 Susan Wright
The Importance of Leadership
We all assume that leadership is important but what exactly does it contribute to 'charting the seas of change'? Why is leadership so critical to success in today's hyper-turbulent organizations? Dr. Susan Wright, President of The Coaching Project Inc., an international leadership development firm, will speak about what's behind the important role that leadership plays and how you can make the difference that makes all the difference as a leader.
 Dr. Terence (Terry) Flynn, APR
Professor & Director of the MCM Degree Program
DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University
Relationships, Reputations and Results: The Strategic Pillars of Public Relations
Beyond media clips and special events lie the strategic pillars of the Public Relations profession. Business and organizational leaders turn to PR professionals to develop, enhance and sometimes repair the strategic relationships that form the basis of their own goals and objectives.
For this stimulating and interactive session, we welcome Dr. Terry Flynn, APR, of McMaster University, who will put forth a clear and provocative argument that our profession and our professionals are the core of an organization's "balance zone," and as a result, create the necessary "reputation capital" that produces ongoing value and results for the enterprise.
He will define and discuss the very core of strategic public relations management, drawing from more than two decades' experience working in the industry. Don't miss this opportunity to hear from one of Canada's thought leaders in the PR profession.
Joseph Thornley
Chairman and CEO
Thornley Fallis
Carman Pirie
Principal
colour
Best Practices in Social Media
Social media blogs, podcasts, social networks, Wikis, YouTube, Flickr, social tagging have given each of us the ability to connect with others who share our interests and create and exchange content with them.
Learn about the top social media and how they work; the best practices to help you engage with communities through social media; what others are doing and latest developments.
Social media opens up a new area of practice. cCommunicators can use social media to connect directly with their stakeholders in online communities of interest.
Through topics and case studies relating to employee communication, strategy and counsel, marketing, technology, blogger relations, reputation management, branding, measurement and evaluation explore the power of social media to transform internal and external communications-regardless of your level and experience.
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 Scott Langdon
Testing Public Relations Theory in the Marketplace: Symmetrical Communication Does Work
This session examines the theory of symmetric communication, the point of mutual satisfaction and the importance of measuring behavioral outcomes, not just communication output or organizational visibility.
Through the presentation of three cases (in HR communication, public affairs/crisis communication and marketing communication) Scott will demonstrate how financial results can be positive-even in crisis situations, when ethical approaches grounded in tested theory are applied. One case focuses on an environmental crisis solved through collaboration. Another case will show that comparing editorial coverage to advertising space limits value and benefits of public relations.
 Robyn Quinn, APR
Senior Communications Officer
Natural Resources Canada (Pacific Region)
Leading a Team: or how I learned to love group dynamics
Getting from Point A to Point B is hard enough when you are on your own but when you are working with colleagues or staff and they are looking to you for leadership-that simple journey starts looking like a challenge instead of an adventure. From military to the arts, Robyn has created dynamic energy in groups to accomplish ambitious objectives.
Just as a sea captain makes sure his ship and crew are all headed in the right direction its important, sometimes critical, for todays communicators to either provide the leadership or ensure the leader has all the communications support they need to "stay the course".
Dr. Terry Flynn, APR
Professor
DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University
Colleen Killingsworth, APR
Senior Public Relations Consultant
NATIONAL Public Relations
David Scholz
Vice President
Leger Marketing
Across Borders 2: Do Canadian and American public relations professionals practice community relations differently?
Join us for the second of three sessions exploring the unique similarities and differences between practitioners in Canada and the U.S. Results of research conducted by Leger Marketing and McMaster University will be shared on two studies conducted on media relations and community relations.
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Della Smith
Partner
QUAY Strategies Inc.
Helen Carkner, APR
Director of Public Affairs
Fraser Health Authority
Navigating high-risk issues without getting left high and dry
Managing issues today is more complex than ever, and communications professionals dealing with issues often present a lone voice among key decision makers.
Helen Carkner and Della Smith will share their experiences on how to get management to pay heed to your strategies, and how to present scientifically proven methods of dealing with crises or sensitive issues.
This interactive will see audience members use specific tools in relation to their own organizations and their own issues.
These two seasoned communicators have lived the reality of dealing with issues in some of the hottest topic areas: health care, life sciences, insurance, real estate, labour negotiations, transportation, regulatory, food products and much more. They study and analyze what works and what doesn't. They will share impacts of unrealistic expectations, the shifting of responsibilities, the desire to spin, citizen journalists, the growing impact of multicultural media and-the tidal wave that is heading our way in the quickly evolving world of crisis communications.
 Suzanne Corbeil
Vice President External Relations and Communications
Canada Foundation for Innovation
Building a Winning Team
In today's fast-paced and ever-changing world, communications and public relations professionals are called to new challenges. Learn to recognize innovative employees; understand the importance of workplace culture and become familiar with strategic tools and approaches to maximize the opportunities.
This session will provide case studies, success stories, and best practices to guide you to be part of a winning team or to build your winning team.
Being nimble enough to quickly chart the seas of change and adapt to new reality is critical. Today's PR practitioners must better understand the dynamics that lead to success, and what will make them especially valuable to their organizations.
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"The Deciders" Why public relations is a great foundation for strong leaders
When seeking out business or government leaders, organizations traditionally opt for lawyers, engineers or career professionals. In recent years, professionals with a background or training in public relations are increasingly being asked to assume broader leadership roles beyond public relations.
Listen to some of Canada's leading corporate and government decision-makers discuss the importance of their public relations background to reaching the top of their organizations.
