- Create compelling communications
- Lead a culture of transformation
- Improve business fluency
- Measure your success
- Control crises
- Build a great employee culture
Internal communicators are drivers of change. As their discipline has evolved, so too have the strategies and tactics required to create an authentic, powerful employee experience.
Join us April 16–18 in the heart of Chicago for Ragan’s Employee Communications & Culture Conference and come away with practical and innovative ideas to implement back in the office — or in home offices and hybrid workplaces. You’ll walk away with the tools you need to supersize your strategies and elevate your comms, while forging connections and sharing knowledge with industry peers and informed colleagues.
From change communications to interdepartmental collaboration to crafting content and thought leadership that keeps employees engaged, informed and wanting more, this conference will give you the blueprint to build a better work environment. Interactive sessions and engaging instruction from experts in the trade provide the ultimate peer-to-peer experience sprinkled with inspirational keynotes, interactive workshops, sessions, lively debates and plenty of networking so you can connect with industry colleagues and forge new friendships.
FEATURED SPEAKERS
AGENDA
Separate registration required.
Registering for our in-person certificate series will train you to better partner with HR and people managers. You’ll learn how to tailor communications to the needs of your workforce — no matter how large or small your organization. This manager comms course will address the ongoing challenges you face as a communicator by equipping you with the toolkits, templates, and talking points you need to convey comms initiatives. You’ll leave this 4-hour course with a Manager Communications Certificate from Ragan.
8-9 a.m. Re-envisioning the Manager Comms "Cascade"
People managers are crucial conduits for delivering information to employees. But the focus on creating a traditional “information cascade” can result in middle managers feeling unsupported. You can empower your managers as engaged “catalysts” for change. Discover how to equip managers with tools, templates, talking points and other resources so they can convey comms initiatives with conviction. Together, we’ll dive into:
- The problem: What's wrong with today's "manager comms cascades," based on findings from the Zeno Group's "Middle Managers at Risk: Companies Overlook the Communications Imperative" study.
- The solution: What an effective manager comms information flow focused on creating "catalysts" looks like — especially in hybrid and dispersed workforces.
- Trust meets tech: What's working to help managers build trust with their direct reports across a variety of channels — including text apps, email, employee engagement platforms and more.
- Manager resource hubs: How, why and when to give managers information they need to convey comms initiatives.
- Building bridges and partnerships: Ideas for working with HR and executive comms to ensure vision and strategy flows to managers in a clear and comprehensive way.
9-9:30 a.m. Peer-to-Peer Workshop
There’s no better way to internalize what you’re learning than to share the experience with fellow workshop attendees. Bring your biggest manager comms challenges to this interactive session and we’ll workshop solutions together.
9:30-9:45 a.m. Short Break
9:45-10:30 a.m. Managers as Super-Communicators and Culture Builders
Managers are crucial culture catalysts, and the leadership style of individual managers makes up to 70% of the difference in employee motivations and productivity. Learn how to foster a strong sense of culture and belonging – while delivering business results. Some of what we will cover includes:
- Upskilling managers: Strengthening managers’ ability to close the employee experience gaps across your workforce.
- Culture first: How to help managers lead from a place of authenticity, purpose and passion – so they're more personal and available to teams.
- Engaging managers in EXP: How to ensure managers are engaging in your Employee Experience Platforms (EXPs) – from liking or commenting on posts to promoting employee recognition efforts like badging, kudos and award ceremonies.
- Context is key: Always sharing “the why” ensures managers will help team members understand reasons behind communications and change.
10:30-11 a.m. Mini Interactive Session: Comms Strategies
In this interactive session, you’ll be given a company reorg scenario that includes downsizing departments and consolidating business units, along with new leadership and shifting roles. Working in small groups, you’ll develop a plan to roll out the messaging across a hypothetical organization.
11-11:15 a.m. Short Break
11:15-11:45 a.m. Measurement and Monitoring
This final session will give you the planning roadmap you need to measure and monitor your manager comms efforts. From creating surveys and polls to setting up focus groups, what you learn here will provide you with data you need to refine and adjust your manager comms efforts. You’ll also learn the best KPIs to track to show impact. Learn about:
- Reverse cascade: The importance of feedback loops and how to ensure feedback travels both ways so your organization acts on the input, insights and intel you’re getting.
- Measurement toolbox: Tools others are using to monitor and level up their manager comms efforts – and how to get the most out of the tools your org has on hand.
- Strategies for remote, async and deskless workers: How to gather and integrate employee feedback so you can craft targeted strategies for dispersed teams.
- Continuous improvement: How to extract actionable insights from your data to optimize the productivity, wellbeing and performance for your workforce.
11:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m. What's Next: Discussion and Q&A
Now, we’ll put it all together. In a group share, the entire room will dialog around how to apply today's learnings and principles to upcoming manager comms initiatives and challenges at their respective organizations.
You’ve heard plenty about generative AI and may even have experimented with it — now it’s time to delve deeper and get practical with the latest AI techniques to dramatically improve your internal comms copy, content and capacity. This workshop will teach you how to apply strategic prompts to generate powerful prose and pixel-worthy images that make your job easier while engaging your workforce with persuasive content. You’ll discover:
- Understanding three types of AI: Learn about narrow AI, general artificial intelligence and superintelligence, and what each are able to deliver for communicators.
- What’s new: The trends, tools, and lawsuits you need to know about AI today.
- The AI toolbox: How to get the most out of ChatGPT, Gemini, Lumen5, Claude, and Microsoft’s Copilot, plus a list of the top AI tools for communicators.
