Welcome to ALI's Storytelling for Internal Communications Virtual Conference.

We'll go over a few details to maximize your virtual experience before we kick things off.

Welcome to ALI Conferences' Storytelling for Internal Communications conference! In this fast-paced forum, you'll get to know your fellow peers, their biggest challenges, and a few fun facts. You are encouraged to turn on your camera to join in on the fun.

Southwest Airlines has relied on its Heart more than ever, in perhaps the hardest year the airline has ever faced.

In this session, you’ll discover:

• Southwest’s on-the-fly plan to craft the Southwest Promise, focused on Customer and Employees’ comfort and well-being
• Lessons learned from resource consolidation, and how that affected marketing and communications output
• The decision to bring back joy and laughter, in the form of a famed Southwest Airlines marketing campaign

Learn how the team at Microsoft developed a blueprint for organization-wide storytelling efforts. Through a compelling case study, Miri Rodriguez will share the workings of an internal Storytelling Council. You will also learn how storytelling has become a powerful business tool in today’s digital age because it begins and ends with empathy, driving an immersive and emotional experience for stakeholders and audiences that inspired them to action.

You will learn:

• Ways to encourage every employee within your organization to become a skilled storyteller
• How to share your stories within, as well as take them to market
• Strategies to craft a story with empathy and design principles

Do you have more internal communications challenges than you have time to solve? Learn how to run a Lightning Decision Jam with your team, so you can quickly ideate and prioritize solutions to your most pressing challenges.

All you need for this session is a pen and the willingness to be open and creatively expeditious when Kevin says "Go!"

Take a minute to check email, refill your coffee, & grab a bite to eat.
We'll resume at 12:45 pm.

Employees today are feeling more disconnected than ever. They are working from home, not seeing their colleagues, and have Zoom and Teams fatigue. This spells opportunity for communicators. We can create content that can drive engagement, reinforce the corporate culture, and connect employees to each other and leaders. This workshop will show you how to do exactly that.

You'll learn how to:

• Use storytelling techniques to connect employees to each other
• Find the most important stories in your organization . . . And tell them in compelling fashion
• Avoid the "Four Deadly Ps" that kill corporate content
• Use tools like empathy maps to tap into employee emotions
• Create content that will reinforce the corporate culture . . . Even when so many people are working from home

Connecting with and inspiring people through speech isn’t rocket science; but it does take work. During Michael’s presentation, learn what successful professionals say and do to motivate their listeners, influence decision makers, and make lasting impacts on their audiences. He will discuss how to leverage:

• Visual and digital media to clearly get your point across
• Your own experiences (professional and personal) to impact listeners, and
• Simple language to convey your thoughts

These tools and tips will help you master any situation that requires you to communicate effectively.

Employees are your most powerful brand ambassadors. How they talk about your organization to their families, friends, and networks influences how those groups perceive your brand and mission. But you need to provide them with tools and resources to help them tell your story with confidence.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

• Create an easy-to-understand messaging framework about “who you are and what you do”
• Use stories to engage and inspire your employees
• Develop a brand ambassador program that works for your organization and employees

Hear from multiple stellar storytellers and how they have created a storytelling culture within their organization.

Panelists will address the challenges submitted pre-conference, but you are encouraged to continue to ask questions via chat during the discussion.

Moderator:  Kevin Finke, Experience Willow

Panelists Include:

Dianne Chase, Chase Media

Tiffin Jernstedt, Formerly Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger

Miri Rodriguez, Microsoft

Jenny Fasolino, Blue Yonder

Your chairperson will share his own top three takeaways. Please feel free to share your own 'a-ha' moments in the chat.

Any questions or comments about today's agenda - email maryrose@aliconferences.com

We will see you at 10:00 CST for tomorrow's sessions.