Moderater: Janet MacMillan, APR, Principal MT&L
Kelliann Dean, Deputy Minister of Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage (also former Vice President, Business Development Bank of Canada, has BPR and MBA)
Judy Steele, FCA, Vice President, Emera Energy, past National Chair, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, former partner Ernest and Young, first female president of the Halifax Club.
Simon Kennedy, Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Operations), Privy Council Office, (has BPR and MA in Communications from Syracuse University)
Catherine Woodman, CEO United Way of Halifax.
Peter Spurway
Vice President, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs
Halifax International Airport Authority
Truth - solid, liquid or gas?
What is the truth? Is truth, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder? Is there only one truth, or many truths? Are some truer than others?
The CPRS Code of Professional Conduct requires members to practice the highest standards of honesty, accuracy, integrity and truth, and shall not knowingly disseminate false or misleading information.
This interactive session will pose these and other questions and challenge participants to consider -and perhaps reconsider-their relationship with truth.
Practitioners, every day, must make decisions about how a version of facts-their version of the truth - will be conveyed to audiences. The objective of the session will be to challenge and engage the audience in a discussion of just what is the truth, the parameters of truth, and how far facts can be bent in order to deliver a message to persuade an audience to a viewpoint, before a line is crossed into distortion and a lessening of truth.
Is the truth changing, as our world seems to change every day? With technology and mass communication, can the truth be lost through the sheer weight of the belief of millions of people? As we chart the seas of change, how can we be sure the course we choose will be a true one?
Amanda Brewer
Director, Change And Internal Communications
Hill & Knowlton
Brendan Hodgson
Director
Hill & Knowlton
Introducing Web 2.0: How Blogs, Wikis, YouTube and Facebook are Changing
Emerging Internet technologies including blogs, social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and file sharing sites such as YouTube and Flickr are transforming the communications landscape. They are radically altering employee's role as a guarding of the corporate brand while creating new opportunities for organizations to engage employees in meaningful conversations. What are these communications tools, and why are they popular? What do the mean for employers? And what responsibilities do employers and employees have when it comes to writing freely about the company that they work for?
Learn how Web 2.0 and social media are changing the role of employees as Guardians of the Brand, and how these technologies are levelling the playing field between management and organized labour.
What do organizations need to do to maximize the opportunities while minimizing the risks of these emerging technologies?
Web 2.0 is new in an internal/employee communications. The industry has an increasing understanding of the strategic use of appropriate digital tools for external communications but less so in the application of these tools internally. Emerging best practices and cases studies are calling for digital communications to start at home and begin within.
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 Susan Sommers
President
Susan Sommers + Associates
Marketing Communications
As one of the most exciting trends to emerge in the marketing field in the past 10 years, marketing communications combines the best marketing best communications practices.
Companies and organizations today recognize that advertising alone will not necessarily provide the credibility, reputation, and relationships they want to develop with current and potential markets, media, and the local community.
Marketing Communications offers a variety of innovative, educational tools that PR professionals can easily implement into a long-term strategy. Marketing Communications' tools and techniques can be applied to promoting their own PR firms or to campaigns related to the clients they represent.
Learn how to research and evaluate a Marketing Communications' Program, and how to select and combine cost-effective tools into a long-term Marketing Communications' strategy and plan.
Marketing Communications has moved to the forefront of the marketing mix. Today's consumers want to work with companies and organizations that provide education and information, take a stand on environmental and industry issues, get involved in local and national issues, show caring and concern, and contribute to their local community. As leaders "Charting the Seas of Change", PR practitioners are perfectly positioned to move into the forefront of the marketing mix through Marketing Communications.
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 John Clayton
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs
Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited
Talking to your Stakeholders: Learnings from a Tobacco Company
Imperial Tobacco Canada operates in a controversial industry and many doubt whether it is even possible for a tobacco company to be "socially responsible". It is because of the health risks associated with tobacco consumption that is important to engage in a dialogue with those who are touched by the industry, including those who oppose it. It is also critical for the industry to make commitments on these issues and to deliver on them.
During this presentation, learn how Let's Talk embodied a shift in the business approach from "Decide, Implement, Defend" to "Listen, Decide, Deliver". This presentation relates mainly to external relations, although it also contains elements of internal communications and corporate governance.
Any business that has faced criticism about its practices or products can benefit from the lessons learned in developing the rigorous Let's Talk process. As well, industries that enjoy a strong public image can also gain strategically from listening to and trying to understand their stakeholders.
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Dr. Amy Thurlow, APR
Professor Margaret McKee
Assistant Professors
Public Relations Department
Mount Saint Vincent University
Leading through Communications
Organizational leaders are being challenged today on many fronts. There are calls for businesses to be more socially and environmentally responsible, to be more welcoming of diverse employees, to adopt consensus decision making, to be more transparent and to be innovative and creative. Then there are other pressures such the trend to globalization, the retirement of baby boomers and the different expectations of younger workers like the Millennials and Gen Xers.
How are leaders responding to these challenges? What do we know about what works and what doesn't when it comes to organizational leadership? What is the role of PR practitioners in this area? What can PR leaders do in their own work organizations or with their consulting clients to better meet these challenges and move the field forward? Professors Amy Thurlow and of Mount Saint Vincent University will address these questions in their session on "Leading through Communications".
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Dana Phillip Doiron
Partners Strategy Group
Managing Director
Planning to Survive: Issues and Crises
Issues Management is identifying weaknesses, problems, and challenges with strengths, opportunity, and advantage-and doing something with them.
Crisis management is preparing to bind potentially fatal wounds, some of them self-inflicted, others simply bad luck. It involves analysis of what could go wrong and designing flexible responses to deal with them.
Organizations are dealing with change and look to public relations professionals for more than publicity, more than "free marketing communications." Increasingly they look to PR to deal with challenges to relationships critical to their success.
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