Power to the People Our theme - Power to the People - is inspired by the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta the foundation of the freedom for the individual - the basis for legal and political systems worldwide which still resonates across the centuries. Join the conversation… Giving a voice to all – from employees to customers to community - is a growing movement. Now EuroComm 2015 gives you a voice as part of the conversation about the two most challenging aspects of communication today people’s opportunity to be heard: encouraging ideas, innovation and best practice to create practical action. So join us to learn, share and shape ideas, best practice and ways to help your communication contribute to your business and organisational success. Programme highlights: We have two keynotes: Bjorn Edlund, former Executive Vice President Communications at Royal Dutch Shell who supported 11 CEO’s as head of communications for Shell, Sandoz AG and ABB Ltd and Sir Robert Worcester, founder of MORI, the research firm renowned for listening to and reporting public opinion and now chair of the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary. Listening to the Voice of the Employee is about how listening to employees can change a whole organisation with HSBC's senior communications manager Ulrike Felber who manages the HSBC Exchange listening programme and Katie Macaulay, managing director, AB communications agency, author of From Cascade to Conversation about unlocking the collective wisdom of your workforce." The International Perspective: with Dr Barbara Gibson, ABC, consultant and lecturer on intercultural communication and global business and Dr Donna Lazidou, OmiliaHirst, whose global study looked at leadership communications. Chair is Anisha Jhina, director of Internal Communication, Mars Global Petcare. Come prepared to test your own international perspective with an interactive exercise. Social media – opportunities and challenges with David Banks, journalist and media consultant and Neville Hobson, ABC, communicator, blogger and podcaster who will debate the opportunities for listening via social media while recognising and addressing potential legal issues and the need for best practice. Followed by a series of intriguing and inspiring dynamic TED talks – choose which ones you want to join: Chuck Gose, VP Stratacache joins us from the US to explain how the physics of employee engagement is a new way to look at how you are, or aren’t, engaging your workforce Claudia Vaccarone, global market research & customer experience director at Eutelsat SA: discusses how communicators have a key role to play to improve the customer experience, and truly customer centric businesses can only truly thrive with excellent communications. Ian Andersen, external communications adviser to the European Commission’s interpretation department tells us about a project across the Commission with participatory workshops to engage staff, citizens, and stakeholders in conversations that matter Philip Weiss, founder of ZN, leading digital consultancy in Brussels and author of Hyperthinking showcases a video about the European election May 2014 viewed over a million times, which helped drive a conversation for candidates as part of an overall narrative. Charlie Irvine, founder and managing director, Questions of Difference, will tell the story of a process to empower an employee workforce to create, innovate and challenge “the way things are done around here” which resulted in a significant market share increase over three years. Jean Paul Chapon, head of Digital Communication and e-reputation, Societe Generale, talks about a mobile app launch for employees as part of a programme to change and digitalise communication both internally and externally in the bank. Mike Klein, senior editor at VimpelCom in Amsterdam, introduces a case study of how ideas, participation and best practice can be shared within an organisation. Bringing values alive in an organisation can be a challenge. Here Newsweaver CEO Andrew O'Shaugnessy explains how their values were created by employees, not directed from the top down resulting in values which are truly owned by them. We’ll also hear from a Newsweaver client about reaching and engaging a diverse workforce and how one internal communications team chose the right channels to engage remote and unconnected workers and measure the impact of their communications. Priyanka Rajkumar, Principal Consultant, The Fifth Business will talk about the People side of change – how to develop agile employees who actively seek new opportunities and thrive on change, by enabling leaders to be “mentors” rather than “managers”, developing communication outcomes not outputs, and ultimately creating an environment where the employee is truly resilient. Ezri Carlebach, communications consultant, will be leading one of his now famous Rapido sessions, where conference delegates take to stage for short and punchy presentations on the Power to the People theme. A distinctive approach will be two interactive discussion sessions. We will be asking you to consider: back as a real benefit for your organisation. What is the future of the role of the communicator? There are still a few more sessions to be finalised which will be announced shortly in the full programme. First to stimulate our thinking, we will hear how Saskia Jones, head of internal communications at Oxfam and IoIC’s Communicator of the Year 2014, became a trusted adviser to the top team and how the Future Shapers initiative engaged the global organisation in a conversation about organisational change and increased efficiency. But there is one person still missing – YOU. Before we divide into discussion groups to explore our potential future, Neil Griffiths, ABC, internal communication manager at ERM, will provide some insight into two studies he co-authored with Deborah Hinton looking at what individual communication professionals are thinking about their future. We’ll come together to listen to each groups’ deliberations – and – who knows? – possibly agreement but certainly much to think about… Come and join us for two days of great conversation and to lend your voice to EuroComm 2015. You will have much contribute as well as learn – Register now! What practical action plans can I take back? Have you ever been to an informative and thought provoking conference but once back in the busy office the learning gets overlooked. Not with EuroComm. On our last afternoon you will feel the – a session to debate and discuss the learning from our speakers and also move forward to develop individual action plans for you to bring Programme is organised by Michael Nord, EuroComm Chair Susan Walker, programming Helen Jacobi, administration And all of this in the vibrant environment of the London College of Communication (University of the Arts) at Elephant and Castle, Southwark – our latest IABC corporate members – who have promised us some exciting, innovative ideas of their own. You will receive a list of suggested hotels when registering. Please register here. #EuroComm @iabceme http://europe.iabc.com Fun! If all this sounds very serious – don’t worry – in true IABC tradition there will be plenty of time for networking and a get together for those arriving Sunday at Bedales, Borough Market from 5-7pm, a networking reception with fellow communicators in collaboration with the PR Guild on Monday evening followed by a typical IABC London Dine Around