Take the Leap…from Good to Great! 2012 Forum is back and it’s happening on February 29, 2012 at the Ottawa Convention Centre.

We’ve gathered the best and brightest PR and media relations professionals in English and French to present you a stellar event! You will learn best practices from communicators at these top organizations:

• New Democratic Party (NDP) ; Brad Lavigne
• Canadian Olympic Committee ; Dimitri Soudas
• Canada Post ; Anick Losier
• McDonald’s Canada ; Jason Patuano
• NATIONAL Public Relations ; Bruno Guglielminetti

Join us and our Master of Ceremony, Christina Lawand, for this intensive one-day event, the #PRMixer after party, and, of course, a great networking and professional development experience! You’ll walk away with the tools you need to put your organization ahead of the competition.

Registration is now open at taketheleap2012.ca. Hurry up while seats are still available!

Third Tuesday is back with another blockbuster speaker: President of the Treasury Board, Tony Clement on Tuesday, February 7^th at the National Arts Centre.

Tony Clement is well-known as a politician who maintains an active Twitter presence, sharing what is on his mind and what he’s doing, and engaging in conversations with Canadians.

Tony Clement is also the President of the Treasury Board of Canada. That puts him in charge of Canada’s public service and makes him responsible for setting the standards and rules by which social media is being introduced into the Government of Canada.

As a Minister, Clement has pushed forward with initiatives to enable Canada’s public servants to use social media in the workplace and a broader initiative to introduce open government principles to the Government of Canada.

In just the past three months, Mr. Clement

• unveiled the Guideline for External Use of Web 2.0, the reference document that will be used by Canadian Public Servants in determining whether and how they should use social media in the workplace.
• announced that completed access to information requests now will be posted online.
• announced the addition of 4,000 data sets to the Open Data Portal.
• initiated a public consultation on Open Government. (The consultation closed in mid-January and the Treasury Board site promises that a final report on the findings will be posted in March 2012.)
• participated in a Twitter Chat on Open Government to give people a chance to raise issues, ask questions and engage with him online.

That’s a lot of action in a short period of time. But, what’s happening now? How are the Web 2.0 Guidelines being applied by Canadian public servants? What did Canadians tell the Minister during the consultation? What’s on the agenda for 2012?

Third Tuesday participants will get a chance in February to ask these questions and talk directly to the Minister when he appears as our featured guest.

If you’re interested in open government and the use of social media by government, this session will be of real interest to you. I’m looking forward to a great evening of discussion with a man who has matched his actions to his convictions. I hope to see you there.

Thank you to our sponsors

Third Tuesday is a community-oriented, volunteer-driven event. And we wouldn’t be able to bring great speakers to Third Tuesdays across the country without the support of some like-minded sponsors. We’ve been lucky to have some great companies step up over the past several years to help us make Third Tuesday happen. Big thanks are due to CNW Group, Rogers Communications, Canadian Internet Registration Authority, Radian6 and Cision Canada for making the 2011/12 Third Tuesday season possible.

Student Admission

We want students to be able to participate. So, if you’re a student, simply present your valid student ID at the registration desk and we’ll refund your admission fee. Courtesy of Thornley Fallis.

As a practitioner and presenter on the practice of “Online Public Engagement”, I thought it worthwhile to share the ideas and feedback gathered over the course of numerous presentations and discussions. This is a new and emerging field, and I would appreciate your feedback over the course of the journey.

First, let’s focus on a working definition of “online public engagement”.

A few thoughts on context

Before defining the concept, it’s best to start with the context surrounding communications and public consultations in a connected society. With social media and online news media, people now have the capability to easily and cost-effectively express their ideas and opinions about public issues that matter to them. They do this on their blogs, on community association discussion forums, on local newspaper website, or on the myriad of social networking sites available to them. If they are unhappy with an organization’s consultation process, they can mobilize online and set-up their own consultation.

What does this mean for consultation leaders and communicators?

Consultation leaders and communicators tasked with seeking public input need to understand two things about online public engagement. The first is that conversations about their issues are happening in social media and will be shared in online news media. The second is that if they want to engage people, they need to use the tools and methodologies to sync with society’s current communications and public participation habits. The upside of both of these is that they provide rich listening, learning and engagement opportunities.

