#betterconnected19

TransformBetterfor the

THE STUDIO, MANCHESTER OCTOBER 17TH 2019

What’s happening

Speakers 4 & 5

Timetable 6 & 7

Our supporters 8

All change!W

ELCO

ME

Engage, inform, connect... It’s a special year for the IoIC as we celebrate our 70th anniversary. When looking back at our history and purpose as a profession, it has been rooted in the role to inform, engage and connect an organisation. To celebrate our success and bring focus to our profession, we launched our #WeMatterAtWork movement, as we believe that employees deserve to feel that they matter, and that they are valued, and being kept informed authentically, truthfully and with respect. This has never been more vital as we look at how the world of work continues to evolve with change and transformation now part of the everyday for internal communicators, placing increased challenges to create connected and meaningful relationships for our people. So it’s great to see Better Connected focus on the theme of Transformation, with a fantastic line-up of speakers sharing their experiences and advice. As always, I look forward to a fantastic day, and spending time with our members and IC professionals in the North. Ensuring we continue to deliver excellent events and help build valuable networks across the UK is paramount to our work at IoIC. Jennifer Sproul, IoIC Chief Executive 2 3

#betterconnected19

Transform for the Better is our fourth Better Connected conference and, after last year’s standout conference in Sheffield, we’ve returned to the Northern Powerhouse that is Manchester for what promises to be another great event. As delegates know, Better Connected is open to all, welcoming communicators outside of our region to be part of something truly inspiring, educating and entertaining.

With yet another impressive line-up of speakers, we’ll explore our theme of change and transformation, and what could be more timely as our country goes through one of its most turbulent and transformative periods? Better Connected is a great opportunity for us to come together, hear from those at the sharp end of internal communications and employee experience, and share experiences and knowledge.

Things haven’t stood still in 2019 for IoIC North and internal communicators in our region. We continue to connect like-minded IC professionals and work hard to support and celebrate communication excellence here in the North. Exciting times lay ahead with a Newcastle and North East Hub, and a Liverpool and Merseyside Hub launching in November expanding our spread of free networking and support across the region. We continue to celebrate and recognise the talent in our region too. This year’s Central and North Awards, held at the Concorde Conference Centre at Manchester Airport, showcased the High Flyers of IC expertise from our regionand was judged the best yet.

Most of all, it’s about getting involved, so with your help we look forward to another fantastic Better Connected!

Andy Holt, IoIC Board and Regional Director, IoIC North

DAVID MANNING: BBC RADIODavid is an award-winning internal communicator who has spent the last 15 years leading employee engagement in large, complex B2B and B2C organisations in the private and public sector. His creative and inclusive approach, and strong commercial understanding, have helped to transform employee engagement and advocacy in organisations including Travis Perkins and Associated British Foods. As a leading member of the BBC Internal Comms team, David has successfully delivered employee engagement campaigns for a variety of business and content-led initiatives including Radio 1’s 50th birthday celebrations, BBC Music’s Biggest Weekend, the BBC Proms, the BBC Radio & Music Awards and the launch last November of BBC Sounds – the broadcaster’s new audio platform for radio, music and podcasts. David is now Head of Internal Communications and Employee Engagement for the BBC’s Design & Engineering division.

LAUREN MOTTRAM–HEATHCOTE: AUTO TRADER UKLauren has 10 years’ experience in all things people; starting her career in HR she transitioned into internal communications, holding roles with many brands. She has experienced complex markets and organisations with varying demographics including global audiences.

As Lauren has progressed through her career, she has led company-wide messaging, managed organisational change projects and experienced mergers and acquisitions where employee engagement has been key. She is part of the CIPD and CIPR, her twitter handle is @lauren_ic – drop her a message if you want to ask anything.

FUTURENET

Hear from IoIC North’s FutureNet team about how it provides a safe space for emerging IC talent to connect and learn from one another, increasing awareness of IC as a career of choice and championing the importance of a more diverse and inclusive profession for the future. The team will share their plans and a packed programme of exciting, upcoming events.

HELEN HASTED: DRAX GROUP PLC

Helen works for Drax Group plc, an energy company focussed on enabling a zero carbon, lower-cost energy future. With a strong background in corporate communications, Helen has more recently worked directly alongside Drax’s HR leadership team to develop and deliver its ‘creating a great place to work’ strategy, focussed on addressing all aspects of employee engagement to drive high performance and support the business in delivering its goals. Helen is also a certified and practising business coach, member of the IoIC North committee and IoIC Hub leader.

SARAH FORD: TRANSPENNINE EXPRESS

A senior leader with more than 17 years’ experience of providing strategic communications advice and formulating communications strategies for both public and private sector organisations. Sarah joined TransPennine Express in 2015 as Head of Communications, leading all internal and external communications for the fastest growing train company within the UK. Prior to this she worked for 13 years for Greater Manchester Police where she headed up the busy press office. Sarah is confident and successful in leading and managing award-winning teams, delivering communications to both internal and external audiences. She has extensive experience of change communications, developing and implementing comms strategies, brand integrity and reputation management on a day-to-day basis and also during times of crisis. A mother of two boys, and when she has the time a keen half-marathon runner.

RAJ MORJARIA: DIRECT LINE GROUP

Raj is passionate about unlocking the power of a business through its people by enabling great communications and engagement. As a business partner who’s worked at Executive Committee level, he champions simplicity and authenticity, and is a firm believer that effective internal communications creates business value. Over a 15-year career in communications in the UK and internationally, Raj has led teams tackling engagement campaigns and strategy launches, through to acquisitions, people change and everything in-between. Raj works for Direct Line Group, one of the UK’s leading motor, home and small business insurers, where he was formerly Head of Internal Communications and is currently Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Leadership Development.

