Ragan Virtual Conference

Employee Communications 101

The Nuts & Bolts of Communicating to Your Workforce

Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023 11a.m.-3:30 p.m. ET

Earn a Ragan Learning Certificate when you attend this conference!

Employees are your most important stakeholder, so it behooves any forward-thinking communicator to fully understand what drives internal communications success. To that end, Ragan has gathered veteran employee communications trainers and senior-level comms executives for a fast-paced one-day virtual conference on Jan. 31 to guide you and your team through the strategies and tactics to foster an informed, engaged workforce.

This virtual conference, designed for those just getting started in employee comms or needing a refresh, will get your wheels in motion as you discover how to create engaging, measurable, employee-focused messaging. Our experts will talk writing, newsletters, content calendars, employee pulse surveys, thought leadership, employee experience platforms, measurement and more.

Get ready to roll up your sleeves as you listen, learn and interact with your peers. This Ragan Employee Communications 101 virtual conference will give you an action plan to kick off your internal comms plan — while making a measurable, lasting impact on your organization and your career.

BONUS TAKEAWAYS:

  • Glossary of Internal Comms Terms
  • Intranet Checklist
  • Email Comms Guide
  • Measurement Guidelines
  • Why and How to Create an In-House Style Guide
  • Inclusive Writing Guide

AGENDA

11-11:05 a.m.
Welcome Remarks and 2023 Employee Comms Trends to Watch
11:10-11:40 a.m.
Defining the new age of employee communications

Employee comms is the lifeblood of organizations of all sizes and industries as comms connects the dots for employees, relaying important messaging across business functions to foster a sense of community and belonging. Hear:

  • How employee comms pros drive meaningful employee experiences and culture.
  • The specific ways that employee comms ties back to overall company revenue and success.
  • Strategies for working with senior leadership to effectively communicate a shared vision.
  • How employee comms can work with HR to attract and retain talent.
Founder and Chief Word Nerd
Unlock the Brain
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Co-Founder and Senior Partner
RCG
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11:45 a.m.-12:25 p.m.
The cross-department “fun”damentals: Creating pulse surveys, content calendars, newsletters and more

Deciding what resources feed into your strategy begins with the employee’s needs and wants. Armed with that intel from pulse surveys and newsletter metrics, you can create a content calendar that’s optimized to engage employees — and have a bit of fun, too. In this session, you’ll learn:

  • Active listening: How to learn the wants and needs of employees through pulse surveys.
  • Crafting collaborative content: Strategies for getting your leaders, department heads, employees and subject matter experts involved.
  • Content calendars: Tips for creating a collaborative calendar that reaches across business functions to bring the entire company to light.
  • Newsletters: Examples of outstanding newsletters that drive opens and engagement.
Stacie Barrett
Director of Internal Communications
Domino's
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Communications manager
Ozinga
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12:25-12:30 p.m.
Lightning Talk: Reaching every audience with multichannel comms in 2023

Many employees now operate on a mix of remote, hybrid, flexible and on-location arrangements, which raises a challenge for how companies can keep individuals connected to the organization, to important messages, and to each other. This session will provide some quick tips on using multichannel communications to overcome disconnection and reach every employee. You'll walk away with three things you can do to get started with a multichannel comms strategy in 2023.

Director of Engagement
Interact
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12:30-12:45 p.m.
BREAK
12:45-1:15 p.m.
If you build it, they will come: Intranets and other tech to foster culture

In this session, we’ll explore why your intranet cannot be a static page … but be an employee experience platform, where employees can locate everything you’ve shared in a newsletter or other announcements and engage colleagues at all levels of the organization. You’ll discover:

  • How your intranet can play a role in engaging employees, fostering community and building your employer brand.
  • How to get buy-in from all departments and employees.
  • What works and what doesn’t on employee intranets, from videos and podcasts to employee profiles and thought leadership.
  • How to build in mobile apps for on-the-go, remote employees that stand out from your desktop intranet as a go-to source of information.
Internal Comms Lead
Pinion
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Senior Sales Engineer
LumApps
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Digital Workplace Consultant
ClearBox Consulting
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1:20-1:45 p.m.
Be Your Department’s Best Writer

Writing is the No. 1 skill execs are looking for from communicators. Employee engagement begins with people-first messaging that is clear, concise, and well … snappy. You need to draw in your reader and then keep them engaged. How do you do that? You’ll learn:

  • How to write like a journalist: the 5Ws and 1H.
  • How to create catchy headlines for your newsletters, Intranets and even email subject lines.
  • How to tell your employee stories and create dedicated employee profiles.
  • How to be bias-free in your messaging.
  • Techniques to craft social media posts to make your company (and stakeholders) stand out from the crowd.
Head of Content and Communication Strategy
Axios HQ
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Co-Founder and Senior Partner
RCG
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1:50-1:55 p.m.
Lightning Talk: Key Employee Email Benchmarks and Best Practices for 2023

This session highlights best practices and benchmarks from the Internal Email Benchmark Report 2023. You'll get insights to benchmark open rates, click rates, read time and more. Plus, the best times and days to send employee emails, and how to improve email performance.

