance to learn from rhetoric expert and author of Thank You For Arguing, Jay Heinrichs, who has been described as a cross between Cicero and David Letterman. During this pithy and entertaining webinar, Jay will teach us the most practical tips and tools to master the art of persuasion, whether when speaking or writing, using sources as diverse as Aristotle, Lincoln and Homer Simpson. Whether you work in marketing, sales, public relations, internal communications or executive leadership, this webinar is for you. Are you persuaded yet?
“The Pivot concept was the best idea. Thanks for putting these together – you offer a valuable product at affordable prices.”
What You Will Learn:
- First, the 3-step strategy for getting the audience the mood and moving it toward action
- Ethos, pathos or logos … which persuades best, when?
- What’s the best medium for your message?
- A simple strategy to get an argument unstuck
- Aristotle’s three traits of credible leadership
- A “tool kit” of rhetorical tactics, from the Pivot to the Reluctant Conclusion
Who Should Attend
This webinar is designed for everyone who would like to win audiences and move them to action by understanding the power of rhetoric. It is especially suitable for:
- Corporate communicators, marketers, adverting execs, HR, sales, writers and editors, teachers, students and politicians.
Presented by:
Jay Heinrichs “brings the art of persuasion to the masters of manipulation,” according to Bloomberg Businessweek. After 25 years as a journalist and publishing executive, Jay dedicated himself to studying persuasion full-time, researching ancient and modern rhetoric and linguistics, interviewing rhetoricians around the country, and studying modern neuroscience. Combining rhetoric with marketing techniques, he teaches some of the most powerful tools of persuasion, ranging from “Ethos C4” to the “Eddie Haskell Ploy.” Jay’s book, Thank You for Arguing, is published in six languages and bought in bulk by corporations, high school AP English programs, and college rhetoric departments. Jay is also the author of Word Hero, a fun guide to becoming a better writer and speaker. You can learn more atjayheinrichs.com.
Brand champions are internal and external story tellers who spread the brand vision, brand values and cultivate the brand in an organization. Every organization needs committed and passionate brand champions. Be it your employees, investors, customers, or other key influencers, true advocates for your brand affect the corporate bottom-line and are critical to maintaining strong brand equity.
What You Will Learn:
- Why does branding matter, and how does it translate to profitability?
- What are the world’s most powerful brands, and what are they doing consistently right
- Does your brand really speak to all stakeholders? How is stakeholder value measured and valued?
- What are the best practices for building powerful brands?
What Do Your Customers Think About Your Company? (And Are They Right?)
A company’s image is perhaps its most powerful marketing asset. On the cutting edge of corporate strategy, image is essential for positioning a company for maximum growth. When finely honed and used correctly, corporate “image” can influence consumer choices, build brands, pre-sell products and services, and add value to a company in the minds of its public.
Case studies and best-practice examples: Jim Gregory, noted brand expert, will moderate this discussion and delve into Dell Computer and JetBlue Airways corporate case studies that will look at different stakeholders and how they can positively affect your brand.
Presented by:
Jim Gregory is founder and CEO of CoreBrand, a global brand strategy and communications firm based in Stamford, Connecticut with offices in New York, New York and Tokyo, Japan.
With 30 years of experience in advertising and branding, Jim is a leading expert on brand management and credited with developing pioneering and innovative tools for measuring the power of brands and their impact on a corporation’s financial performance.
Among the tools Jim has developed is the Corporate Branding Index® (CBI) – a research vehicle that has continuously tracked the reputation and financial performance of over 1200 publicly traded companies in 47 industries since 1990. CoreBrand uses the CBI to help clients understand how their brand compares with industry peers and determine how communications can impact corporate reputation and financial performance – including stock price and revenue growth.
Jim is a brand council member for both Bristol-Myers Squibb and New York Stock Exchange. He is a frequent speaker on the financial benefits of advertising and brand management for The Wall Street Journal as well as BusinessWeek.
