Workshop

Digital

Effective Web Writing

In-House

Have questions about cancellations, rescheduling, or substitutions? View our workshop policies.

Why should you attend?

Government departments and corporations spend thousands of dollars in updating their web sites. But all of that expense and effort is for naught if few people notice. Poorly communicated web sites fail to deliver on transparency, accountability and access for all.

This powerful and content rich workshop will show you how to write web content that not only gets noticed immediately but also is understood and inspires action. Completion of the workshop and using the techniques illustrated will ensure value for dollar spent on government and corporate web sites and increase user follow-up.

Engage your audience with enticing content that exudes relevance, impact and urgency. Deliver web content that meets the rigorous demands of today’s hurried, distracted and impatient audience. Writing for the increasingly popular mobile website will also be examined.

Be sure to bring samples of your existing web content, as this workshop will include an interactive critique session addressing some of the pros and cons of government and corporate sites.

What will you learn?

This workshop is designed to improve the credibility and readability of your web site to more effectively reach your audience. In turn, your audience will be able to make informed decisions and act on the information you provide.

You will learn the following:

What new studies and today’s web site consumers have to say about government and corporate web sites and user habits, how users judge a web site (these findings will surprise you) and why the standards of web writing differ from those of print.
How to write headlines, subheadings and captions that engage the reader right away and keep them on your site.
How to write using plain language principles and a user-centric approach
How to write paragraphs for the web that make readers want to read everything.
How to visually structure web content (a recent Stanford University study revealed that the appearance of content is as important, or more important, than the content itself!)
How to avoid the most common web writing mistakes
How to write links, navigation and menus to lead the reader into deeper content.
How to structure your home and inner page content so there is a natural, progressive flow.
How to make your site search engine friendly.
When to use audio and video and make certain your media is accessible to all users of the web site.
How to write government mandate, policy and program information that engages the reader, stays within CLF (Common Look and Feel) guidelines, is understood and facilitates action.
How to draw readers into a written dialogue that makes them feel part of your message.

What will you take away?

Workbook
Exercises and Handouts
Certificate of Completion

Sample Agenda

Activity
Introductions and Workshop Overview
Latest Online Reading Trends In this session, participants will learn about online reading trends and the difference between writing for print versus writing for the web.
Writing for the Web: Common Principles Participants will learn about the principles of Accessibility, Usability, Interoperability and a User-Centric approach to web writing.
BREAK
Web Content Design: The User-Centric Approach Participants will learn how to create personas based on different users and develop content based on those user-centric personas and the tasks they are trying to accomplish.
Core Writing Techniques Participants will learn how to apply the use of plain language, active voice and task-oriented writing styles to the web.
LUNCH
Headings and Sub-headings Participants will learn about the different styles of headings used in web writing including the use of statements, detailed statements, teasers, questions and more. Participants will also learn how to use the inverted pyramid in their approach to web writing.
Paragraph Writing Participants will learn how to write clear and concise paragraphs that the reader can quickly click, scan or scroll to get the message across.
BREAK
Aids for Writing for Clarity and Formatting Techniques Participants will learn how use of examples can help a reader better understand your points. Use of lists, bullets and tables for better clarity will also be explored, along with their proper formatting techniques.
Review of Case Studies Participants will explore other websites and discuss the pros and cons and ways in which the content can be improved upon based on what they learned over the course of the day.
Wrap-up, Q&A, Workshop Evaluation Participants will review the day, have an opportunitiy to ask any final questions and complete a short evaluation.

Thank you very much for your presentation to our national management team. We were so fortunate to tap into your vast knowledge and expertise. We will definitely be back to talk tools and approaches.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Workshop

Digital

Digital Storytelling & Strategic Communications

In-House

Have questions about cancellations, rescheduling, or substitutions? View our workshop policies.

Why should you attend?

Digital story telling is an increasingly important component of every communicator’s toolkit. It can be a tremendously effective way of conveying an organization’s mission, changing people’s behaviour, rallying supporters to action, and raising funds. But to achieve these goals it must be done well. This workshop will expose communicators to the digital storytelling landscape in today’s world with a focus on organizations that excel at telling inspiring and impactful stories that achieve their strategic goals. Workshop participants will then be provided with the key tools they need to acquire to become great strategic digital storytellers themselves. They will learn about how to identify a strategic story and incorporate it into their broader communications strategy, the key elements that are the base of every great digital story, how to weave a story from these elements, and the exciting variety of digital formats and channels available to convey stories.

The workshop combines a mix of formal instruction with a generous dose of group discussion and practical exercises in order to provide participants with immediately actionable new skills and knowledge.

What will you learn?

This workshop will focus on:

Why digital storytelling has become a key strategic communications tool
Organizations that are leaders in the digital storytelling landscape
Examples of superlative organizational digital storytelling
How to identify a strategic story amid the thousands of possibilities
The five key elements that are essential for impactful digital storytelling
The broad range for formats available for digital storytelling – the easiest, the most popular, the most challenging
How distribution channels impact stories and their formats
How to build stories with a story arc that grabs your audience
The difference between stories told in the 1st person voice vs 3rd person voice
How to think through the video format
How to measure a strategic story’s success

What will you take away?