Senior Growth Marketing Manager
ContactMonkey
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2-2:20 p.m.
The analytics: Measure, refine, then measure and refine again

Everything can be measured. But it helps to know how what you are measuring matches, or deviates, from what senior leadership expects to learn. In this session, you’ll learn how measuring the effectiveness of your employee comms involves a look at open rates, click throughs and views, and comments. You’ll discover:

  • Why data and analytics are important but don’t tell the whole story … remember those pulse surveys?
  • The importance of analytics to affirm the value of comms and tie back to the bottom line.
  • How your dashboard can consistently help you to evaluate your internal comms and refine as needed.
  • When you should measure — be it weekly, biweekly, monthly — and when you should refine.
Director of Employee and Executive Communications
BMC Software
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Internal Comms Lead
Pinion
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Head of Community and Industry Insights
Firstup
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2:25-2:50 p.m.
The information cascade: Effective manager comms so messaging is not lost

You have worked across departments, collected feedback, written engaging copy, built community, and much more … but sometimes announcements must be cascaded and reinforced through people managers. While you can’t train them, you can learn how to:

  • Provide a resource that captures the key messages you need cascaded throughout the organization.
  • Create a place where employees can ask questions on your intranet platform should something get misunderstood in the messaging.
  • Compose an FAQ page to address trending employee concerns or unknowns.
Director of Employee and Executive Communications
BMC Software
Read bio
2:50-3:20 p.m.
Fireside chat
Senior internal comms executives share their lessons learned, experience and expertise
3:25-3:30 p.m.
Baker’s Dozen of Conference Takeaways

The Top 5 things you’ll learn from this conference:

  • How to craft content beyond announcements and company news.
  • Cross-departmental ideas to build culture and pride in your company.
  • Tips for cascading communications effectively from leadership to managers and, finally, to employees.
  • Approaches for building or refining your Intranet to become an engaging employee experience.
  • Ways to measure everything you do and refine accordingly.

REGISTER NOW

Register today. Once registered, you’ll be able to join the private LinkedIn group right away.

GET RECOGNIZED!

SHRM Certificate

Lawrence Ragan Communications, Inc is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities. This program is valid for 4 PDCs.

Employee Communications 101 Certificate

Each registration comes with a personalized "Employee Communications 101" Certificate of Completion for attending.

REGISTER NOW

SPEAKERS
Digital Workplace Consultant
ClearBox Consulting
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Co-Founder and Senior Partner
RCG
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Vice President of Marketing and Communications
BMC Software
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Stacie Barrett
Director of Internal Communications
Domino's
Read bio

Director of Corporate Communications
Maximus
Read bio
Head of Content
Ragan Communications
Read bio
Head of Community and Industry Insights
Firstup
Read bio
Founder and Chief Word Nerd
Unlock the Brain
Read bio

Internal Comms Lead
Pinion
Read bio
Head of Content and Communication Strategy
Axios HQ
Read bio
Senior Growth Marketing Manager
ContactMonkey
Read bio
Director of Employee and Executive Communications
BMC Software
Read bio

Communications manager
Ozinga
Read bio
Director of Engagement
Interact
Read bio
Senior Sales Engineer
LumApps
Read bio
Former Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications/Public Speaker
Cox Communications
Read bio

PRICING
Register now for Ragan's Employee Communications 101 Virtual Conference:
Early Bird Rates Regular Rates
Registration $749 $849
Ragan Insider Registration $649 $749
Nonprofit Registration $599 $699

Phone registrations and group pricing: For group orders, please contact our customer service team at 800-878-5331 or cservice@ragan.com

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Want to become a sponsor? Get in touch with our team to discuss sponsorship opportunities.

Let's Partner!

PRESENTED BY

CONTACT

REGISTRATION

For questions related to event registrations, please contact:
Shallon Blackburn
Customer Service & Sales Manager

 

SPONSORSHIP

If you’re interested in sponsoring this event, please contact:
Hannah Lavelle

 

PROGRAM

For information on programming and speakers, please contact:
Joyceann Garippa
Director of Content & Programming