Jim has written four books on creating value with brands, Marketing Corporate Image, Leveraging the Corporate Brand, Branding Across Borders and The Best of Branding. His latest white paper, Driving Brand Equity and Accountability, was sponsored by Barron’s and published by the Association of National Advertisers. Jim may be reached directly at 203.564.2439 or by email.
Bob Pearson serves as vice president of communities and conversations for Dell. As a member of Dell’s Communications team, he is responsible for digital media activities, ranging from customer resolution to management of IdeaStorm, Direct2Dell, StudioDell and other digital initiatives. His teams are also responsible for corporate media, public affairs, internal communications and the Office of the Chairman communications.
Before joining Dell, Mr. Pearson worked for Novartis Pharmaceuticals as Head of Global Corporate Communications and as Head of Global Pharma Communications, where he served on the Pharma Executive Committee. Prior to Novartis, Bob was President of The Americas for GCI and was responsible for creating and building the firm’s global healthcare practice. He was previously Vice President of Global Public Affairs & Media Relations at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (now Sanofi Aventis) and worked at CIBA-Geigy in both communications and field sales. He has more than 20 years experience in executive corporate communications and public relations.
As Brand Manager for JetBlue Airways Kim Ruvolo manages both internal and external brand strategy, including all brand communications, product and brand building, customer and crewmember experience, and delivering JetBlue’s brand promise to “Bring Humanity Back to Air Travel”. Her recent projects include the internal launch of Happy Jetting, JetBlue’s most recent advertising campaign; creating and re-focusing ShopBlue—JetBlue’s online retail store; reevaluating and redesigning the current uniform program; and executing JetBlue’s industry-leading Customer Bill of Rights.
Prior to being employed at JetBlue, Kim worked at Denver-based Frontier Airlines for five years where she spent most of her time re-branding the airline—a project that increased Frontier’s brand awareness from 47 to 89 percent in the Denver area. Kim attributes her knowledge of good customer service and understanding of airline operations to her first-years in the airline industry as a reservations agent.
The best way to communicate with people you are trying to lead is very often through a story.
More and more organizations are realizing that stability and predictability are no longer reasonable assumptions. In fact, the number one problem of today’s managers is the difficulty in getting their organizations to adapt to a competitive environment that is neither stable nor predictable. Yet while change is irresistible, the organization often seems immovable.
Drawing on his experience as program director of Knowledge Management at the World Bank from 1996-2000 and his work with many of the top organizations in the world, Steve Denning shows how to identify and craft a springboard story; i.e., a story that will spark action. Using a simple template, you will be equipped to get started on crafting your own springboard stories.
What you will learn:
- The importance of storytelling
- Appropriate situations for telling stories
- Why storytelling can handle leadership challenges for which conventional command-and-control techniques are impotent
- The essential ingredients of a springboard story — i.e., a story to communicate a complex idea and galvanize action
- How and why storytelling can communicate complex ideas, and why stories are so persuasive
- How to find and craft springboard stories for your organization
- How to use storytelling to ignite your career by becoming an authentic leader
- A 10-point template for crafting your stories
- Eight types of stories that you can put to work for you
- How storytelling changed the way the World Bank shared knowledge
Who should purchase:
This exceptional learning opportunity is designed for managers and professionals in:
- Corporate Communications
- Marketing
- Advertising
- Internal Communications
- Public Affairs
- Public Relations
- Organizational Development
- Human Resources
- Corporate Strategy and Development
- Senior Management
- Anyone, anywhere in an organization
It’s also an important addition to the offerings of college/university libraries and bookstores.
Instructor:
Steve Denning is the former program director of Knowledge Management at the World Bank. He now works with organizations in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia on knowledge management and organizational storytelling.
Steve is the author of several books on organizational storytelling, including:
- The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative (Jossey-Bass in April 2005).
