From among the sessions I attended, the keynotes that were presented and the intense intellectual debates I indulged in with colleagues after hours at the hotel pub, I was able to make three observations about the conference and the general state of business communications.

Engaging Employees
Now, what came as somewhat of a shock was to hear someone like Brad Whitworth speak to me of internal communications at Cisco Systems with employees in the tens of thousands. Coming from a company like zu with a staff of just under 60, be it large for a web agency, I realized I had to widen my scope of communication in order to realize the vastness of issues, policies and communication channels that multinational corporations must manage on a daily basis.

I took this into consideration and thought, “How do they do it? Better yet, how do they do it well?” Then I walked into a session called “Inside GM: Communicating Through the Crises” by Katie McBride, Executive Director for GM Global Product Operations/Environment and Energy Communications. I was blown away with how GM and Katie’s team of high-level communicators orchestrated their plan for communicating through their bankruptcy in 2009.

What struck me was the fact that she spent almost the entire presentation speaking about the importance of engaging GM employees to ensure their confidence in GM decision-making and its effect on the future. They developed Q&A forums, webcasts, podcasts, and eventually a program to have employees attend GM events and write press releases and blog articles for their peers to view. They gave the company back to the people who would now lead its recovery. They realized the power in having employees love the company and brand they worked to ensure.

Building Culture
One thing we preach here at zu is the quality of great company culture. It became apparent to me that in large corporations, a strong company culture is a huge undertaking that comes with a huge price tag. But there are many cost-effective ways to allow your employees to enjoy coming to work every day. Many sessions at this conference were on intranets and their utility.

Now, think of your company’s intranet as the easiest way to engage employees. How about putting the time and effort into making it an enjoyable user experience so that every morning when employees sign in they don’t feel like they’re plugging into the Matrix. Allow for status updates and a news feed, and work to create a social aspect to the intranet so that employees can see what their CEO or executives are up to as well as network internally with colleagues.

Remembering the Role of Social Media
So much was said about the power of social media. Social media is a great marketing and communication tool—in a supplementary role. You can have the coolest Facebook and Twitter pages, but without a usable interactive website, what’s the point? Before you dive into the social media world it’s important to have a strong foundation in a well built interactive website. You want to make the website a great personification of your brand and company outlook so that when people are pulled to it through your social media accounts it can educate, stimulate and ‘wow’. If there was one thing that I feel the conference lacked, besides Wi-Fi, it was emphasizing the importance of a good website to engage stakeholders. All too often, zu has clients wanting the bells and whistles when in fact we need to convince them of the utility in a well-designed, interactive website.

Overall the conference was great. I met an awesome group of people from all over Canada and the United States. I even met a group from Slovenia, but it shows that the issues we discussed at the conference are global communications issues. I am looking forward to IABC 2011 in San Diego, and with that I put an end to my experience at IABC 2010.

Good night Toronto!

Join us for this live webcast

Date: Tuesday March 16, 2010

Time: 11:00pm PT, 12:00pm MT, 1:00pm CT, 2:00pm ET

Cost: Complimentary

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Join Stephanie and David live as they walk you through basic strategies for how you can enhance your school’s online presence. Learn from current university, college and institution examples, showcasing some of the best websites, online initiatives, and social media tool use. Stephanie and David will highlight how you can develop interactive experiences to fully engage your stakeholders.

• Explore opportunities to reach your main audiences, including students, alumni, and potential staff.
• Examine simple social media tools that schools can use to more widely distribute their message.
• Review steps to take your interactive strategy towards the ultimate goal of creating an engaged, sustainable community, both on and off line.

Stephanie Hughes is an Account Executive at zu and has worked with a variety of educational institutions, including SIAST and SIIT (Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology). Serving individual departments, entire school divisions, and specialized training centres has granted her well-rounded insight into the realm of schools. When combined with her knowledge of web trends, the newest interactive tools, and her own BBA and MBA experience, Stephanie will share a unique expertise with viewers.

David Francis is the Academic Director for SIAST’s Virtual Campus and has 15 years of experience in leading online learning initiatives. SIAST’s Virtual Campus is the institution’s centre of excellence for online course development and delivery, as well as website oversight, faculty training and print-distance materials. David will share his experiences in managing stakeholder expectations while delivering high quality initiatives for SIAST’s web properties and online training materials.