Priya Bates, ABC, MC, CMP, IABC Fellow, President
Inner Strength Communication Inc.

Nicholas Wardle, Head of Employee Experience, Brand Experiences

The Employee Lifecycle: Creating Moments That Matter

Your organisational culture is not what you say it is, it’s what your employees and customers say it is. There are hundreds of touchpoints on the Employee Lifecycle and just one bad moment can seriously impact an employee’s relationship with their organisation – leading to a loss of motivation, loss of productivity and in serious cases, a resignation. So, it’s vital to identify the ‘moments that matter’ on the Employee Lifecycle and put steps in place to surprise and delight your people along the way to boost engagement, loyalty and performance.

Attendees will learn how to:

• Define and then use Employee Journey Maps
• Create effective moments that matter
• Measure the metrics that matter

Keisha McIntosh, (she/her), Communications Manager, Division of Equity, People and Culture

Vanessa Thompson, Communications Planner & Internal Communications Officer, York University 

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) are core to York University’s values. For community members, making positive change requires that all members of our diverse community feel welcomed into a sense of belonging, common purpose, and shared responsibility to support and enrich each other’s work.

Prior to the development of York’s first EDI Strategy, much work was underway and completed across the university to advance the principles of EDI from tools, guidelines and caucuses to frameworks, plans, policies and committees. There was a need to create a cohesive institutional EDI strategy.

The communications team built out a comprehensive multi-phased plan, leveraging relationship building, allyship, community outreach, credibility and transparency as key principles to guide our overall communications strategy.

At this session, Keisha and Vanessa will:

• Share how York built and cultivated stakeholder relationships with equity-deserving groups and allies within our community
• Identify non-traditional communications tactics to create broad awareness, promote engagement and garner community feedback
• Explain how to utilize an EDI-focused glossary to accompany and influence an institutional style guide, both of which are meant to be inclusive of our community members

The departure of Lisa LaFlamme served as an important lesson on what not to do when it comes to internal communication. In roundtables, Priya Bates will facilitate a conversation with fellow attendees.

Together we will discuss:

• What went wrong with the initial CTV departure announcement?
• How did one departure escalate into conversations about ageism and sexism and create activism with the public and other brands?
• What could have prevented employees from leaking information and keeping the story alive for weeks?
• What is the impact on CTV and the BellMedia brand?

By using our collective wisdom, we will learn from their mistakes in order to prevent similar situations with employers and clients.

Kerry Gaetano,
VP & Head, Corporate Communications,
BMO Financial Group

Ali Duncan Martin,
Director, Corporate Communications,
BMO Financial Group

The context: a pandemic, clear goals and objectives and a focus on winning. The need: evolving the strategy for a 200+-year institution with 45,000+ employees. The opportunity: creating and sustain momentum among employees coping with the effects of the pandemic (in business and life).

These BMO Corporate Communications senior leads will take you through some of the tactics and best practices they used to launch an award-winning communications strategy for BMO’s five-year strategic roadmap.

At this session, Kerry and Ali will speak to how the team used the Bank’s strategy to inspire and motivate employees – helping the bank drive strong financial results and activate employees’ Winning Culture. They’ll also review:

• Building employee engagement across different geographies, role types, and lines of business.
• Best practices from an award-winning live-stream event with more than 10,000 employees in attendance across all lines of business.
• Test and learn principles, and how to successfully socialize among key stakeholders.

Raechel Wastesicoot (she/her),
Manager, Internal Communications, Nature Conservancy of Canada

In the non-profit world, the connection employees have with the organization’s mission and values is pivotal to the work we do on a daily basis. Streamlining communications, changes and growth helps to strengthen from within and gives employees the knowledge, confidence and trust to work together toward collaborative goals and the organization’s bigger picture. As a growing organization under a new eight-year strategic plan, internal communications at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) continues to be an important tool in helping align employees to our goals, inspire innovation and teamwork and keep colleagues up to date and informed. NCC is Canada’s largest, private land-trust organization, with offices in all 10 provinces, and a diverse workforce with staff working in office, from home and remotely in the outdoors in various times of year. Raechel Wastesicoot will discuss how implementing internal communications tools, engaging employees on EDI initiatives, encouraging intergenerational solidarity helps to connect employees from home offices and in the field from across Canada (in both English and French).

Andrea Greenhous, President & Chief Internal Communications Strategist, Vision2Voice Communications

Psychological safety is the number one predictor of high performance, inclusion & belonging, innovation, and trust at work. But unfortunately, psychological safety is difficult to create and leads a fragile existence. This is because it is constantly threatened by the organizations’ systems, beliefs, mindsets, and our own natural habits, responses, and ways of thinking and knowing.

A low level of psychological safety also impedes the ability of internal communications professionals to achieve results. After all, building understanding and creating a culture of listening can’t happen when employees don’t feel their voices are valued and respected.

