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Live Meeting Dates and Times Sep 23, 2026 09:00 - 10:45 AM CT Sep 30, 2026 09:00 - 10:45 AM CT Every communication plan should answer four questions: What business need are we addressing? Where can communication make the greatest contribution? What needs to change in what people know, think, feel or do? How will we know it worked? Plan for Impact is a practical 3.5-hour masterclass built around the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence’s proven eight-step strategic communication planning process. You will learn how to translate a business need into a clear communication opportunity and intended outcomes, develop meaningful SMART objectives, define your measurement approach, analyse audiences, develop messages and tactics and plan how results will be evaluated. You will also explore how return on investment can be calculated and how measurement findings can provide valuable business insight. The process can be applied to any communication strategy, initiative or campaign and provides a strong foundation for developing an IABC Gold Quill entry. Your facilitator, Sia Papageorgiou, is an IABC Fellow who has used this process to develop work recognised with 16 IABC Gold Quill Awards of Excellence, including two Best of the Best honours. You will leave with an end-to-end planning process you can apply immediately to your own work. Who should attend This masterclass is designed for communication professionals who contribute to, plan, lead or advise on communication strategies, initiatives and campaigns. It will be particularly valuable for professionals who want to strengthen their strategic planning discipline, develop better objectives, conduct more useful audience analysis and demonstrate the results of their work with greater credibility. Masterclass outline The masterclass introduces the CSCE eight-step strategic communication planning process through four connected areas: 1. Connect communication to the business need Clarify the underlying organisational need, issue or opportunity. Identify where communication can make the greatest contribution. Define the intended changes in what people know, think, feel or do. 2. Define success and how it will be measured Develop meaningful, outcome-focused SMART objectives. Establish relevant measures, baselines, targets and methods. Distinguish between outputs, outcomes and organisational impact. 3. Use audience insight to shape communication Identify, prioritise and segment relevant audiences. Examine audience needs, motivations, barriers and preferences. Use audience insights to guide messages, tactics and channel choices. 4. Evaluate value and generate business insight Plan how results will be assessed against the agreed objectives. Explore how return on investment can be calculated. Turn measurement findings into insight that supports better business and communication decisions. Read more

How do you get people to pay attention to change communication when they are already busy, distracted, and dealing with constant transformation? For Zach Koitka, one unexpected answer came in the form of Satchy – a seven-foot Sasquatch with a surprisingly sharp take on organisational change. Through Change Happons, Zach and Satchy have cut through with change professionals by using humour, storytelling, and familiar workplace moments to reflect the real experience of change back to the people living it. The videos are clever, funny, and insightful, but their impact goes beyond entertainment. In this IABC Change Management SIG session, Zach will share why the series connects, what it reveals about attention and relatability, and how character-led storytelling can help organisations make change communication more human, memorable, and engaging. Zach will also explore how this approach can work inside organisations, helping teams bring fresh energy to change messages that might otherwise get lost in the noise. This session is ideal for change managers, change communicators, internal communication professionals, and anyone looking for more creative ways to help people make sense of change.   Speaker: Zach Koitka Zach Koitka is the creator of Change Happons, the character-led series featuring Satchy, a monotone Sasquatch navigating the awkward, messy, and very real side of organisational change. Together, Zach and Satchy use humour and storytelling to make change management more visible, relatable, and people-centred – for both the change profession and organisations navigating transformation. Read more

In this course, you will learn what IABC specifically looks for in evaluating award entries allowing for consistent application and interpretation of criteria across our large number of evaluators.  As an evaluator, you are not setting the standards or criteria for the awards. You are scoring entries based on the criteria in the Evaluating Excellence Guide and providing feedback to entrants using your expertise. While this course is designed for the evaluation of IABC Gold Quill awards, it can be used to train evaluators for all types of IABC awards. Read more

Effective communication isn’t about completing the brochure, video or website — it’s about what the communication needs to accomplish and how successful it is at doing just that — it’s the WHY are you doing the communication in the first place.  Join award-winning communication consultant Gabrielle (Gabi) Loring, FCSCE as she explores how to disrupt how you think about metrics to reframe measurement as a powerful leadership tool — one that reveals what’s working or not working and how communication can influence real outcomes.  The session will explore:  - How to set goals worth measuring and tie them to business value - Why many current measurement practices fall short and how to move beyond vanity metrics  - Meaningful measurement through award-winning, real-world case studies - The essential role of having a measurement plan in shaping strategy  - Using measurement to talk about the impact of your communication strategy to management and your manager, customer or client  During the session, participants will have an opportunity to apply what they learned to their own work.  Who should attend? Designed for generalists/specialists, this session is for anyone who wants to move beyond generic key performance indicators (KPIs) to unlock deeper insights, build influence and shape smarter strategies. Read more

Effective communication isn’t about completing the brochure, video or website — it’s about what the communication needs to accomplish and how successful it is at doing just that — it’s the WHY are you doing the communication in the first place.  Join award-winning communication consultant Gabrielle (Gabi) Loring, FCSCE as she explores how to disrupt how you think about metrics to reframe measurement as a powerful leadership tool — one that reveals what’s working or not working and how communication can influence real outcomes.  The session will explore:  - How to set goals worth measuring and tie them to business value - Why many current measurement practices fall short and how to move beyond vanity metrics  - Meaningful measurement through award-winning, real-world case studies - The essential role of having a measurement plan in shaping strategy  - Using measurement to talk about the impact of your communication strategy to management and your manager, customer or client  During the session, participants will have an opportunity to apply what they learned to their own work.  Who should attend? Designed for generalists/specialists, this session is for anyone who wants to move beyond generic key performance indicators (KPIs) to unlock deeper insights, build influence and shape smarter strategies. Read more

Transformation programs promise the world but often fall short of delivering their glittering promises. Dr Alicia Aitken knows this and that the path from strategy to outcomes is not smooth. She has spent her 30-year career in Fortune 500 companies, such as ANZ and Telstra, ensuring that change projects actually achieve their objectives. In this next session of the IABC Change Management Special Interest Group, Alicia will divulge what she’s learned about how to deliver a successful program, plus: 1. Outline some of the current issues she’s seeing in transformation projects and how these issues have changed from 10 years ago. 2. The skills and capabilities she looks for to help her deliver big change 3. What shifts she has seen in the role of communication Read more