VIRTUAL CONFERENCE:

Internal Communications & Employee Experience

Presented on Oct. 14, 2020

The virtual conference that takes your internal communications to the next level

With so many changes driving our "new normal," the employee experience is more important than ever. Yet, creating an inclusive culture that welcomes diverse talent and experiences, requires tough conversations and meaningful change. Reaching and engaging with employees in meaningful ways that builds trust and strengthens loyalty, even in times of crisis, requires new strategies and tactics. Sign up for Ragan's Internal Communications & Employee Experience Conference and come away with the breakthrough ideas and strategies necessary during this challenging and transformational time.

If there's one internal communications event you attend before year's end, this is the one. You know that employees are the lifeblood of organizations, and it's crucial for you, as a communicator, to help employees connect to your organization's values and help them thrive, while providing positive and engaging experiences along their journeys. This is especially important as the Black Lives Matter movement has increased calls for effective DE&I commitments and opportunities for allyship, while COVID-19 has downsized workforces through furloughs and layoffs and shifted remaining teams to remote and hybrid workforces overnight.

The Internal Communications & Employee Experience Conference features communications experts who will show you how to create long-term strategies, deploy impactful tactics and inspire powerful moments with your employees, whether it's through leadership communications, social justice and DE&I efforts, or workplace wellbeing and employee advocacy.

Attend from the comfort of your home and partake in the industry's most-anticipated employee communications conference. As an on-demand attendee, you'll have access to all the presentations post-event plus an array of bonus materials to help you navigate the issues for months to come.

Register Today. 

#RaganExperience

You'll also receive these bonus materials:

  • AIHR Digital's Complete Guide to the Employee Experience
  • Deloitte's Empowered Well-being Resource Guide
  • The Opportunity Agenda's Vision, Values and Voice: Communications Toolkit
  • Mental Health America's Screening Tools and Guides
  • HPPY's Report: Improving the Employee Experience Using People Analytics
  • Ragan Survey of Internal Communicators: Where We're Headed
  • And more!

Plus, all attendees receive:

  • All slides and presentations from speakers
  • Connections to our esteemed speakers
Don’t miss this unique opportunity!

Top takeaways for you and your team:

  • Why every organization should be performing a DE&I IQ assessment
  • How you can still complete critical work such as performance reviews and drive a positive culture during a global pandemic
  • Ways to effectively use employee listening and other feedback tools in ways that inform, not overwhelm
  • Ways to go beyond an individual hire and create an inclusive and diverse culture where POC employees want to work
  • Ways to break down barriers that prevent effective information flow when launching campaigns and more
  • What organizations should provide employees in terms of self-care—and ways to improve workplace wellbeing
  • Ideas for connecting your workforce to your organization’s mission and translating values into meaningful opportunities for impact
  • Ways to effectively communicate with a dispersed workforce of employees who have to opt-in to listen
  • The importance of company culture—and who should be responsible for it within your organization
  • How to use video to make information more engaging and “clickable”
  • Ways to leverage your leaders’ strengths for better employee experiences
  • Secrets of distribution and timing that can power your email engagement
  • How to collaborate with HR to review your organization’s employment data and policies in a meaningful way
  • Ways to use your digital workplace to define and promote a connected culture
  • How the workforce and employee behavior is shifting—and ways you can adjust with those changes
AGENDA
Wednesday, Oct. 14
11-11:05 a.m. ET
Welcome and What to Expect

We’ll open up the day with an overview, announcements and reminders before digging into the excellent insights and takeaways from our esteemed speakers.

Manager, Strategic Programming
Ragan Communications
Read bio
11:05-11:30 a.m.
Reaching a Dispersed Workforce in Crisis: How National DCP ‘Heroes’ Helped America Run on Dunkin’

Communicators working with dispersed workforces have the challenge of effectively reaching and engaging employees across channels, formats and messages. That challenge has shifted to overdrive during COVID-19, when employees need information and inspiration more than ever. Shira Miller, Chief Communications Officer for National DCP, will share how she and her team led the $2 billion supply chain’s 1,700 employees to provide Dunkin’ franchisees with supplies that served consumers, other essential workers and frontline employees through COVID-19, along with lessons learned for scrappy and effective internal communications and storytelling.

