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21st Annual Municipal Communications Conference Agenda coming soon!

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Presented by Swansea Communications + SummersDirect

For two decades, SummersDirect Conference & Events and Swansea Communications have been bringing together communication professionals from across Canada for quality conference programming. This partnership is the only in Canada that has provided both national and regional conferences for the communications field .

Our goal is to offer a conference experience that will educate and inspire professional communicators from various industries through an environment of professional networking to benefit both delegates and speakers alike. You will walk away with tools and techniques you can take away and use, case studies you can relate to and most of all VALUE.

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Hotel Information

Courtyard Toronto Downtown  

The group rate is $299.00/night + taxes/fees and is available for Nov. 29 – Dec. 1, 2026 nights. Rooms are not guaranteed and do sellout and are subject to availability. Please don’t delay, we told out our first room block. Book today! October 29 deadline (rooms in the room block  have sold out and we cannot guarantee additional rooms at our rate).

Book online here – Coming soon!

Or call Marriott Reservations and make a booking at 1 (800) 847-5075

Venue

Online via Zoom 

In Person 

Courtyard Toronto Downtown

475 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M4Y 1X7

Contact Us

780-747-2958

By Email
info@summersdirect.com

Speakers

Julia Harvie-Shemko, APR, CEC, Founder and CEO, Red Thread Connections, AB

Benjamin Proulx, APR
President, 
Catalyst Communications Inc.

Conference Chair
Andrea Montgomery APR, Prosci
Vice President, Redbrick Communications

Julie Chartrand
Communications Officer,
City of Clarence‑Rockland

 

Lindsay Doucet
Manager, Communications and Public Relations,
City of Clarence‑Rockland

 

Tessa Vecchio, Communications Manager, City of Sault Ste. Marie

Jeanne Smitiuch, Senior Regional Director, Canada, The Dollywood Foundation of Canada

Emily Riepert, Communications Officer, Town of Ingersoll

Renee Francour,
Manager of Strategic Communications,
City of London

Julie Rogers,
Julie Rogers Consulting

Lesley Nielsen-Bjerke, APR
Director, Communications & Marketing,
County of Grande Prairie

Jeff Crowder
Communications Advisor, City of Burlington

Tracy Hasselfeldt
Advisor, Engagement and Volunteers, City of Burlington

Rob Trewartha
Director of Strategic Communications and Initiatives, City of Mississauga

Kent Waugh
Managing Partner, The W Group, BC

Isa Mehlitz
Communications and Marketing Officer, City of Fredericton

 Kristy Guthrie
Agency Owner
Bright Light Content Inc., ON

Erick Thompson
Senior Manager of Communications and Engagement, Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen

Samuel Lau
Vice-President, Public Sector (Municipality, Airports, Transportation, BIA), Environics Analytics

Samantha Yee
Manager, Special Projects & Administration (Recreation, Community Services), City of Brampton

Anna Batchelor
Communications and Marketing Advisor, City of Leduc

Agenda

Monday, November 30, 2026

All times are in Eastern

Julie Rogers, Julie Rogers Consulting

We often overestimate how clearly we communicate. Researchers call this the illusion of transparency: because we know what we mean, we assume others do too. In public engagement, that gap between intention and reception is where trust can break down and conflict can grow.

This session explores how people process information in high-stakes settings. When residents feel threatened by a decision, process, or tone, their nervous system reacts before rational thinking kicks in. By the time someone speaks at a public meeting, they may not be ready to hear even an accurate response.

We’ll examine why clarity matters more than intensity, why people need to feel heard before they can hear you, and how tone shapes response before words do. You’ll leave with practical techniques to narrow the gap between intention and impact in public communications and engagement.

Outcomes:

  1. Understand the cognitive and neurological factors that shape how people receive information in high-stakes settings.
  2. Learn practical techniques to reduce defensiveness and create conditions for productive public dialogue.
  3. Apply strategies that turn one-time interactions into trust-building patterns.


Julie Rogers is Principal of Julie Rogers Consulting, with over 20 years of award-winning experience in public sector communications. She has led communications in four BC municipalities where she established strategies, policies, and engagement practices that increased transparency, supported council decision-making, and strengthened community trust. Now she works as a consultant with municipal governments and school boards across Western Canada delivering practical strategies in public engagement, crisis communications, media relations, and digital outreach, along with workshops and training that build staff and leadership capacity. She teaches with the MATI Advanced Communications Program and is an Accredited Public Relations professional and active member of the Canadian Public Relations Society.