Workbook
Exercises and handouts
Bibliography of reading and digital storytelling models

Professional competencies

Values and Ethics: Serving through integrity and respect
Thinking Things Through: Innovating through analysis and ideas
Engagement: Working effectively with people, organization and partners
Excellence: Dlivering results

Sample Agenda

Day 1

Activity
Introductions and Workshop Overview
Digital Storytelling What is storytelling? What is digital storytelling? How is the term digital storytelling misused? How are organizations using digital storytelling to achieve communications purposes? What are the five key elements in every successful story?
Small Group Exercise In groups, discuss and identify a minimum of three (3) specific questions in the area of “perceptions of service experience”, to be part of a bi-annual client satisfaction survey. Capture your results in bullet form and present your conclusions to the plenary.
Exercise Working in groups participants will review a video story to identify the five key elements that every successful story includes. Working individually participants will review a web story to identify the five key story elements. Participants will discuss findings with the whole group.
BREAK
Digital Storytelling Organizations What organizations are successfully using digital storytelling to achieve their communication objectives? How are their storytelling strategies similar and how are they different?
Digital Storytelling Formats What are the various digital formats available to tell an organizational story? What are the key decision factors in choosing a format for digital storytelling? How does the distribution channel impact the story and choice of format? What are the advantages and disadvantages of different distribution channels.
Exercise Participants will be assigned an organization’s website to review their storytelling practices. What are the different formats used, how does digital storytelling fit into the broader communications content strategy, what are their distribution channels, and how (or not) do stories enhance the organization’s communications goals?
Questions

Day 2

Activity
Recap and Morning Overview
Strategic Communications and Digital Storytelling Why has digital storytelling become a key communications tool for organizations? How and where does digital storytelling fit in a broader communications strategy? What makes a digital story strategic? What are the steps to follow to identify a story that will support communication objectives? What are the different types of strategic stories? Case study of strategic storytelling.
Exercise Participants will be assigned an organizational profile and communications strategy and will work in groups to enhance it with a storytelling strategy, including suggested story type, and potential protagonist profiles, formats, and channels. Working individually participants will be asked to identify a current (or past) communications strategy they have worked on, and how it could be enhanced with a storytelling strategy.
BREAK
Ethical Storytelling What is ethical storytelling? Why is it important to proceed carefully when sharing someone’s story as part of a communications strategy? What are some of the key concerns ethical storytellers need to be aware of when developing a digital story?
Stories to Remember What are some of the additional ingredients that can lift a story from so-so to unforgettable?
Exercise Working individually participants will review a successful story in detail. What makes this story so impactful? How does it exemplify storytelling best practices, are there additional ingredients that make it memorable, and how does it follow (or not) ethical storytelling guidelines?

Day 3

Time	Activity
8:45 am – 9:00 am	Recap and Morning Overview
9:00 am – 9:30 am	Digital Storytelling: Key Elements (In-Depth) What are the characteristics of a good protagonist in digital storytelling? What are the characteristics of a good goal? How do obstacles propel a story forward? What are the key ingredients in a good resolution?
9:30 am – 10:00 am	Exercise Participants will choose a personal story about a goal they pursued and achieved from their own life. They will identify the key storytelling elements including the obstacles they had to overcome, who helped, and how their story ended. They will share with the group.
10:00 am – 10:30 am	Building Your Story How do you turn the elements of a story into an actual digital story? What are the key steps to follow? Why is a transcribed interview your best friend for efficient and successful organizational storytelling? What is a story arc? What makes for a good beginning? How to make a meaty middle? What’s the rule of thumb for endings?
10:30 – 10:45	BREAK
10:45 am – 11:30 am	Exercise Participants will review an in-depth interview transcription of someone’s story and identify the key story elements, and the possible building blocks for a beginning, middle, and end. Participants will discuss their decisions with the group.
11:30 am – 11:45 am	Building Your Story: Point of View What do we mean by point of view? What is a 1st person point of view? What is a 3rd person point of view? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each for digital storytelling?
11:45 am – 12:15 pm	Exercise Participants will assemble a story using the first-person point of view, drawing on the assigned interview transcript and the building blocks they identified in a previous exercise. Participants will discuss with the group.
12:15 pm – 12:45 pm	Exercise Participants will assemble a Q&A using the interview transcript and building blocks developed in the previous exercise. Participants will identify a quote from the interview transcript that can accompany a photo.

