Transform your corporate communications with SharePoint

Transform your corporate communications with SharePoint Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux), PMP Managing Partner, Innovative-e Dux, Author, “SharePoint for Project Management”

The #1 most used corporate communications tool is email – a 1973 technology – to facilitate corporate communications.

Why SharePoint?
The vision for SharePoint is that it democratizes productivity – it centralizes information, makes the right things available to the right people, and you don’t need IT’s help to do what needs to be done.

7 Ways to Maximize SharePoint for Corporate Communications

1. Easily create a Collaboration Platform
   The best part of SharePoint is that you don’t need IT’s help to set it up.  The collaborative platform centralizes team artifacts (documents) and dialogue around projects.  In addition, SharePoint is connected to all the other tools people are already familiar with, including Outlook. For example, from Outlook, SharePoint calendars, documents, and other pieces are accessible and editable. You can actually use SharePoint without going to the project site, but just by working within Outlook.
2. Efficiently Manage Information
   With a centralized workspace, you can avoid playing “who saved the file last.”  In new versions of SharePoint, up to 4 people can work on a document simultaneously.  Version history, alerts, and organization manages records retention and allows users to customer how they want to work.
3. Utilize Microsoft Office Integration
   Word, Excel, Outlook, Project, and other Microsoft products can sync files directly with SharePoint.  You can work with the tools you’re familiar with, and SharePoint simply helps connect and centralize the information. When everyone is working off the same set of information, you no longer have to take it all in and sort and combine data or information. For example, “Sync with Outlook” will move things like SharePoint discussions, documents, etc. to work with Outlook.
4. Enhance Team Collaboration
   Two things can be used specifically to help team collaboration – Discussion Boards and Meeting Workspace.  Discussions are easy, and as mentioned, can be used just like email, by syncing with Outlook.  The meeting workspace provides a single place to store meeting information and record it.
5. Effectively Automate Processes
   Common corporate communications processes and workflows are already in the tool out of the box – Approvals (stages/next steps or parallel), collect signatures, Disposition approval).  These are great for helping to document approvals, and ensure process and proceedures are followed.
6. Generate Relevant Reports
   Sharepoint allows you to utlize the data within documents to build Dashboards with KPIs, charts, etc.
7. Enable Mobile Access
   One Note – can be used to send things from a mobile device and then edit in Sharepoint.

How to Successfully Leverage SharePoint

Planning, executive support, educating your employees, and using the tools to solve problems is key.  SharePoint is more than just a glorified way to share and store documents, it’s a business enablement tool.  SharePoint has multiple capabilities, but you must take the approach of figuring out how to use it to solve your particular challenges.

My Plan for Oct. 5

As I mentioned, I’m going to be at the Ragan Employee Communications, PR, and Social Media Summit from Oct. 3 – 5.  There are a few different sessions offered during each period, so I wanted to share the sessions I’m planning to attend here.  You can always follow my live (West Coast time zone) on Twitter (@kkozlen), or here on this blog. If requested, I might do some live video coverage via this site… please take a look at my plan for the conference and let me know if there are any questions or things I can look into on your behalf.

8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. (PST)
7 ways internal communications can help create a great place to work
Kim Darnofall (@KimDarnofall), Internal Communications Project Manager, SAS

SAS has been in the Top 3 on the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® List in the United States, including two No. 1 rankings, in the past three years. Internal communications plays a vital role in earning this distinction by creating or promoting programs featured in the award application, by enhancing leadership communications, and by fostering pride in the company and encouraging camaraderie. All of these are measured in an employee survey, which counts for two-thirds of a company’s ranking. SAS’ Kim Darnofall will not only outline the ways internal communications creates an award-winning workplace, but will give examples of how they “keep the corporate culture.”

I’M STILL DEBATING BETWEEN 2 SESSIONS DURING THE NEXT TIMESLOT… HERE ARE THE 2, LET ME KNOW WHICH ONE YOU’D BE MOST INTERESTED IN HEARING ABOUT.

9:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m. (PST)
How Best Buy provides a voice for its remote workforce using social media
Andrew Hokenson (@Andreux), Senior Specialist—Employee Communications, Best Buy

With the average age of Facebook users pushing into the northern 30s, the mystique of social media isn’t such a mystery anymore. However, with a new generation of employees integrating into the workforce (a generation that views email as antiquated and “corporatey”), it’s time to integrate the social media philosophy so many are comfortable with at home into the workplace. Andrew Hokenson will take you on a narrative of Best Buy’s journey from a monolithic state to a culture of 167,000 communicators.