Wait… Is that the City on my For You page? 

Renee Francour, Manager of Strategic Communications, City of London

This year, the City of London entered the chat launching a new TikTok feed about municipal stories and services.  

Few Canadian municipalities are active on TikTok, and London is currently the only City in Ontario that we’re aware of using the platform, giving us a chance to lead, test, and learn in real time. 

With about 70 percent of Canadian users under 40 and many in their early 20s, TikTok offers a clear opportunity to engage differently. Especially when 38% of Londoners aged 20 to 24 say it is becoming harder to find local news. 

We will share what shaped our decision to launch and how we created corporate support with leadership. You will see how we are now jumping on trends, showing behind the scenes content, telling fun stories to Londoners, and engaging City staff to participate.  

You will leave with: 

  • Practical tips to start and sustain a municipal TikTok presence 
  • An understanding about how we collaborated with our IT security colleagues 
  • Lessons from what worked and what didn’t 
  • Ideas for telling engaging stories about municipal services 

You’ll get a candid look at how London is trying something new and meeting people where they are. We’ll even share how (embarrassingly) long we spent planning that perfect first post. 

Julia Harvie-Shemko, APR, CEC, MCPRS
Founder, Red Thread Connections

Lesley Nielsen-Bjerke, APR
Director, Communications & Marketing, County of Grande Prairie 

Communications teams are often asked to do more without a clear picture of what “more” actually means. Work comes in from all directions, priorities shift quickly and it can be difficult to confidently answer questions about capacity, staffing or where communications should be spending its time.

This session walks through a real municipal needs assessment completed for the County of Grande Prairie and what happened next.

On the surface, the challenge was familiar. High demand for communications, limited insight into how time was being spent and a growing sense that the current way of working was not sustainable. Through interviews with leaders, managers and internal clients across the organization, the assessment created a clearer picture of what was needed, where gaps existed and how the communications function could better support the organization.

But the real value came after the report was delivered.

This session focuses on how the findings were used to drive change. You will hear both the consulting perspective and the client perspective on what it took to move from insight to action, including what worked, what was harder than expected and what is still evolving.

Key takeaways:

  • A clear understanding of a communications needs assessment
  • Practical insight into how to gather meaningful input from across the organization
  • Common gaps and challenges communications teams face when demand outpaces capacity
  • How a needs assessment can support better decisions around structure, staffing and priorities
  • Lessons learned from implementing change, including what worked and what didn’t
  • Ideas you can apply in your own organization to better understand workload and move toward a more proactive model

Julia Harvie-Shemko, APR, CEC, is the Founder and CEO of Red Thread Connections. Julia is on a mission to help communicators do better and be better. With her company Red Thread Connections, she focuses on moving the communications function towards strategic partnership with clients. With her more than 20 years in communication and 30 in leadership, she knows how to bring clarity, focus and strategy to the communications function.

Jeff Crowder, Communications Advisor, City of Burlington
Tracy Hasselfeldt, Advisor, Engagement and Volunteers, City of Burlington

Discover Burlington’s innovative, “Made in Burlington” approach to community engagement. Participants will explore the City’s award-winning Food for Feedback event—an annual initiative that brings City Council, staff, and residents together in meaningful conversation. 

Engaging an entire community can be complex and requires creative, forward-thinking strategies. This session will highlight how unique and inclusive communication and engagement programs can foster stronger connections, ensuring that all residents feel heard and represented. 

Jeff Crowder has been with the City of Burlington for 12 years and in municipal communications for over 20 years. His portfolio includes Recreation, Community and Culture, Engineering Services, and Engagement and Volunteers as well as issues management and crisis communications.

Tracy Hasselfeldt bio coming soon!

Rob Trewartha,Director of Strategic Communications and Initiatives, City of Mississauga        

Artificial intelligence is transforming every sector, including public service. For municipal governments, AI is not just another productivity tool — it is a governance choice that reshapes how public services are delivered, how decisions are made, and how trust is built or lost. In an AI‑enabled environment, a critical question emerges: what happens to the role of government communicators?

AI represents both a threat and an opportunity for the communications profession. It challenges traditional practices, raises new ethical and reputational risks, and exposes long‑standing gaps in governance. At the same time, it creates an opportunity for communicators to demonstrate their strategic value — not just as users of AI, but as leaders in organizational change, ethics, and public accountability.