A working definition of online public engagement

In light of this, I propose a working definition of online public engagement to be “the use of digital communications tools and public engagement methodologies to involve people in public consultation processes”.

Next up, the public engagement ecosystem

My next post will focus on a description of the constituent parts of the public engagement ecosystem – the pieces in the puzzle. If you would like a copy of the presentation, you can find it here on slideshare or you can send me a note and I will gladly share it.

When ? Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 at 11:45am-1:15pm
Where ? Sheraton Ottawa Hotel, 150 Albert Street – Rideau Room
Cost ? $35 for members, $60 for non-members

About the presentation:
The social media wave has taken all communicators by storm. Each sector and industry has felt it to different degrees, but none have been riding it bigger and better than the Sports sector. International competitions, the Olympic Games, all garner worldwide attention and the hopes of millions of fans. Who better than to educate the NCR’s communication and PR professionals than the people working in the sector themselves??

The CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau chapter is proud to host a panel discussion on the use of social media by representatives from the Ottawa Senators, CanoeKayak Canada, and the Canadian Soccer Association.

Join us for lunch for what should be a truly remarkable session, whether you are a sports fan or not!

Moderated by: CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau

Agenda:
11:45am Registration and networking
12:00pm Lunch, standing buffet
12:15pm Panel discussion
1:00pm Q&A

This session will feature a brief presentation by each panel member, followed by a Q&A from the audience.

Panel members:
Jeff Kyle, Vice President Marketing, Ottawa Senators
Lorraine Lafrenière, Director General, CanoeKayak Canada
Michèle Dion, Communications Manager, Canadian Soccer Association

Spaces are limited, please register by Tuesday November 29th on the EventBrite website: http://cprsnovember2011.eventbrite.com/

In August and September 2010, Thornley Fallis & 76design worked with Rogers to design, build and launch a new forum for discussions with small and medium businesses – RedBoard Biz.

Rogers created RedBoard Biz as a place to share proven tools and know-how that businesses can use to be more successful. Posts will contain news about Rogers products and services, and how businesses are using them. RedBoard Biz will also provide ideas and advice on a broad range of topics of interest to businesses.

The Rogers Redboard Biz Blog was developed following the great success of Rogers Redboard, a hub for consumers to discuss news and ideas as well as industry trends. Launched in March 2010, Redboard continues to gain in popularity.

What: The Return of RichardAtDell

When: Tuesday, November 9, 2010 6:00 PM

Price: $10.00 per person

Where: The Exchange Pub & Restaurant,  Rideau Centre (corner of Rideau and Sussex across from Chapters)

Dell is one of the best known and longest standing case studies of the successful use of social media. It might well not have turned out this way. In fact, Dell was one of the early examples of a company on the receiving end of viral criticism and anger. Rather than go into a shell or attack its critics, Dell chose to enter the social media discussion, learn from it, win friends, and gradually turn things around. Today, Dell uses social media for many purposes, including to connect with customers, build brand and as a retail channel.

RichardAtDell, aka Richard Binhammer, has been from the outset one of the constants in Dell’s social media presence.

Well, it’s not 2006 anymore. A lot has changed. And RichardAtDell has been there to experience the evolution of social media first hand. As the saying goes, he’s forgotten more than many of us ever will learn.

I hope that you’ll join us at Third Tuesday to hear from one of the leading corporate social media practitioners as he talks with us about the journey he’s been on, the path we’re following, and where he sees things going in the future.

To RSVP for this Meetup, go to: http://www.meetup.com/third-tuesday-ottawa/calendar/15182785/. You must sign-up for Third Tuesday Ottawa in order to RSVP.

Student Tickets

The Third Tuesday speakers have a lot to teach all of us. And we want students to be able to participate. So, Thornley Fallis is sponsoring free admission for any registered students who want to attend. If you’re a student, please register in the normal way. But when you arrive at the registration desk, simply present your student ID and we’ll refund your registration fee.

On Wednesday, October 13th, Lauren More, Vice-President of Communications for Ford of Canada, will deliver a presentation on Satisfying Consumer Mega-Trends.