- Squirrel Inc: A Fable of Leadership Through Storytelling (Jossey-Bass, 2004), a fable that elaborates seven different kinds of organizational storytelling
- The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations (Butterworth Heinemann, 2000), which describes how storytelling was used as a powerful tool for organizational change and knowledge management at the World Bank
Steve was born and educated in Sydney, Australia. He studied law and psychology at Sydney University and worked as a lawyer in Sydney for several years. He did a postgraduate degree in law at Oxford University in the U.K. before joining the World Bank, where held a number of positions from 1996 to 2000.
In 2000, Steve was named as one of the world’s “10 Most Admired Knowledge Leaders” (Teleos). In 2003, he was ranked as one of the world’s Top Two Hundred Business Gurus: Davenport & Prusak, “What’s The Big Idea?” (Harvard, 2003). In 2005, his book, The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling, was selected by the Innovation Book Club as one of the 12 most important books on innovation in the last few years.
Steve is a Senior Fellow at the James MacGregor Burns Leadership Academy at the University of Maryland.
Practical techniques any manager can use to motivate new behaviors and deliver better business results
Why are managers employees’ preferred source of communication? Because employees crave information that affects their day-to-day lives – information that only their managers can provide. Andy Szpekman, president of AHS Communications, outlines what managers can do to meet employee expectations, become better communicators and be more successful managers.
You’ll learn the four competencies every manager needs, the type of communication employees demand, and proven ways to change people’s attitudes and behaviors. You’ll leave the session with a solid understanding of what separates outstanding managers from the rest, as well as useful tips and simple tools any manager can apply immediately on the job. Whether you manage others or advise those who do, this teleseminar will help you engage your organization’s employees to deliver their best work.
Learning Topics:
- Six things every manager needs to do well
- What to look for when gathering employee feedback
- How to deliver a tough message effectively
- Stupid ideas about communication
- How to convey information, field challenges and brainstorm solutions – in under 15 minutes
Andy answers real-world questions on:
- Companies that are doing a good job at training their managers to be better communicators
- How to effectively measure whether a manager is communicating well
- advice and techniques to help managers be more open and forthright in their communications, even when they may fear repercussions from their management
- Specific advice for how to handle situations in non-public organizations, where laws prevent communications to be less timely than we would like it to be
- How to focus on listening rather than figuring out what you’re going to say when the other person stops talking
- the “huddle technique” to brainstorm solutions right after the change or problem has been communicated to employees
- The 360-degree survey technique to assess the effectiveness of manager communications
- The wisdom of setting up regular employee communication time
Who should purchase:
-
Line managers
-
Functional managers
-
Internal communicators
-
Corporate communicators
-
HR managers
-
Change managers
-
Internal marketers
-
College/university libraries and bookstores
Instructor:
Andy Szpekman provides HR and communication research, strategies and tools to improve business performance. His clients include Bank of America, BC Hydro, Cardinal Health, McKinsey & Co., Microsoft, News Corporation, Scholastic and Wachovia.
Earlier in his career, he led HR communication at Bank of America, served as communications manager for a global division of Warner-Lambert, and was a senior HR and communication consultant with Brecker & Merryman, Inc.
Andy is active in the Council of Communication Management and a former officer of the Metropolitan New York Association of Applied Psychology. His work has been featured in national news and business publications and leading trade journals. He holds a B.A. in psychology from William Paterson University and an M.A. in organizational psychology from Columbia University.
Employee Engagement: Mobilizing For a Cause
Laura Rodormer, Director of Corporate Citizenship, McKesson
Executive communications success truly rises and falls on how well you are able to “get into the heads” of your executives and earn their trust. Your ability to put great words in their mouths has as much to do with interpersonal communication as executive communications. Whether you’re a natural extrovert or spend your days cowering in your cubicle, this session will help you enhance your relationships with executives. You’ll leave with a list of techniques that you can start using immediately.
What you will learn:
- Blueprints for creating rapport and camaraderie with the CEO, no matter your station, without seeming unctuous or overly eager.
- Specific strategies on how to seen as a strategic communicator, not just a scribe. This will include thoughts on how to make sure the CEO sees you as smart … but not a smart @ss.
- Tips for managing senior executives and all of the other staff members that will either help ensure your success or doom you to failure.