In this session, you’ll hear insights from recent Canadian research by Rob Trewartha examining the role municipal communicators play in the adoption of AI within their organizations. Drawing on a national survey and in‑depth interviews with communications leaders, the research explores how AI is currently being used, who is shaping AI policy and governance, and where communications is positioned in these decisions.

From this work, Rob offers practical, evidence‑based lessons for municipal communicators — and for all public sector communications professionals navigating AI‑driven change.

Attendees will learn:

  • Why it’s critical for communicators to have a seat at the AI decision‑making table — and how to overcome the structural and cultural barriers that often prevent this
  • How to move from tactical, ad‑hoc uses of AI to more strategic, ethical, and intentional applications in government communications
  • How to demonstrate the value of strategic communications leadership in an AI‑enabled public sector

Rob Trewartha, MA., MCM  is the Director of Strategic Communications and Initiatives at the City of Mississauga where he oversees the city’s communications and marketing teams, as well as many organizational strategic priorities like equity, diversity and inclusion, and public affairs and advocacy. For 19 years he has worked in both the public and private sectors in public relations and communications, politics and campaigns, and advocacy and public affairs. He recently completed the McMaster University Master of Communications Management program where his research focused on Artificial Intelligence and the role of communications in the public sector.

 

Lindsay Doucet, Manager of Communications and Public Relations Communications Officer, City of Clarence-Rockland

Julie Chartrand, Communications Officer, City of Clarence-Rockland

When four municipalities in Eastern Ontario faced the same challenge of replacing their website platform, they chose to collaborate rather than work in silos. This session shares how a joint procurement process helped small municipal teams streamline efforts, reduce costs, and achieve better results. Learn how regional collaboration can support large-scale digital projects—even with limited resources.

What attendees will learn:

  1. How to initiate and structure a multi-municipal collaboration
  2. Key steps in coordinating a joint RFP process
  3. Strategies to balance shared goals with individual municipal needs
  4. Lessons learned from managing timelines, priorities, and stakeholders
  5. Practical ways to build trust and maintain strong partnerships

 

Lindsay Doucet is the Manager of Communications for the City of Clarence‑Rockland. Like most comms professionals, she spends her days juggling competing priorities, tight timelines, and turning complex (and sometimes unclear) information into something residents can understand. She’s worked on everything from by-law rollouts to public consultations and digital projects, often finding ways to collaborate across teams—and municipalities—to make big projects a little more manageable. She has a soft spot for plain language, practical solutions, and rewriting things “just one more time” until they feel right.

Julie Chartrand is a seasoned communications professional, she has served as Communications Officer for the City of Clarence‑Rockland for over 20 years, playing a key role in shaping and delivering municipal messaging. Prior to this, she worked at the federal level as a Legislative Assistant and Press Secretary to a Cabinet Minister, gaining valuable experience in government relations and media strategy. She began her career in journalism as a local reporter, building a strong foundation in storytelling, public affairs, and community engagement.

Emily Riepert, Communications Officer, Town of Ingersoll

As a solo municipal communicator, you are often building the communication infrastructure from scratch while both your organization and your community expand at an unprecedented rate. How do you lay solid internal foundations without letting external, public-facing demands derail your day?

This presentation explores the unique reality of being a single ‘communicator’ during times of rapid municipal growth. We will dive into strategic prioritization, the art of “managing up,” and how building strong cross-departmental collaborations can actually lighten your daily workload.

Key takeaways and outcomes include:

  • How to navigate the dual pressures of internal organizational growth and external population expansion.
  • Practical strategies for developing internal communications foundations through deliberate prioritization.
  • Leveraging automation and streamlined processes to balance public-facing demands without burning out.
  • The Solo Conductor’s Toolkit: A collection of ready-to-use templates, boundary-setting strategies, and efficiency hacks designed for small teams expected to scale without additional staff.

Whether you are a team of one or a small department feeling the squeeze of a growing municipality, you will walk away with actionable tools to keep your community informed and your sanity intact.

At Ingersoll’s tiny-but-mighty team, Communications Officer Emily Riepert and her trusty Marketing and Tourism Officer sidekick work magic to make big ideas reality for their small town. At home, Emily managers another small team with her husband: a literal zoo featuring a busy toddler, a big dog, and two cats.