In this session:

• Challenges of changing a “new” communication culture
• How to develop a social media policy for your intranet
• Why and how to bridge the gap between corporate and field employees
• Why social media shouldn’t become another communications strategy
• Why companies shouldn’t have a CEO featured on the TV show “Undercover Boss”

9:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m. (PST)
How mobile video can make you a communication hero
Drew Keller (@DrewKeller), Owner, StoryGuide, and Paolo Tosolini (@Tosolini), Director of Digital and Emerging Media, Run Studios

Smartphones and tablets are the new best friends of corporate communicators. They are portable, connected and multitalented. You can push their powerful versatility in new and creative ways that will far exceed their traditional uses. Through practical demonstrations, Drew Keller and Paolo Tosolini will show you how to exploit the multimedia capabilities of mobile devices. At the end of this session you’ll be able to transform your stories through mobile video.

In this session:

• Create powerful photo montages out of your pictures
• Master best practices to shoot and edit interviews with your mobile phone
• Use tags and videos to promote your products and services
• Live-stream an event from your phone
• Surprise your team using Augmented Reality

11 a.m.-12 p.m. (PST) – CLOSING KEYNOTE

Deliver digital marketing success: 8 steps PR professionals can take to maximize social media
Dux Raymond Sy (@MeetDux), PMP Managing Partner, Innovative-e

As traditional marketing and social media become increasingly adopted for building relationships with existing and prospective customers, what is the value of social media for PR professionals engaging in a business-to-business environment?

Join Dux Raymond Sy as he shares practical strategies, tips and best practices on how PR professionals can best maximize social media for marketing, brand awareness, customer engagement and sales acquisition. You’ll see real-world examples of how utilizing social media can generate legitimate results, including increased business leads and loyalty among existing customers.

In this interactive closing keynote:

• Distinguish the value of various social media channels for your PR initiatives
• Establish relevant metrics for measuring digital marketing success
• Amplify corporate messaging with an industry “echo” system
• Integrate social media channels with existing marketing initiatives and sales efforts
• Leverage internal and external tools like SharePoint, SocialOomph, Google Analytics and Feed Burner to manage social media activities
• Drive a targeted social media campaign for brand awareness, lead generation, customer engagement and partner initiatives
• Create a strategic social media roadmap for your organization

Participants will receive a workshop recording, digital marketing templates and checklists, and a strategic social media roadmap template.

My Plan for Oct. 4

As I mentioned, I’m going to be at the Ragan Employee Communications, PR, and Social Media Summit from Oct. 3 – 5.  There are a few different sessions offered during each period, so I wanted to share the sessions I’m planning to attend here.  You can always follow my live (West Coast time zone) on Twitter (@kkozlen), or here on this blog. If requested, I might do some live video coverage via this site… please take a look at my plan for the conference and let me know if there are any questions or things I can look into on your behalf.

Thursday, Oct. 4

8:45 a.m. (PST) Welcome with Mark Ragan

9 a.m.-10 a.m.
OPENING KEYNOTE – Strategies for the changing nature and pace of communications
Frank X Shaw (@FXShaw), Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communications, Microsoft

In today’s 24/7 global communications environment it’s harder than ever to know what to say when and what messages should travel through which channels. It’s becoming more challenging to understand what will have the most impact with your target audience. It is also becoming more difficult to strategically respond to competitive opportunities or threats when the pace of communications is instant.  Timely action and response is of the essence. Frank Shaw will share the things he’s learned over the past several years about the changing nature and pace of communications, with an emphasis on competitive PR.

• What social strategies work best around competitive PR
• How to best balance a timely response with need for legal review and involvement
• How to identify a best practice
• What to measure to know you’ve had impact reaching your target audience around competitive communications
• When to take a risk and when not to act

10:15 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
Employee communications tactics for an ADD world:  How to engage, collaborate and motivate employees
Tobin Burgess is Senior HR Business Partner, and Caitlin Duffy (@duffycait), Managing Editor of MSW, Microsoft

We all know that employee engagement is critical—it leads to higher retention, increased productivity and better morale. But between the “old-fashioned” tactics of email and events and the new wave of social tools, how do you really move employees to action as advocates and experts? Microsoft has learned key lessons in both old and new tactics—lessons that may help you reach and engage employees creatively no matter your set of tactics.