- Tactics that will help you better understand what it’s like to be a public speaker. There’s nothing like a little empathy to improve job performance.
- Plans to turn the annual list of random speeches into a coherent communications strategy.
SESSION LEADER:
Christine Solie, VP-Financial and HR Communications, The PNC Financial Services Group, has more than 20 years of public relations experience with Fortune 500 companies. She has had two speeches published in Vital Speeches of the Day and earned two Silver Anvils for work not related to speechwriting.
This session will identify and describe the actions companies and their leaders can take to safeguard their corporate reputations, and rebuild their reputations and restore their good names after a crisis.
Jon HarmonJon Harmon is a communications consultant and author. He founded Force for Good Communications, a consultancy offering services ranging from brand-building media relations to crisis communications. His book on crisis communications, Feeding Frenzy: Inside the Ford-Firestone Crisis, was published in October, 2009. Previously, Jon was vice president – Communication and Reputation at Navistar, a global manufacturer of commercial trucks and military vehicles.
Jon’s career includes 23 years at Ford Motor Company in virtually every aspect of public relations, including media relations, employee and dealer communications, governmental affairs, issues management, product promotion, crisis communications and communications strategy.
The Force for Good blog is centered on the conviction that reputation is a company’s greatest asset, and that doing the right things in terms of corporate social responsibility can lead directly to success in the market. The most effective means of protecting and enhancing reputation is a consistent dedication to “aspirational public relations” built on transparency, honesty, integrity and social responsibility.
No one has to tell you what a great speech is, right? You know one when you hear it.
Well you’re about to hear a bunch of them—and you’re going to learn from them, guaranteed.
Vital Speeches of the Day editor David Murray presents “Speechwriting Jam Session 2010,” 75 entertaining, inspirational and instructive minutes that will have the hair standing up on the same arm you’re scribbling notes with. We’ll discuss, even debate, what makes these great speeches great.
Through dramatic readings from winners of the 2010 Cicero Speechwriting Awards and highlight reels from the Vital Speeches YouTube site, Murray will help us reawaken the giants within us by sharing together excerpts from speeches contemporary and classic, famous and rare. (In the true spirit of an improvisational jam session, you’ll even have a chance to nominate some of your own YouTube favorites, so come prepared!)
You’ll come away from this session with:
• Concrete examples showing how leaders are addressing the issues of this particular moment in business, politics and society.
• A stockpile of examples—video and text—to show reticent speakers: rhetorical tactics that have passed the test and been pulled off by the best.
• Renewed enthusiasm and an expanded sense of what’s possible in leadership communication.
• And a goose bumps, guaranteed.
SESSION LEADER:
- David Murray writes and speaks about communication—business, political and personal. He’s editor of Vital Speeches of the Day, a monthly collection of the best speeches in the world. He writes about sports, people, politics and travel for magazines, newspapers and websites. publications and websites. And he discusses the communication life at his popular personal blog, Writing Boots.http://www.vsotd.comhttp://writingboots.typepad.com/writing_boots/profiles/http://writingboots.typepad.com/
Our Approach to Sustainability Reporting and Stakeholder Engagement
Cecily Joseph, Director of Corporate Responsibility, Symantec Corporation
Think of any great presenter—Steve Jobs, Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos—and it won’t take you long to figure out that they are also master storytellers. Storytelling is increasingly becoming a “must-have” skill for business leaders, but you still won’t find it on any MBA curriculum.
This webinar will give you a deeper understanding why story is such a powerful strategic tool and how it can be used in the business setting. We will show you a specific “before and after” example of how a case study was transformed into powerful case story for pitching new business. We’ll also give you some key tips on how to craft and use stories to make an impact in your next big presentation or business meeting.
“As an ex-newspaper reporter, I have always recognized the value of storytelling. This webinar helped provide a great framework for bringing people into the important strategic and cultural stories I need to be communicating.”
