Public Relations in the New Business Ethics Reality

Leonard J. Brooks, Jr.
Professor of Business Ethics & Accounting
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto

The new business ethics reality provides an ideal platform for effective public relations if it is well understood.  In fact, a lack of understanding of what is driving stakeholder relations, and how they can best be influenced, can undermine the organization’s mission and the achievement of its strategic goals.  Public relations professionals have an opportunity to be more valuable team members than ever before and can provide guidance to senior executives and organizational movers and shakers.  PR professionals should be in a position to say “NO” to senior executives and explain why the organization’s activities (and PR) should be ethical using their understanding of the new business ethics reality. Professor Brooks will review the new business ethics reality – the development of a culture of integrity. He will comment on recent PR disasters such as by BP’s CEO, and on the CPRS Ethics Survey from last year. Brooks will conclude with positive news stories and his thoughts for PR professionals in the future.

United Breaks Guitars

Dave Carroll
Musician & Speaker
Internationally acclaimed internet sensation behind the song "United Breaks Guitars"

Using his experience with “United Breaks Guitars” and his creative use of social media, Dave Carroll will explain the importance of social media in the business world. Carroll sees customer service, branding and social media as almost inseparable in today’s digital age. He will offer a background of the “United Breaks Guitars” scenario and explain the implications it had for a small business owner such as himself, and the larger implications for companies worldwide. Carroll will demonstrate the importance of embracing a two-way communication tool, such as social media, in the PR profession by sharing his experience with “United Breaks Guitars” and by focusing on how being relevant is key to a company’s longevity. Rounding out this keynote session will be several live musical performances to show how music has the ability to boil down the essence of a message in a way that engages listeners.

How I Got To Maybe

Eric (Ric) Young
Founder & President
E-Y-E | The Social Projects Studio™

As Eric Young writes in his foreword to the book, Getting to Maybe, “Over the past two hundred years, human society has developed exceptional ingenuities, proficiencies, organizations and systems for the task of making things – from steam engines to microchips. Going forward, we must learn to be equally adept at the task of making change. It’s an essential modern competency.” Drawing on personal reflections from his own career in change-making, working with some of Canada’s leading corporate and social sector organizations on some of our most pressing societal issues, Young will argue that we are all in the business of social change now. To address the challenge of change, we must accept the principle of uncertainty. This is “Maybe Space” – where nothing is certain…and everything is possible—and where implications for communicators are profound.

Six Pixels of Separation

Mitch Joel
Marketing & Personal Branding Expert

Companies still struggle to understand online engagement as a new generation of digital opportunities unfolds. Stakeholders have never been so powerful. Stakeholders have never been so connected. Mitch Joel unravels the fascinating world of New Media, Stakeholder Generated Content and Social Media. Words like Social Media and Web 2.0 control every boardroom, committee and team discussions in relation to stakeholder engagement. Learn how to take part in these communities and conversations.

How to be a Business Superhero

Sean Wise
Entrepreneurial evangelist, lawyer, professor and business mentor

Sean Wise reveals how to create a winning business persona through valuable strategies from great comic book icons. In this engaging and insightful guide, Wise takes readers on a guided tour through the world of superheroes and their lessons, directly relating them to essential business tactics people need to master in order to succeed in today's workplace. For more information on his book, click here.