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Sponsorship – The Changing World of Communications: the True Role of Public Relations in Sponsorship
Brent Barootes
President
Partnership Group – Sponsorship Specialists™
If you thought social media has changed the landscape recently, come learn about the other silent dragon…sponsorship.
Sponsorship programs, from a selling and a buying perspective, are wreaking havoc on the traditional, staid and archaic communications styles and approaches so often held by those living in a world that has past.
As a $2.3 billion industry in Canada, sponsorship is an integral part today of all communications and public affairs. With the massive shift from corporate philanthropy and traditional media investment dollars into activated sponsorship programs, the role of public affairs and communications has become more important than ever.
Those who are responsible for delivering a message or creating a brand image for either sponsors or a seller of sponsorships will find this session clearly explains the new world of sponsorship and their roles in it.
Brent will show how sponsorship has changed and how it will continue changing. He will discuss how these trends affect public affairs and communications deliverables, as well as the role of the PR practitioner in creating successful sponsorship programs and partnerships. This session will be of particular benefit to PR leaders from non-profits, charities and membership organizations that depend on sponsorship income, as well as those who use sponsorships to extend their corporate brand.
To read Brent Barootes' bio click here.
 the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms presents :
PR agency life – a Career-Enhancing Opportunity
Esther Buchsbaum APR, FCPRS
Co-owner and Principal
Communications MECA
Pat McNamara APR, FCPRS
CEO
Apex Public Relations
Vincent Power, APR
Associate Vice-President
Corporate Communications, Sears Canada Inc.
John Crean
National Managing Partner
NATIONAL Public Relations
A panel of experienced PR agency leaders will discuss the pros and cons of agency life and how to maintain a well-balanced career. Seasoned practitioners will share their views on the advantages of working at a PR firm, how to successfully make the transition from corporate and public sector to agency and how to shape and build their careers.
Participants will learn about the culture, inner workings and opportunities offered by PR firms. They’ll also have a chance to ask challenging questions and get candid answers. Panellists will shed light on some of the myths (i.e. 18-hour workdays) and provide insights into working with clients to deliver high level value and results.
To read Esther Buchsbaum's bio click here. To read Pat McNamara's bio click here. To read John Crean's bio click here.
Personal Brand
Kellie Garrett, ABC, MA Leadership
Senior VP, Strategy, Knowledge and Reputation
FCC
Managing an organization’s reputation and brand is second nature to communicators and marketing professionals. What about your personal brand? No matter what your profession, understanding how you impact others with your presence and actions is critical to your success. Whether you’re in the business of selling ideas, pitching stories, seeking donations, developing strategies or managing a team, executives often determine which employees are “keepers” based on the more intangible aspects of performance. Learn about your personal brand, enhance your influencing ability and further your career at this practical session.
To read Kellie Garrett's bio, click here.
Communication Measurement 2011 – What will Change; What will Not
Tudor Williams, APR
Principal
TWI Surveys Inc.
Continuing penetration of social media into our core communication strategies is forcing us to reassess how we measure success. Some things will never change though we can improve on how we measure them. It is the evolution of new market forces that requires us to step back and take a new creative look at what success will mean and how we will measure the results we achieve. In this interactive session, you will learn:
- The trends that will continue into 2011 and beyond and how we can improve our measures of success;
- The emerging forces we can expect with the growth of social media, new technologies and societal change; and
- The meaningful measures for which we be held accountable in this changing environment
To read Tudor Williams' bio, click here.
Strategic Leadership for Clients and Consultants
John Crean
National Managing Partner
NATIONAL Public Relations
When engaged by a client, the most effective public relations consultants intuitively understand when to lead and when to follow. This session will explore ideas and concepts that help turn a vendor relationship into a true partnership.
To read John Crean's bio, click here.
Engaging with Online Influencers & Measuring Results
Jay Krall
Global Product Manager
Cision
By now most public relations professionals understand that engaging with bloggers and influential voices on social sites has become crucial to effective reputation management. Yet many still struggle to communicate the value of this strategy internally, and measure the return on investment. Takeaways from this session will include:
- developing a social media strategy with limited resources
- identifying key influencers on a given topic
- building credibility in online communities
- setting goals and defining success in concrete terms
To read Jay Krall's bio, click here.