• How employee comms is gathering followers and landing calls to action via internal social channels
• Microsoft’s key take-aways in designing a mobile news app for employees
• What kinds of events—from in-person to videocasts to microblogging Q&A—generate the best reach and engagement
• How one company-turned-division, Skype, managed employee engagement through its acquisition and on-boarding into Microsoft
• How both specific groups and the corporate team use employee deals and retail to get products into employee evangelists’ hands

12:15 p.m.-1:15 p.m. (PST)
Come on, get happy: How Expedia enhances employee engagement online
Kristin Graham, Vice President, Engagement & Communications, Expedia, Inc.
Mark Schmitt, Senior Communications Manager, Employee Programs, Expedia, Inc.

First begun as a project within Microsoft, Expedia was a pioneer in the dot-com boom. Fifteen years later, the company is Expedia, Inc., the worlds largest online travel company, employing more than 9,000 people in 36 countries. Communicating across time zones to go-go employees who are by nature impatient of going through channels and following by-the-book formal procedures, Expedia tackles internal conversation, collaboration and community by using a portfolio of communication tools. Using both traditional and social channels, Expedia keeps learning and adapting to how these channels inform and inspire employees.   The goal is to get employees to share professional and personal content through tools on a global intranet. The mix of tools helps workers cultivate corporate culture, deepens its employee value proposition, and boosts Expedias brand.

In this session:

• What Expedia learned the hard way as it introduced new tools to email addicts
• How changing a vacation policy made a competitive difference
• What channels drive a new health & wellness program
• How an online employee referral program produces more than 12,000 referrals a year
• How partnering with PR and IR extends reach, resources, and budget
• Ideas to get the attention of distracted employees used to reading posts and tweets

1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (PST)
Support a strong corporate culture by guiding your senior leaders to speak with authenticity and transparency
Diana Kowalsky (@dianakowalsky), Internal Communications Manager, and Libby Catalinich (@lcatali), Director of Corporate Communications, REI

Trust is essential to a thriving business. We all know that leaders play a key part in building trust, fostering culture and sparking dialogue. In this session, you’ll hear how REI is working to empower and energize leaders as a critical voice in the organization to build employee confidence and engagement.

• Why executives matter to employees and how to communicate that to your leaders
• Tips to help managers be a voice for the organization
• How a CEO blog can bring personality and connection to senior leaders
• Why old-fashioned face-to-face conversation still matters

2:45 p.m.-3:45 p.m. (PST)
How to create buzz and excitement with employee communications—from a stale monthly newsletter to an energizing monthly talk show
Justin Fong (@jgfong), Vice President of Internal Communications, Teach For America

In the last five years, Teach For America’s staff has grown six-fold to nearly 1,700 spread across 46 regions and countless home offices. Fostering community and an esprit de corps has become increasingly difficult, so they developed “The Blank Show,” a one-hour monthly live broadcast that strengthens team spirit, fuels the fire for their mission, and allows senior leaders to communicate important messages live to a wide audience.

During this session:

• The power of live video broadcasts in shaping staff culture and internal branding
• Internal change management: abandoning a monthly newsletter and starting a talk show
• Creating buzz and generating buy-in for an hour-long show
• Behind-the-scenes conversations about strategy and content for the show
• The nitty-gritty of putting on a low-budget, high-impact production (including technology and equipment selection)

4 p.m-5 p.m. (PST) – SPECIAL KEYNOTE
Disney Parks Social Media Content: Creating Magical Experiences
Thomas Smith (@ThomasSmith) is Social Media Director at Disney Destinations

Similar to Walt Disney’s original idea for Disneyland, the Disney Parks social media program is driven by the simple notion that making guests happy is a key to success. Since launching the successful Walt Disney World Moms Panel, Disney Parks Blog and other channels, the program’s strategy has revolved around listening, building relationships, creating and sharing relevant stories and participating in online conversations. Disney Parks has a series of real-world case studies and examples to share as well as the secret to what keeps the company’s most powerful social program moving forward and grabbing attention.