You’ll learn:

  • How to use quick, low-budget and low-tech solutions to reach and engage employees
  • Ways to effectively communicate with a dispersed workforce of employees who have to opt-in to listen
  • Takeaways from executive communications and launching a podcast (Hint: It’s all about listening)
  • How to integrate traditional communications methods and storytelling with digitalized campaigns
Chief Communications Officer
National DCP
Read bio
11:30 a.m.-Noon ET
Connecting HR and Internal Comms: Ways to Break Down Silos Between Departments

When it comes to the employee journey, HR pros and internal communicators have different aims and focuses. However, both must come together to reach and engage employees in a meaningful way and support their journeys as well as internal campaigns to forward organizational goals. In this fireside chat with Nicole Haddenham, Managing Director of Employee Experience and HR Product Management at Charles Schwab, Tia Mason Howard, Internal Communications Director at  MedStar Health, and Leigh Ann Christovich, Assistant Vice President of Internal Communications at Ochsner Health System, you’ll glean ideas for bridging the gap between internal communications and HR while overcoming obstacles that stand in the way of positive employee experiences and journeys.

You’ll learn:

  • Ways to break down barriers that prevent effective information flow when launching campaigns and more
  • How to focus and deliver on employee needs and behaviors
  • The importance of company culture—and who should be responsible for it within your organization
  • How to alert colleagues across departments of upcoming initiatives and expectations ahead of time, to ensure everyone is fully prepared
Internal Communications Director
MedStar Health
Read bio
Assistant Vice President of Internal Communications
Ochsner Health System
Read bio
Managing Director of Employee Experience and HR Product Management
Charles Schwab
Read bio
12:05-12:25 p.m. ET
The Next Generation of Engagement: How Facebook Optimizes the Employee Experience

Employee productivity and innovation can increase when teams are connected across the organization and actively engaged with your organization’s mission, values and current initiatives. However, finding strategies and tools to reach workers as well as personalize content and interactions is a tall order. Facebook recently committed to be the most forward-leaning company on remote work and to do this in a way that is measured, thoughtful, and responsible. Part of this shift includes redesigning and remodeling employee journeys, analytics and practices to cater to an increasingly remote workforce. In this pre-recorded fireside chat, Janis Avila, Director of Employee Experience at Facebook, and Sameer Chowdhri, Global Head of HR Solutions at Workplace from Facebook, will share the thinking behind building and optimizing for employee experience in our new working normal.

You’ll learn: 

  • Ways to support remote working during and post-COVID-19
  • How to integrate analytics to ensure a positive employee experience
  • Ways to connect remote employees in effective ways that overcome feelings of isolation
  • Considerations for restructuring your employee experience
Global Head of HR Solutions
Workplace from Facebook
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Director of Employee Experience
Facebook
Read bio
12:25-12:50 p.m. ET
Tap into the Truth: Measuring your organization’s DE&I IQ

Still reeling from COVID-19 and its economic aftershocks, organizations are now grappling with how to address their own entrenched, pervasive racial inequality brought into sharp focus by the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. Many companies have good intentions on this issue, but statements of support and social media posts clearly aren’t enough. Organizations have to become the change they’re advocating—and communicators should be in the middle of those efforts. Kim Clark, Change Management and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Consultant for Ragan Consulting Group, will cover the basics of how to gather the right data to guide your organization in making necessary changes towards a more inclusive, diverse and equitable workplace.

You’ll learn:

  • Why every organization should be performing a DE&I IQ assessment
  • How to use the results of your DE&I IQ to persuadeleaders to act (hint: it’s all about the data)
  • The importance of measuring employee sentiment through focus groups and sentiment analysis
  • The right questions to ask in your employee survey so you can segment the results based on racial demographics
  • How to collaborate with HR to review your organization’s employment data and policies in a meaningful way
Kim Clark
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Communications Consultant
Ragan Consulting Group
Read bio
12:55-1:05 p.m. ET
Empower Employees by Revisiting Your Value Proposition

Outstanding corporate cultures and engaged employees are nurtured by executives and leaders who can instill brand mission and values while forming connections that inspire confidence, loyalty and action. In this lightning talk, Mary Olson-Menzel and Melissa Shahbazian of MVP and Spark Insight Coaching will share how transition (or pivot) coaching can help your leaders better connect and inspire employees.

You’ll learn:

  • How to put employees first and customers second
  • The crucial conversations you should have inside your organization
  • Ways to leverage your leaders’ strengths for better employee experiences
VP Executive Leadership & Coaching/Co-Founder
MVP Spark Coaching
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CEO and Founder
MVP Executive Development
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1:05-1:30 p.m. ET
Leading Through Change: Communicating Business Decisions Compassionately

Effectively communicating strategy shifts, organizational changes and even everyday business decisions in a way that make employees comfortable and actively involved is a tall task, made more difficult in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. How can you balance crucial business decisions, while also driving a workforce culture that reflect as well as your brand’s mission and values intact? Katharine Crallé, Director at Brunswick Group, will share how to effectively communicating business decisions while considering employees’ needs and compassionately leading them through this time of uncertainty.