- Scaling workflow and production: How to use Gen AI to reduce the time and effort required to craft compelling internal comms content – plus, real-world AI use cases and examples of AI applications for internal comms content.
- Writing and prompt engineering: How AI can help edit and improve your writing, plus how to select and fine-tune prompts that elevate your prose — without sacrificing creativity and voice.
- Other uses: How to use AI to run persona building, sentiment tracking/analysis and message testing so you can adjust and optimize your content — from email headlines and CTAs to better posts and body copy.
- Compelling visuals: Simple ways to create compelling custom imagery, layouts and design elements that will reinforce your message — come ready to dig into Lumen5.
- Gaining buy-in to level up: How to encourage leadership in your organization to embrace a hands-on, test-and-learn mentality that helps them understand its capabilities and how it factors into success.
Say goodbye to “blah” results and hello to “ta-da!” by learning how to get more out of measurement data to transform your internal comms strategy. In this workshop, you’ll discover a better measurement framework, the latest tools and the essential KPIs you need to set up smart goals for your team, track the right outputs and share successes with execs in the language of ROI and revenue. Join if you want to boost your budget and elevate your comms from lackluster to spectacular. Together we’ll cover:
- What the C-suite expects: Results from the latest HarrisX/Ragan CEO-Communicators survey outlining what execs want from communicators, including the outcomes they value most.
- What’s wrong with traditional internal measurement: Why data and analytics based on pulse surveys and other traditional-yet-limited methods don’t tell the whole story.
- A smarter measurement framework: How to launch a more robust measurement program based on both quantitative and qualitative inputs — so you can tie outputs to strategic goals and wider impacts, including shifting public perception.
- Essential KPIs: Examples of how to track quantitative KPIs like page visits, email/CT rates and even intranet read receipts — plus how to correlate them to engagement, retention, satisfaction and productivity.
- A custom KPI index: How to use these insights to craft a new KPI scorecard tailored to your organization’s sector, mission and business goals — plus how to translate your KPIs to ROI.
- Sample dashboards: Case studies in what’s working and what’s not to present your results to teams and execs alike — including examples of successful measurement dashboards.
- New tools and tech: A better toolbox to gather internal comms data, including how to run your data through AI to quickly analyze and act on top findings.
AI is moving fast—and other departments are already using it as you read this. Keep up and enhance your career, comms department, strategic value and contributions to organizational goals by learning how to fully operationalize AI across your communications. This hands-on workshop will show you how Merck’s comms team successfully integrated AI tools and challenges into its workflow—so you and your team can make the jump without the pitfalls. You’ll learn:
- What’s new: The latest AI launches and how to choose which are best for your organization.
- Adopting AI: How to develop a roadmap for AI implementation tailored to your department’s needs.
- Fostering an AI-friendly culture: How to create an internal AI committee—plus how to draft AI policies and guidelines for your team.
- Measurement: Ideas for monitoring the effectiveness of your AI efforts, including how to measure AI’s impact on comms content and your team.
- Ideas to borrow: Examples and use cases to build out in your own organization.
Join us at the Lobby Bar at the Fairmont as we get to know each other at this casual cash bar meet-up and kick off the conference in style!
Because most organizations rely on limited data sets, such as the annual employee survey, they are unaware of whether work practices improve or diminish employee experience. In order to achieve organizational goals, leadership must be able to understand employee sentiment, implement changes and communicate results. When you turn employee feedback into meaningful changes, you will only strengthen your relationship with your employees and build trust.
Join engagement expert Melissa Katski-Berry to discover:
- 3 different ways to measure employee engagement beyond the employee survey.
- How to evaluate the effectiveness of your measurement initiatives before implementing them.
- How to make your measurement strategy actionable by using data to create policies and evaluations.
Learn about the program, and discover trends from Ragan’s Benchmark Report.
Get ready to learn how improv can help you navigate the complexities of today's workplace dynamics. In the opening keynote, Second City’s Kelly Leonard, the VP of Creative Strategy, Innovation, and Business Development, will speak to the improvisational practices that propelled the careers of folks like Stephen Colbert and Tina Fey—and how improv techniques can help communicators meet real-world challenges.
Drawing on his work with behavioral scientists at the University of Chicago, Leonard will guide the audience through evidence-based exercises designed to foster collaborative and inclusive conversations, as well as help build a culture that is rooted in positive human behavior. Join us for an interactive keynote that promises not only to inspire but to equip you with the tools to innovate and connect in new ways.
Achieving clarity, consensus and collaboration is critical for successful manager comms — but it can be difficult in the era of remote work to get managers aligned as conduits for your employee comms strategy. This session cuts through it all by taking an honest look at the most common obstacles managers face when cascading your messages and initiatives. Our panelists will provide their hard-won solutions for handling top roadblocks—while opening the floor to your biggest pain points and remedies. Come ready to share the bad—and the good! We’ll cover:
- Misinterpretation vs clarity: How others are providing managers with clear, concise guidance so they can convey complex info.
- Silos vs collaboration: Innovative ways to collaborate with HR, line managersand other departments to communicate more effectively with a hybrid workforce.
- Hi-tech vs hi-touch: How others are balancing email, videoconferencing, collaboration suites, IM, enterprise social media and intranets with town halls, in-person meetings and informal talks to combat information overload and break through to busy managers and their staff.
- Cultural vs generational differences: How to help managers become more adaptable and sensitive to diverse workplaces.