Day 4

Time	Activity
8:45 am – 9:00 am	Recap and Morning Overview
9:00 am – 9:15 am	Building your story: 3rd person narratives What is a digital story told in the 3rd person? Why is it more challenging to prepare than a 1st person story? What are some tricks of the trade to write 3rd person narrative stories?
9:15 am – 10:30 am	Exercise Participants will use the story elements developed from a personal story in a previous exercise to identify the building blocks and story arc for a story. They will then write this story in the 3rd person narrative form. These stories will be shared with the group.
10:30 am – 10:45 am	BREAK
10:45 am – 11:15 am	Building Your Story: Video Format Why is the video format so key to digital storytelling strategies? Why are videos the most challenging storytelling format for organizations? What are the steps to follow for developing a video story? What is a storyboard? What are the various multimedia available to support a video story?
11:15 am – 11:45 am	Exercise Using the web story developed in a previous exercise, participants will be asked to prepare a storyboard for a video treatment of this story. What kind of multimedia can support the story and where will they be placed?
11:45 – 12:00	BREAK
12:00 pm – 12:30 pm	Measuring Storytelling Success What are the various ways to measure the success of a digital story? What kind of digital analytics can assist with this measurement?
12:30 pm – 12:45 pm	Evaulation

You continue to offer exactly what government workers need to learn – at the right time!

Workshop Participant, Health Canada

Workshop

Digital

Digital Content: From Script to Video Screen (A Script Writing Workshop)

In-House

Have questions about cancellations, rescheduling, or substitutions? View our workshop policies.

Why should you attend?

When it comes to social media, digital content is king and video reigns supreme. From baby steps caught on smart phones to professional productions, video now makes up close to 80 percent of traffic on the Internet. Government departments and corporations are demanding online video content as part of their Digital Content Strategies. Some have even built their own studios.

Your phone or tablet are video production tools. Video is a cost effective and powerful digital tool for communicating internally and externally.

Every online video needs a plan. It’s called a script. You use the script to capture and organize your ideas, formulating a story. You develop your script to present it to funders and supervisors. You enhance it to include narration and location. You script your shoot and shoot your script. You finalize your script for editing and approvals. Script writing and development are essential parts of producing any video for digital content for the government or the corporate sector.

This is not a workshop for Hollywood screenwriters. It is a practical guide to writing simple and effective scripts for government and corporate videos.

What will you learn?

How to:

Choose your story – Online video must not be an afterthought. It should be an integral part of any digital communications or information strategy.
Write your story – Effective writing for video is plain and simple, but not always easy.
Template your story – what information does a video script need to have and how should it be ordered.
Focus your story – Online videos are short and deal with a single topic, idea or call to action. That 5-minute video you were planning might be better as 5 one-minute videos.
Plan your story – You need a key message, visuals, a location and people.
Structure your story – It will need an opening to get viewers interested, a middle to give information, and an ending with a call to action or a concluding thought.
Visualize your story – Video stories are all about the pictures. Your visual resources can range from video to animation to PowerPoint-style graphics.
Humanize your story – stories about people are compelling.

Who should attend?

Communications professionals who are starting out or currently working in video story production.

Pre-Workshop Assignment

Throughout this workshop I want you to begin the process of writing and planning a real video. In order to do that, I need you to write a Brief about your video. It should be just that… brief.

Please answer the following questions, providing no more than three sentences each, and submit them to me at least a week in advance of the workshop.

What is the goal of your video? In other words, why are you making it?
Who is your audience? Who are you making it for?
What is the topic? The shorter this answer is the better. Be specific!
What are the takeaways? What should you know when you’ve watched it?
What is the call-to-action? What do you want them to do when they’ve watched it?

Sample Agenda

Day One

Activity
Introductions and Workshop Overview • The script turns concepts in to content. It evolves through many drafts from an outline, to a detailed shooting and editing guide, to a searchable record of your video. • Writing a script is actually the way you conceive, plan and finally produce your video.
Getting Started Before you write your script, there are a few questions you need to answer. First, who do want to watch it? What do you want them to know? And what do you want them to do? • Audience • Key Message • Call to action Based on those answers, what kind of video will this be? It could be promotional or testimonial. Perhaps it is a how-to video or a video blog. We will look at the briefs you wrote in advance of the class.
Audio and Visual Elements • A good video story is full of interesting visual and audio elements. The most obvious is moving pictures. If my story is about mowing a lawn, I will use video of someone mowing a lawn. There are other visual elements such as graphics and text, still pictures, and animation. • Video is also about what you hear from music and narration to the sounds that are in the background of our videos. • A good video script combines all of these elements.

Day Two

Activity
Video Writing • Narration for broadcast must be plain and direct. It must be simple and concise. And it must be conversational. • You are writing for the ear. You are speaking to the viewer. • One thought or one idea per sentence.
Script Elements and Templates • There are two main elements in every script. What are we going to see and what are we going to hear as we view the video. That’s why we set up our initial script in to two columns. Audio and video. • Let’s watch a video and see what the script looks like as it evolves from concept, to the field through editing to final product.
BREAK
Structure • Every story should have a beginning, middle and an end. The beginning is crucial. One successful way to structure your script is to start with the problem. Follow that with analysis of the problem. Go to the solution, its benefit, and round out with the action you want someone to take. • Based on your brief, how does that look for your video? • Every video is different. We’ll take a look at possibilities for your video. And we’ll get the writing underway.
Recap and Workshop Evaluation Participants will discuss the lessons learned and complete a short evaluation of the course.