You’ll learn:

  • How you can best relay necessary structural changes transparently and with empathy
  • Ways to address layoffs and more while maintaining crucial workplace processes—especially with remote and hybrid teams
  • How you can still complete critical work such as performance reviews and drive a positive culture during a global pandemic
Director
Brunswick Group
Read bio
1:35-1:55 p.m. ET
Using Email for Effective Employee Communications: Revealing Data About Workforce Behaviors

Your employees are bombarded with dozens—and sometimes, even hundreds—of messages each day. That information overload has only intensified in the COVID-19 crisis and as workplaces remain remote. You might have a well-designed email with a carefully crafted subject line designed to entice clicks, but they still can get lost in the slew of content. Whether you’re sharing executive messages, timely updates and organizational changes, benefits information or helpful resources—email strategies based on objective data can help make your emails more engaging to your workforce. Michael DesRochers, Founder and Managing Director of PoliteMail Software, will show you how.

You’ll learn:

  • Elements of emails that are more likely to be opened and read—and how to include them in your next efforts
  • Email and internal tracking tools to help measure the efficacy of your campaigns
  • Why you should look past “open rate” and what metrics to focus on
  • Secrets of distribution and timing that can power your email engagement
Founder and managing director
PoliteMail Software
Read bio
1:55-2:25 p.m. ET
Social Justice and Beyond: How Organizations’ Values Enhance Reputation, Recruitment and Retention

Organizations have been grappling to make their company makeup more diverse and workforce cultures inclusive to all, and the pressure has only increased after the shooting of Jacob Blake and deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others. Employees aren’t just looking for more diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, either. Especially as younger employees enter the workforce, they’re looking to align themselves with organizations that align with their own values—and provide ways they can work together to make a difference. In this joint session with Lucy Abreu, Senior Vice President at Syneos Health Communications, and Sean Greenwood, Grand Poobah of PR for Ben & Jerry’s, you’ll learn the growing importance of turning to social justice opportunities, how Ben & Jerry’s outstanding activism work has strengthened its brand, and ideas for “walking the talk” internally as well as externally by authentically leading the way in standing for social change.

You’ll learn:

  • The business case for social justice inside your organization (Hint: It’s not enough for just DE&I)
  • How to invite and ensure employees are connected to your organization’s mission and values
  • Ways to go beyond an individual hire and create an inclusive and diverse culture where POC employees want to work
  • The importance of developing the right KPIs for measuring success with social justice initiatives—and why you should incorporate employee feedback as well
Senior Vice President
Syneos Health Communications
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Grand Poobah of PR
Ben & Jerry’s
Read bio
2:30-2:55 p.m. ET
Making WFH Work for Your Organization: Approaching Employee Recognition and Wellbeing Holistically

Employees are the lifeblood of organizations, so ensuring their wellbeing is a crucial element of internal communications, especially as the employee experience has shifted to remote and digital workplaces. How can you communicate important messages and increase workforce involvement when employee burnout is rising? Tara Davis, Director of Staff Well-Being and Engagement at the American Psychological Association, will share the organization’s five-point model of a psychologically healthy workplace and how the APA uses it to ensure engaged and loyal employees—even in times of crisis.

You’ll learn:

  • Ways to communicate updates and offer resources without overwhelming employees
  • How to provide moments of certainty during a time of continuing uncertainty
  • Ideas for adapting employee engagement and recognition to virtual and remote workplaces
  • What organizations should provide employees in terms of self-care—and ways to improve workplace wellbeing
Director of Internal Communications and Staff Wellbeing
American Psychological Association
Read bio
2:55-3:05 p.m. ET
How to Maintain a Connected Culture: The Strategic Role of Your Digital Workplace
Even under normal working conditions, cultivating a connected culture is both a challenge and a priority. Remote work can add an additional layer of complexity, but with the right set of tools it is possible to create a positive and productive culture. Join Mary Davis Kaplan, Strategic Solutions Engineer at LumApps, as she shares practical tips and tools for how you can keep employees connected with your digital workplace.
You'll learn: 
  • How a robust digital workplace allows your employees to connect to tools, people and information they need
  • Ways to use your digital workplace to define and promote a connected culture
  • Steps for getting started and keeping employees actively involved
Product Marketing Manager
LumApps
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3:10-3:35 p.m. ET
The New Face of Employee Advocacy: Making Your Organization’s Values Meaningful to Your Workforce

Effective communications starts within your organization, by proactively connecting leadership to your workforce while nurturing a culture that increases loyalty and encourages your workforce to share your brand’s story. As we work today with so many global and cultural disruptions, internal communicators must simplify their messages while still keeping both engagement and morale high. Heather Shaw, a Manager in the Strategic Communications practice at Deloitte, will share ways to you can help the workforce to understand that they are critical during this time of disruption and that their voice and insights are meaningful to leadership, and how these insights fit into your organization’s vision, values and priorities moving forward.