- Resistance to change vs adaptability: How others are empowering managers to assist with change communications—including providing managers with the reasons and benefits behind any change.
- Process vs people: How others are working across the manager comms cascade to codify comms needs, initiatives and workflows that everyone can get behind.
Company culture is often intangible, and every employee has a different way of explaining it. Through a Harvard Business Review practice, McCownGordon managed to define its culture, making it tangible and actionable for every associate across the organization. This session will delve into its process of defining the culture and how it acted on the data to develop tools, expectations and practices that continue to elevate their award-winning culture every year.
Attendees will:
- Explore methods to define your company's culture.
- Facilitate discussions and dissemination of your organizational values.
- Obtain practical strategies for nurturing a cohesive environment.
- Uncover techniques to empower employees as champions and influencers of your organizational identity.
In today's competitive talent landscape, captivating employer branding content is absolutely essential for attracting top talent and fostering employee engagement. Join us as we explore innovative strategies and affordable content ideas to elevate your employer brand to new heights. Don't miss this opportunity to revolutionize your employer branding strategy and stand out as an employer of choice. You'll discover how to ignite your creativity and inspire lasting connections with employees and talent prospects alike. We’ll cover:
- Engaging social content: How to create compelling videos, captivating photos and authentic employee spotlights that resonate with your audience across various social platforms.
- The power of UGC: How to successfully harness user-generated content to help amplify your employer brand message.
- The latest best practices: What content strategies are resonating most with both talent prospects and existing employees — plus proven techniques for crafting content that captivates and inspires.
- Measuring employer branding impact: How to design a measurement framework for your employer branding efforts that is aligned with your business strategy to demonstrate tangible results.
- Lessons learned: Real-world case studies and success stories from winning employer branding campaigns — including actionable takeaways that you can apply to your own organization.
It’s time to move past “wow” into “now” when it comes to AI — and finally start infusing it into your content calendars and creation. This interactive session details how to harness AI as a diligent conductor ensuring all your trains are on schedule, running at full steam with high-quality content while avoiding legal, copyright and other AI third rails so your message arrives at its destination with impact. In the second half of this session, get prepared to pull out your computers to experiment with proper prompt building. Join us to discover:
- Streamlined strategy: AI tools to help generate better content plans that align internal comms goals with employee preferences.
- Enhanced scheduling: AI plug-ins to create or improve existing content calendars that deliver the right content at the right time
- Content generation: Best practices and winning prompts to help your team create compelling text and images faster — without the headaches.
- Crafting guidelines: Strategies for setting internal guidelines that minimize legal, copyright and IT risks.
Grab your lunch from the International Ballroom Foyer starting at 12:30 p.m. and bring it back to the International Ballroom for a lunch and learn session that begins at 1:05 p.m.
Sit back and prepare to take in a quick lightning session sure to prepare you for the Zoom screen or town hall podium. Though more than 70% of professionals consider presentation skills crucial for their success, communicators often prioritize training and preparing others over honing their own presentation style. This lightning session aims to change that by providing a cheat code to help you present like a pro. We’ll discuss:
- Easy fixes and pre-speech routines: Hacks others use to eliminate jitters and boost confidence.
- The five Ps of powerful presentations: How to harness planning, preparation, practice, performance and passion.
- Tech recs: Tools to draft presentations faster — and make them more memorable (including cool tools for pulling and even generating compelling visuals).
- Inspiring examples: How others are building deeper connections and trust by delivering compelling presentations.
Nothing strips the fear and uncertainty from crises like real-world examples of how others have successfully handled them. This tell-all panel provides an unvarnished look behind the scenes of some of the biggest crisis situations of the past year. Together, we’ll look at tried and true crisis comms responses and share crisis frameworks you can put in place to help your team speak to the most immediate needs of all your key stakeholders, no matter what bad news situations your organization may face in the months or years ahead. We’ll cover:
- Crisis case studies: Successful strategies that defused recent high-stakes situations and safeguarded employees (not to mention reputation).
- Crisis frameworks: Decision trees you can tailor to your organization, offering a crisis comms roadmap to leaders and managers alike.
- Pivot tables: “If this/then that” grids others have used to outline the optimal course of action through unexpected twists and turns—so you can do the same when bad news strikes.
- Messaging guidelines: Examples of robust hold statements, message maps and style directives to help your team set the right tone for leaders, spokespeople and first responders.
- Crisis team breakdowns: Who to activate on your org chart in a crisis response—based on what worked and what didn’t for others.
In October 2023, BradyIFS and Envoy Solutions — two leading providers of supplies and solutions for the JanSan, Foodservice and Packaging industries — merged. With over 6,000 associates to consider, employee communication and culture was an essential part of the deal, yet internal comms lacked a seat at the decision-making table, feedback loops were yet to be established and partnerships would need to be forged with counterparts in the merged organization.
Join Michelle Press, Director of Corporate Communications at the newly rebranded BradyPLUS to learn how this vastly experienced communicator created a winning playbook of comms and culture initiatives focused on getting employees excited and aligned.
Press will give insight into:
- Communicating stability when your organization has grown by 200% in two years.
- How to manage and communicate change in a way that resonates.
- Building a new internal culture that honors the past and forges a path to the future.
- Choosing technology and channels that cut through the noise.
- The Dos and Don’ts of merger and acquisition comms planning.