Thank you very much for your presentation to our national management team. We were so fortunate to tap into your vast knowledge and expertise. We will definitely be back to talk tools and approaches.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Workshop

Media Relations

Face aux médias: l’essentiel

In-House

Have questions about cancellations, rescheduling, or substitutions? View our workshop policies.

Pourquoi y assister?

Les médias sont omniprésents et jouent un rôle important dans le processus de formation de l’opinion publique. La capacité de traiter directement avec les médias dans le cadre d’une interview ou celle d’élaborer et d’intégrer des stratégies de relations avec les médias dans des plans de communications globaux, sont des compétences importantes pour toute personne dont le travail comprend un volet médias/communications/information. Cet atelier est conçu pour les communicateurs qui souhaitent accroître et approfondir leurs connaissances et leur expertise, ou qui désirent rafraîchir et valider leurs compétences à ce chapitre, et pour toute personne qui doit traiter avec les médias dans le cadre de son travail. Un nombre maximal de 6 participants par atelier sera accepté.

Ce que vous apprendrez

Les choses à faire et à éviter quand on traite avec les médias
Comment négocier une interview – comment élaborer une stratégie, se préparer et garder le contrôle
Comment préparer les décideurs à faire face à la presse
La relation entre les enjeux, les médias et les communications stratégiques
Comment traiter avec les médias en temps de crise
Comment accroître l’efficacité des relations avec les médias en les intégrant à la planification des communications stratégiques

Ce que vous conserverez

Un manuel comprenant les choses à faire et à éviter, une marche à suivre, des aide-mémoire et des modèles
Des exercices et des informations complémentaires

Compétences du gouvernement fédéral

Réflexion approfondie: Innovation grâce à l’analyse et aux idées
Engagement: Collaboration efficace avec les gens, organisations et partenaires

Programme

Activity
Introductions et survol du cours
Travailler avec les médias Caractéristiques et fonctionnement des médias; impact sur l’opinion publique; aperçu de la radio, de la télévision et des médias écrits. Éléments clés; l’idée du contrôle; bâtir et maintenir la crédibilité; choses à faire et à éviter.
PAUSE
Négociation et préparation à l’interview; l’interview à la radio Le premier appel téléphonique; la négociation des règles de base; comment se préparer; stratégie pour l’interview; éviter les pièges. Interview avec la presse écrite versus d’autres types d’interview. Les règles de base d’une interview à la radio.
Interview à la radio, analyse et commnentaires Chaque participant sera interviewé à la radio, qui sera enregistrée; les participants et les instructeurs discuteront de chaques interview pour en faire l’analyse, et tirer les leçons appropriées.
DÉJEUNER
Techniques pour répondre aux questions difficiles Les questions qui ne sont que partiellement vrai ou qui sont pointues, émotives, hostiles, vagues, théoriques, basées sur des renseignements eronnés. Les ordres du jour différents: le vôtre et celui du journaliste. Comment parler de ce que vous voulez en parler.
L’interview à la télé Le monde de la télé et l’importance de la visuel. Se préparer pour l’interview; voix, posture, tenue, etc. Les techniques pour répondre aux questions difficiles et pour faire passer votre message.
PAUSE
Interview à la télé, analyse et commnentaires Chaque participant sera interviewé à la caméra; les participants et les instructeurs discuteront de chaque interview pour en faire l’analyse, et tirer les leçons appropriées.
Survol des matières couvertes; Évaluation Les participants compléteront une courte évaluation de l’atelier.

The information provided in this course made me think about briefings in a new context. It caused me to reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses. I was already able to apply the lessons learned in a briefing with my manager at break time.

Communications Advisor, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Workshop

Communications

Federal Government IS 2–3 Communications Competencies

In-House

Have questions about cancellations, rescheduling, or substitutions? View our workshop policies.

Why should you attend?

This workshop is designed specifically for communicators and others interested in competing for IS-2/3 positions and for newly appointed junior communications advisors. The one-day program offers a practical overview of the recognized IS-2/3 competencies, including the role and performance expectations of junior communications advisors. The emphasis of this highly interactive workshop is on the knowledge, skills and approaches that communicators at the IS 2-3 levels need to develop and exercise in order to succeed. The competencies profiles developed by the Communications Community Office serve as the reference for the required skills and abilities.

Workshop content reflects the stated communications competencies generally used in the federal Public Service to define job descriptions, recruit new communicators and assess performance. Designed to provide participants with immediately actionable new skills and knowledge, the workshop combines formal instruction with a generous dose of group discussion and practical exercises.

What will you learn?

This workshop will focus on:

The competencies expected of junior communications advisors
Government of Canada policies and procedures governing the provision of communications advice and services
What is strategic communications thinking and planning
The basics of effective writing
Developing a communications plan
Performance measurement and reporting for communications projects

What will you take away?