You’ll learn: 

  • How to increase engagement and keep your workforce up to date, informed and empowered during times of change and disruption
  • Ideas for connecting your workforce to your organization’s mission and translating values into meaningful opportunities for impact
  • Ways to create engaging messages to remote and hybrid workforces
Manager of Strategic Communications
Deloitte
Read bio
3:35-4 p.m. ET
Power Your Workplace with Insights: How bp’s ‘Continuous Listening’ Connects Leaders to the Employee Experience

Effective internal communications and employee engagement efforts require you to understand the members of your workforce and use these insights to home in on strategies that align with organizational goals and campaigns that best reach and motivate employees. Laura Hammett, Head of Employee Measurement and Insights at BP, will show you how the company’s “continuous listening” model helps measure change and track what’s resonating with employees—including the introduction of a new CEO, COVID-19, redundancies and other major workforce shifts. Shee’ll also highlight the important elements of employee insights and how you can use them to inform more effective strategies that help support your bottom line as well as the employee experience.

You’ll learn:

  • How employee insights can power both internal communications and HR strategies
  • Ways to effectively use employee listening and other feedback tools in ways that inform, not overwhelm
  • How to report trends and next steps to colleagues and the C-suite to affect meaningful change
  • Tips for establishing the proper narrative from the data you gather
Head of Employee Measurement and Insights
bp
Read bio
4-4:05 p.m. ET
Inside the Boardroom: Internal Insights from Communications Executives

Tina McCorkindale, President and CEO of Institute for Public Relations, will share cutting-edge insights from the organization's upcoming "Future of Work" report, which reveals how new technologies are affecting internal communications efforts in Asia and beyond, along with trends from executive communicators sharing their efforts for the COVID-19 crisis, DE&I efforts and more.

President and CEO
Institute for Public Relations
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4:05-4:20 p.m. ET
What's Next for Employee Experience: Looking to the Future

crowded media landscape, so too must internal communications and employee engagement, to truly strengthen employee experiences. In this closing session, Jonathan Jordan, Senior Vice President, Employee Experience & Business Transformation for Edelman, will share top takeaways and trends to watch out for now and on the horizon, so you can help enhance the employee journey and ultimately strengthen employee loyalty.

You’ll learn:

  • Tools and trends to incorporate within your employee and internal communications campaigns
  • How to better implement feedback and data to power your initiatives
  • How the workforce and employee behavior is shifting—and ways you can adjust with those changes
  • What the future looks like for remote and hybrid workplaces
Executive Vice President, Head of Employee Experience Practice
Edelman
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SPEAKERS
Chief Communications Officer
National DCP
Read bio
Senior Vice President
Syneos Health Communications
Read bio
Grand Poobah of PR
Ben & Jerry’s
Read bio
Director of Internal Communications and Staff Wellbeing
American Psychological Association
Read bio

President and CEO
Institute for Public Relations
Read bio
Director of Employee Experience
Facebook
Read bio
Global Head of HR Solutions
Workplace from Facebook
Read bio
Assistant Vice President of Internal Communications
Ochsner Health System
Read bio

Kim Clark
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Communications Consultant
Ragan Consulting Group
Read bio
Director
Brunswick Group
Read bio
Founder and managing director
PoliteMail Software
Read bio
Managing Director of Employee Experience and HR Product Management
Charles Schwab
Read bio

Head of Employee Measurement and Insights
bp
Read bio
Internal Communications Director
MedStar Health
Read bio
Executive Vice President, Head of Employee Experience Practice
Edelman
Read bio
Product Marketing Manager
LumApps
Read bio

CEO and Founder
MVP Executive Development
Read bio
VP Executive Leadership & Coaching/Co-Founder
MVP Spark Coaching
Read bio
Manager of Strategic Communications
Deloitte
Read bio
Manager, Strategic Programming
Ragan Communications
Read bio

PRICING
Join us for Expired: Internal Communications & Employee Experience;
On-Demand Rates
Registration $699
Ragan Insider Registration $599
Nonprofit Registration $549

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

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QUESTIONS

Registration
For questions related to event registrations, please contact:

Shallon Blackburn
Customer Service & Sales Manager
ShallonB@ragan.com

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

Hannah Lavelle
Sales & Client Relations Manager
HannahL@ragan.com

Program
For information on programming and speakers please contact:

Beki Winchel
Manager of Strategic Programming
BekiW@ragan.com