Today's workforce is facing waves of disruption—and your #1 asset is increasingly concerned about everything from return to office initiatives to safety at the workplace. But outside pressures can also adversely affect employees. This session outlines how to talk to and engage employees when the external world impacts your internal comms — whether those outside forces are political and social issues ranging from DE&I and women’s reproductive rights clawbacks to social justice, labor issues or beyond. In this panel, you'll hear:
- What’s new: Top issues facing the workplace in an election year—and how to prepare.
- The roadmap: How other internal comms teams are successfully managing potentially divisive issues with new initiatives and aligned messaging.
- Building bridges: How clawbacks, conflict and controversy and present a surprising opportunity for internal comms to foster solidarity while supporting employee voices.
- ERGs and employee engagement: How ERGs can address employee concerns, keep them informed and maintain a positive environment during workplace issues.
- Adaptable plans: Best practices for creating more flexible internal comms plans that can adjust to the ever-changing labor landscape—including how to better tap into ERGs, legal and HR without stripping your comms of authenticity and empathy.
In the whirlwind of corporate reorganizations and restructuring, maintaining an engaged and high-performing workforce requires a steady hand at the wheel. Successful change comms hinge on a collaborative, cross functional approach, weaving a smart change narrative that not only steadies internal compasses but also crafts the external perception of the transition. Learn how to steer your organization through seas of change, fostering an environment of understanding, resilience and unified vision.
- Framework formation: Learn how to synchronize your efforts with leadership, department heads, managers, HR, ERGs, and even legal, before making waves with PR and marketing.
- Mastering messaging: How to chart the course for crafting clear, concise change messaging that delivers a storytelling narrative that bridges the gap between informing and inspiring.
- Cultural currents: Explore the depths of your organization's culture and learn to power your communications with empathy, ensuring your messaging resonates with your organization.
- Ally armada: Learn tactics to transform your employees, customers, and partners into a fleet of change ambassadors, championing your cause.
- Digital dynamics: Focus on leveraging digital communications channels, from intranets to email newsletters and town halls, to make sure your message arrives at every workspace.
- Feedback flotilla: Establish robust channels for feedback, including employee surveys and focus groups, to deliver insights that help navigate the course of change.
Town halls are a critical tool for communicating organizational change in today’s hybrid, remote or in-office workplaces. But they can become uninspiring “check the box” exercises — especially when the news is disruptive. Join this interactive session to dive into the art of crafting more compelling town halls designed to calm, inform and even inspire worried employees. Together, we’ll critique two lackluster town hall scripts, one announcing a reorg and layoffs, and the other addressing a sensitive topic such as an international conflict. Then, we’ll break into workshop groups to elevate it based on a set of facts and organizational goals. We’ll cover:
- Reorg essentials: Key elements to include in reorg announcements — from state of the company financials to talking points putting employees first.
- Prioritizing transparency: How to infuse transparency into your all-hands meetings, fostering trust among employees navigating remote work challenges.
- Capturing attention: Methods to grab and maintain employees' attention in a virtual environment saturated with distractions, ensuring your messages resonate.
- Infusing culture: Strategies to ensure your culture and values shine through during virtual town halls — no matter the subject matter.
- Flipping the script: Ideas for turning challenging times and difficult news into opportunities for organizational growth and employee empowerment.
- Channels and tech: Helpful guidelines from your peers — including frequency, tech recs and smarter ways to drive attendance and engagement.
In this 5-minute lightning talk, you’ll walk away with some suggestions and strategies for successful networking. Leave prepared and empowered to create meaningful connections at the evening’s gathering.
Mastering digital collaboration is crucial for organizational success in today's dynamic workplace. This session equips professionals with practical insights and strategies for navigating the complexities of the digital age. Whether experienced with collaboration tools or new to digital transformation, attendees will gain the knowledge and skills needed to foster a collaborative and inclusive workplace culture, leveraging technology for enhanced productivity, innovation and employee satisfaction.
Attendees will learn how to:
- Navigate the digital collaboration landscape and choose the right tools for your organization.
- Foster a collaborative culture through leadership, open communication and inclusivity.
- Overcome challenges associated with digital collaboration, from resistance to change to security concerns.
- Measure success using key performance indicators and learn from real-world case studies and best practices.
Crafting video content, webinars, and townhalls that are engaging, informative and memorable requires careful preparation and strategy. Join Andy Choi, Head of Communications at Verizon, as he shares how he adopted techniques learned during his award-winning journalism experience as a morning news anchor into the corporate sphere.
In this fireside, Choi will share his approach to writing, producing and hosting webcasts for more than 120,000 Verizon employees worldwide. You’ll learn how he prepares execs for the podium, fosters collaboration with C-suite, and importantly: how to build those culture-defining moments that keep audiences engaged and enraptured.
As offices shift from working from home to hybrid and fully in office, communicators are relied on to deliver meaningful, strategic communications that excite employees while informing them. An effective return-to-office (RTO) strategy is not just about logistics; it's about meaningful, strategic communications that align with your Employee Value Proposition (EVP). In this case study, you’ll learn how one company successfully messaged a RTO plan, including the critical role of communication methods, messaging from the C-suite, and the company’s EVP. You’ll learn:
- EVP alignment in RTO: How to ensure your RTO strategy effectively conveys the logistics of the RTO, reinforces the benefits and highlights the advantages of the office — all while keeping employees informed and engaged.
- C-Suite messaging: Techniques for crafting impactful RTO messages from the C-suite, ensuring leadership communication is clear, inspiring, and aligned with company values.
- Optimizing communications channels: How to tailor communications for all your platforms, including town halls for interactive discussions, intranets for centralized information and updates, and video calls for team-level comms.
