Get online professional development from IABC On Demand

Speaker: Leslie Krohn, Chief Communications Officer/Director of Communications & Public Affairs, Argonne National Laboratory Working remotely is not a new concept, but now so many companies and organizations are making it a permanent work solution. While this is a welcomed shift for people who are use to conducting business online, it can be challenging for communicators who focus on shaping culture, especially when that type of work was usually for employees who everyday reported into a work location. Leslie's presentation will focus on ITS ABOUT TIME TO RETHINK how to change and influence culture in a remote environment. Read more

Speaker: Colin Ellis 2020 will be forever remembered as the year that organizations around the world finally embraced technology, which for too long had been held back by the behaviours and scepticism of senior managers.  However, embracing technology is one thing, ensuring that it enhances the communications channels in place to improve the way that people work together is quite another issues.  We have more communication tools at our disposal than ever before. We communicate more than we have ever done. Yet the quality of these communications has diminished with millions of emails and direct messages going unread every single day. Great leaders understand that effective communication is not one approach for all. It is nuanced and tailored to the needs of the individual.  This informative, engaging and entertaining speech introduces the principles and practicalities of variable communication and how it can enhance the way that people work together. Read more

Speaker: Kirsten Major, Communications Strategist, Josh Walker Digital Strategy Over the past decade, starting with major players such as Slack, Yammer, and Salesforce, there has been a movement to adapt and offer social media engagement-style platforms for enterprise communications. With Covid, the trend has accelerated. With this comes an unspoken, fatal-flaw level problem. Today's employees want a whole-person approach to work life. They expect engagement, recognition, stimulation, even recreation. New comms tools and intranets meet those needs with social media-style elements that mirror online life outside of work. Social media is paid for by advertising. The longer users spend on the platform, the more money can be made. Social media sites are built to circumvent executive-level decision-making brain function and appeal to our more survival-level brain directives. Everything we know about social media and effective focus tells us that their use causes catastrophic wastes of time at work...so why are we bringing them into our workplaces? Read more

Speaker: Catherine Ducharme, Co-Founder, Fluency Leadership Massive disruption and pervasive uncertainty vaulted the communications role and contribution right on stage, under the brightest of lights, in 2020. Never before have communicators been so valuable to their organizations, earning new equity as connectors, trusted advisors, employee advocates and thoughtful communicators. It has handed us a once-in-a-career opportunity to leap from strategic advisor to influential business advisor. The question now is how do we sustain and maximize this opportunity?   To be fully expressed business leaders, we can’t simply focus on the craft of communications, instead we need to seize the broader opportunity of leadership and what it means to lead through this new distributed, tumultuous reality. It’s about time to embrace a new language of leadership and build a heightened sense of self-awareness, clarity, curiosity and empathy.   This session outlines the leadership fluencies required to grow into this new space and multiply our influence as business leaders. Read more

Speaker: Matisse Hamel-Nelis, Project Manager, Inclusive Workplaces, Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) Imagine if your business could reach millions of potential clients your competitors are missing, just by changing your outlook on the world? Fifteen percent of the population lives with some form of disability (sensory, motor, neurological or other). The UN calls them the world’s largest minority.  You’ve no doubt heard of companies being sued for inaccessible websites, but what about social media content? Or annual reports, strategic plans, podcasts and videos?  These are just some of the projects we work on as communicators, but how often do you think about accessibility when you're creating a post, producing a video, or sharing a PDF?   Attendees will learn:   About accessible content and why it’s so important How to understand the difference between accessible and inaccessible content The key steps involved in creating accessible Word documents, PDFs, and social media posts How to create accessible digital content Read more

Speaker: Cecilia Lui, Founder & Director, ILIA Connect In the era that is Covid-19, everyone has been pushed to the virtual space for their professional, personal and social needs.  Yet, engagement has been a top challenge reported for virtual communication throughout the pandemic. Whether we are part of the work-from-home culture with a daily need to show up for meetings and presentations, or that we crave social connections and regularly attend networking events, adapting our skills and optimizing our ability to communicate with equal or more effectiveness in the virtual world has become a critical skill we need to master.  In this session, we will learn the elements that help elevate our ability to step up and show up in the virtual world.  The speaker shares how her communications and cross-cultural work complements each other in helping us gain visibility and create impact in our virtual communication. Read more