Tuesday, December 1, 2026

All times are in Eastern

Isa Mehlitz, Communications and Marketing Officer, City of Fredericton

Municipal construction communication is often reactive and a frequent source of public frustration, especially on social media. This presentation explores how the City of Fredericton improved transparency and reduced misinformation by creating a consistent weekly construction update.

Over the past 5 years, Fredericton has delivered a structured Friday afternoon update across social media, supported by e-newsletters and mapping. This system consolidates multiple infrastructure projects into one clear, visual, and accessible post that includes plain-language summaries, GIS mapping, and construction impacts.

The strategy also includes short-form educational content, such as “how to navigate detours” reels that leverage social media trends in a professional, informative way. A key strength of the system is cross-department collaboration, supported by working with 5+ departments and student contributors who assist in gathering weekly updates and on-the-ground content, helping to streamline internal workflows.

This approach has helped reduce repetitive public inquiries, improve consistency of messaging, and build greater trust with residents and businesses.

Participants will gain: • Strategies for improving internal coordination to support consistent external municipal communications • Practical ideas for creating clear, engaging, and repeatable construction update content • A framework for building a sustainable weekly communications system that improves public understanding and reduces misinformation Attendees will also learn how municipalities can balance clarity, visual storytelling, and social media engagement while maintaining professionalism and accuracy in infrastructure communications.

Isa Mehlitz is a municipal communications professional with the City of Fredericton, focused on organic social media strategy, public engagement, and infrastructure communications. A Gen Z communicator, she brings a digital-first, audience-driven approach to content creation. She develops clear, engaging messaging that simplifies complex projects and connects residents with the work happening in their city.

Erick Thompson, Senior Manager of Communications and Engagement, Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen                   

In-house video journalism refers to producing journalistic or editorial-style video content using internal staff and resources, rather than relying on external production agencies. Short-form and live videos are powerful tools in modern communications, offering a cost-effective way to share timely, relevant information.

This session provides practical, easy-to-apply tips for creating clear and engaging videos, especially when timely communication matters most. Participants will gain a better understanding of why in-house journalism, including video preparation, is essential in the age of social media and how it helps strengthen trusted media relationships.

The session also covers simple techniques to improve video quality, such as lighting, camera framing, and audio—skills that are equally useful when participating in online interviews.                               

Erick Thompson leads communications and engagement for the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, where he supports intergovernmental relations and emergency management. He brings more than 20 years of experience in television, radio, and media production. Erick is an avid trail runner and has produced and directed several short documentaries.

Julia Harvie-Shemko, APR, CEC, Founder and CEO, Red Thread Connections 

Kent Waugh, Managing Partner, The W Group

Communications teams across municipalities are asking similar questions about structure, resourcing, and how they compare to peers. Until now, answers have often relied on anecdotes and informal comparisons. This session shares early findings from a national benchmarking study on municipal communications, highlighting patterns and differences in how teams are organized and supported across Canada.

Attendees will gain practical insight into emerging trends, key gaps, and how future phases of the research will deepen understanding of the profession.

Key takeaways:

  • An early look at national benchmarking results for municipal communications teams
  • Insight into emerging trends in structure, resourcing, and service delivery
  • A view of where municipalities align, differ, and what future research may revea

Julia Harvie-Shemko, APR, CEC, is the Founder and CEO of Red Thread Connections. Julia is on a mission to help communicators do better and be better. With her company Red Thread Connections, she focuses on moving the communications function towards strategic partnership with clients. With her more than 20 years in communication and 30 in leadership, she knows how to bring clarity, focus and strategy to the communications function.

Kent Waugh, Managing Partner at The W Group, brings 40 years of local government expertise. His firm has supported 5 dozen Canadian municipalities. A sought-after speaker nationwide, Kent specializes in community engagement, survey research, and digital process improvement and is considered an expert in community surveys and panels.

Tessa Vecchio, Communications Manager, City of Sault Ste. Marie

Jeanne Smitiuch, Senior Regional Director, Canada, The Dollywood Foundation of Canada

This presentation explores how the City of Sault Ste. Marie used strategic municipal communications to help launch and grow a local affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Canada, an early literacy initiative that delivers free books monthly to children from birth to age five. More than a program launch, the initiative became a community-wide movement that strengthened partnerships, increased public engagement, and built civic pride through storytelling and collaboration.

