ExecCommsNEXT

The Executive Communication Council Presents

A Week of Professional Development and Mentorship for Leadership Communicators Determined to Meet this Moment

Jan. 26, 27, 28

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Yes, leaders need their exec comms folks more than ever. But they need them to be more than ever, too.

And like leaders who are unable to adapt to a pandemic-stricken, social-justice driven, division-riven America, communicators who don’t get up to speed will soon find themselves out in the cold.

As research exclusively available to conference participants will quantify, executive communication is a dramatically reinvented role requiring a new mindset, new means of communication, skills in new media—and new mentors, even for experienced exec comms pros.

This week is for speechwriters to become strategic executive communicators—and for executive communicators to become invaluable to their organizations at the most crucial moment in their careers.

Register now.

AGENDA

(all times are Eastern Standard Time)

A New Mindset (Tuesday, 12:00-2:00 ET)

ExecCommsNOW—Snapshot, 2021 . With Executive Communication Council executive director David Murray you’ll discuss the results of original ECC research available exclusively to participants in this conference. You’ll know what your peers are saying about the state and future of their exec comms, and where you stand in comparison.
Our Stakeholders, Our Society: The Highest Purpose of Leadership Communication Now. A keynote conversation with Bob Feldman, founder of The Dialogue Project, a high-profile, CEO-supported global study of how business can “improve civil discourse and reduce polarization in our society”—and how exec comms folks can and must lead this charge.
Internal Communication—From the Bane of Our Existence to Our Raison D’Etre. Exec comms folks have traditionally eschewed internal comms projects in favor of more impactful public facing communications. Then came 2020, and a forced internal focus. Executive Communication Council Member Advisor Sharon McIntosh will teach you how to use internal exec comms to begin to turn all eyes outward, again.

New Means (Wednesday, 12:00-2:00 ET)

The Gnarliest Problem: How Should You Structure Your Exec Comms Function Now? As exec comms changes to meet urgent new leadership mandates, almost every exec comms director is either restructuring the function, or thinking about it. In her 30-year executive communication career, former Cisco exec comms chief and deeply trusted exec comms consultant Maureen Kasper has overseen every conceivable structure—and restructuring—and she’s here to help you sort through the possibilities and find the right answer for your organization, for your leaders, for right now.
The Social Executive Communicator. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is one of the very few widely beloved and respected and effective national leaders in the world today. How does she do it? Not, primarily, through statements and speeches, but by bringing the public along on her leadership journey, every intimate step of the way! Executive Communication Council executive director David Murray shows how Ardern does it—and how you can help your leader use the very same techniques.
StorytellingNEXT. Story is still the most powerful leadership communication tool we have. But is there still space for stories, in a world in of seeming constant crisis, Zoom weariness and leadership impatience? More space than ever—but stories must be told in a different, even more deliberate way, says Eric Schnure, storytelling advisor to some of the leading CEOs and political leaders of our time. He’ll explain, and give you the new tools you need.

New Media, New Messaging (Thursday, 12:00-2:00 ET)

How to Beat Zoom Fatigue and Make Virtual Presentations Valuable. When workplace communications shifted from real to virtual platforms, many leaders didn’t adapt their approaches effectively. Because a room is not a Zoom, communicators need to adopt new mindsets and tactics to maximize the new medium. Master communicator Joel Schwartzberg will show you how to help your leaders sharpen their points, enhance their presence and increase their impact from the other side of the screen.
Vital Writing for Virtual Leadership Communication. Mastering the onscreen medium is important, but it’s table stakes. Messaging for the new medium is what you’re paid to do. In one of the most popular presentations the PSA has ever staged, presentation guru Tim Pollard will teach you a new structure, style and vocabulary that will glue your speaker’s listeners to their screens, and inspire them to take action.

New Mentors (Thursday, 2:15-3:30 ET)

Stop Settling—and Start Owning Your Own Career Story. “I just sort of… fell into it.” It’s the answer just about every speechwriter gives when asked how they got into the business. But is that mentality holding you back from making big moves? In this session, soaring Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco speechwriter Justine Adelizzi talks about why she decided to walk away from her first real gig, what she learned from a year-long, nationwide job search, and how you too can start owning your story and do the best work of your career.
Office Hours with the Executive Communication Council. Legendary former UPS exec comms chief and Executive Communication Council Member Coach Dean Foust will lead a freewheeling session where several founding members of the ECC offer their best professional advice and answer your most pressing questions.

SPEAKERS

Justine Adelizzi

Justine Adelizzi is the Executive Communications Manager at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, where she advises the CEO and oversees speechwriting and other thought leadership initiatives. She previously served as a speechwriter for senior leaders at the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Dean Foust

Dean Foust is founder of Inspirent LLC, a leadership communications consultancy based in Atlanta. After a 22-year career at BusinessWeek, Foust built one of the most innovative executive communication operations in history, at UPS. He is a founding member of the Executive Communication Council.

Bob Feldman

Bob Feldman is founder of The Dialogue Project and vice chair of ICF Next, a global consulting firm and the project’s lead corporate sponsor. The Dialogue Project was founded in 2019 to explore the role of business in helping to reduce polarization and improve civil discourse around the world. The results of the study were announced in October 2020 and received widespread media attention.

Maureen Kasper

As a Principal at SolomonEdwards leading our communication services and delivery, Maureen Kasper is a principal at SolomonEdwards, where she draws on three decades of experience in executive and internal communications, much of it spent leading one of the most innovative and strategic executive comms functions in the world, at Cisco Systems.

Sharon McIntosh

Sharon McIntosh is Member Advisor for the Executive Communication Council. She founded And Then Communications, an executive communication and employee communication consultancy that draws on Sharon’s experience in top communications roles at Pepsico, Sears and Waste Management.

David Murray

David Murray is executive director of the Executive Communication Council and the Professional Speechwriters Association. He’s also editor and publisher of Vital Speeches of the Day magazine, and author of the forthcoming book, An Effort to Understand.

Tim Pollard

Tim Pollard is the founder and CEO of Oratium, the author of The Compelling Communicator: Mastering the Art and Science of Exceptional Presentation Design, and Mastering the Moment: Perfecting the Skills and Processes of Exceptional Presentation Delivery, and a regular columnist for Forbes, Entrepreneur, and other publications. Each year Tim and his team consult on the design and delivery of hundreds of critical messages in fields as varied as for-profit sales, non-profit donor messaging, and project proposals for corporate or government leaders.

Eric Schnure

Eric Schnure is an independent leadership communication strategist who served as Director of Executive Communications at GE and now helps high-profile leaders across sectors become more effective communicators. A sought-after humor writer in Washington, Schnure began his communications career in the White House in 1993 as a speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore. He teaches speechwriting at American University and Johns Hopkins University and conducts popular workshops all over the world. He is the co-author, along with Bob Lehrman, of The Political Speechwriter’s Companion, 2nd Ed. (SAGE, August 2019).

Joel Schwartzberg

Currently the Senior Director of Strategic and Executive Communications at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Joel Schwartzberg has been teaching live and virtual presentation techniques to clients including American Express, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Brennan Center for Justice, Comedy Central, the American Jewish Committee, and North Point Ministries since 2006. Joel’s award-winning book “Get to the Point! Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter” was released in 2017 and his articles on effective point-making have appeared in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Toastmaster Magazine, and The Huffington Post.