What You Will Learn:
- The neuroscience and psychology that proves why stories work
- Tips for transforming run-of-the-mill presentation content into powerful stories that engage audiences
- How storytelling can be used as strategic tool to build chemistry and trust with others
- How even data-driven presentations can benefit from the art of storytelling
- The difference between conventional storytelling and strategic storytelling for business purposes. Please bring your ideas and questions!
Who Should Attend
This webinar is primarily aimed at those in the early stages of implementing or learning about strategic business storytelling, 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 storytelling
Presented by:
Jane Praeger is a former documentary filmmaker and faculty member in Columbia University’s M.S. program in Strategic Communications and Communications Practice where she teaches presentation design and delivery, communications strategy, strategic storytelling and writing. She founded Ovid Inc. in 1992 to help people find their public voices. Since then, she has provided speech, presentation, media training and customized workshops, to corporations such as Nickelodeon, Coach, Estee Lauder, McKinsey & Company, Euro RSCG Worldwide, as well as other technology, entertainment, and consulting firms. On the non-profit side, she has worked with Open Society Foundations, Doctors Without Borders, Atlantic Philanthropies, The Ms. Foundation, Harvard University, Columbia University Business School, and many others.
Heather Thomas is a business builder who has clocked countless hours performing “on stage” in the presentation spotlight. She earned her stripes in the agency world, working at Agency.com, Modem Media and the digital agency Critical Mass where she built their Business Development and Corporate Marketing practice from the ground up, ultimately tripling their revenue. After crafting hundreds of high-stakes presentations to win clients such as Procter & Gamble, NASA and Dell, Heather joined Ovid in 2010 to pass what she learned about persuasive presentations to others. In addition to her work with Ovid, Heather runs Winsome, a business development consulting boutique. She is also an adjunct instructor at Columbia University where she teaches Masters students the art of strategic storytelling. Heather is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University.
Connection is the force that inspires employees to give their best efforts and align their behavior with organizational goals. In this webinar, Michael Lee Stallard and Jason Pankau describe how Steve Jobs of Apple, Ed Catmull of
Pixar, A.G. Lafley of P&G, as well as other successful leaders, communicate to connect with employees.
Learn how you can help leaders by:
- Communicating an “Inspiring Identity” that makes employees feel proud of their organization,
- Communicating with “Human Value” that makes employees feel valued as human beings and not just as human doings,
- Communicating to increase “Knowledge Flow” that make employees feel informed and heard in ways that improve employee engagement, the quality of decisions made and stimulate innovation
Presented by:
Michael Lee Stallard is the co-founder and president of E Pluribus Partners, a consulting firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut Michael’s work has also been featured in the media including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Human Resource Executive, The Economic Times (India), Developing HR Strategy Journal (UK), Rotman (Canada) and Fox Business Now.
Jason Pankau is a leading authority on leadership and teams as they relate to employee and customer engagement. Jason’s clients have included Johnson & Johnson, NorthwesternUniversity, UBS and several hedge funds.
Hailed a “Celebrity CMO” by Forbes Magazine, and famous for his outspoken appearances on numerous television networks, Jeffrey Hayzlett is widely recognized as one of the most influential marketers of our time. He’ll talk to us about what he calls “The Mirror Test, ” the title of his new book and a new way to look at your company’s marketing and sales strategy. Hayzlett will share with you some of the newest ways to win with social media, redefine your elevator pitch and help you to transform your business. He has just lead one of the biggest iconic turnarounds of Kodak and is here to share how you can do the same for your business. Will your business be positioned to fog the mirror and grow in today’s new economy?
Learning Topics:
- How to give your business the mirror test and find out if it is really breathing
- Why and how you have to sharpen your elevator pitch
- How to win with social media
- How to really focus on your bottom line
Presented by:
Jeffrey Hayzlett is the bestselling author of the “The Mirror Test” on how you and your company must adapt or die. Speaking frequently around the world, his topics include business growth, communications, and marketing. Mr. Hayzlett also keynotes at events such as The Economist Marketing Summit, THE Conference on Marketing, the 140 Character Twitter Conference, CMO Summits, Mobile Marketing Forum, Digital Life Design Conference, Photo Marketing Association Conference, Direct Marketing Association Leadership Forum, and National Postal Forum. He is cited as a leading marketing expert in numerous books, magazines, and newspapers worldwide, and is a frequent television guest and commentator, having appeared on shows including CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, Fox Business News, and NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump.