Using a real-world municipal case study, the presenters will share how communications strategies helped connect municipal leadership, service clubs, libraries, schools, local media, families, and community champions around a shared purpose: improving early literacy and supporting children and families in the community.

Attendees will gain practical, adaptable communications strategies that can be applied to literacy initiatives and social programs in municipalities of any size. The session will include candid reflections on what worked, the challenges that emerged, and lessons learned as we built momentum and sustained community interest.

Participants will leave with:

  1. Practical storytelling strategies to build community buy-in, increase awareness, and create emotional connection around municipal initiatives.
  2. Ideas for strengthening partnerships between municipalities, nonprofits, schools, libraries, media, and community organizations to support shared community goals.
  3. Communications approaches that move beyond information-sharing to inspire participation, civic pride, trust, and long-term engagement. The presentation will also highlight social media engagement, partner communications, measuring community impact, and maintaining momentum after launch. Attendees will leave with actionable ideas, examples, and tools they can adapt within their own communities.

Jeanne Smitiuch leads Canadian growth and partnership development for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, supporting over 400 Local Program Partners across Canada. She has helped expand the program nationwide through municipal partnerships, Indigenous community collaborations, provincial expansion initiatives, and strategic communications campaigns focused on early literacy and community impact.

Tessa Vecchio, Communications Manager, City of Sault Ste. Marie Tessa Vecchio is the Communications Manager for the City of Sault Ste. Marie, where she leads municipal communications, media relations, and community engagement initiatives. Through collaborative storytelling and strategic public communications, Tessa helped support the successful launch and promotion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library within the community.

Samuel Lau, Vice-President, Public Sector (Municipality, Airports, Transportation, BIA), Environics Analytics

Samantha Yee, Manager, Special Projects & Administration (Recreation, Community Services), City of Brampton

Municipalities increasingly recognize the value of data, but many struggle to translate insights into meaningful program, communications, and service decisions. The City of Brampton, in partnership with Environics Analytics, has implemented a data-driven framework that places segmentation at the core of recreation planning, engagement, and performance measurement.

This session will showcase how Brampton is leveraging Environics Analytics’ segmentation system to better understand the diverse needs, behaviours, and preferences of its residents. By combining segmentation insights with program registration data and facility analytics, the City has developed detailed participant personas and neighbourhood profiles that inform targeted marketing, program design, and service delivery. Attendees will learn how segmentation has enabled Brampton to identify underserved communities, tailor outreach strategies, and prioritize investments that improve both participation and equity outcomes.

The session will also highlight how these insights are operationalized through a centralized Data Hub, where segmentation data integrates with real-time dashboards and KPIs creating a scalable “single source of truth” for decision-making across Recreation Services.

Through this case study, participants will gain practical guidance on how to move beyond static demographic data toward actionable, behaviour-based insights, and how to embed segmentation into everyday communications, planning, and performance management practices.

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand how Environics Analytics segmentation can be applied to develop actionable resident personas and neighbourhood profiles for municipal communications and recreation planning
  • Learn how to integrate segmentation with operational data (e.g., registrations, facilities) to identify underserved groups and improve equity outcomes
  • Identify practical strategies to embed segmentation insights into marketing, program design, and performance measurement frameworks • Review population insights available via Environics Analytics that can be applied to segmentations

Samuel Lau is the sector lead for Transportation, Municipalities, and Business Improvement Areas at Environics Analytics. With more than 10 years of experience in data analytics, sales, marketing, and consulting, he specializes in helping public sector organizations turn data into actionable insights that drive smarter planning, stronger community engagement, and measurable results.

Samantha Yee is the Manager of Special Projects & Administration for the City of Brampton’s Recreation Division, where she leads data-driven transformation initiatives. She oversees budgets, reporting and analytics, training and development, software systems, and administrative services for the division.

 

Anna Batchelor, Communications and Marketing Advisor, City of Leduc

Communicating organizational change is rarely simple — especially in municipal government, where employees work in vastly different environments, have varying access to technology, and experience change in different ways. From frontline field crews and shift workers to office staff and leaders, municipalities must find ways to communicate consistently while still meeting employees where they are. In this session, Anna Batchelor from the City of Leduc will share lessons learned from supporting several recent organizational change initiatives, including the implementation of a new IT service desk system and the rollout of new Terms and Conditions for management and out-of-scope employees.

