Enjoy complimentary coffee, tea and continental breakfast as you meet your fellow attendees.
Sign-in, pick up your materials and enjoy a continental breakfast before we start the day.
Be sure to stop by and visit your sponsors! 

Cultivating a thriving culture begins with trust — the cornerstone of credibility, resilience, and employee engagement. This session explores how trust fuels sustainable brand alignment by moving beyond posters and campaigns to create systems that employees truly believe in. Attendees will learn how to apply the Trust Equation (believability, dependability, emotional closeness, and selflessness) to their communication strategies while navigating the challenges of organizational change. The session also highlights the evolving role of Learning & Development as a co-owned driver of culture, innovation, and growth. Using the practical “Top 10 Wins” framework, participants will gain strategies to anticipate needs, secure buy-in, and build a future-ready workforce where authenticity, psychological safety, and continuous learning are at the center. 

Key Takeaways: 

• Understand how trust underpins internal brand alignment and long-term employee engagement. 

• Apply the Trust Equation to strengthen credibility and consistency in HR and corporate communications. 

• Explore how Learning & Development can partner with communications to reinforce culture and alignment. 

• Gain actionable strategies through the “Top 10 Wins” framework to drive sustainable success. 

The Community Solution Education System (TCSES) is a complex higher education network with six colleges and universities and a System Office, each with unique histories, cultures, and workforce needs. To move from a matrixed model to a platform-based “One System Workforce” approach, the HR function needed to redefine how leadership, communication, and decision-making occur. This case study explores how the System established a Systemwide HR Cabinet to embody shared ownership and coauthorship as guiding principles, strengthen cross-institutional collaboration, elevate HR’s voice in institutional leadership, and create a foundation for sustainable HR transformation. 

Attendees will:  

• Learn how TCSES created a Systemwide HR Cabinet and charter model that empowers local HR leaders as equal strategy partners, reducing policy fragmentation while honoring each campus’s culture. 

• See how embedding HRBPs in presidential cabinets and establishing clear communication channels strengthened HR’s visibility with executive leadership and built trust across a complex, multi-institution network. 

• Discover practical tactics—like cross-functional collaboration and triad leadership—that deliver unified policies, consistent messaging, and employee-friendly benefits while allowing local adaptation and innovation. 

Enjoy complimentary coffee, tea, and other refreshments as you network with your peers. 

Be sure to fill out your evaluation forms! 

Join us for an engaging fireside chat with Howard, as he reflects on more than 30 years of leadership across corporate, agency, and nonprofit communications. Having guided organizations like Hillrom, Exelon, and LaSalle Bank through times of change, Howard is recognized for his calm leadership, deep expertise in culture and employee engagement, and ability to make communication strategies work across diverse and dispersed workforces. 

In this conversation, Howard will share stories and practical insights on: 

• Reaching the hard-to-reach: Creative, effective strategies to connect with frontline and dispersed employees where they are 

• Defining shared ownership: How communications teams and HRBPs can partner to divide and conquer HR communications for maximum impact 

• Leading with trust: Building a culture of engagement and resilience during times of change 

• Elevating the communicator’s role: Lessons from decades at the intersection of business strategy, culture, and communications 

Discover how an organization moved from one-off internal campaigns to a unified, values-driven brand experience. By aligning HR, communications, and leadership teams, they created a brand system that connects culture, mission, and employee experience—resulting in stronger engagement and retention.
 

Key Takeaways: 

• Steps to create a cohesive internal brand strategy across departments. 

• Methods to embed brand values in daily employee interactions. 

• Practical tips for sustaining brand alignment through growth and change. 

Reservations have been made at a number of local restaurants.
Don't miss this opportunity to have lunch with your peers at a local Chicago hot spot!
 

**Everyone is financially responsible for their own lunch. 

Bring your toughest HR and benefits communication problems to the room and leave with actionable solutions. Guided by our session chair, participants will share real challenges—from engaging frontline employees to leveraging AI responsibly—then crowdsource strategies and best practices with peers.

HR problems are everywhere. Compelling stories about those problems? Much harder to find. This session transforms attendees from passive listeners into active storytellers by demonstrating live how any HR challenge becomes a data-driven narrative. 

Kam will first walk through the SCQR framework (Situation, Complication, Question, Resolution) using NORC's Mental Health Awareness Month campaign—showing how rising healthcare costs became one of their most impactful benefits campaigns. Then comes the real magic: through interactive polling, the audience collectively builds their own HR story in real-time. 

Session Takeaways: 

• Master the SCQR framework for data-driven HR storytelling 

• Experience live transformation of metrics into meaningful narratives 

• Build actionable communication strategies using real audience data 

• Leave with templates and worksheets for immediate implementation 

Recharge with coffee, light snacks, and great company. This informal networking break gives you the perfect opportunity to connect with peers, exchange ideas, and spark collaborations before heading back into the sessions. 

Total rewards are no longer limited to health plans and retirement packages. Today’s employees expect a complete value proposition that reflects their whole experience—career growth, flexibility, well-being, recognition, and purpose. This panel brings together HR and communications leaders who are redefining the conversation to capture the full employee value equation. 

Don't stop the conversation! 

Join us at the Fairmont lobby bar for complementary drinks as you network with your peers. Participate in raffles & sign-up for dinner with your peers! 

Want to keep the conversation going? Join a group of attendees for dinner at a local Chicago hot spot.
 

Sign-up at the registration desk or during the networking reception to join a group at tonight's dine-around. Reservations have been made.
 

**Dutch treat. 

Enjoy complimentary coffee, tea and continental breakfast as you network with fellow attendees on this final day. 

Together we will recap yesterday's top takeaways and set the stage for this final day of learning. 

Explore how a forward-thinking organization is reimagining HR and benefits communication for 2026 and beyond. This session will showcase practical innovations: AI-driven personalization, data-informed messaging, and emerging digital platforms, that are transforming how employees connect with benefits and career resources.

Key Takeaways: 

• Identify macro trends redefining employee engagement and total rewards. 

• Learn how to use technology and analytics to personalize communication at scale. 

• Gain a roadmap for preparing HR messaging for the next wave of workplace change. 

This case study highlights how a leading employer motivated people managers to champion benefits and total rewards as part of everyday conversations with their teams. Through targeted training, incentive programs, and manager-friendly toolkits, they increased benefits literacy and employee participation across departments.
Attendees will learn:  

• Proven strategies to engage managers as frontline benefits communicators. 

• Techniques to measure and sustain manager-led benefits discussions. 

• Insights on driving higher enrollment and year-round engagement. 

Enjoy complimentary coffee, tea, and other refreshments as you network with your peers. 

Be sure to stop by and visit your sponsors and be sure to fill out your evaluation forms. 

This highly participatory session turns the audience into a think tank. We’ll identify the most pressing HR, total rewards, and internal communications hurdles in the room, form breakout groups to design solutions, and reconvene to share a collective “playbook” of fresh ideas. 

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how HR and communications teams connect with employees—from content creation and personalization to analytics and engagement strategy. But what’s actually working in practice? In this panel, HR and comms leaders share their early experiments, wins, and lessons learned as they integrate AI into everyday workflows. Gain real-world insight into what tools and approaches are proving most effective, and what to watch out for as the technology continues to evolve.