Stakeholder Engagement in a Changing World

9 & 10 November 2021 

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TUESDAY 9 NOVEMBER

Conference Chair: Naomi Jones, Chart.PR, FCIPR, Communications and Marketing Director, SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK     

9:00 – 9:20
Complexities of Stakeholder Management 
Speaker:
Ruth Shulver, Deputy Director of Media and Communication for the Metropolitan Police Service
 
The Metropolitan Police Service has recently announced an independent and far-reaching review into standards and culture.  “Compassionate, courageous, professional and always acting with integrity. This is the Met I want everyone to know. I ask you to judge us on how we turn our words into action.”  Commissioner Cressida Dick described this work as an important step in our journey to rebuild public trust.  Ruth Shulver will offer insight into the work of the communications team at the Metropolitan Police, the challenges and issues communicating with different stakeholders and her strategy for development in the future.

9:20 - 9:30
Live Q&A chaired by Naomi Jones, Chart.PR, FCIPR, Communications and Marketing Director, SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK 

9:30 – 9:50
Championing Workplace Equality

Speakers:
Iain Anderson, Chairman, Cicero Group
Rachael Clamp Chart.PR, FCIPR, Global Head of Marketing, PA Consulting Group

Iain talks to Rachael Clamp, Chair of the CIPR Public Affairs Group about his role as the UK Government’s first-ever LGBT champion, his ambition to drive forward workplace equality, create SME and large company mentoring schemes as well as his plans for the first international LGBT conference in 2022.

09:50 – 10:30 - BREAK

09:50 – 10:20

crisis comms simulation 'wargame'

Unlike anything you’ve ever experienced, Signal AI has created a crisis simulation that will keep you on your toes. When crisis strikes it is time for PR & Comms professionals to shine - but are you prepared to respond at a moment's notice? Join Anwer Ismail to navigate your way through a media crisis and find out if you have what it takes to survive. Leverage technology and media intelligence to gain actionable insights – before it’s too late.

 

10:30 – 10:50
CRISIS 2022: MANAGING THE STAKEHOLDER ‘EXPECTATION TSUNAMI’

Speakers:
Chris Tucker MCIPR, Chair, CIPR Crisis Communications Network (Chair)
Rod Cartwright MCIPR, Chair, EACD Crisis & Risk Communication Expert Group
Charlotte West, Executive Director of Global Corporate Communications at Lenovo
Claire-Marie Mason MCIPR, Senior Media Engagement Manager, RNLI
 
If the world before 2019 felt crisis-heavy, the global pandemic has raised the risk stakes for professional communicators even higher. Organisations across the private, public and non-profit sectors are facing an Expectation Tsunami, accelerated by COVID-19 and spanning the entire stakeholder arena – from employees, investors and customers to communities, suppliers and partners.
 
Whether it is diversity & inclusion, mental health & wellbeing and hybrid working or corporate transparency, accountability and governance, the reputational risk environment for reputation managers and crisis communicators has become more complex than ever before.
 
With ESG giving a far harder edge and sharper focus to notions of corporate responsibility and purpose, this session will explore how professional communicators can navigate these fast-moving waters and manage the rising tide of stakeholder expectations.

10:50 - 11:00
 Live Q&A chaired by Naomi Jones, Chart.PR, FCIPR, Communications and Marketing Director, SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK 

11:00 – 11:20
REBUILDING TRUST IN TRAVEL

Speaker:
Jo Roberts, Communications Director, Heathrow

Stakeholder engagement is vast and as Heathrow, so badly hit by the pandemic pulls into recovery, even further pressure is on to communicate what recovery will look like from an operational, reputational and sustainable point of view. 