He has received numerous global marketing and business awards and honors, including the Frost & Sullivan Lifetime Achievement Award for marketing. He was named “Business to Business Marketer of the Year” by BtoB Magazine and “Direct Marketer of the Year” by the University of Akron Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing. In 2008, Mr. Hayzlett was inducted into the College of Business Administration Direct Marketers Hall of Fame. In June 2009, he was awarded the prestigious “G.D. Crain Jr. Award for Marketing Excellence” and inducted into the BMA Hall of Fame at the Business Marketing Association’s annual conference. Previously, the U.S. Small Business Association named him “Entrepreneur of the Year.”
Mr. Hayzlett currently sits on the Business Marketing Association (BMA) board of directors and is a past chairman of BMA. He is a member of the advisory board of the CMO Council, chairman of the Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI) Foundation for Marketing Education, a permanent trustee of the SMEI Academy of Achievement Sales and Marketing Hall of Fame, and a two-term past chairman of SMEI. He serves on Sales & Marketing Management Magazine’s 2009 Editorial Advisory Board. Mr. Hayzlett remains a trustee of Pi Sigma Epsilon National Education Foundation, an international sales and marketing fraternity.
Mr. Hayzlett has nearly 25 years of international marketing, sales, and customer relations management experience. He joined Kodak in April 2006 as Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of the Graphic Communications Group (GCG). In this role, he was responsible for leading all marketing activities for the business, including product positioning, segment marketing, branding, marketing communications, customer development, business research, marketing strategy, and business development activity. He became Chief Business Development Officer in September 2007 and was responsible for Brand Development and Management, Market Development, Corporate and Product Public Relations, Communications and Public Affairs, Corporate Sponsorships, Business Development, Corporate Relationships and Partnerships, and Marketing.
Webinar excerpt … Jeffrey Hayzlett on …
Business Transparency (3 min.)
Business Transparency (3 minutes)
Two areas of advice for professional marketers and communicators (1.5 minutes)
Jeffrey Hayzlett on Digital Life by Shelly Palmer
Too many companies – including some who should know better – still think that you have to choose between making money and making sense. You don’t.
Gil Friend, President & CEO, Natural Logic
A systems ecologist and business strategist with nearly 40 years experience in business, communications, and environmental innovation, Friend combines broad business experience with unique content experience spanning strategy, systems ecology, economic development, management cybernetics, and public policy. Tomorrow magazine called him “One of the country’s leading environmental management consultants—a real expert who combines theoretical sophistication with hands-on, in-the-trenches know-how.”
Friend is Adjunct Faculty at Presidio Graduate School, and guest faculty at California College of the Arts. He lectures widely on business strategy and sustainability issues and writes The New Bottom Line, offering strategic perspectives on business and environment. Friend is author of the acclaimed book The Truth About Green Business.
Activating Companies for Good: The Trojan Horse of Social Responsibility
How companies are innovating new ways to connect people, planet and engagement.
Judah Schiller, Co-founder and CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi S, North America
Presented at:
COMMUNICATING SUSTAINABILITY 2010: Integrating Social Responsibility Into Your Organization’s DNA
How effective CEO presentations can help companies rebound during an economic downturn
When a company’s earnings and stock price are on the rise, it may not be critically important how well a CEO performs behind a lectern, in front of cameras and microphones, or at a hearing table. But as earnings and stock price head south, a CEO’s ability to inspire confidence through speeches and presentations can prove essential to a company’s ability to survive and recover. CEOs who communicate well can, at the very least, buy the time needed to put an effective turnaround strategy in place.
With the economy battered by the credit crisis, high fuel prices, and other maladies, growing numbers of corporate leaders face the challenge of finding ways to inspire key audiences who are both very worried and extremely important—employees, analysts, stockholders, regulators, and the press.
