Global PR Summit Canada 5

19-20 November (10 am - 4.20 pm EST)

Book Now

Global PR Summit Canada 5

Book Now

19-20 November (10 am - 4.20 pm EST)

About the Event

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the fifth (online) edition of the Global PR Summit Canada. 

Featuring presentations by PR experts from Canada, the US and EMEA, Global PR Summit Canada 5 will cover the most important trends and challenges for PR professionals in an era of COVID-19.

Benefits of attending:

  • See how your colleagues from Canada, the US and EMEA are adapting their PR strategy in the face of COVID-19
  • Win back consumer confidence and communicating in the new normal
  • Maintain creativity and motivation in busy PR teams
  • Reinvent your comms team to keep up with the evolving PR skill set
  • Explore how to build a resilient communications team and break down barriers between departments
  • Understand current and emerging trends and their impact on your business and role
  • Build an actionable, detailed emergency communication response plan
  • See what content and campaigns still apply to your audience — and which need to be put on the back burner until the dust settles
  • Protect your reputation in an era of cyber attacks: the role of communications in earning and maintaining trust

Facts & Figures

Did you know?

  • With annual editions in 23 countries around the world (the USA, Canada, Turkey, Egypt, Malta, Norway, Iceland, South Korea...), the Global PR Summit is one of the world's biggest PR events.
  • The first ever edition of the Global PR Summit Canada was held in Montreal in 2016. 
  • Over 1400 PR professionals have attended the Canadian edition of the Global PR Summit, including representatives from: Cadillac Fairview, Canada Goose, Invest in Canada, Merck, Bell Media, EY, Veritas Communications, AbbVie, Region of Peel, Foresters Financial, Government of Canada, Purolator, Elections Canada, Sobeys, Capital One, Canadian Tire Corporation, Maple Leaf Foods, Morneau Shepell, Canadian Bankers Association, Scarborough Health Network, Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) , Hydro-Québec, City of Brampton, Royal Ontario , Boehringer Ingelheim, Canadian Red Cross, Department of National Defense, University of Waterloo , Sun Life Financial, RBC, McCain Foods, Innovate BC, Export Development Canada, Ryerson University, Medtronic, CIBC Mellon Global Securities Services Company, Travel Alberta….
  • All past four edition of the Global PR Summit have been supported by CPRS and IABC Toronto.

Speakers

Patrick Jephson Former Chief Of Staff To Princess Diana

Mary Jo Jacobi Former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, Former Assistant US Commerce Secretary for President George H.W. Bush, British Civil Service Commissioner

Gary Hernandez Saudi Aramco

James Gregson Lego

Daniel Tisch Argyle Public Relationships

Greg Vanier Edelman Canada

Nancy Bistritz-Balkan Purchasing Power

Sandra Fathi Gregory FCA

Cam Gordon Twitter Canada

Brad Ross City of Toronto

Andrea Lanthier-Seymour The City of Ottawa

Jordan Redshaw NATIONAL Public Relations

Lisa Gibson Microsoft Canada

Kate Murphy Avision Young

Sheryl So Shopify

Candice So Shopify

Cara Inglis Microsoft Canada

Jennifer Stein APEX Public Relations

Agenda

10.00 

What Have We Learned From COVID-19 and What PR Trends Will Dominate in 2021?

Jennifer Stein, Senior Vice President, APEX Public Relations

10.40 

How to Protect Your Staff and Reputation in 2021
- Create or update your organization's risk communications plan
- Build a rapid-response internal culture that's ready for emergencies
- Work with legal to ensure social media compliance and risk mitigation
- Quickly make use of your intranet and digital channels in risk situations

Nancy Bistritz-Balkan, Director, Cybersecurity Communications Program, McKesson

11.20 

Ready for the Recovery? A Post-pandemic Playbook to Build Brand & Reputation
While timid leaders and organizations have watched the pandemic silently from the sidelines, the farsighted have leaned in – using this turbulent time as an opportunity to demonstrate values and deliver value. Those are the ones who will be best positioned for a recovery. In this exclusive presentation, we examine the seven things leaders and communicators should be thinking and doing now to position their organizations for leadership, growth and success.

Daniel Tisch, CEO, Argyle Public Relationships

12.00

Lunch Break

12.40 

Media Relations in the Age of Coronvirus and Other Natural or Manmade Disasters
When a major disaster hits, whether its COVID-19 or another event that puts people, property and businesses in peril, it's often difficult to understand the best path forward to approaching the media. Although companies may have information or announcements that can benefit the public, there is a sensitive line between providing helpful and valuable information and being seen as trying to profit on the back of a tragedy. It's important to understand when, how and with what type of information to approach the media as well as employees, customers, and other stakeholders. In this session, we'll dissect the current media climate and help communicators evaluate how and when to approach the media with crisis-related, and non-crisis related messages to ensure a receptive audience and productive approach.

