8.15am

Registration and Coffee/Tea

(Delegates to be seated by 8.45am)

9.00am

Arrival of Guest-of-Honour, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan

Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports

9.05am

Opening Address by Guest-of-Honour, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan

Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports

9.30am

Keynote Address: "The Erosion of Trust in Institutions: Cyclical or Terminal?”

Prof Kishore Mahbubani, Dean and Professor in the Practice of Public Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

The populations of the world are gradually losing faith in many key institutions. Many governments are not respected. Nor are the media. Even business is struggling. Is this declining trust a seasonal phenomenon which will naturally disappear or does it reflect a new era of world history where the greater demands of transparency and accountability have made trust a difficult commodity to achieve in many modern societies? Is there a role for strategic messages, effective PR and does new media have a role to play?

10.30am

Morning Tea

10.45am

“Building Word of Mouth Through Social Media”

Mr Eric Schwartzman, Founder and Chairman of iPressroom (USA)

The reach and effectiveness of the mainstream media is waning. Today, consumers have the ability to filter out those brands they don't wish to hear from. Find out how forward thinking organizations are using social media to enlist passionate word of mouth agents who serve as their self-appointed brand evangelists in this informative session.

11.45am

Case Study:“Talking to People as People ”

Ms Yasmin Ahmad, Film Director and Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett Malaysia

Since time immemorial, films have been a great way to tell a story. From the individual, to the corporation, we use films to communicate key messages. Television commercials are one of the most powerful medium to connect with the public. This case study will share insights into the 'ingredients' behind television commercials that succeed in connecting and communicating the key messages.

12.45pm

Lunch and Networking

2.00pm

Case Study: “Reaching Out and Touching a Nation – The Yellow Ribbon Story” (Singapore)

 Mr Teo Tze Fang, Deputy Director and Chief of Staff, Singapore Prison Service

Every year thousands of ex-offenders are released from the various prisons and drug rehabilitation centres. Upon their release from the physical prison, many ex-offenders often continue to face rejection and stigmatisation from the community.

Inspired by a popular song of the 1970s “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree”, the Yellow Ribbon Project (YRP) was conceived to inspire community action to support the re-integration of ex-offenders.

Through a comprehensive communication plan and the extensive leverage on media, such as local media, the YRP campaign had over the years positively influenced the public's perceptions of ex-offenders and ultimately garnered the support of many members of the community.

Hear the inside story on how the Prison Service and other supporting agencies spread the YRP message and help ex-offenders unlock the “second prison”.

3.00pm

“Public Consultation: Encouraging On-line Discussion, Dialogue and Debate”

Dr Vivien Twyford, Director and Consultant, Twyford Consulting (Australia)

Singaporeans are now moving beyond consultation and feedback, to being actively engaged in nation-building . They are actively contributing ideas and suggestions whenever a public consultation exercise is mounted to seek views and ideas from citizens / stakeholders in policy formulation and implementation.

This presentation will share Australia 's experience in exploring deliberation as a way to encourage wiser decision making around development and implementation of policy. Citizen's juries, citizen panels, consensus conferences and search conferences are just some of the mechanisms or techniques being used.

The presentation will discuss how the elements of deliberation are currently being applied in Australia and how they might also be applied to on line forums including blogs, dialogue sessions and feedback groups, to give decision-makers confidence in the robustness of public input.

4.00pm

Afternoon Tea

4.15pm

“Finding the Needle in the Global Haystack: A Case for Integrating Social Media into Strategic Communication”

Mr Raoul Le Blond, Head, Digital Practice, Hill and Knowlton Singapore

Communications professionals talk of "moving the needle". But when your haystack is the no-holds-barred environment of the Social Media, how do you even find the needle? That complexity is also the medium's greatest strength - it is a rich arena of niche audiences sharing knowledge and opinion that communicators can and must understand. In this presentation based on actual case studies from Hill & Knowlton's Digital Practice worldwide, get real-world advice and discover best practices in:

• Designing integrated communications programmes to reach out to specific segments of audiences on a global scale;
• Identifying the key online influencers that most affect your campaign; and
• Enlisting the help of online audiences to keep the conversations going.

5.15pm

“Can the Corporate Story Benefit from Conversations Online?”

Mr Lionel Lim, President, Asia South and Chief of Operations, Asia Pacific, Sun Microsystems

We have left the Information Age and entered the Participation Age — an age in which everyone and everything is interacting on The Network. People don't want to sit back and receive information. If they take the time to come to a Web site (vs. receive RSS feeds) then they want to be up there playing with it. Not only must content be interesting and engaging for members to come back in the future, they must be invited to participate, in order for the messages to strike a chord.

With this as a backdrop, this presentation shall share with you how corporate messages can leverage various tools on the web to drive collaboration and the sharing of knowledge in a participatory fashion. Thus enhancing communication experiences for company employees, customers, and partners through customisation, personalisation, and rich opportunities for networking and collaboration.

6.15pm

Roundtable Discussion: “Challenges of Communicating in the New Media Environment”

Chair: Mr Felix Soh, Head of Digital Media, English and Malay Newspapers Division, Singapore Press Holdings

Panelists:

• Mr Benjamin Koe, New Media Specialist, Hill & Knowlton Singapore
• Mr Cyril Pereira, The Society of Publishers in Asia (Hong Kong)
• Mr Goh Sin Teck, Senior Executive Editor, Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore Press Holdings
• Plus conference speaker Dr Vivien Twyford (Australia)

End of Conference