The presentation will explore how communications approaches were adapted for diverse internal audiences, how employee feedback and communications audit insights informed channel selection, and how communications were aligned within an ADKAR-informed change management approach. Attendees will gain practical insight into developing internal communications strategies that build awareness, reduce confusion, and support employees through change in complex municipal environments. This session offers a candid look at what worked, what needed adjustment, and how thoughtful audience analysis and channel planning strengthened employee communications during periods of change.

Participants will:

  • Learn how to identify and adapt communications approaches for diverse employee groups, including desk staff, field staff, and shift workers.
  • Gain practical strategies for selecting communication channels and messaging approaches that support employee understanding and engagement during change.
  • Understand how internal communications can support broader change management efforts by reinforcing awareness, desire, and employee confidence throughout organizational transitions.

Organizational change is inevitable in municipal government — but confusion, disengagement, and communication fatigue do not have to be. By understanding the realities of diverse employee groups and adapting communications approaches accordingly, municipalities can build greater awareness, trust, and readiness during times of change.

Anna Batchelor is a Communications and Marketing Advisor with the City of Leduc, with more than a decade of experience in municipal internal communications, crisis communications, issues management, and media relations. A trusted advisor on complex, organization-wide change, she delivers award-winning communications, most recently leading efforts supporting the City’s Inspiring Workplace Award from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators.

Why dine alone? Explore Toronto’s restaurants with colleagues from the conference. Sign-up for one of three restaurants. Meet in the lobby and go together for more networking and socializing! (Note: Cost is not included)

Post Conference Workshops

Wednesday, December 2, 2026

All times are in Eastern

Workshops are in person attendance only

Alex Sévigny, PhD, APR, Associate Professor, McMaster University

This interactive half-day workshop will help municipal communications professionals understand how to use AI responsibly, effectively, and strategically in their day-to-day work. Designed specifically for the municipal environment, the session will provide a practical introduction to generative AI, how it is being used in communications today, and what communicators need to know about trust, governance, risk, and public accountability.

Participants will then move into hands-on application, learning structured prompting techniques and exploring how AI can support common municipal communications tasks such as drafting resident-facing messages, summarizing meetings, identifying themes in public feedback, supporting issues management, and improving workflow efficiency. The emphasis throughout is on practical skill-building, sound judgment, and human oversight, so participants leave with tools they can apply immediately in their own municipalities.

Presenter Details: Alex Sévigny, APR is an associate professor of communication management at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is an expert in public relations, communication management, and data-driven communication strategies, most recently using AI, augmented and virtual reality. He is an active researcher and consultant who maintains a foot in both academia and the dynamic world of the communications industry. He has a forthcoming book on how communicators and marketers can strategically use generative artificial intelligence in their practice.

Samuel Lau, Vice-President, Public Sector (Municipality, Airports, Transportation, BIA)
Environics Analytics                    

The Town of Stouville is preparing to launch a new service change, but resident awareness and uptake vary across neighbourhoods. Using population data and audience insights, participants will develop a data-driven communications plan to support the launch.

Before the activity begins, Environics Analytics will provide a brief overview of the data and tools available to participants during the workshop. This will include an introduction to 2026 projected population data, key demographic and lifestyle variables, audience segmentation categories, and how to navigate the tools participants will use to explore their municipality’s population profile.

In this interactive workshop, participants will explore how audience insights can strengthen municipal communications, engagement, and outreach. Working in teams, they will use Environics Analytics data to identify the top audience segments to target based on demographics, behaviours, lifestyles, and values.

Each team will receive a unique service change scenario, such as a recreation centre, library, transit, or events initiative. Teams will examine the preferences and motivations of their target segments and design a tailored communications strategy for each group.

Participants will then present their findings and receive feedback, creating an opportunity for peer learning and group discussion.

Outcomes:
1) Gain a deeper understanding of your municipality’s population profile using 2026 projected data, including demographics, lifestyles, behaviours, and values.

2) Learn practical strategies for applying audience insights to improve municipal communications, engagement, and outreach efforts across diverse community sub-populations.

3) Explore real-world use cases and collaborative ideas from peers on how data-driven insights can support municipal initiatives and decision-making.

Presenter Details: Samuel Lau is the sector lead for Transportation, Municipalities, and Business Improvement Areas at Environics Analytics. With more than 10 years of experience in data analytics, sales, marketing, and consulting, he specializes in helping public sector organizations turn data into actionable insights that drive smarter planning, stronger community engagement, and measurable results.

