In this fast-paced opening session, you will get to know your fellow peers, hear their biggest internal communications challenges, and can learn a few fun facts.

COVID-19 provided an opportunity for internal communicators to demonstrate value. We communicated vital information every day, while telling both heartwarming and heartbreaking stories. We gained a new level of trust and dependence from our workforce. And, we are now being asked to engage our workforce to stay in healthcare, despite the unprecedented retention challenges organizations now face as a result of the pandemic.

Learn how the communications team at Northwestern Medicine is moving the dial by:

• Reimagining employee and physician communications vehicles
• Helping communicate sensitive salary messaging
• Leading a campaign to say thank you
• Bringing reluctant employees into compliance with a federal vaccine mandate

Internal stakeholders (employees, board of directors, volunteers, major donors) should be a key audience for crisis communications, yet internal comms is often overlooked or undervalued in times of crisis.

During this interactive workshop, we’ll discuss how to:

• Address the complexities of reaching staff who work in a variety of roles, at different hours, in various locations and with varying access to laptops or phones
• Keep internal stakeholders engaged so that they can be informed ambassadors and advocates, rather than feeling like they’re the last to know
• Cultivate collaborative communications across and within departments when things are going smoothly, so you can quickly activate those channels in time of need

Mergers and acquisitions are becoming increasingly common, especially in healthcare. It can be challenging to bring together the two groups and make sure all team members feel informed and involved in the integration process. During this session, you’ll hear lessons learned from the merger of Intermountain Healthcare and SCL Health, which formally became one company on April 1, 2022.

Topics covered include:

• Creating a new combined brand and culture
• Strategies for keeping employees informed
• Lessons learned from the merger

We’ll break you into smaller groups so you can discuss tips to tackle your greatest challenges.

The secret to increasing the size of your communications team can be found right within your own organization.

During this session, you will:

• Get tips, tricks, and takeaways to build an internal comms discipline throughout your organization
• Walk away with tools you can deploy immediately to drive greater exposure and engagement with your comms initiatives and campaigns

When the pandemic hit, healthcare communicators everywhere were already overworked and understaffed. Hear how the team at Children’s Mercy Kansas City embraced collaboration, experimentation, and agility to keep the hospital’s 8,000 employees safe, up-to-date and focused on caring for their kids.

In this case study, you’ll learn how:

• The pandemic elevated the importance of the intranet within the organization, bringing heightened visibility to the direct impact of internal communications on patient care
• With information quickly changing by the hour, the marketing department accelerated its evolution of processes, policies and decision-making
• Individual communicators expanded their roles and responsibilities, leading to professional development and personal growth in unexpected ways

Hear from a panel of communications peers who will provide tips and practical advice to tackle your biggest challenges.