RACHEL FRASER: MAG

Rachel Fraser is Head of Employee Experience at MAG, the UK’s largest airport provider. Rachel and her small but wonderful team look after communications and engagement across three UK Airports – Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands along with a growing international business. Over 60 million passengers use MAG’s airports every year, and the internal communications team support communications to colleagues in what can be a challenging but exciting working environment. Rachel has been at MAG for three years, working her way through a range of different operational and group roles. Her favourite part of the day is watching the A380 take off to Dubai. Rachel started off her career as a management consultant working for clients such as Burberry and Marks & Spencer before joining the BBC. While at the BBC, she worked in a range of communication roles for BBC Learning and, most recently, at BBC North, the BBC’s flagship new offices at MediaCityUK in Salford. Outside of work, Rachel can be found watching Manchester City Football Club and eating her way around Manchester’s latest restaurants.

SARAH CARR: AVIVA

I’m a geek. A geek with tattoos. I love data and measurement, and finding those nuggets that really help us understand the people we’re communicating to, and how best to reach them. I am always learning. I am always challenging (myself and others). And I am always trying to get creative in order to develop communications that stand out and do what we need.

I work in the global communications team at Aviva in a role dedicated to measurement and insight. It’s the perfect role for me. And I have a strong background in internal communications, having worked in the team here at Aviva for the past six years. Before that, I worked on the dark side in HR, leading a team providing specialist advice to our leaders. Now that really was an insight into our people.

Kimberley-Marie Sklinar

Amy Holmes Sarah Whitehouse

Your speakers

Better Connected 2019: Transform for the Better

4 5

15.45 Wrap up

16.00 Close

And then... Networking – join our speakers, guests and IoIC team for relaxing, post-event networking.

Better Connected 2019: Transform for the Better

6 7

“Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future,” said US President John F. Kennedy in 1963. For internal communicators, seeking to create meaningful communications and support their organisation and people through change, this still rings true. How can we, as IC professionals, help drive transformation, harness the talents, energy and advocacy of our colleagues to forge a bright future, one where people truly matter at work? These subjects are presented through a series of compelling case studies of current best practice from those who are helping shape the future of engagement.

Timetable for the day

TIME

TIME SPEAKER THEME OVERVIEW

09.30 - 10.00 Arrive, registration, tea/coffee•

10.00 - 10.15 Welcome and introductions • Andy Holt – introduction • Jennifer Sproul – welcome

10.15 - 10.30 Ice breaker

15.15 -15.45

14.00 - 14.30

13.30 - 14.00

11.45 - 12.15

12.15 - 12.30

11.00 - 11.30

10.30 - 10.55

14.30 - 15.00 Lauren Mottram-Heathcote

Internal Communications and Events Lead at Auto Trader UK

Sarah CarrGlobal Communications Insight Lead at Aviva

Raj Morjaria

Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Leadership Development atDirect Line Group

David Manning

Head of Internal Communications and Employee Engagementat BBC Radio

Kimberley-Marie Sklinar, Amy Holmesand Sarah Whitehouse– The FutureNetNorth Committee

An introduction toIoIC FutureNet

Rachel Fraser

Head of Employee Experience at MAG

Helen Hasted

Group Internal Communications Manager at Drax Group

Sarah FordHead of Communications atTransPennine Express

Great place to work as a driver for transformational change

Transforming the organisation, your function and your team

Transformation duringchallenging times

Using digital to drive change and connectcolleagues

Harnessing internal advocacy and energyto support innovation

Insight as the basis for a strong and strategic approach to communication

Back to basics – the building blocks ofgreat communication

Hear how Rachel and her team transformed IC at MAG, involving everything from the large to the small, becoming more self-sufficient and upskilling the team. Rachel will provide a compelling case study of practical steps to take when reviewing and transforming your IC team.

Sarah will discuss change comms. How to bring colleagues on board during times of mass change/disruption. keeping engagement and enthusiasm going, how to try new things and not be afraid to fail. Listening to feedback and acting upon it while working with external comms to ensure alignment and to maximise impact.

Lauren will provide a compelling case study on how Auto Trader UK is successfully using Slack to re-engage colleagues in actively communicating.

Sarah will share practical advice on acing your objectives by using insight to create your communications strategy and measuring impact by staying grounded in reality.

Against the backdrop of large-scale business transformation, Raj will talk about how focussing on the fundamentals of communications and engagement helped Direct Line Group catapult into third place on the The Sunday Times Best Big Companies To Work For list earlier this year.

David will talk about how the Internal Comms team energized colleagues and built internal advocacy for the launch last November of BBC Sounds, the broadcaster’s new audio platform for radio, music and podcasts, and how it continues to keep employees endorsing it a year after its launch.

The North team will provide an overview on FutureNet, how you can get involved and share their plans, and a packed programme of exciting, upcoming events.

Helen will talk about how, during a period of rapid transformation that has changed Drax’s leadership team, strategy and purpose, they continue to adjust and implement creating a great place to work, by focussing on their engagement plans and putting colleague feedback first.

LUNCH

BREAK

•Please note speaker running orders may change on the day.

12.30 - 13.30

11.30 - 11.45

15.00 - 15.15

TIME SPEAKER THEME OVERVIEW

BREAK

#betterconnected19

Thanks to our supporters...

About the IoICThe Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) supports internal communication practitioners in their careers, promotes high professional standards within the sector and raises awareness of the value of internal communication. It is the only professional – and independent – institute in the UK dedicated to furthering internal communication knowledge and practice.

www.ioic.org.uk

Better Connected venue: The StudioThe Hive, 51 Lever Street, Manchester, M1 1FNTel: 0161 237 1201www.studiovenues.co.uk/venues/manchester/