Sometimes I forget how much I love conferences. Maybe because I’m usually flying solo working out of my home office. But when like-minded communicators come together to share knowledge and best practices, you can’t beat it.
Toby Ward and the folks at Prescient Digital always put on a good event and this year’s Intranet Global Forum was no different. “Global” it was – speakers came to present from Australia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada and of course, the U.S.
Dennis Agusi from Philips (pictured below) explained the lighting/consumer healthcare/electronics company’s journey into into internal social media including the launch of its very own video channel. 
Organizational communications consultant Shel Holtz presented on employee ambassadors and social media, the use of the tool to communicate during a crisis, and the types of questions employees tend to have that need answering.
Jonathan Anthony – Director of Corporate Communications at Teekay – discussed the launch of the company’s enterprise social network, while Victor Aviles from AIG gave useful tips on how to make the business case for a new intranet. AIG’s intranet strategy: Show and prove. Then repeat. And: take it one prioritized feature at a time.
Of course, what would a conference be without networking? The cocktail reception provided ample opportunities for attendees to mingle and share pain points as communicators. The biggest issue people tend to experience: working as a one-man band on a limited budget, and helping executives become comfortable with internal social media adoption.
Ah, some things never change…
A Freelancer's Life 