International travel was the first to be hit by the impacts of COVID and it will be the last to recover as pre crisis numbers are not set to make a return until 2026. But with every crisis comes opportunity and this for Heathrow, is ensuring every single person invested in the airport is aware of what its recovery looks like. A successful recovery will be reliant on world class stakeholder engagement, which the team has already been seen as best in class at PR Week’s 2019, in house team of the year awards. As the airport looks forward to its recovery, no stone can be left unturned when it comes to stakeholder engagement which will span from length and breadth of the country. Whether people know it, the health of UK plc is intrinsically linked to the UK’s only hub airport being open and sustainable. This session will set out the complexities of the challenge and focus for what rebuilding trust in travel will look like.   

11:20 - 11:30
Live Q&A chaired by Naomi Jones, Chart.PR, FCIPR, Communications and Marketing Director, SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK 

11:30 – 12:00 - BREAK 
    

12:00 – 12:20
WHY DO OUR MESSAGES NO LONGER RESONATE?

Speaker: 
Kelly Hunstone, CEO, Social Change 

People have changed. And our role as marketers and communicators need to change too if we want to be effective and impactful.

In this talk, Kelly will powerfully demonstrate how and why the ‘message-based approach’ so often used by communicators is out of date and ineffective. She will present you with a new model and approach which will challenge the way many people approach PR and communications. She will explain what you should be doing to ensure your message and mission resonates with your intended audience and delivers the results you are looking for, and she will be tapping into over two decades of experience in behaviour change and behavioural science, to introduce you to some key behavioural theories that communicators should be leveraging in their work. This will be a fascinating talk for people interested in how to use behavioural science to power change and effect. 
 
12:20 – 12:40
The role of transparency in building internal communities

Speakers:
Fiona Blair, Director of Marketing Community and Engagement, University of Reading
Victoria Pearson MCIPR, Head of Corporate Communications, University of Reading

For strategy and communications to be authentic, they need to speak to your internal audiences.  This places a premium on a transparent and open strategy and brand building process, that harnesses a wide range of views.  Fiona and Vicky will talk about how transparency has played a central role in developing the University of Reading Strategic Plan and how it has been critical to leading the internal community through the challenges facing the higher education sector and the turbulence of COVID-19. 

12:40 – 13:00 
Live Q&A chaired by Naomi Jones, Chart.PR, FCIPR, Communications and Marketing Director, SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK

13:00 – 14:00 - LUNCH BREAK 

 14:00 – 14:40
discussing stakeholder engagement with dex hunter-torricke; facebook's oversight board

Speakers:
Dex Hunter-Torricke, Head of Communications, Facebook Oversight Board
Georgie Weedon, Head of Communications, Signal AI

Headline conference sponsor Signal AI will host a fireside chat with the Head of Communications at Meta’s Oversight Board, Dex Hunter-Torricke. The Oversight Board was created to help Meta (formerly Facebook) answer some of the most difficult questions around freedom of expression online: what to take down, what to leave up and why? Following the theme of ‘Stakeholder Engagement in a Changing World’, Georgie Weedon, Head of Communications at Signal AI will discuss with Dex how the role of PR leaders has evolved over the past 18 months, how it might change going forward, and how to communicate effectively with various stakeholder groups.
 
14:40 – 15:20 - BREAK 
  

15:20 – 15:40
FROM NUMBER 10 TO ‘NUMBER 10’

Speaker:  Rachel Lawrence, Community Engagement Manager, SSE Renewables

Rachel will discuss the challenges of communicating with a wide range of stakeholders for the world’s largest offshore wind farm from Mrs Jones at number 10 who’s having cables installed in her back yard, to Number 10 Downing Street. She will reveal how they are working with their supply chain to shine a light on the construction process and challenge some of the myths surrounding renewable energy assets, as well as providing insights into how PR practitioners can prepare for delivering competent and confident communications to engage and influence stakeholders, as further commitments are made to accelerate the energy transition.
 