Benjamin Proulx, President, Catalyst Communications Inc. 

Over the past decade, Canadian municipalities have faced wildfires that have forced mass evacuations and overwhelmed communications teams, exposed gaps in messaging strategies, revealed public perceptions about emergency information, and tested the relationship between local government and community.

Having conducted 12 communications evaluations within After Action Reviews following significant wildfires (including an evaluation of all communications across the Northwest Territories’ 2023 wildfires that forced the evacuation of 70% of the territory), and firsthand experience executing communications through some of Canada’s most significant wildfires of the past decade, we’ll examine what worked, what didn’t, and why.

The workshop moves through three interconnected lenses: How the crisis communications landscape has fundamentally shifted; the patterns of strengths and obstacles that have persisted through events across the country; and the practical frameworks that give communicators a repeatable, adaptable process for the next event. Participants will work through real scenarios grounded in actual case material, not hypotheticals.

Takeaways are designed for municipal communicators of all levels, from solo practitioners to team leads, and to have an immediate impact on crisis communications programs and capacity.

Participants will leave with the ability to:

  1. Identify the patterns most likely to occur in their own organizations and communities during a crisis, based on documented, objective findings from real events.
  2. Apply the F.A.C.E. Messaging Framework to develop effective crisis communications that are accurate, actionable, and trust-preserving under pressure (particularly in the chaos of crisis onset).
  3. Build or strengthen a crisis communications process, and staged proactive steps to take, that their organization can activate before the next event, rather than scrambling during it.

Presenter Details: Benjamin Proulx, APR, is president of Catalyst Communications Inc., and founder of the Canadian Association of Municipal Communicators (CAMC). With nearly 20 years of local government communications experience, Ben specializes in crisis communications, issues management, and public trust, including having worked through some of Canada’s most significant recent emergencies and disasters.

 

Daphne Thomson, Founder, Catch the Beat

AI is becoming a practical tool for municipal communications, but many teams are still unsure how to move from general prompting to a useful, repeatable workflow. This hands on session will show participants how to create a Copilot Agent that supports everyday municipal communications tasks such as public notices, campaign messaging, FAQs, social media posts, council updates, internal staff messages, and plain language explanations of municipal services.

Using a practical municipal communications example, the session will walk through the step by step process of building a Copilot Agent. Participants will learn how to define the agent’s purpose, choose an appropriate communications use case, add approved source material, write clear instructions, set tone and audience expectations, identify privacy boundaries, test outputs, revise the agent, and build in human review before content is shared publicly.

The session will also explore what works, what does not, and what communicators should do differently when introducing AI. AI works best when it is given trusted information, clear limits, and a defined role. It creates risk when it is asked to guess, replace professional judgment, or produce public information without review.

Participants will gain three practical outcomes from this session:

  • A clear understanding of how to create a Copilot Agent for municipal communications, from setup to testing.
  • A practical understanding of the security and privacy concerns that must be addressed before using AI in municipal communications, including approved source material, sensitive information, access permissions, review steps, and responsible use boundaries.
  • A trust building approach for using Copilot Agents in public sector communications, including how to protect accuracy, maintain human oversight, support staff confidence, and communicate with the public in a way that strengthens credibility rather than creating concern.

This session is designed for communicators, not IT specialists, and focuses on practical use, responsible adoption, and real municipal communications needs.

Presenter Details:  Daphne Thomson is a Digital Transformation and AI Consultant, former Director of Legislative Services, and MBA student specializing in Artificial Intelligence Leadership. She speaks at LGMA, LGANT, and LGAA, and loves geeking out on practical AI tools that help municipalities improve communications, governance, service delivery, and public trust.

Sponsors

Thank you to our presenting sponsor:

 

 

 

 

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Cancellation & Refund Policy

Substitution of delegates is permissible without prior notification. Refunds will be given for cancellations received in writing no later than 15 days prior to the conference date subject to an administration fee of $250 plus $32.50 for HST (in person) or $12.50 for GST (online). After this time, you are liable for the full registration fee even if you do not attend the conference. If you register during this 15 day period, you are also liable for the full fee. SummersDirect Inc. reserves the right to change program date, meeting place or content without further notice and assumes no liability for these changes.