Ms. More’s presentation will take place at the Sheraton Hotel (150 Albert Street, O’Connor Room) from 11:30am to 1:30pm.  Costs: $50.00 for CPRS Members, $65 for Non-members and $40 for CPRS Student Members.

Spaces are limited. Please register by October 8, 2010 on the secure CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau website at https://vws3.primus.ca/www.cprsottawa.com/register/event-registration.php. VIsa and MasterCard are accepted.

About the Presentation:
As business people and communications professionals, we certainly live in interesting times. We are witnesses to unprecedented shifts in the global economies – new population growth patterns are emerging, market purchasing power is changing and consumer preferences around the world
are converging. Many of the decisions we make today, during this unique economic era, will shape our companies for decades to come. How do we ensure we’re delivering the products and services customers and clients really want? In this session, we’ll explore some of these consumer mega-
trends from a global perspective.

About Lauren More:
Lauren More is the Vice President of Communications at Ford Motor Company of Canada, Ltd., where she manages multiple media communications programs and serves as a company spokesperson on a number of topics, including: corporate news, manufacturing and assembly operations, environment and safety, human resources issues, and crisis communications.

Ms. More has more than 20 years experience as a communications professional and daily newspaper reporter. Prior to joining Ford, she served as the Public Relations Manager for Canada at one of the world’s largest technology and management consulting firms and has held a variety of
positions at Toronto-based public relations agencies.

As a journalist, Ms. More earned both national and regional awards for her work covering everything from educational issues and local politics, to high-tech and the automotive
industry. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from York University’s Schulich School of Business.

[Ford is a client of Thornley Fallis and Keelan Green is President of CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau]

As we get closer to Thanksgiving we often remind ourselves of reasons to be thankful. Here at Thornley Fallis we recalled how, this past summer, The Shepherds of Good Hope declared their cupboards bare.

TFC’s LeeEllen Carroll with the Ford Transit Connect – a home office on the road.

We came up with the idea of “Ford Connects with the Community” – a new community fundraising event organized in hopes of making Thanksgiving a thankful time for everyone in the nation’s capital. Ottawa area Ford dealers are filling their Transit Connect mobile units, when packed to the roof, will provide enough food to fill tables with hundreds of meals in the coming weeks.

While the dealers have invited their staff, customers, communities and friends to contribute, we’ve invited the Parliamentary Press Gallery, local areas MPs and MPPs, as well as municipal politicians and candidates to make a difference.

We’ll be driving the Transit Connect to collect the food at the end of this week. We hope you can join us in celebrating the community connecting to help those in need.

LeeEllen loading food donations into the Transit Connect.

At the conclusion of the Ford Food Drive, Ottawa’s AChannel had a chat with Rob Eady from the Shepherds of Good Hope, Phil Torrinha from Donnelly Ford and a group of Ottawa Sting minor hockey players who wanted to apply their teamwork to their community.

Sean Howard joins as Vice-President of Digital Communications.  For over 15 years Sean has delivered insight and innovation to clients in the digital marketing space including Aeroplan, Aviva, Unilever, Microsoft Xbox, Pfizer and TD Bank. Most recently Sean was Strategy Director at Twist Image, where he was co-creator of the emerging strategy discipline.  Prior to that he was Director of Strategy and Innovation at Lift and he also ran his own digital media firm, Spinglobe Inc, from 2002-2007.  Sean has worked with clients and agencies on product innovation, UX and the development of digital strategies.  He also helped plan and launch TVO’s AgendaCamp where they used open innovation techniques to engage Canadians across Ontario.

Sean’s immediate responsibilities will include taking on the social media/digital communications team lead role, but he will also be driving new business in the digital space.

Deborah Knight has joined as a Senior Consultant in the traditional communications practice.  Deborah is an experienced publicity, promotions and marketing strategist with a solid track record in the arts, corporate and entrepreneurial environments.  Her category expertise includes B2C package goods, beverage and alcohol, automotive, telecoms, financial, food, retail, airline, healthcare and entertainment.  Prior to joining Thornley Fallis & 76design, Deborah ran her own firm, dkpr public relations, and she also spent two years at WestJet as National Manager, Public Relations and Communications, and three years at SkyDome Corporation as Public Relations Manager.

Deborah will step in immediately to take media relations capabilities to the next level.