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 per my previous post, on January 27th, my son Peyton and I will be participating in the Ottawa Senators Foundation first ever Energizer Night Skate along the Rideau Canal as part of the NHL All-Star Weekend. Thousands of skaters wearing Energizer LED Headlights will light up the Canal as they skate 5km from Somerset Street to Bank Street and back.

All funds raised from this event will assist the Senators Foundation (the sole benefactor) with their plans to construct outdoor, NHL sized ice rinks in priority neighbourhoods throughout eastern Ontario and western Quebec.

So far, thanks to the generous contributions of friends, family and colleagues, Peyton has raised $505 and is listed as the second highest fundraiser on the Energizer Night Skate website. Having raised roughly half of that amount ($275), I am accepting defeat and throwing support behind my 3 year old. I encourage you to do the same.  You can donate to the Sens Foundation through Peyton here:  http://energizernightskate.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1003640&supId=350029343.

This is a great project targeted at providing under privileged children and youth in our region with access to the sport of hockey and increased recreational opportunities in their neighbourhoods.

Any amount you are able to contribute would be greatly appreciated and help the Sens Foundation achieve their goal for this fundraiser.

On January 27th, my son Peyton and I will be participating in the Ottawa Senators Foundation first ever Energizer Night Skate along the Rideau Canal as part of the NHL All-Star Weekend. Thousands of skaters wearing Energizer LED Headlights will light up the Canal as they skate 5km from Somerset Street to Bank Street and back.

All funds raised from this event will assist the Senators Foundation (the sole benefactor) with their plans to construct outdoor, natural NHL sized ice rinks in priority neighbourhoods throughout eastern Ontario and western Quebec.

The Senators Foundation believes in creating community resources, delivering programs and funding charitable organizations that provide healthy and safe sport & recreation opportunities to children and youth so they learn and grow outside of school hours.

You can show your support for this initiative by sponsoring me here: http://energizernightskate.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1003640&supId=350029343

If you don’t like me (highly possible), but still want to support the initiative, you can sponsor my son Peyton, who is 3 and will spend more time in a stroller than skating, here: http://energizernightskate.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1003640&supId=350029344

Any contribution you can make is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for supporting this great community initiative by the Senators Foundation.

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:   Thursday December 15th 2011, 5:00pm-7:30pm
Where: The Grand Pizzeria & Bar, 74 George Street, Byward Market
Cost:    FREE!

It’s Holiday time!! Can you believe 2011 is almost over?? What a year it has been, time to kick up our heels and have a few laughs at this year’s CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau Holiday Social!

The Canadian Public Relations Society’s Ottawa/Gatineau holiday social will be held on Thursday December 15th at The Grand Pizzeria & Bar, in the Byward Market.

As part of our on-going community involvement, the chapter has extended a special invitation to our friends at the Ottawa Food Bank. We strongly encourage all of you to bring non-perishable food items to donate for people in need during the holiday season.

For a second social in a row, we are happy to host Public Relations Without Borders and it’s volunteers, who are raising awareness about their international aid missions. Cash donations are appreciated to help this most important cause!

Wait there’s more! We will also be making special announcements in regards to our day-long conference, slated for Wednesday February 29th 2012. 

Of course, DELICIOUS finger food will be distributed.

This is a FREE event. Add it to your agenda, bring a friend and your smile and help us make this Holiday Social the best one ever! We also extend a warm welcome to student members to come out and network with seasoned communications professionals. Not yet a student member? Check out the benefits on our website!

Sign up now via EventBrite at http://cprsholidaysocial2011.eventbrite.com/

Hope to see you there!

CPRS Ottawa/Gatineau would like to thank its generous sponsors:

• CNW Group
• .CA, Canadian Internet Registration Authority
• Thornley Fallis Group
• News Canada
• Marketwire
• Frischkorn Audiovisual
• Jana Chytilova Photography

When Ford of Canada’s Vice-President of Sales, Scott Cauvel, was in Ottawa in late September to speak at OCRI’s ExecTALKS event, Thornley Fallis Account Coordinator Samantha Hartley (@msshartley) arranged an interview between him and CTVs Kate Eggins, which led to this great report on the health technologies for drivers that Ford is putting in its vehicles.

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/