Workbook
Exercises and handouts

Professional competencies

Values and Ethics: Serving through integrity and respect
Thinking Things Through: Innovating through analysis and ideas
Engagement: Working effectively with people, organizations and partners
Excellence: Delivering results

Sample Agenda

Activity
Introductions and Workshop Overview
Knowing and using the IS-2/3 Competencies Profile Review of the 10 sets of required competencies using the CCO Professional Development Roadmap.
BREAK
Mini-exercise: What are your greatest communications challenges?
Understanding the Government of Canada Communications Policy Key principles, requirements and accountabilities. Linkages to other G of C policies, regulations and practices and to IS-2/3 competencies.
Building Trust Roles, actions and behaviours of effective junior communications advisors.
LUNCH
Mini Exercise: Who are your clients?
Strategic Communications Thinking and Planning What is meant by “being strategic” in the context of the communications function? What knowledge and skills must I consistently demonstrate to be and be seen as strategic? What are the key elements of strategic communications planning? How do I differentiate between actions, results and outcomes? How and what to measure? Link to the IS-2/3 Competencies?
Group Exercise Working in small groups, participants will develop several elements of a Communications Plan based on a specific case study scenario.
BREAK
Basics of Effective Writing Art of writing well. Style, presentation and layout. Five key steps of the writing process. Helpful tips for writing media lines, press releases, reports, communications plans and briefing notes. How does this link to the IS-2/3 Competencies?
Group Exercise Working in small groups, participants will prepare media lines based on a specific case study scenario.
Wrap-up and Evaluation Participants will complete a short evaluation.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank you again for another excellent course. I keep returning to the CEC for training as I am continually impressed by the courses, which I find to be relevant, practical, interesting and informative. My experience to date after attending 3 courses is that the instructors chosen are dynamic people who deliver the content in an engaging and accessible manner. As someone who actively pursues professional development and has been to a number of facilities, I truly appreciate this approach and will continue to turn to the CEC.

Workshop Participant

Workshop

Communications

Essential Communication Skills for Team Leaders

In-House

Have questions about cancellations, rescheduling, or substitutions? View our workshop policies.

Why should you attend?

Communication is key to achieving results. It is a necessary skill for engaging those you lead and for building strong relationships with peers and bosses. Not surprisingly, effective communication is an overarching theme in the Government’s Key Leadership Competencies for managers and leaders.

Whether you manage a permanent team in an organization or lead an ad-hoc team with a specific task, this workshop is for you. It will provide you with a range of communications skills and will help you:

develop tactics for communicating with the team to lead and motivate, and to manage change
build effective working relationships within and outside the organization
connect with colleagues and superiors to align your work with other parts of the organization
make your audiences aware of what the team’s work means to them
communicate outcomes and results

What will you learn?

Through presentations, discussion, readings and exercises, this one-day workshop will span the field of communications, covering:

The role of communications in effective leadership
Internal communications to mobilize and support the team
Communicating with and through the team
Communicating to build relationships with employees, colleagues and senior management
External communications to serve a range of audiences

What will you take away?

Presentation slides in the form of a participant notebook
Useful handouts and exercises
Certificate of completion to add to your learning portfolio

Professional competencies

Engagement: Working effectively with people, organizations and partners

Sample Agenda

Activity
Introductions and Workshop Overview
What is Communication? Participants review the principles of communication and discuss barriers to good communication.
Communicating with the Team Participants examine the key components of team communications. They discuss the importance of internal communications to enhance team productivity. In group discussions and exercises, they compare a variety of tools for internal communications, and learn how to tailor their communications to their team.
BREAK
Communicating with the Individual Participants review what the individual team member wants to know from their manager. They practise skills for communicating with individuals, including how to listen effectively and deliver difficult messages. They use an exercise to evaluate their listening skills, and they compare their own real examples of giving feedback to individuals.
LUNCH
Communicating Change Participants learn why communications is critical during times of change. They examine the various responses to change, and consider the communications role of the team leader throughout a transition. They look at a change situation, discuss who will be affected and plan how to manage communications in the team for this situation.
Communicating Across and Up in the Organization Participants learn how to use communications to create effective relationships with colleagues and to build trust with superiors. As a group, they review the principles of communications strategist James Lukaszewski, then discuss how to communicate to the busy boss and be heard at higher levels.
BREAK
Communicating Out Participants study the pillars of effective external communications. They examine the principles of stakeholder communications and discuss guidelines for communications with the media. In small groups, they complete an exercise on planning communications to external audiences.
Wrap-up and Evaluation Participants will complete a short evaluation.

Communications Advisor, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Workshop

Communications

Employee Engagement: Strategies and Techniques

In-House

Have questions about cancellations, rescheduling, or substitutions? View our workshop policies.

Why should you attend?