- Feedback loops and dialogue channels: Creating platforms for two-way communication, allowing employees to voice concerns and provide feedback — and how to use feedback to continuously refine communication strategies and the RTO plan.
- Success metrics: Implementing methods to measure the impact of communication strategies on RTO success, employee engagement, and satisfaction.
- Sustaining engagement post-RTO: Strategies to maintain high levels of engagement and morale once the return to office is complete, ensuring the long-term wellness of your organization.
Building a thriving online internal community requires careful planning, active management and continuous engagement. When done well, they can be platforms for open communication, breaking down silos and enabling cross-departmental collaboration and knowledge sharing. Attendees will understand the benefits of using an internal social network, the importance of measurement and how to interpret the data to understand their enterprise social network's maturity and how to progress to the next stage in the maturity model, moving from platform adoption to true innovation.
You’ll leave this session armed with:
- A clear understanding of how to engage colleagues.
- Actionable insights to confidently create a thriving community in an enterprise social network.
- How to successfully measure your digital internal communication channels.
- How to document intentions and set KPIs.
Demonstrating value starts with a deep business understanding. Knowledge of your company’s top revenue streams, competitive threats and EBITDA will help you show up consistently, build relationships with senior leadership and demonstrate how strategic communication adds value to your company. Join this session prepared to shift your mindset and discuss:
- How to build your business and industry knowledge.
- What your clients (senior leaders) expect from communications.
- Strategic vs. tactical client relationships.
- How to connect your business knowledge to your communications planning.
- Proactive and powerful client consultation.
Intranets have often been overlooked or underutilized, trapped in a costly cycle of humdrum updates that are difficult to integrate into your existing tech stack — but this need not be the norm. Join us to explore how you can transform your employee comms channels into engaging, dynamic hubs without the hefty price tag. We’ll cover:
- Redesigning for impact: Budget friendly strategies to enhance user experience through powerful-yet-simple redesign principles.
- Voice, vision, values: How to center your digital workspace content around your mission so it’s more shareable on platforms like SharePoint and Yammer.
- People-first: Smart, low-cost ways to elevate your intranet content beyond transactions with short videos, authentic stories and engaging AMAs.
- Data meets dialogue: How to harness data to create a more responsive digital environment via surveys and other feedback channels.
- Tech stack use cases: How others are making the most out of Microsoft Office, Meta’s Workplace, Google Workspace and more.
Remote and deskless employees are the new norm — and surprisingly, emails and newsletters are becoming more than a traditional standby for reaching today’s hybrid workforce. They’re enjoying a renaissance — and are playing a resurgent role in fostering connectivity and disseminating information alongside tools like Slack, Teams, intranets and more. Join this session to see how these platforms are serving as lifelines and bridging gaps for every employee, regardless of location or work setup. You’ll learn:
- Email innovations: The latest advancements in email technology, including AI-driven personalization, predictive content suggestions and interactive elements.
- Newsletters revolutionized: Breakthroughs in email design and content structure for internal comms—from more visually appealing layouts to multimedia features.
- Mix, match and integrate: How to integrate email and newsletters with digital apps and platforms like Slack and Teams to enhance real-time comms for hybrid teams.
- Exemplary emails and newsletters: Creative ideas you can borrow — from attention-grabbing subject lines and compelling CTAs to employee spotlights, interactive quizzes, behind-the-scenes glimpses, embedded video and more.
- Metrics and optimization: KPIs for emails and newsletters — and how to measure engagement, analyze feedback and drive improvements based on the data you pull.
Empathy, inclusivity and a strong sense of purpose are instrumental in building cohesive teams that are deeply connected to the brand’s mission. These foundational principles guide Kate Barton, Chief Growth Officer at The Honest Company, as she helps build a team dynamic that reinforces a positive, inclusive culture.
In this fireside, Barton will share her strategies for strengthening internal communications and fostering a culture that champions team building. With a career spanning high-impact roles at Magnolia, Estee Lauder’s Aveda, Johnson & Johnson, and General Mills, Barton has consistently leveraged her expertise to nurture environments where creativity and collaboration flourish.
This conversation will explore Barton's perspective on the role of communications in unlocking the full potential of teams, driving brand growth, and navigating change and uncertainty. Attendees will learn about the communication strategies Barton employs to ensure alignment across diverse teams, her approach to problem-solving within a rapidly growing organization, and how she cultivates a workplace where every team member is empowered to contribute to the company's success.
Join us to celebrate the honorees of Ragan’s Employee Communications Awards and Ragan's Top Places to Work in Communications Awards during this special luncheon. Separate ticket required.
In the wake of the pandemic, communicators have evolved from being just a messenger to a pivotal strategic advisor. However, securing and maintaining this influential position requires more than just being heard; it demands demonstrating undeniable value to the organization. Many high-profile comms initiatives such as DE&I, ESG and even wellness programs have been dialed back. In this panel, we’ll discuss how you can attain — and maintain — a secure seat by providing strategic value at the highest level while helping your organization respond to public issues, employee priorities and business imperatives that matter. You’ll learn:
- Strategic thinking: Transition from being a mere conveyor of messages to an advisor who shapes them by aligning your communication strategies with the organization's goals – and learn how to craft DE&I messages that resonate with both leadership and the broader employee base.
- Business fluency: The concepts and tools you need to understand, analyze and act on financial statements – plus how this knowledge can guide your communication strategies, and how to develop and manage your own budget.
- Metrics and dashboards: How to quantify and showcase the impact of internal comms programs using engagement, retention, reputation and financial KPIs.
