Agenda and Speakers

This opening discussion will get you thinking about social media and how it is applied in your organization. It will expand your horizons as you share thoughts and impressions with your fellow delegates.

The chair will also introduce a number of social media dilemmas that shed light on the opportunities and risks of this new technology.

In this opening session, James Norrie will offer a whirlwind tour of the growth and latest developments in social media. He will challenge you to think creatively about your own use of social media and offer some signposts that will help you navigate this rapidly expanding and complex field.

James will specifically address how HR can begin to practice leadership in this area-a theme that will be taken up and demonstrated by the subsequent speakers.

For many HR organizations recruitment is the first application of social media to bear tangible fruit. But if there is one lesson from deployment it is that you can't simply "do" social media and sit back. As new tools become available and more and more organizations use social media you have to move fast just to stand still.

Our panellists will discuss their experiences in this field and share how their organizations have built agility into their social media recruitment DNA.

TD Bank Group is the 6th largest bank in North America with 85,000 employees globally. Being able to connect people and allow its growing team to collaborate further is more critical than ever.

Join Wendy Arnott as she discusses TD's social journey and how it uses social media to engage customers and employees. She will also outline three key imperatives for social media in driving and sustaining employee engagement within a large organization.

As head of the bank's Social Media and Digital Communications function, Wendy will share her perspectives and provide some practical tips on how to drive engagement based on her social media experience at TD.

A passionate advocate for the power of social media, Denise Amyot argues that HR should take the lead. Through discussion of how her organization has embraced Twitter, Denise will share her own learning curve with new media and suggest ways that HR executives can embrace this new technology and demonstrate leadership to the whole organization.

For Via Rail, social media has been a vital tool for cultural transformation. In this session, Yves Desjardins-Siciliano will discuss this transformation, the role of social media, and its impact both inside and outside the organization.

Learn how taking a strategic communications approach to social media can help you achieve the results you want to achieve. Discussion will include the pros and cons of available social media applications, and how to apply the lessons you've learned in conventional media, and how to succeed in an environment full of new opportunities and unique challenges and risks.

Yves will describe his experience developing a transformation strategy for Via Rail. This success story holds many lessons for organizations seeking to make an impact through social media.

Issues covered will include:

• training employees on social media use
• designing and implementing a governance structure
• measuring results
• learning to engage stakeholders at social media speed

In this closing interactive session, James Norrie will focus on the steps you can take right now to either get into the social media game or stay ahead—because if you think things have been changing pretty dramatically up 'til now, well you ain't seen nothing yet!

So come ready to raise your toughest questions and major obstacles as James leads the group in a broad discussion that will seek to translate some of what you have heard into concrete actions you can take to accelerate your adoption of social media. And of course, to ensure you're not just moving faster into the future—you're headed to the future you choose, with the help of social media.