Research shows consistently that most organizations do not have a fully engaged workforce, people who care about its future and are willing to invest the effort to make it successful. Equally, there is a significant body of research across industries and countries and from organizations such as Gallup as to the benefits of enhancing the bond between employees, their colleagues and their organization, for example:

Increased commitment to and alignment with the organization’s goals and strategies;
Improved overall organizational effectiveness;
Increased productivity and improved morale;
Increased trust;
A community as opposed to just a workforce;
Improved client service, brand experience and loyalty.

Moreover, employers and managers at all levels are faced with the challenge of retaining and recruiting qualified people as baby boomers retire and the labour market becomes more competitive and complex – multigenerational and multicultural. The costs of not effectively responding to these various challenges are felt in a variety of ways but, ultimately, directly affect performance.

Developing and implementing an engagement strategy provides a systematic means of dealing with the range of interrelated issues usually presented in performance and organizational improvement. But such a strategy must be based on what works, those best practices and approaches, including the key element of communication, known from experience to offer the optimum likelihood of success.

What will you learn?

Definition and principles of employee engagement
The business case for employee engagement
The components and key drivers of employee engagement
Diagnosing your organization – critical questions and success factors
The importance of trust
Techniques and approaches for obtaining employee involvement
How to measure success
The key role of and linkages to internal communications
What works and what doesn’t

What will you take away?

Workbook with checklists and templates
Exercise handouts, examples and other material

Professional competencies

Thinking Things Through: Innovating through analysis and ideas
Engagement: Working effectively with people, organizations and partners

Who should attend

Managers and supervisors, those working in organizational development, human resources, internal communications, recruitment and retention strategists and specialists

Sample Agenda

Activity
Introductions and Workshop Overview
Employee Engagement • Definitions • Principles • Linkages • Why is Employee Engagement important? Exercise: Organizational “Health Quiz”
BREAK
Drivers of Employee Engagement • The 12 principles of Employee Engagement • The 10 key questions we need to ask • Trust and other critical success factors • Organizational barriers Mini-exercise: Looking at our own organization – answering the questions.
Why should we care? – The Business Case for Employee Engagement • Employee and organizational needs • Recruitment and retention • Organizational culture • What does research into Employee Engagement tell us? Mini-exercise: Employee engagement challenges.
LUNCH
Employee Engagement – Techniques and Approaches • Getting started • Key steps to success • Best practices • Using Social Media Mini-exercise: Looking at your own organization’s engagement practices.
Measuring Employee Engagement Success • Integration with internal communications • Techniques and approaches • Dealing with the results • Linkages to organizational reputation Mini-exercise: Who measures what and how?
BREAK
Employee Engagement and Internal Communications • Definitions, principles, linkages and drivers • Addressing diverse communications needs • What works and what does not • Tools, methods and activities Exercise: Building an Employee Engagement system for your organizations.
Wrap-up and Evaluation Participants will complete a short evaluation.

A relaxed space where everybody felt free to talk.

Research Scientist, Health Canada

Workshop

Communications

Effective Presentations and Public Speaking Skills: Communicating to Groups of 5 to 500

In-House

Have questions about cancellations, rescheduling, or substitutions? View our workshop policies.

NOTE: Due to its nature, this workshop is limited to 8 participants/workshop.

Why should you attend?

Standing in front of a group of people and presenting facts, ideas and opinions on a specific topic is one of the oldest methods of communicating information from one to many. It’s also a challenge that many professionals face, so having the necessary skill sets is important.

Modern technology may allow us to enhance our presentations with slides, sound and video, but the job of the presenter and the essential elements of how to communicate clearly and effectively remain unchanged.

Whether you’re presenting to an audience of five or speaking to an audience of 500, this course will provide you with the tools you need to succeed. It will:

Prepare you to approach your presentation with confidence;
Help you to understand the different needs of different audiences; and,
Provide you with techniques and tips to ensure you get your messages and ideas across.

What will you learn?

How to:

Use a step-by-step approach to develop the presentation
Assess and address the needs and expectations of the audience
Decide what to include and leave out
Develop relevant messages that resonate
Use facts and figures and examples to support your points
Apply audience analysis – perspectives, needs and priorities – as a key determinant of briefing or presentation content, structure and delivery style
Identify and craft key messages to be transmitted
Present technical concepts, information and data at a level appropriate to the audience and event concerned
Comfortably deliver different types of presentations to different audiences and events, including the unique challenge of online presentations
Comport yourself in front of an audience
Apply delivery techniques and use speaking notes and visual aids
Prepare for specific venues
Deal effectively with questions – including unexpected questions – from an audience

What will you take away?

Participant notebook consisting of presentations slides
Exercises and handouts
Increased confidence the next time you make a presentation or speech
Certificate of completion

Pre-Workshop Assignment

Participants are responsible for preparing two different pieces that they will present during the Individual Presentations portions of the agenda.

The first piece should be a presentation, with or without visual aids, that they have already used or will use. Length: 5-10 minutes.

The second piece is a speech that they have already used or will use. If they have nothing appropriate in their own portfolio, they may use a speech prepared for someone else in their organization. Length: 8-12 minutes maximum.

