9.00 Welcome from the Chair

9.15 Keynote Session

Engaging the disengaged employee: Can it be done?

Have you been challenged to engage your most dis-engaged employees? Does your leadership believe that it can't be done and some people are just not "engage-able"? Jen Schulte, Global Engagement Director of MARS Incorporated, will share an inspiring story of how her team proved that engaging these groups of employees can, in fact, be done. Jen and her team have travelled to plants around the globe to lead interventions and restore the performance and engagement of employees. These efforts have resulted in increased engagement scores at the most challenging plants - and they continue to experience improvement.

During this keynote session, you will learn:

• A practical process for getting employees and management to collaborate on improving the culture
• How to shift the emphasis from engagement survey results to business outcomes
• Ways to build engagement into every day moments

Jennifer Schulte, Global Engagement Director, MARS Incorporated

10.15 The Power of a story: Using storytelling to engage staff emotionally and rationally in a business

Do the people answering your phones in your business understand their contribution to the organisation? Does your staff in Accounting understand how their behaviours are as important as those of the senior executives? If the answer is "no" or "maybe", you'll want to hear how the power of storytelling has impacted employees at NHS County Durham. This session will describe how NHS' six chapter corporate story explains a complicated business model to employees in simple, nontechnical terms, and makes clear the case for a culture of accountability. Learn about:

• Linking every business activity to the corporate story
• Demonstrating the impact of individuals' behaviour on the whole organisation
• How emotional intelligence can drive improvement
• Sustaining employees' emotional and rational engagement

Karen Jones, Corporate Improvement Team Leader, NHS County Durham

11.05 Morning Coffee

11.25 How Business Excellence, Communication and HR work together to achieve engagement at Siemens

A strong collaborative effort between Communication, HR and Business Excellence has driven substantial operational improvements and employee engagement at Siemens plc in the UK, surpassing other businesses with legendary performance levels. Utilising a Lean model, Siemens plc built a new framework around the line manager - employee relationship. This co-presentation, from a communicator and Business Excellence leader, will explore why communicators should become familiar with the Lean model, including how Lean can:

• Be applied in any type of business setting to improve team performance and communication
• Provide a robust approach to improving daily or weekly operational communications
• Foster a successful two-way communication process
• Provide a clear picture of the effectiveness of your efforts

Jack Winters, Head of Internal Communications, Communications & Government Affairs,
Simon Nadin Business Excellence Manager - Industry Sector, Siemens plc

12.15 Engaging employees in a new beginning at Co-operative Financial Services and Britannia

The first ever merger between a building society and a co-operative took place against the backdrop of the global financial meltdown. In this session, find out how Co-operative Financial Services and Britannia were able to seize the opportunity presented by the collapse of public confidence in international banks and set about building on their heritage to create a new force in financial services that is member-owned, customer-led and ethically-guided.

Learn how the company helped 12,500 colleagues move to the next chapter, supported them in engaging with a new strategy and their role in delivering it, and made a unique customer promise in a quest to become the UK's most admired financial services business.

Graham Leftwich, Business Leader, Corporate Communications, The Co-operative Financial Services
Mark Turner, Producer, Speakeasy

1.10 Lunch

2.10 Panel Discussion - Getting results for engagement efforts during times of change

Building a culture of engagement is a journey. Sometimes your results are headed in the right direction, only to experience another challenge. Our panelists will share their best practices, moments of truth, and steps to avoid at all costs. Come prepared with questions to your engagement challenges and ask our panel how they handled similar obstacles in their own organisation.

2.55 Embedding the internal brand into the organisation

Have you had one of those "light bulb moments" where your challenge at hand suddenly begins to make sense? Imagine if your managers began to experience that kind of moment when discussing how their own behaviours contribute (or distract) from employee engagement. This session will explore how Wincanton plc created those "light bulb moments" for hundreds of managers by effectively illustrating and articulating the link between their corporate values, business strategy and desired behaviours. Learn how to:

• Embed your internal brand into your organisation
• Secure the support of even your most hardened managers.

Deborah Gogarty, Group Internal Communication Manager, Wincanton plc

3.45 Afternoon Coffee

4.00 Sustaining engagement during - and after - major change

London Overground Rail Operations Ltd is proving that a comprehensive engagement strategy can sustain an organisation in the face of major change - many types of change. In the past year, the railway has doubled its workforce, merged cultures from distinct companies, and introduced new business strategies - all while preparing for the introduction of a high-stakes project necessary for the London Olympics, the East London Line. Discover how this organisation is preparing employees from Drivers to Finance to HR for this major change, including:

• Helping employees understand the business context for change so they can embrace it
• Overcoming resistance to changing time-honored practices
• Encouraging employees to contribute to decision making
• Communicating with a dispersed workforce, many without computer access or regular face-to-face time with their managers

Rachel Allen, Head of Communications, London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL)

4.50 Closing remarks from the Chair