This webinar offers some very specific, hands-on advice how CEOs should communicate during tough times. The advice is based on the experience of key CEO’s who have been there and done that –Former CEOs Lee Iacocca of Chrysler and Champ Mitchell of Network Solutions, Jack Welch of GE, as well as current CEOs John Chambers of Cisco Systems and Brightpoint’s Robert Laikin. All used first-person communications effectively to turn companies around or dramatically boost their performance.
Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy once said, “Communication needs to be a core competency of any business. It starts with the CEO.”
You Will Learn How CEOs Can:
- Make communication a priority.
- Be proactive, not reactive
- Handle problems and mistakes.
- Develop and present a recovery plan.
- Match their presentations to their audience
- and much more
Presented by:
Dr. Jeff Porro, Ph.D. has written “first-person speeches” and provided communication strategies for the CEOs of Sodexo, Eastman Chemicals, the McGraw Hill Companies, Office Depot, the COO of General Mills, as well as for diplomats such as former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and other government leaders, and presidents of some of the nation’s leading trade and professional associations. He helps corporate, government and nonprofit leaders take their visions to a new level, moving key audiences with speeches that engage minds, open eyes, touch hearts and awaken the spirit. In addition to offering his expertise to world and business leaders, he has extended his skills to the world of entertainment. Dr. Porro discovered and researched the true story of a Jim Crow-era African American college debate team, and helped turn it into the 2007 feature film The Great Debaters starring Denzel Washington.
As head of Porro Associates, LLC, Dr. Porro draws on his background as a research scholar and a Washington policy analyst to weave persuasive arguments. At the same time, his creative writing has given him the skill and empathy to capture a speaker’s voice and evoke the speaker’s passion. Dr. Porro holds a Ph.D. in political science from U.C.L.A..
Robert Laikin, founder of Brightpoint, has served as a member of Brightpoint’s board of directors since its inception in August 1989. Mr. Laikin has been Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Company since January 1994. Mr. Laikin was President of Brightpoint from June 1992 until September 1996 and Vice President and Treasurer of Brightpoint from August 1989 until May 1992. From July 1986 to December 1987, Mr. Laikin was Vice President, and from January 1988 to February 1993, President of Century Cellular Network, Inc., a company engaged in the retail sale of cellular telephones and accessories. His honors and awards include:
- Recipient of the William L. Haeberle Entrepreneurial Legacy Award for 2008
- Inducted into the Central Indiana Business Hall of Fame in 2008
- Received a Stevie Award for Best Turnaround Executive in 2007
- Recipient of the Distinguished Entrepreneur Award by the Kelley School of Business Alumni Association (1999)
- Recipient of the Indiana Entrepreneur of the Year Award (1995)
- Received an honorable mention in 1995 Inc. Magazine National Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Kelly R. Lang is Director of Strategic Communications in the Corporate Communications department of Cisco Systems. Ms. Lang joined Cisco in 2001 as Marketing Communications Manager and in 2003 joined the Office of the President as John Chambers’ Executive Communications Manager. Today, Ms. Lang is responsible for the Executive Communications and Operations functions including the Office of the Chairman and CEO (OCC), the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and the Chief Globalisation Officer (CGO). Prior to joining Cisco, Ms. Lang was Program Manager for a Global Event Marketing Organization, Nth Degree, from 1998-2000. From 1996-1998, Ms Lang was Assistant Director of Administration with RCI Group, Inc. after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland, where she was recognized with outstanding student achievements including Maryland’s Talent and Tutor Search Program.
Ms. Lang is passionate about business and how communication helps drive business strategy to become a change agent for the organization. Her focus on process, operational excellence and hiring the right talent to support highly visible executives helps drive a more integrated, cross-functional communication effort that highlights the increasingly complex and important role of the communications professional.
Who Should Attend
This webinar is primarily aimed at communicators and executives trying to cope with a slowing economy, including external communications, internal communications, and shareholder communications.