Professional competencies

Engagement: Working effectively with people, organizations and partners

Sample Agenda

Activity
Introductions and Workshop Overview
Why the Ability to Make Effective Presentations and Speeches Matters: The Role of the Presenter The business case for being able to make effective presentations; the importance of successful presentations to you and your organization.
Planning and Crafting Presentations and Speeches Different kinds of presentations, different audiences, different challenges, same goal. Taking a strategic approach to presentations: audience analysis – who they are, what they want to know. Determining and crafting key messages and the residual message – what your audience will take away from the presentation. Presentation content: what to include.
HEALTH BREAK
Individual (Homework-Based) Presentations Presentations, followed by structured peer review, discussion and instructor feedback.
LUNCH
Audience-Appropriate Language, Venue Analysis, Delivery and Comportment Using plain language your audience understands; knowing the venue in advance and how to prepare; planning your delivery – tone, pace and volume considerations; dealing with questions; comportment, appearance and non-verbal communication techniques.
HEALTH BREAK
Individual Presentations Presentations, followed by structured peer review, discussion and instructor feedback.
Wrap-up and Workshop Evaluation

Communications Advisor, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Workshop

Communications

Effective Organizational Communications

In-House

Have questions about cancellations, rescheduling, or substitutions? View our workshop policies.

Why should you attend?

For you, as for most public servants, effective communications is an important competency and a significant part of your day-to-day activities. Regardless of your position, your communications have an impact on your ability to get the job done, to ensure that your verbal and written messages are well crafted and understood. How you communicate influences your ability to succeed in the workplace and to establish and enhance your relationship with internal and external stakeholders. The impact of your communications is a key ingredient in getting a buy-in for your ideas and your projects and contributes significantly to achieving your business and career objectives. Effective communications make you a credible, trusted and sought after colleague and professional.

What will you learn?

Whatever your specific area of responsibility (Human Resources, Information Technology, Program Management, Finance, Audit and Evaluation , Economic Analysis, Policy or Science) this one-day workshop will:

help you identify and develop the communications skills, as well as actions and behaviours, that will enhance your capacity to achieve your objectives;
provide you with practical communications insights, techniques and tools;
clarify key concepts associated with communicating in the workplace, with clients, partners, colleagues and stakeholders;
help you formulate solid, and retainable, plain language verbal and written messages; and
improve your verbal delivery and professional conversations in the workplace

This will be achieved through interactive presentations, discussions, shared experience and exercises.

Who should attend?

This practical workshop will be most profitable for mid-level and senior officers, technical experts, policy advisors and scientists (e.g. PE 4-5-6, AS 4-5-6, CS 2-3-4, IS 4-5-6, ES 3-4-5, CO 2-3-4, PM 4-5-6, FI 4-5-6, etc.), who need to be clearly understood and whose communications have a direct impact on the achievement of their business objectives.

What will you take away?

Workbook
Exercises and handouts

Professional competencies

Thinking Things Through: Innovating through analysis and ideas
Engagement: Working effectively with people, organizations and partners

Sample Agenda

Activity
Introductions and Workshop Overview
Understanding Effective Communications “The Seven Cs” of good verbal and written communications. Cognitive limits of communications. Differences between written and oral communications. Understanding our audiences. Use of language for audience capture and conversation. Technical language to technical audience/plain language to others. Using plain language. Understanding messaging from our own and our audience’s perspectives. The basic “Rule of Three”.
BREAK
Active Listening Skills Why is this important? Key elements of active listening skills: • Paying attention • Withholding judgment • Reflecting • Clarifying • Summarizing • Sharing Small Group Exercise: Active Listening Participants will work in small groups to practise active listening skills. Reports from the groups and instructor-led review.
BREAK
Small Group Exercise: Crafting Key and Specialized Messages Participants will work in small groups to develop Branch-specific messaging. Reports from the groups and instructor-led review.
LUNCH
Communicating through Presentations, Briefings and Emails Common reasons why “presentation” go wrong. Differences between presentations, meetings, briefings and conversations. Using a systematic approach to oral and written presentations. Understanding “who am I talking to”, “what’s in it for me” and “what is in it for them”. Rule of Three! Basic principles of effective PowerPoint presentations and briefing. Understanding principles of effective email. Main email elements and how to organize our information from readers’ perspective.
Small Group Exercise: Developing a Presentation Outline Participants will work in small groups to develop a presentation outline. Reports from the groups and instructor-led review.
BREAK
Importance of Trust, Assertiveness and Confidence What is trust and why does it matter? How to build and maintain trust within your team and with clients and stakeholders? How to be assertive – 6 key steps. Difference between being assertive and aggressive. Building your self-confidence. Tips for confident behaviours. Personal SWOT analysis. Mini-exercise: Reina Leadership Quiz
Effective Verbal and Non-verbal Communications Impact of COVID 19 on government communications. Delivering diverse types of presentations of different duration and to varied audiences. Choosing your words and using your voice. Simple and proven techniques for overcoming nervousness and dealing with audience questions. A system and techniques for staying “on the message”. Why are some questions more difficult? Do’s and Don’ts of responding to questions.
BREAK
Small Group Exercise: Anticipating Questions Participants will work in small groups to develop a list of possible questions on the case study subject. Reports from the groups and instructor-led review.
Workshop Wrap-up: Qs and As, Takeaways and Evaluation

Workshop Participant

Workshop

Communications

Effective Client Service Communications

In-House

Have questions about cancellations, rescheduling, or substitutions? View our workshop policies.