- Safeguarding culture: Learn to embed quantifiable DE&I and ESG results into business reporting, annual reports and internal comms – plus case study examples of how companies like Coca-Cola have integrated the impact of their sustainability initiatives on their bottom line.
- Issues management: How and when to advocate and communicate purpose-driven initiatives that matter most to employees — even amid political and online blowback.
- Winning ways: How other comms departments are elevating their stature — and budgets — amid rollbacks and cuts.
Protecting your company culture in a remote work environment poses new challenges to employers of all sizes and industries. Join us as we discuss these challenges faced by HealthEquity, how they overcame them and transformed their culture. Learn how HealthEquity’s people and culture team creates engaging content and communications to keep their employees connected, informed and engaged.
In this session, you'll:
- Discover what business indicators show that your employees might be disengaged.
- Learn the value of open communications and how recognition upholds your culture.
- Gain insight into impactful people experience programs and campaigns that take employee engagement to the next level.
- Understand how to foster a culture of transparency across all levels of your organization.
Nearly 90% of execs say thought leadership significantly shapes opinions of an organization — and that’s a huge opportunity for communicators in times of change. Learn how to craft clear, straightforward and transparent thought leadership content and strategies that rings as a voice of reason in the most challenging moments, including periods of restructuring, return-to-office implementation and even acquisitions. You’ll learn:
- Speaking up: How leaders can connect purpose and values to words and action in everyday business and during crises using consistent approaches and clear language.
- Training experts: Coaching leaders on when they should comment and what they could say— to align with corporate values and ethical principles.
- Channels and implementation: Tips for leveraging town halls, blogs and even LinkedIn to showcase your exec’s voice, vision and thought leadership.
- Winning hearts and minds: Tying it all together with people-first thought leadership and communications in times of change.
In times when the world feels bitterly divided, employee resource groups offer a place for employees from under-represented backgrounds to come together — and foster a sense of belonging that can activate allies, drive business results and nurture a culture where employees choose to stay. In this session, we’ll look at how an interfaith ERG brought different cultures together to sow solidarity during a global conflict. In the second half, you’ll explore an interactive primer on how to get ERGs off the ground at your own organization. You’ll learn:
- Doing the work: An interactive approach to forming inclusive ERGS — from defining membership and recruiting members to empowering them so they’re self-sustaining.
- Safe spaces: Techniques for creating ERG environments that serve as safe spaces for the cohort while also making room for allies, especially during global conflicts and other contentious times.
- Sharing the story: Tips for sharing ERG initiatives and socializing the work through personal storytelling within your organization and broader community.
- Finding sponsors: Best practices for bridging the cultural gap between ERGs and execs — including methods for gaining leadership support for ERG initiatives.
- Measuring impact: How to track ERG engagement, diversity and inclusion progress and other ERG goals—and how to leverage KPIs to improve your ERGs.
Embark on a comprehensive exploration of the employee experience journey, a path paved with crucial touchpoints and opportunities for insightful feedback. This panel discussion sheds light on the importance of tracking and mapping employee sentiment and satisfaction and how it can shape effective engagement strategies. Navigate along the employee journey, learning how to emphasize personalized communications, including a case study on how one company pivoted to a nontraditional digital user experience model. You'll hear about:
- Anatomy of an employee journey: Dissect the key components of an employee journey, including critical phases and touchpoints such as onboarding, major announcements and company meetings. Learn how to identify and track the right employee sentiment metrics that will serve as key performance indicators (KPIs) for comms success.
- Crafting employee personas: Understand how unique employee personas can help tailor your communication strategies to meet diverse needs and perspectives.
- Messaging frameworks: What's working to boost inclusivity and engagement across the employee journey.
- Storytelling through metrics: Tips on weaving various KPIs into compelling narratives that reflect employee productivity, satisfaction, and retention, plus strategies for adjusting and fine-tuning your approach based on continuous feedback and measurement.
- AI augmentation: Explore how AI tools can enhance targeting and personalization in employee communications as well as help you interpret reports and data.
We receive a lot of information every day — both at work and in our personal lives. How do we ensure core company messages are not only getting seen through the noise — but that our audience is connecting? From company goals and values to critical changes, this session explores how storytelling can engage employees in creative, easy-to-follow ways which support your organization’s performance needs.
In this session, we’ll explore:
- Methods to weave a narrative across your communications, highlighting key details and action items along the way.
- How to use multiple channels to meet people where they are at.
- How this approach conveys empathy across changes and connects employees with leadership.
- How to track effectiveness through different KPIs.
In today's complex and divided world, striking the right balance between providing purposeful, meaningful work and ensuring a safe space for employees requires careful consideration. When external messaging or corporate decisions will affect employee safety, including positions of support or opposition to social justice movements, international conflicts, LGBTQ+ rights, public health stances or COVID-19 policies and more, communicators must leap into action. In this session, we’ll explore how Maslow's hierarchy of needs can be thoughtfully integrated into organizational culture, fostering an environment where employees feel both fulfilled by their work and secure in their workplace.
- Purpose-positive culture: Understand the critical role of purpose in fostering engagement and productivity, and how aligning individual goals with organizational objectives can create a more motivated and fulfilled workforce, leading to higher job satisfaction and better performance.
- Purpose-driven leadership: How leaders can act as role models and mentors, inspiring employees through their commitment to the company’s mission – and how comms professionals can amplify their vision, ensure consistent messaging across the organization, foster employee engagement and aligning with team objectives.