15:40 – 16:00
ALIGNING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE - PANEL DISCUSSION 

Speakers:
Anthony Bullick Chart.PR, MCIPR, Managing Director, Outwrite PR (Chair)
Aaron Uddin, Managing Partner, Transformation & Engagement, ERM
Rachel Lawrence, Community Engagement Manager, SSE Renewables
Sarah Binnie, Head of Climate Change, Public Policy, NatWest

The panel will discuss aligning with climate change and engaging with key stakeholders in times of change. Exploring how large institutions are working collaboratively through sustainable projects to have a positive environmental impact in the UK and globally, building public trust and raising awareness.

16:00 – 16:20
Live Q&A chaired by Naomi Jones, Chart.PR, FCIPR, Communications and Marketing Director, SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK

16:30
Formal conference programme closes.  Delegates can continue to enjoy the conference 3D environment and network until 17:30.

Wednesday 10 November

Conference Chair: Jo Field Chart.PR, FCIPR, Founder and Chief Executive JFG Communications  

09:00 – 09:20

WHEN IT GOES RIGHT. WHEN IT GOES WRONG. WHEN IT COMES HOME.

Speaker:
Baroness Blackwood

In this session, Nicola will be speaking about the communication of the COVID vaccine over the past year, including AstraZeneca and the issue about vaccinating 12-15 year old’s. She will detail what happened, what lessons we can take from this and how to move forward. She will also give her reflections of the challenge of communications and how demanding this has been in her situation.
 
09:20 – 09:40
Responding to the Pandemic
Speaker:
James Lyons, Communications Director, NHS England and NHS Improvement

As medicine advances, health needs change and society develops: the NHS has to continually moved forward.  James will discuss the impact and challenges around communicating the COVID vaccination rollout, the biggest and fastest in NHS history.  The project continues to evolve and accelerate and has to date ensured 38 million people across England have had both doses of the jab.

09:40 – 10:00
Live Q&A chaired by Jo Field Chart.PR, FCIPR, Founder and Chief Executive JFG Communications

10:00 – 10:30 - BREAK

10:30 – 11:00

MARKETING DURING CRISES AND IN THE AGE OF CGI INFLUENCERS

Speakers: 
Dr Francesca Sobande, Lecturer in Digital Media Studies and Director of the BA Media, Journalism and Culture Programme, Cardiff University 
John Foley, Integrated Account Director, Isobar

In this interview-based session, Francesca will speak about marketing during the pandemic and will reflect on what brands have done with their stakeholders (both good and bad). She will explain the pitfalls that brands make when responding to times of crisis and will consider how to avoid such approaches. Francesca will also speak about social justice issues and the various ways that brands have attempted to respond to them. As part of such discussion, she will talk about the rise of computer-generated imagery (CGI) influencers, as well as related media and digital changes that have occurred. 

11:00 – 11:30
CORPORATE DIGITAL RESPONSIBILITY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW RIGHT NOW 
Speakers:
Iain Atich, Associate, Allegory Communications (Chair)
Anne Gregory PhD, Hon FCIPR, Professor Emeritus in Corporate Communication, University of Huddersfield
Charlotte McLeod MCIPR, CEO, Allegory Communications
Rob Price, Director, Alchemmy

Allegory, award-winning PR and Communications agency and specialists in Data and AI, Science, Innovation and Research, Government, Policy and Society published a paper on Corporate Digital Responsibility in July 2021. It sets out the urgent need for organisations to act on issues related to both the impact of digital technologies and data and the innovative use of the same to solve major challenges facing society such as privacy, fake news, climate change, access for all etc. Corporate Digital Responsibility  (CDR) provides a framework to support leaders approach challenges such as reputational damage, or beyond net-zero with effective planning and communication, supporting impactful transformation programmes.
 
The panel will be looking at:
Current digital challenges and opportunities with a focus on data in areas such as business and innovation, health and research, environment and society
How to prepare – what communications teams and executives need to do right now, and how to ensure you increase trust in your organisation both externally and internally
 
11:30 – 12:00 - BREAK
   


12:00 – 12:20
The demise of ‘command and control’

Speaker:
Tessa Murray, Director of Communications & Employee Voice Lead, Tortoise Media

In this session Tessa will look at the demise of the old “command and control” communications approaches, how the power to communicate has been devolved to every person in an organisation, how silos are being torn down and how failing to listen to these voices runs very real risks. She will also look at our relationship with the media and how the old model is failing and why at Tortoise Media they have built a new model, attracted new audiences and re-introduced the art of conversation.