Loosening Lips – Journalistic Secrets to Conducting a Better Interview for Your Story
Daphne Gray-Grant
Principal
The Publication Coach
You have a story, website or press release to write and you desperately need some “human voices” to make it more interesting. That means you must interview Mary from accounting, or Fred from the shop floor, or Madison the VP of sales or – worse yet – Charles, the CEO. Yikes!
How can you figure out what to ask? And more importantly, how can you get answers from them that will make them sound like real, live human beings, instead of automatons?
Interviewing people is a special skill, but it’s one that’s seldom emphasized in communications school. Fortunately, there are some easy tricks you can learn to make interviewing a breeze. And, pssst, don’t tell your boss, but if you have great interview notes, then writing any story, website or press release will be a breeze.
During this workshop, let former journalist Daphne Gray-Grant teach you the following:
- Who to interview and how you should find them
- The key difference between a great quote and a so-so one
- Whether or not to march into your interview with a prepared list of questions
- How paraphrasing can give you sensational results
- How do deal with problem subjects such a “Chatty Cathy” or “Mr. Scientist,” or Bob the guy who always says “I dunno”
- The one question you should never ask
- How to know when you can end your interview, gracefully
To read Daphne Gray-Grant’s bio, click here.
Accreditation Session
Francine Gaudet
Presiding Officer, Eligibility
National Council on Accreditation
APR? Priceless: Many people ask why they should pursue accreditation in their profession. There may be as many answers as there are individuals but the common thread is that accreditation represents a level of experience and competency recognized by your professional society. It is a tangible that you can market as part of your personal brand. Plan to attend this workshop if you are curious about the process and want to learn how you can begin. It all starts here!
To read Francine Gaudet's bio, please click here.
From the Outhouse to the Penthouse -- Branding on the Road to Becoming "Canada's Team"
Jim Hopson
President and CEO
Saskatchewan Roughriders
Ten years ago, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, not unlike the Canadian Football League, were existing just above life support. Today, coming off the most watched and perhaps most dramatic Grey Cup in history, the CFL and arguably the team that has become its flagship franchise is leading a renaissance that is boldly growing its audience and revenues during an economic recession. Jim Hopson, President and CEO of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, will talk on the strategic direction and branding that has helped transform the Saskatchewan Roughriders, operating from the smallest market in the country for a professional sporting franchise, into "Canada's Team".
To read Jim Hopson's bio, please click here.
How the Communications Industry can go Carbon Neutral
Bruce MacLellan, APR, FCPRS
President and CEO
Environics Communications
In 2008, Environics Communications became the first North American public relations agency to achieve carbon neutral status. Environics worked with the Pembina Institute, an environmental group based in Calgary, to conduct an independent audit of carbon emissions in all its offices. The audit included all business operations as well as the commuting of employees to and from work. Based on the results, a plan was developed to begin reducing the firm’s carbon footprint. For each remaining ton of carbon product from its operations, Environics purchases gold standard carbon offset credits that go toward clean energy projects in developing nations.
To read Bruce MacLellan's bio, please click here.
Communicating During a Pandemic: A Perspective on the H1N1 Experience
Elaine Chatigny
Director General of Communications
Public Health Agency of Canada
Canada has recently been through a pandemic of H1N1 influenza, the first pandemic the country has seen in over forty years. Élaine Chatigny will provide an overview of how the Public Health Agency of Canada handled communications and marketing during this period, from her unique perspective as the Director General of Communications at the Agency. Ms. Chatigny will provide insight into how the H1N1 story unfolded, and how using a Risk Communications approach in an ever-changing environment helped Canada to respond as it did. Participants will discover the many challenges and opportunities of working together towards an important goal: helping to inform, protect and prepare Canadians during an uncertain time.
To read Elaine Chatigny's bio, please click here.
Communicating with Women Consumers
Anne M. Lavack, Ph.D.