Based on the research and work of Amy C. Edmondson, who was recently named the #1 management thinker on the planet, not to mention her own work as a certified Fearless Organization Practitioner, Andrea will share the surprising role of internal communication in building fearless organizations.

In this session, you’ll learn:

• What psychological safety is and what it is not
• The four dimensions of psychological safety
• Why psychological safety is so important for building an exceptional employee experience and the workplace of the future
• How psychological safety prevents burnout and supporting employee wellbeing
• The steps internal communications professionals can take right now to build and maintain psychological safety in their organization

Amanda Sheps, Principal Consultant, Gallagher

Priya Bates, ABC, MC, CMP, IABC Fellow, President
Inner Strength Communication Inc.

The Gallagher State of the Sector: How Canadians Compare

For the first time in its 13-year history, The Gallagher State of the Sector report that highlights trends in Internal Communication globally had enough participation to research Canadian results. In this session, Amanda Sheps of Gallagher – Employee Communication & Experience and Priya Bates will review the global results and how Canadian Internal Communication Professionals compare to provide insights on unique opportunities and challenges.

Learning Outcomes

1. The results of the disruptions of 2020 and 2021 on Internal Communication globally
2. The key trends that will drive the future of Internal Communication
3. The state of Internal Communication in Canada and how it compares

Jordan Beresford, Manager of Employment Brand,  SEPHORA Canada

What better way to champion your employer value proposition than through your most engaged employees! In 2021, Sephora Canada did just that launching the first ever Sephora SPARK Employee Ambassador program. Charged with amplifying Sephora Canada’s EVP, these high performing culture catalysts are leveraging both Sephora Canada’s and their own individual social platforms to share incredible and inspiring stories about working at Sephora Canada in an authentic and influential way. This session will take you on our journey of bringing the Sephora SPARK Employee Ambassador Program to life, from conception, to selection and development of employees, and how they remain engaged in sharing their authentic stories to attract talent.

 You’ll come away from this session with a framework for launching your own employee ambassador program.

Brent Artemchuk,
Change Manager,
Future Workplace, TD Bank

Arlene Amitirigala

Principal & Chief Communications Strategist,

TrulyArlene Communications
& Panelists

Historically, Internal Communications has been narrowly defined and often undervalued. It emerged in an era of ‘push information and execute’ and although it has evolved, it is still often viewed as a tactical role. How should we now define Internal Communication to reflect its valuable contributions to driving behavioural, business, and reputational outcomes? Is it synonymous with Internal Branding, Employee Engagement or HR Communications? What are the must-have skills to succeed as an impactful Internal Communications practitioner? All these questions and more have become increasingly urgent in the rise of internal communications post-Covid. Gone are the days of push and execute. Internal Communications is a strategic role that is being redefined every day.

In this interactive session, you will join expert practitioners in charting a path forward for the discipline. You will walk away with:

• A deeper understanding and appreciation of the evolution of the function and where it is today.
• An enhanced ability to be more strategic in demonstrating the value of the function in advancing your organization’s business priorities.
• The proof points for your seat at the C-Suite table and a roadmap for elevating the internal communications function in your organization – party organizer be gone!
• A new definition for internal communications that will guide organizational planning, budgeting, role profile creation and remuneration.

Jade Garrido, Director of People and Culture, Contact Monkey

We work to earn a living, but we stay at an organization for the sense of purpose and connection we feel to the people we work with and the work we do together. If there’s one word that encompasses economic trends such as the Great Resignation or Quiet Quitting, it’s disconnection.  In a time where the average employee tenure is less than 3 years, it’s time to ask ourselves, how exactly can leaders work to foster more connections between their employees?

Every time a group or team gathers is an opportunity to reinforce your culture, foster trust, and create a deeper sense of purpose. In this session you’ll learn the 5 keys to connection at work and how you can weave these connections within the employee experience to retain your team and create a thriving workplace.

We will explore why connection in the workplace is more important than ever and what you can do to accelerate trust, rapport and psychological safety. Let’s make that group of 300 feel like a gathering of 30. 

Whether it’s through the hiring journey or the future of your employee past present future.

The Power of Purpose in Business Communication

What is the role of business beyond making a profit? This is the central question that the majority of brands are being asked by employees, customers and other stakeholders. Studies show that when companies fully capitalize their scale to benefit society, it can have a tremendous impact on addressing societal issues such as climate change, income inequality and racial injustice.

In recent years, we have seen brands doubling down on their purpose as the North Star guiding their decisions with varying results. Authenticity and clear communication are often the key differentiators of success. Therefore, the potential is huge for communication professionals to help companies demonstrate the impact of their purpose and how business can serve as a force for good.

This session will examine the role of purpose as a company’s superpower and how the business communication function can keep purpose on top of everyone’s mind every day.

REGISTRATION TYPES

Launch Rate

(until July 22, 2022)

(until July 22, 2022)

Early Bird Rate

(until September 30, 2022)

(until September 30, 2022)

Regular Rate

(after September 30, 2022)

(after September 30, 2022)