12:20 – 12:40
MODELLING AGENCIES: THE BUSINESS OF PR AGENCIES IN THE NEW WORLD
Speaker:
Farzana Baduel, CEO, Curzon PR

Remote working has changed the way PR firms communicate with employees. But it has also changed the way they interact with current and potential clients. Social media, website content, and podcasts have become a far more important way of appealing to possible clients.  A PR firm’s analytics and case studies showing previous success have taken on much greater importance. Before, many PR leaders would have relied more on personal interaction and charm to secure or demonstrate how well they are performing to current or potential clients.
 
12:40 – 13:00
Live Q&A chaired by Jo Field Chart.PR, FCIPR, Founder and Chief Executive JFG Communications

13:00 – 14:00 - LUNCH BREAK 

13.15 - 13.45

DIGITISATION in pr agencies workshop 

Speaker:
Angus Hay, Managing Director, JournoLink 
 
The workshop will look at how digitisation is influencing the development of solutions for PR Professionals looking to optimise their time efficiency and at the same time reduce the costs of delivery to clients. Based on feedback from freelancers, and agencies, Angus Hay, MD of online PR Platform JournoLink, will address the key challenges faced by PR's and how using SaaS models can resolve them. Attendees will learn how to improve efficiency by 20% and reduce costs by 30%.
   

14:00 – 14:45

STAKEHOLDER MEASUREMENT: THE KEY TO MANAGING BRAND REPUTATION

Speakers:
Anna Salter, Evaluation Director, Kantar
Raj Kumar, Group Brand and Reputation Director, Aviva Plc

Brand reputation is an increasingly critical measure for the C-suite in planning and forecasting business growth. But understanding and managing it often falls short of the mark.
 
In this session, we explore the drivers of reputation, the key stakeholders in that reputation, and the tangible insights communications leaders need to inform business planning. Bringing this to life, we’ll be joined by Raj Kumar from Aviva who will provide a perspective on how reputation is a critical factor in driving business success at Aviva.
 
14:45 – 15:15 - BREAK
 

15:15 – 15:35

IS THE EU STILL A STAKEHOLDER IN THE UK?  

OR... IS THE UK STILL A STAKEHOLDER IN THE EU? 
Speakers:
Angele Guiliano, CEO and Managing Director, AcrossLimits
Jacqueline Purcell Chart.PR, FCIPR, CEO and Co-Founder, Jasper Alliance London  

In this session Angele talks to Jacqueline Purcell about the complexities of stakeholder engagement in an international setting, using the EU and the UK as a case study.  Angele will demonstrate that the EU is not ‘one box’ revealing how, in a post-Brexit environment, you can take these complexities, make them simple. Angele will be challenged as she seeks to explain that the door is open to engage successfully with European and other international stakeholders to develop relationships and projects.

15:35 - 15:45
 Live Q&A chaired by Jo Field Chart.PR, FCIPR, Founder and Chief Executive JFG Communications

15:45 – 16:05
MANAGING COMPLEXITY: THE FUTURE OF GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS
Speaker:  Simon Baugh, Chief Executive, Government Communication Services

Simon will talk about his new role; the role of communications and how the government approaches it, sharing his vision for the future and addressing some of the issues raised over the last 12 months; the large number of stakeholders involved and the complexities and challenges in getting different government departments working together when they may have competing priorities.

16:05 - 16:15
Live Q&A chaired by Jo Field Chart.PR, FCIPR, Founder and Chief Executive JFG Communications

16:30
Formal conference programme closes.  Delegates can continue to enjoy the conference 3D environment and network until 17:30.  

Click to book your conference pass