Dean, Faculty of Business Administration
Paul J. Hill School of Business and Kenneth Levene Graduate School of Business
University of Regina
This presentation explores biological and sociological differences between women and men, and outlines what these differences mean to those in the fields of public relations and communications who try to deliver messages to female consumers. Conference attendees will come away with a deeper understanding of the key issues that women care about, and will receive tips about how to do a better job of creating communication materials that speak to women effectively.
To read Anne Lavack’s bio, please click here.
Visual Strategic Planning
Chris and Suzanne Salvo
Salvo Photography
Research shows an increase in worldwide image creation and usage from approximately 130 billion in 2003 to an estimated 325 billion in 2010. Projections have the increase continuing by 20% per year into the foreseeable future. This movement from text-centric to image-centric communication started in the private sector and is now trending strongly into the business world. Most communicators come from a word background and don’t even know what they don’t know about visual communications. They recognize the importance of a strategic plan for corporate imagery, but don’t know what to include or where to begin. And as the business world becomes more and more visually oriented, choosing company images based on personal taste and gut feeling is not good enough.
Most communicators use photography regularly to enhance their messages, yet most companies do not have any sort of strategic plan for corporate imagery development and use. The result is a hodgepodge of library images that have no unifying thought. A corporate image strategic plan will insure your company communications are seen as a cohesive and aesthetically well-designed whole. In this session, you will learn:
- The five steps needed to prepare a strategic corporate image plan
- Basic visual grammar primer
- The essential elements of an effective image
To read Chris and Suzanne's bio, please click here.
Navigating Your Way through a Perfect Storm: How PR can Help Guide Organizations through Turbulent Times and Crisis
Sean Kelly APR, FCPRS
Manager of Public Relations,
Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board
Heather Pullen, APR
Manager of Public Relations & Communications
Hamilton Health Sciences
For more than three and half years, Eastern Health Corporation in Newfoundland and Labrador struggled with how to disclose information about faulty lab test results involving several hundred women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. The earliest indications of problems came in May 2005, but it was not until five months later, when media broke the story, that the organization slowly started informing patients. As time went on, this smoldering crisis became the perfect storm. In May 2007, court documents revealed that 42 percent of the test results were wrong and, in the interim, 108 of the affected patients had died. Public confidence in the organization had eroded dramatically. The reputations and careers of health care and public relations professionals had been severely battered in the media and during testimony at hearings held during the subsequent Commission of Inquiry into the matter. Join Heather and Sean as they describe the forces that combined to create this perfect storm and the affects this has had on the heath care community in Newfoundland and Labrador and on our profession. There is much we can learn from this experience to help us become more effective champions of ethical communications in our organization.
To read Heather Pullen's bio, please click here. To read Sean Kelly's bio, please click here.
Corporate Social Responsibility - We Are All Accountable
Pam Klein
President
The Phoenix Group
In this discussion Pam will share how to align a 'social responsibility program' by developing a strategy that leaves a legacy, communicates benefit and delivers impact. Pam will outline how to align your program with your corporate mission and vision and how this program can be leveraged to engage staff, inspire the community, raise funds and improve brand image. The approach works for your business and for your clients and PR is at the centre of it.
To read Pam Klein's bio, please click here.
Digital and Social Media Trends to Watch
Joseph Thornley
Chairman and CEO
Thornley Fallis Communications & 76design
Martin Waxman, APR
President
Palette Public Relations.
Today, the social Web is pervasive. PR professionals spend as much time finding and listening to online communities of interest as we once spent identifying and dealing with legacy media. But on the social Web, things move quickly and what we thought we knew yesterday is out of date today.
Yes, we’re witnessing rapid changes in the technologies that we use. But just as important for PR practitioners are the shifts in where we get information, what we do with it, who we trust, the relationships between people and organizations and our evolving expectations.
Join Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley in an interactive discussion of the trends in digital and social media that PR practitioners should be watching.
This will be an interactive session. Martin and Joe will share their thoughts – both in the room and in real time on Twitter. But that’s only where the discussion starts. What about you? What are the trends that you think are important? Through the discussion in the room and Twitter, you’ll share your thoughts with your colleagues.
So, be part of a discussion that explores the digital and social media trends that all public relations practitioners need to watch.
To read Joseph Thornley's bio, please click here. To read Martin Waxman's bio, please click here.
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