• The importance of purposeful storytelling
• Why Disney Parks social operates like a next-generation newsroom
• Disney’s secret to moving a social program forward
• Why doing social right demands creativity
• How to highlight the best of your company in the social space
• The key to creating experiences worth sharing
• How to build structure around your content

My Plan for Oct. 3

The Ragan Employee Communications, PR and Social Media Summit is coming up next week. You can always follow my live (West Coast time zone) on Twitter (@kkozlen), or here on this blog. If requested, I might do some live video coverage via this site… please take a look at my plan for the conference and let me know if there are any questions or things I can look into on your behalf.

The first thing I’m attending is a pre-conference workshop on Wednesday, October 3, covering various aspects of employee communication. Here are the workshop sessions I’ll be attending:

9 a.m.-11 a.m (PST)
Transform your corporate communications with SharePoint
Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux), PMP Managing Partner, Innovative-e

By leveraging SharePoint 2010, corporate communicators are empowered to create relevant solutions that can increase productivity by streamlining and automating communication processes and minimizing communicators’ dependence on IT.

• Exploit the key benefits of SharePoint for corporate communicators
• Automate corporate communications processes and workflows with SharePoint
• Integrate SharePoint with existing corporate communication tools
• Create a Web-based dashboard to track and measure relevant corporate communication metrics
• Leverage social and mobile capabilities to better engage corporate audiences

12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (PST)
Leadership communications: How a communicator in the social media world can support and maximize the impact when an executive communicates
Mark Schumann (@dmarkschumann), past Chair, IABC
Mark Schumann, ABC, past Chair of IABC and a 17-time Gold Quill winner, for a compelling workshop on how to reinvent your communication skills to provide the support a leader needs in the social media world.  Behind every great leader is a great communicator. And, in this 24/7 business environment of constant interaction, how a communicator supports a leader has significantly changed. No longer is helping a leader craft a message adequate support. Today’s communicator must continually coach the leader to make the most of each opportunity to engage.

This session will cover:

• Help a leader discover a communication style, tone and level of comfort with a range of interactions
• Coach a leader to work within an authentic voice that is natural to express and absorb
• Introduce new media to a leader without forgetting that every tool is a means to an end of stakeholder engagement
• Establish a curriculum of leadership message and content
• Encourage a leader to become more involved in the development of communication strategy and approaches without delegating the task
• Continually reinforce to the leader that communication is a fundamental part of the role

3 p.m.-5 p.m. (PST)
How organizations need to use video and storytelling to create and protect their brand
Drew Keller (@DrewKeller), Owner, StoryGuide

Corporate communicators must explain, defend, and bolster the corporate brand internally and externally with imagination and verve. This is no small task now that social media has made it more difficult to manage your brand on many platforms. Video is one of the strongest weapons in your arsenal to create the look and feel of your brand. When you make a video, your audience pays attention to every detail. They look in the corners of your shots, they listen to the words, and they absorb your message… intended or accidental. Therefore it is critical that every video you produce has an identifiable relationship with the personality of your product.

This session will cover how to use video to tell your corporate stories. You will learn how to:

• Make certain that your stories reflect your company or organization’s philosophy
• Make sure the look and feel of your videos reflect the brand positively
• Avoid common pitfalls of content creation that does not advance your brand
• Capture inspirational and memorable stories that will bring your company renown
• Write the perfect script through employee interviews and brainstorms

Ragan Employee Communications, PR and Social Media Summit

Next week (Oct. 3-5) I’ll be attending the Regan Empoloyee Communications, PR, and Social Media Summit at Microsoft Headquarters in Seattle.

Much like I’ve done for SXSW and iMedia summits in the past, I’ll be cover the event live here on this blog, as well as on Twitter (@kkozlen).

I hope to interact with you in real-time, so if you have any questions, or if there’s something I can find out for you while I’m there, please contact me!

Abundance of Victory Malt

I was looking for an alternative to an Oktoberfest, and wanted something with a nice bready-malty-toasty flavor.  So, I thought I’d do this full-scale experiment and see what would happen if I used an abundance of Victory Malt.  Well, as you can see in my notes at the end, it didn’t turn out at all like I was hoping.  Perhaps it was a bad yeast cake from the previous beer, or something with my rest, but it turned out very fruity (instead of bready or toasty).  I’m trying to save it by adding dry hops.

