The IABC Model for Communication Excellence:

How to apply the strategic planning process

Every effective communication campaign starts with a plan. With IABC’s Model for Communication Excellence course, you will learn how to use the IABC work plan template to develop and improve your communication plans. Your instructors in this course are five award-winning communicators representing every facet of business communications who are here to guide you through the process with tips and insights along the way. This communication model can be applied to the planning process for almost any communication campaign.  Work smarter with the IABC Model for Communication Excellence!

Your instructors:

Cindy Schmieg, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is an award-winning strategic communicator and educator. With 30+ years of senior corporate, agency, and consulting experience in multiple industries, Cindy now teaches online in the communication master’s degree program at Southern New Hampshire University. She was recognized as an IABC Fellow in 2017 and has held leadership positions within IABC, including the 2012 Career Road Map Committee, 2018 Gold Quill Awards Chair, and 2013-2016 member of the International Executive Board. 

Neil Griffiths, ABC, Chart.PR, IABC Fellow, is senior manager for global communication and global inclusion lead at ERM, the world’s largest sustainability consultancy. With a focus on corporate communication and inclusion, Neil has worked in communication management for 15+ years across public, private, and nonprofit organizations. Neil has held numerous leadership positions within IABC, including being a member of the inaugural Global Communication Certification Council. Neil chaired the 2018 IABC World Conference in Montreal and is past chair of IABC’s EMENA region. He has received the IABC Regional Leader of the Year and the Rae Hamlin Award for services to professional certification. In 2019, Neil was named an IABC Fellow. Together with co-author Deborah Hinton, Neil has published two studies on the current and future state of the communication profession and advocates for channeling your best communication self regardless of where and how you work. 

Neil has been using a strategic communication management approach that aligns with IABC’s Global Standard and accepted good practice for more than a decade, applying this across internal and external projects.

Mari Lee, ABC, uses the power of communication to positively influence change in individuals, companies, and communities, achieving business results and social impact. Mari has won more than 30 international awards using the IABC model for communication excellence as a base for her work as a communication professional, receiving the IABC Gold Quill Award of Excellence and the Gold Quill Best of the Best Award on four occasions. Mari uses her experience and foundation in development communication to facilitate critical conversations about what needs to happen, focusing on the people in the process rather than simply broadcasting messages. Research and measuring impact are at the heart of the strategic communication science that Mari has developed into an artful skillset. Mari works with a dynamic team of fellow-communicators in DevCom, the communication consultancy she founded in 2005.​

Dr. Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, ABC, CPRP, IABC Fellow, is the founder and CEO of Business DNA. Amanda is as passionate about the communication profession today as she was when she entered it more than 30 years ago as a newly qualified journalist. Since then, she has filled communication roles in newsrooms, lecture halls, factories, and many mines. Over the years, she served as a mentor for numerous young and more experienced communication professionals, as giving back to the profession is one of her values. 

She has participated as an evaluator in both local and international IABC awards programs for many years. Amanda served in many local and global leadership roles in the IABC, among others, as chair of the IABC Africa Region and on the IABC Executive Board as trustee of the IABC Research Foundation. She was the 2014 IABC Gold Quill Award Chair and instrumental in the new Quill entry and evaluation process. The role she treasured most was being the Co-chair of the IABC Career Road Map Committee that developed the Global Standard, the Principles of the Communication Profession, and the Career Road Map.

Amanda received the IABC Chairman’s Award in 2014, and in 2015 she was named IABC Fellow. She has published several articles on women in leadership, entrepreneurship, and corporate communication.

Zora Artis, GAICD, SCMP, FAMI, CPM, is the CEO and founder of Artis Advisory in Melbourne, Australia. Artis Advisory is a strategic advisory practice focused on helping clients succeed, whether it’s solving a business problem or leveraging opportunities through better organizational alignment, engagement, and communication. Zora has almost three decades of experience in business, marketing, communication, advertising, and branding.

Zora is a certified company director with the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a certified Strategic Communication Management Professional, a Fellow and Certified Practising Marketer of the Australian Marketing Institute, and she holds master's degrees in commerce and marketing.

She is the current chair of IABC Asia Pacific Region board and a past director on the IABC International Executive Board (2016-2019). She’s the recipient of several IABC Gold Quill Awards and the IABC Chairman’s Award in 2015. Zora has served as a Gold Quill Awards Blue Ribbon Panel evaluator and a judge of the Australian Marketing Institute Awards. 

Zora has recently researched and published two white papers. The first, "Strategic Alignment: How communicators can change the face of leadership," was a first-of-its-kind study with Wayne Aspland focused on alignment in organizations with a communication and leadership lens. The second, "Going Beyond Engagement: The business value of internal communications for the C-suite," is a deep dive into the value of internal communication in a time of rapid business, technological and political disruption.