Sandra Fathi, President, Affect

13.20 

COVID-19: Response, Restart and Recovery  
Brad Ross has been the Chief Communications Officer for the City of Toronto since January 2019. He rejoined the City (he was with the City from 2000-2008) after almost 11 years at the Toronto Transit Commission where he led employee and public communications, including reputation management. In this  interactive session he will share how the City of Toronto responded to COVID-19 as a crisis unlike any other. Months later, restart and recovery continues to challenge administrators and communicators alike.

Brad Ross, Chief Communications Officer, City of Toronto

14.00

Short Break

14.20 

Crisis Communications Planning: How to Build an Actionable, Detailed Emergency Communication Response Plan
In this session, Andrea will share with you the tools that City of Ottawa has developed to prepare in advance for emergency situations. The session will outline the key things communications leaders in municipalities need to keep in mind when thinking about their own crisis communication strategy.

Andrea Lanthier-Seymour, Director, Public Information and Media Relations, The City of Ottawa

15.00 

Case Study: Lessons Learned from the Buffalo Wildfires and the Flooding in Northern Alberta During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Jordan led municipal communications during the response to and recovery from the 2016 Wood Buffalo Wildfires and, more recently, led a contracted support team during response and recovery efforts to significant flooding in northern Alberta during the COVID-19 pandemic. His presentation will provide a first-hand perspective of communicating through large scale evacuations and the lessons he has learned about people, processes and leadership in the face of adversity.
Jordan Redshaw, Manager, NATIONAL Public Relations

15.40

Managing Reputational Risk in Unprecedented Times
In this session, drawing from her experience at Royal Dutch Shell, BP America, Lehman Brothers, HSBC Holdings and Drexel Burnham Lambert, Mary Jo will share with you lessons learned in building and maintaining a global reputation, handling corporate and financial crisis and most importantly, how to craft the perfect apology.
Additionally, in this session Patrick will help you identify the qualities people expect to see in their brands, prepare your CEO for major crisis, define the essence of your CEO’s brand, build the key message and most importantly, acquire substance, not spin. Patrick owes much of his practical communications experience to Princess Diana, who chose him to be her equerry and only private secretary/chief of staff.  He served the Princess for eight years (1988-96), responsible for every aspect of her public life, charitable initiatives, and private organization.

Mary Jo Jacobi, Former Assistant U.S. Commerce Secretary, Former Chief Reputation Officer at Royal Dutch Shell and Former Executive Vice President of BP America
Patrick Jephson, Former Chief of Staff to Princess Diana

16.20

End of Day One

10.00 

How to Keep Reinventing Your Comms Team to Keep Up with the Evolving PR Skill Set



Sheryl So, Head of Public Relations, Shopify

10.40 

Maintaining Employee Engagement in Uncertain Times
- Understand he impact uncertain times have on employees and why it’s important for companies to respond
- Specific recommendations on how to engage employees given uncertainty in the workplace
- Identify the mindset and approach that you need to start with

Gary Hernandez, Head of HR Communications, Saudi Aramco

11.20 

The Future of the Office: How Brands are Successfully Adapting in a Covid World and  to Client Needs



Kate Muprhy, Global Director of External Communications, Avision Young

12.00

Lunch Break

12.40 

How Comms Can Leverage Technology to Drive Productivity and Engagement In A Hybrid/Remote Environment



Lisa Gibson, Head of Communications / Business Manager, Microsoft Canada

13.20 

Interactive Panel Discussion: Canadian Tech PR heading into 2021 + What the Upcoming Year May Look Like



Cam Gordon, Head of Communications, Twitter Canada
Cara Inglis, Consumer and Modern Work PR Lead, Microsoft Canada
Candice So, Communications Manager, Shopify

14.00

Short Break

14.20

 The New Normal: Building Trust in an Age of Cyber-Attacks
The expanding threat landscape and new business innovation is leading to an increase in cyberattacks—the average number of security breaches in the last year grew by 11 percent from 130 to 145, states the Ninth Annual Cost of Cybercrime Study by Accenture and Ponemon Institute. 
Organizations spend more than ever to deal with the costs and consequences of more sophisticated attacks— the average cost of cybercrime for an organization increased US$1.4 million to US$13.0 million.
This interactive session will help you educate your workforce on potential threats, identify which data needs to be absolutely protected and key threats, plan in advance and how to rebuild trust with consumers after a cyber-attack.

Greg Vanier, VP, Crisis and Reputation Risk & National Lead of Data Security and Privacy, Edelman Canada

15.00

Content PR: Adapting to the COVID Landscape with LEGO

James Gregson, Head of Social Studio, LEGO

15.40

End of Global PR Summit Canada 5

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