- Employee safety: How to prioritize workplace safety, using insights garnered from Target's 2023 PRIDE crisis, to learn effective crisis management while ensuring a secure and supportive environment for all employees, including retail and deskless workers.
- Crisis management and communications: How to craft effective communication strategies for handling incidents that may challenge your organization, and how to make sure you are prepared for potential retaliation from online or in-person mobs.
- Brand resilience: Strategies for building an employer brand that withstands societal pressures while staying true to their core values and purpose.
Employee ambassadorship has emerged as a vital aspect of organizational success. In this session, we'll explore how to foster a culture where every employee feels valued and empowered to become an ambassador for your organization. You’ll learn how to identify, nurture and support potential employee ambassadors who embody your values and vision — plus, how you can support them to amplify your culture internally and externally. Key takeaways will include:
- Ambassador Identification: Techniques for discovering potential employee ambassador candidates who exemplify your organization’s spirit, culture and values — and how to make sure your engagement strategies appeal to a wide array of backgrounds, diverse voices and experiences.
- Skill sharpening: The necessary training and development opportunities to offer to ensure your ambassadors are well-equipped and prepared to represent your organization — and how to work with them to craft a unified message that resonates with all employees.
- Role of the ambassador: Where you can have the ambassador speak to promote your EVP, including professional networks, LinkedIn, employee resource groups and others.
- Measuring impact: How to assess the effectiveness of your ambassadorship program in terms of employee engagement and brand perception.
- Real-life examples: Inspiring examples showcasing how employee ambassadors enhance brand and culture.
Though comms and legal are both working to safeguard an organization’s reputation and shield it from risk, it can feel as though legal processes, practices and approvals create unnecessary obstacles to your initiatives, programs and content cascade. Join this panel of seasoned legal experts, HR representatives and comms professionals in an open-floor, ask-us-anything format. We’ll touch on:
- Health and wellness: The latest considerations to keep employees physically and mentally healthy in the post-pandemic era—including how they impact your RTO comms.
- Social media compliance: How to draft social media policies and processes with HR and legal’s input to protect employee ambassadors and your brand from legal risks.
- AI governance: Where AI legislation stands now — and how to partner with your legal and HR teams to draft AI usage policies and protections.
- DE&I guidelines: How best to address legal risk around diversity issues with your lawyers, instead of tiptoeing around gathering employee data, quota issues and more, and how to talk about concerns when employees seek help.
- Path to partnership: How others are building alliances focused on problem-solving, partnership and prompt action (you’ll still hit your deadlines!).
Whether you are new to a comms role or looking to revamp internal communications at your organization, putting together a 30/60/90-day plan can help you structure your comms and set you up for success! It's an opportunity where you can be a bit high-level before diving into the day-to-day work. Join us as we chat through practical insights and actionable steps to take to transform your internal communications effectively within 90 days.
You’ll hear about ways to:
- Strategize and share your 30/60/90-day plan.
- Evaluate tools and processes.
- Audit and measure current internal communications.
- Engage stakeholders.
- Develop a comprehensive communications strategy.
- Little wins to identify along the way.
When your annual review arrives, it’s not enough to be armed with a list of your accomplishments. It’s also about presenting them strategically to plan for your career growth. Join this lightning session and learn the essential bragging skills to empower your professional journey. Practical insights include:
- Internal reviews that shine: Learn how to structure your self-evaluation effectively, quantify your achievements for maximum impact and aligning your performance with organizational goals and values.
- LinkedIn personal branding mastery: Build a compelling LinkedIn profile that captures your professional essence and learn the secrets of crafting an attention-grabbing headline and summary, powerful endorsements, and more.
- The art of humblebragging: There’s a fine line between self-promotion and humility; learn how to tastefully and effectively highlight your accomplishments in conversations and written communications.
Cultivating a culture of collaboration and real-time communication requires understanding where the needs of employees and the business intersect — easier said than done when attempting to engage deskless, remote and global workers. In this panel, a trio of employee communications leaders will share how they engage dispersed workforces across great distances by customizing their strategies and tech to recognize and enhance each group’s employee experience. We’ll discuss:
- Connectivity challenges: How to audit, assess and act on barriers to reaching employees with limited internet access, restricted email usage or who aren’t connected via mobile.
- Traditional + tech toolbox: Innovative ways to integrate flyers, posters, bulletin boards and digital signage with mobile apps, IM platforms and intranets to close comms gaps.
- Scheduling touchpoints: Engaging employees with town halls, weekly meetings and regularly scheduled check-ins to make sure information is being delivered.
- Training for managers: How to give managers and site leads the tools and skills they need to ID and re-engage employees who are culturally disconnected or unplugged.
- Communicating purpose: Strategies for educating dispersed employees on the importance of company-wide purpose commitments, including DE&I and ESG.
Culture exists wherever employees are, and in the age of digital connectivity, it lives in the emojis, reactions, and casual conversations on social media channels like Slack and Microsoft Teams. This session delves into the strategic use of these platforms, both as tools for internal communication and as windows into external perceptions of your organization. We'll explore the dynamics of creating and sustaining an employee culture that thrives both internally and externally — plus, how to effectively respond to employer feedback given on platforms like Glassdoor and Blind where direct communication might not be feasible. You'll learn:
- Maximizing Slack and Teams for engagement: Techniques for using chat-based collaboration tools to enhance internal communications, build a community and foster a collaborative culture.
- Channel dynamics: Understanding the role of channels in Slack and how to use them strategically to cater to diverse employee groups and interests.
