3^rd Social Media in Government Course

Developing your social media strategy
Adrian Cloete
Melissa Teasdale

Getting your organization ready for social media
Mike Spear

Integrating social media to facilitate collaboration & project management
Jennifer Savage

IM challenges of web 2.0
Lewis Eisen

Panel discussion: Establishing a social media utilization policy
Jennifer Savage
Matthew Moore
Melissa Teasdale
Adrian Cloete

Social media metrics: Measuring audience impact & ROI
Mark Blevis

Understanding social media's relevance to your business objectives
Basia Vanderveen

Under Jennifer Savage's lead, WebDrive, a leading provider of government web strategies and government-grade Web 2.0 solutions, has worked on internet, extranet and intranet projects for almost every department within the Federal Government as well as many large private sector corporations.

An Accredited member of the International Association of Business Communicators (www.iabc.com) who holds an MBA in PR & Communications Management, Ms. Vanderveen has fifteen years of experience in the private, public and not-for-profit industry sectors. Ms. Vanderveen led successful media campaigns to promote business applications as the global PR representative for Corel Corporation and managed crisis communications as a senior communicator for the Ontario Ministry of Environment. She has consulted for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) with Venture Communications as well as the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Ms. Vanderveen now manages stakeholder relations and external communications including public education and media relations and is contributing to the branding and social media strategies at the Canadian Dental Association. She has extensive media experience and has had her writing published in the Globe and Mail and Maclean's. She has also worked on stories aired on CBC, Global, and CTV. You can find her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter @BasiaV.

Joseph Peters is President, CEO and one of the founding partners of Ascentum., one of the largest public involvement firms in Canada. He helps organizations build sustainable decisions to complex issues through public involvement. He believes a vision of the "unsurvey", a time when informed participation replaces public opinion polling. He has led pioneering initiatives with the House of Commons, the Senate and broadly with the Federal Public Administration. He assists elected officials, government, business and NGOs use technology to engage stakeholders, employees, partners and citizens to develop solutions to complex challenges.

Since 1996, Matt Moore has been helping organizations communicate effectively using email, the Web, Intranets and now social media. Having worked with groups from small non-profits to large government departments, his requirements-driven approach stresses finding specific solutions an organization can maintain and defining measurable criteria for success. Presently, he is a Communications Advisor with Citizenship and Immigration Canada where he is the in-house expert on Web 2.0 initiatives.

Mark Blevis is an Associate Vice President in Fleishman-Hillard's Ottawa office, developing Fleishman-Hillard's digital public affairs capability. A pioneer and thought-leader in the digital space, Mark has consulted on digital communications and engagement as a brand strategy for companies in the high-tech, pharmaceutical, financial services, energy and publishing industries and co-founded several successful online communities. In addition to consulting, Mark has a popular blog on digital engagement and is passionate about promoting child literacy and great books.

Mike Spear is Director of Corporate Communications for Genome Alberta, a not-for profit research funding organization. Genome Alberta has created a successful Genomics news application on Facebook, and incorporates Twitter, a corporate blog, and YouTube into their communications activities. He is a former journalist with the CBC and was a SysOp for CompuServe, an early pioneer in social media.

Working in the innovative Public Affairs & Stakeholder Relations Branch of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Adrian Cloete manages social media initiatives. After careers as a journalist and professor in South Africa, the U.S. and Canada, Adrian is thrilled to be a communications manager in the federal public service.

Lewis Eisen has been working with information technology for 25 years. He has recently joined Industry Canada as Manager, Record Services.

Sophie N. Vydykhan specializes in marketing cultural, recreational and tourism products. As Marketing Manager, Capital Experience, Communications and Marketing Branch for the National Capital Commission, she and her team are responsible for promoting Canada's Capital Region across the country.

Daniel Feeny provides leadership regarding the development and implementation of comprehensive, integrated and effective digital communications strategies for the National Capital Commission (NCC). He is also responsible to provide leadership in the delivery of the Outreach and Youth programs. Prior to joining the NCC, Daniel Feeny managed the Marketing and Business Development unit at the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN). This National Centre of Museum Excellence of the Department of Canadian Heritage enables Canada's museums to engage audiences through the use of innovative technologies. He started his professional career with a subsidiary of Vidéotron Ltd. in Montréal as a marketing coordinator and later as Manager, Advertising and Promotion. He is a graduate of HEC Montréal, one of Canada's foremost business schools, in Marketing, Computer Science and International Commerce.

Meredith Millman is a Senior Marketing Manager at TELUS responsible for digital marketing best practices and optimization. She is recognized as a digital marketing expert in the business to business community. Prior to TELUS, Meredith shared her digital marketing expertise with top Canadian companies including Export Development Canada, RBC Royal Bank, AT&T Allstream, Zip.ca and Platform Computing.

Meredith believes that the connections made online with customers and prospects are integral to business success. The best connections begin in one place and continue though every online interaction, from SEM and social to email and web.

Meredith's goal is to help to connect the social media and online customer experience dots while also educating on today's digital best practices.

Meredith is a certified Marketing Experiments professional.

As manager of the UX team, I am accountable for the quality, consistency and overall user experience of some of the Government of Canada's most prominent websites, such as Canada.gc.ca, the Government of Canada's primary portal, Servicecanada.gc.ca, Seniors.gc.ca. I lead a multi-disciplinary team who work with clients and senior business leads to architect, design and implement a user experience that is intuitive for Canadians and will ensure increased adoption and takeup of the web, the channel of choice for citizen service delivery.