Table of Contents 6 2012 OVATION Awards Winning Entries

• Sessions were scheduled for lunchtime on Wednesdays during July and August. Input from employees
has consistently told us this is the best timing in their busy schedules.
• To ensure high quality presentations, we worked with each presenter to outline audience needs,
define the desired content, and communicate the time limits, format and other expectations. Presenters
developed their own presentations but we reviewed them in advance and provided help as needed.
• We announced the program by an email broadcast to all employees in the Toronto office, inviting
employees to register for each session. Pre‐registration was important for room setup and the food
order. We sent reminders to registrants before each session.
• As in past years, registration response was high and immediate. The Communications Coordinator
managed registrations on a spreadsheet and could tell at a glance who was attending any session.
• Initially, we were concerned busy employees might balk at the inconvenience of having to go off‐site.
We determined to attract them with a first‐class experience, taking advantage of the new location.
Based on attendee feedback, the change of venue proved to be a plus. o The space was more elegant
than the office meeting room. It became an “occasion” to attend.
o The hotel meeting room could accommodate up to 110 attendees; previously, the limit for our office
meeting room was 70 and we had to create waiting lists for popular sessions.
o The hotel space and facilities allowed for classroom seating so attendees had tables that gave them a
place to put their food and a surface to complete the evaluation forms. Previously, the office location
offered only theatre seating with fold‐up chairs which made these tasks difficult. Improved conditions
increased evaluation completion rates, providing more quality feedback.
o Hotel staff set up the room. Previously, Communications staff and volunteers set up the room.
o The hotel provided better food options, china and cutlery. Previously, it was informal with pizza and
paper plates.
• We gathered all the slide presentations and recorded the audio, giving us a resource of background
information and reference material that has been used for articles and reports on these topics.
• We prepared and posted a report on the intranet after each presentation, reporting the key messages
delivered in each session for the benefit of employees worldwide. Two of these stories (Gold
Markets/Treasury and Capital Projects) were adapted for placement in the global employee newsletter,
and the Safety story was reproduced in the “Courageous News” Safety newsletter.
• In 2011, Human Resources introduced a new software system to track employees’ training and
development activities. We provided the list of attendees for each session, so employees would receive
training credit for attending these information sessions.
Implementation and Challenges
Budget: Expense for the 2011 program was $61,000, including hotel room rental and room setup, audiovisual
support and technician, and lunch for nine sessions.
Resources: Delivering this program was a team effort:
• Janet Wile, Director of Communications (100 hours for planning, negotiating speakers, hosting the
events, reviewing and reporting results, preparing intranet stories, and overall management of the
program)
• Henry Dang, Communication Specialist (90 hours for speaker assistance, reviewing presentations,
compiling evaluation results, writing and posting intranet stories)
• Evelyn Yallen, Manager of Communications (50 hours for setup assistance, audio transcriptions and
preparing intranet stories)
• Julie Winget, Communications Coordinator (40 hours for managing registrations and hotel/food)