- LinkedIn, Glassdoor and Blind: Navigating the unique challenges and opportunities presented by anonymous feedback platforms like Blind and Glassdoor and public-facing sites like LinkedIn. Plus: strategies for leveraging these platforms to reflect and enhance your organization’s internal culture.
- Responding to feedback: Best practices for responding to employer feedback, especially in scenarios where direct engagement is limited, and how to incorporate insights into your broader internal communication and HR strategies.
- Legal and ethical considerations: Understanding the legal and ethical boundaries in monitoring and responding to employee communications.
SPEAKERS
INTERESTED IN SPEAKING?
Please reach out to Director of Conferences
Alyssa Smith.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- Measure Trust and Impact: Learn the art of creating a communications measurement and evaluation strategy with advice from the brightest minds in Ragan’s network.
- Manager Comms that Work: Master strategies that pair with tech, tools and shortcuts to boost efficiency and reduce burnout.
- Conquering Change and Crisis Comms: Find out how to nurture an employee culture that adapts to change — and how to prepare for the unexpected.
- A Better Employee Experience: Craft wellness strategies that address mental health and engage a dispersed and diverse workforce.
- Create Strategic and Authentic Storytelling: Discover writing tactics for clear, concise, compelling and fun (!) content in your newsletters, on your intranet and on social.
- Mixternal Communications: Unlock the possibilities of internal and PR partnerships.
- Content Creation Strategy: Deliver more with less — without burning out or missing a deadline — by focusing on quality, marquis content.
- Build Your Purpose: Develop a DEI&B framework that illuminates your organization’s mission, culture and values
PRICING
Join us for the Employee Communications & Culture Conference:
| ADVANCED | EARLY BIRD | VIP | REGULAR RATE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference All-Access Passincludes the Pre-Conference Workshops | ||||
| Standard | $2,699 | $2,799 | $2,899 | $2,999 |
| Nonprofit/Gov | $2,599 | $2,699 | $2,799 | $2,899 |
| Ragan Insider | $2,549 | $2,649 | $2,749 | $2,849 |
| Conference Registration - Individual | ||||
| Standard | $2,299 | $2,399 | $2,499 | $2,599 |
| Nonprofit/Gov/Edu | $2,199 | $2,299 | $2,399 | $2,499 |
| Ragan Insider | $2,149 | $2,249 | $2,349 | $2,449 |
| Conference Recording On Demand | ||||
| $999 | $999 | $999 | $999 | |
Add to your Employee Communication & Culture Conference registration!
MANAGER COMMS
Certificate Course
Tuesday, April 16, from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
We’ve taken our popular virtual certificate course series and made it an in- person event where you’ll get real-time instructor feedback and the ability to share ideas with your peers. This four-hour interactive course will help you partner with HR and people managers to tailor communications to the needs of your workforce. You’ll leave this 4-hour course with a Manager Comms Certificate from Ragan. Add the Manager Comms Certificate Course to your registration for just $899.
For those who can’t attend the conference live, an on-demand option is available during the registration process.
Download this letter to convince your boss you should attend the Employee Communications & Culture Conference.
Group Discounts
Would you and your team like to attend? Group pricing is available when registering! Contact Shallon Blackburn for more information.
RAGAN COUNCIL MEMBER DISCOUNTS
Membership includes free registration passes. Contact Shallon Blackburn for more information on becoming a member.
RAGAN INSIDER DISCOUNTS
Insiders save on all Ragan events. Not a Ragan Insider? You can become one during registration for this event!
Fairmont Hotel
200 N Columbus Dr,
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 565-8000
EXTEND YOUR STAY IN CHICAGO AND EXPLORE ALL THAT THE WINDY CITY HAS TO OFFER:
- 70+ museums including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum
- 500+ monuments and memorials including the Millennium Monument and the Abraham Lincoln Monument
- 600+ parks including the famous Lincoln Park
- Grab a slice of the famous deep dish pizza or a Chicago-style hot dog at one of the 7,000+ restaurants
- How to Include AI and ChatGPT in Your Comms Strategy
- Guide to Building a Better Business Case For Internal Communications Software
- Tools to Boost the Employee Experience
- Guide to Change Communications During Mergers and Acquisitions
- Presentation Skills for a Hybrid World
SPONSORS & PARTNERS
Want to become a sponsor? Get in touch with our team to discuss sponsorship opportunities.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
You should attend if you spend at least a quarter of your time in any of these areas:
- Human Resources
- Employee Engagement
- Corporate Communication
- Employee Communications
- Internal Communications
- Executive Communications
- Culture
- Total Rewards
- Public Relations
- Change Management
- Employee Experience
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
GET RECOGNIZED!
Each registration comes with a personalized "Employee Communications & Culture Conference" Certificate of Completion for attending.
Lawrence Ragan Communications, Inc is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.
This program is valid for 18 PDCs.
WONDERING IF YOU SHOULD ATTEND?
Here’s what past attendees are saying about Ragan and PR Daily Events!
Great speakers and great ideas throughout the conference. From start to finish, the sessions were insightful and efficient - I have added a few tips and tricks to add to my communications toolbox!
Ragan is one of the legit conferences out there. You get your money's worth, and they really give you the best people in the industry. I would attend another Ragan conference in the future!
This event provided me with creative insights and a sense of kinship with the comms community. I return to work with new tools and a refreshed sense of purpose.
For communications professionals seeking tangible, actionable takeaways, Ragan events are the gold standard.
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