No bystanders allowed

[Alex Hentschel]

If you’re not ready to roll up your sleeves, get involved, and challenge assumptions, then you should skip the upcoming Melcrum Employee Engagement conference, held in Atlanta, February 23-25, 2010.

From a kick-off that demands your total attention to our ever-popular roundtables to interactive sessions, the program doesn’t just talk about engagement, it lives it.

Let’s take a closer look:

Involvement
We’ve custom-built an “Engagement Experience” with Tim McCleary, one of Melcrum’s most highly rated speakers. In Part I, Tim asks you to consider the many – and sometimes competing – definitions of engagement. After a hands-on learning exercise (those of you who were with us in Chicago at the Summit will remember that Tim gets all your senses firing!), you’ll have a framework for what engagement means to for your organization and a plan for getting the most out of the conference. In Parts II and III, Tim sets you for success upon your return to the office.

Social media
If there’s no business reason for social media, then it’s just a collection of really neat tools. Let Francesca Karpel of NetApp show you how the organization built an engine for collaboration and brand engagement. This session is about getting results through the use of social media. No theorizing or wishful thinking – it’s the nuts-and-bolts of setting up a global, online community.

Story-telling
If you’re like me and once considered story-telling to be a “soft” topic, one that didn’t have a place in these hard-edged and turbulent times, then get ready to be proven wrong.

First, Terry McKenzie, formerly of SunMicrosystems and current partner at Fibonacci Design Group, leads a workshop on the power of story-telling and presentation. Attend this workshop and walk away with the tools you need to make connections through stories and ensure your message has impact.

Then, Stacey Clark Ohara of Juniper Networks outlines how the business invested in story-telling as a means to more effectively onboard new employees and articulate its culture.

New CEO – No Problem
Mergers, market turmoil, and constant changes. And your CEO is the “strong and silent” type. Not an ideal scenario. Learn from Susan Nelson of Exterran how she created opportunities for the new leader to connect with their 10,000+ global workforce.

Financial Fallout brings Engagement Opportunities
Remember the Wall Street of hefty paychecks, bigger bonuses and lots of success to go around? Whatever engagement cracks there may have been were easily papered over with dollar bills. Craig Smith of UBS reveals how major investment banks are re-thinking what engagement and loyalty should look like in a post-fallout era.

Finally – we want to recognize YOU. That’s right, we’re running our first-ever engagement awards at this event. This is not about glossy brochures and snappy headlines. We’re looking for submissions of engagement efforts that brought about business improvement. Find out more here.