Homemade Root Beer

I know it’s been a while, but things have been a little busy. I’ve brewed a few times in the last several months, and I’ll get those recipes posted here soon. In the meantime, ever since I started kegging, I’ve been making root beer with my son. For our first batch, we tried the Old Fashioned Root Beer extract I found at the homebrew shop. It was OK, but I was told by a friend that I could get better extract from Zatarain’s, and could get a good discount by buying 12 at a time.

I’ve made several batches now with the Zatarain’s, and after pouring an entire bag of cane sugar into our first batch, my son and I have been experimenting with different levels of sugar and Splenda. Our last batch was completely Splenda (sugar-free) and it was OK, but it had an obvious flavor difference. There’s also a lot of licorice and slightly sharp flavors, so I asked around to see what I could do to make it a bit creamier and smoother. I decided to go with two suggestions… adding vanilla extract and going with some corn sugar (dextrose).

We just made this recipe tonight, and I’ll report back on how it tastes soon.

2.5 gallons of water warmed on the stove
1 lb corn sugar
.5 lb cane sugar
8 cups of Splenda for baking
2 TBS Vanilla extract
4oz of Zatarain’s Root Beer extract (1 bottle)

Poured the mixture into a 5 gallon corney keg and topped off with water. Force carbonated it and let it sit in fridge overnight.

Schwarzbier

Seattle’s Best Coffee

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, partially because it’s hard to find time to write things long enough to justify putting them here.  I’ve spent most of my posting short thoughts to Twitter and Facebook.  I’m going to try to remember to continue to post short thoughts there (@kkozlen) as well as a short expansion on those thoughts here.  So, here’s my first thought…

Is Seattle’s Best Coffee really the best coffee to come out of Seattle?  It’s a proper name, not a description of the product, but how many people really know that?

For a short while, we had both Seattle’s Best and Starbucks where I work, and I think I prefer Starbucks, which is also a Seattle based company.

Just because you name something, doesn’t make it so.

Russian Imperial Pumpkin R.I.P. Stout

For the last several years, I’ve been brewing my regular Great Pumpkin Ale, along with a different pumpkin beer.  Sometimes it’s a pumpkin porter or a pumpkin brown ale.  The last 2 years, I’ve been brewing my regular Russian Imperial Stout recipe with the same pumpkin and spice regimen I use in my Great Pumpkin ale.

I’ve been amazed at how great it has turned out.  The chocolate and coffee flavors from the Russian Imperial recipe mix very nicely with the pumpkin and spice flavors.  It’s one that I’m very proud of, and hope to brew it again this coming fall… and besides, you can’t beat the name – Russian Imperial Pumpkin™ or R.I.P. Stout™.

Great Pumpkin Ale 2011 Recipe

I brewed this beer tonight.  I wasn’t planning to brew a pumpkin beer, which would have broken my streak, but I didn’t have ingredients to brew what I was planning to brew next.  Ever since the second year I started brewing, I’ve brewed a pumpkin ale.  It started when I was still brewing with a Mr. Beer kit and found a recipe for it.  At the time, there weren’t many commercial pumpkin beers (the only one I could find at the time was Buffalo Bill’s).  Ever since then, I’ve brewed my Great Pumpkin ale every year (and actually brewed a porter or stout version as well the last couple years).  The recipe usually varies, depending upon what ingredients I have at hand, however, some things never change – like adding pureed pumpkin and spices both after the boil and in the secondary.

Oktoberfest is Lagering

Last weekend I brewed an Oktoberfest and get to try out my chest freezer for the lagering process.  Unfortunately, the first smack pack of Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager yeast I had didn’t really seem to take off.  So I ordered a second one, which arrived on Thursday.  After smacking that one, it swelled up and I pitched it that night.  Now, two days later, there are some obvious signs of the fermentation process.

For the chest freezer, I picked up a Ranco temperature controller on Ebay for around $50 and used an old extension cord to wire it up.  At the last homebrewers club meeting, someone suggested putting the element in a bucket of water to simulate what the liquid temperature would be in the carboy.  It worked perfectly.  As the chest freezer turns on and off, and there’s a cooling element on the floor of the freezer, I thought it might be doubly good to put down the towel – to catch the condensation and keep the carboys from being in direct contact with the floor of the freezer.

My hope is to lager the beer in the cooler for 2-3 weeks, transfer it to new carboys, give it a diacetyl rest for a week, and transfer it into kegs for lagering for a couple weeks.