Why should you attend?

The CEC’s workshop on Effective Client Service Communications will provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to be highly functioning administrative officers or assistants.

The focus of the workshop will encompass six essential administrative competencies:

Organization – Effective management, organization, and prioritization of office functions as well as the workday/week/month for people, management and other stakeholders.
Communication – Clearly conveying and receiving messages to meet the needs of all. This involves listening, interpreting, and delivering verbal, nonverbal, written, and electronic messages.
Service Delivery – Understanding and meeting the needs of clients. Clients are individuals or groups who use the organization’s or department’s services.
Technical – Ability to accurately and thoroughly utilize office technology and to demonstrate practical knowledge of information management, e-mail management and privacy protection issues.
Adaptability – Personal willingness and ability to work in and adapt to change.
Interpersonal – Working cooperatively and productively with others to achieve results.

What will you learn?

This workshop will focus on the skills required to be an effective administrative, program or project officer with an emphasis on improving your client relations and service delivery. The workshop participants will learn:

How to develop a client service orientation
An understanding of relationship management techniques
Approaches to measuring client satisfaction
How to build trust through key behavioural attributes
How to communicate effectively in verbal and written contexts
Essential skills and knowledge which constitute organizational, technical and interpersonal competencies
How to address diverse challenges presented by difficult clients

Who should attend?

This interactive workshop will be beneficial to all individuals working in an administrative, program, project, advisory or other related positions or functions in public, private or voluntary sectors.

What will you take away?

Workbook consisting of presentation slides
Exercises and handouts
Certificate of completion

Professional competencies

Thinking Things Through: Innovating through analysis and ideas
Engagement: Working effectively with people, organizations and partners
Excellence: Delivering results

Sample Agenda

Activity
Introductions and Workshop Overview Instructor and participant introductions. Key elements of the agenda. Overview of administrative competencies.
Client Service Orientation • Definitions: Client Service Orientation, Core Motivations and Progression. • Interacting with clients: client understanding, manner, communications, timelines and responsibility. • Using your knowledge: understanding client viewpoints, determining client needs; responding and building relationships. • Providing support and services: Key actions and behaviours. • Measuring client satisfaction: What to measure and what tools can we use?
Small Group Exercise In groups, discuss and identify a minimum of three (3) specific questions in the area of “perceptions of service experience”, to be part of a bi-annual client satisfaction survey. Capture your results in bullet form and present your conclusions to the plenary.
BREAK
Building Trust: Attributes of Effective Advisory and Administrative Roles • Fundamentals of being credible. • Key actions: Knowledge, liaison, delivering, building buy-in, anticipating and mitigating, understanding and acting on changing contexts. • Effective behaviours: Reliability, tact and diplomacy, listening and learning. • Teamwork and collaboration: Key actions and behaviours and strategies for reducing conflict.
Small Group Exercise In groups, using the provided template, discuss and identify what could be changed or adjusted in your existing client relationships. Capture your results in bullet form and present your conclusions to the plenary.
Being Adaptable: Contextual awareness and recognizing the value of new or modified approaches • Definition and motivation. • Scale and progression – what is expected. • Key behaviours, attitudes and actions. • What is not adaptability! • Links to analytical, creative and active thinking and listening. • Being a change agent.
LUNCH
Written and Oral Communications Key attributes of written and verbal communications: knowledge, skills, behaviours and actions. When and how to communicate with clients and within the team. How to tailor writing and presenting to different clients. Understanding the communications needs of our clients and management.
Small Group Exercise In pairs, discuss and draft an email to a client requesting a meeting to discuss new delays in the project deadline. Please identify the type of information you will need to share with the client during the meeting to get their agreement to the new deadline.
BREAK
Organizational and Technical Skills, Behaviours and Knowledge Understanding of your role, those of others and the linkages to the organization and broader context. Key actions and behaviours. What do we need to know? – rules, regulations, resources, preferences and project management approaches. Planning for effectiveness and efficiency.
Small Group Exercise In groups, and based on your experience, discuss and identify three key organizational processes or procedures, their impact on your work and potential solutions. Capture your results in bullet form and present your conclusions to the plenary.
Qs and As, Wrap-up and Evaluation Participants will have an opportunity to ask any final questions complete a short evaluation.

You continue to offer exactly what government workers need to learn – at the right time!

Workshop Participant, Health Canada