March 23rd-24th -- Hyatt Regency Denver -- Denver, CO

2011 Conference Agenda

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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

07:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Registration

07:30 AM - 07:50 AM

Orientation to Conference Program

08:00 AM - 08:30 AM

Welcome and Opening Remarks

08:30 AM - 09:15 AM

Opening Keynote Presentation

09:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Keynote Presentation | Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com
About Tony Hsieh, #1 NY Times Best Selling Author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.com, Inc

In 1999, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay) sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined Zappos as an advisor and investor, and eventually became CEO, where he helped Zappos grow from almost no sales to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making FORTUNE Magazine's annual 100 Best Companies to Work For list. In November 2009, Zappos was acquired by Amazon.com in a deal valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing. His first book, "Delivering Happiness", was published on June 7. For more information, please visit www.deliveringhappinessbook.com.


12:00 PM - 01:15 AM

Networking Lunch: Connect with Industry Peers

01:15 PM - 03:45 PM

Concurrent Workshop-Style Sessions

Articulating an Authentic Employer Brand
What is the value people cite from working at your company, specifically? What is the reality of your employees' experience, and how can you parlay the positive aspects of this experience into a powerful and authentic employer brand? A well-defined employer brand can be leveraged to create consistency across the organization, infuse creativity into your people practices, and can be harnessed to bring the talent you are seeking into your organization.

 

In this interactive learning session, you will:

  • Receive coaching from Great Place to Work® Institute experts on how to identify and leverage your organization's unique employer brand
  • Learn how FORTUNE's 100 Best Companies have crafted and utilized their powerful brands
  • Work with your conference colleagues to explore and articulate your employer brand

Facilitators:

  • Erin Liberman Moran , Senior Vice President of People & Client Services, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.
  • Holly Petroff , Senior Consultant, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.

Integrating and Taking Action on Multiple Sources of Data

Leaders of great workplace efforts often utilize multiple sources of data to gain a clear picture of the organization and direct their actions, including business metrics, department/team performance metrics, individual performance metrics, workplace culture surveys, and more. In the face of comprehensive information gathering practices, it can be challenging to bring findings together in an integrated and consistent way to understand the culture of your organization and drive positive change.

This session will support you in linking feedback from multiple sources to understand how to most effectively improve your culture and raise levels of trust.  Key questions will be explored:

  • Do you solicit feedback in a myriad of different ways, but find it challenging to understand how the different sources are related?   
  • What are actions are you taking to understand the culture of your organization? 
  • How do you manage data you receive, after you've built your action plan and have begun taking action? 

In this interactive learning session, you will:

  • Hear what FORTUNE's 100 Best Companies are doing to listen to employees, understand their culture, and consistently improve their workplaces
  • Understand how to identify key themes from varying data sources and how to link those themes
  • Explore how to build and maintain action plans that support you in building a great workplace

Facilitators:

  • Laurel Smylie , Consultant, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.
  • Nate Butki , Consultant, Great Place to Work® Institute

Creating A Great Place to Work® is Everyone’s Job: How to Create and Sustain Momentum on the Journey
Great workplaces have strong leaders and change champions, but they also have people at all levels--managers, supervisors, even employees--on board. Without widespread commitment and effort, a good workplace will never become great. While you may have a growing body of knowledge and an infectious enthusiasm, it may seem daunting to get everyone in the organization on board. This workshop will illustrate various tips and tools to put trust, pride, and camaraderie on everyone's high priority list. Specifically, we'll discuss the importance of creating a shared vocabulary to discuss great workplace concepts, mining and sharing best practices, engaging in regular self assessments and group action planning, and mentoring and coaching.

 

In this interactive learning session, you will:

  • Explore and understand your role as a change champion
  • Learn tips and tools for making trust a shared priority among managers and employees
  • Learn how to nest your next steps within the ongoing life of the organization
  • Network with others and plan to stay connected

Facilitators:

  • Michael Burchell , Vice President for Global Business Development, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.
  • Jennifer Robin , Research Fellow, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.

Inspiring Trust: The Leader's Role

This session is designed for senior leaders who want to make a difference in their organizations by inspiring greater trust with their employees. As a participant in this workshop, you will have an opportunity to consider your personal leadership style and influences, and exchange ideas with other leaders interested in making their organizations great places to work. We will discuss leadership characteristics common among senior leaders at Best Companies, and address common challenges. Designed to be highly interactive, this session will allow you to consider how your unique leadership abilities position you to build a stronger workplace.

 

In this interactive learning session, you will:

  • Consider your personal leadership style, and how you uniquely build trust with employees
  • Connect with other senior leaders, and share best practices and challenges
  • Learn commonalities among great workplace leaders, and consider your next steps to creating a  strong, trust-based culture in your organization

Facilitators:

  • Lindsay Nelson , Consultant, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.
  • Jan Cipoletti , Managing Consultant, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.

04:00 PM - 04:45 PM

Great Place to Work Institute Lists, Products and Services

05:00 PM - 05:45 PM

Keynote Presentation | Maxine Clark, Founder, CEO and Chairman, Build-A-Bear Workshop®
  • Maxine Clark , Founder, CEO and Chairman, Build-A-Bear Workshop®

06:00 PM - 08:00 PM

Networking Reception: Connect over Best Practices

Thursday, March 24, 2011

08:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Registration

08:30 AM - 08:45 AM

Welcome

09:00 AM - 09:45 AM

Keynote Presentation

09:45 AM - 10:30 AM

Keynote Presentation

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

The Trustworthy Leader
  • Amy Lyman , Co-founder and Director, Corporate Research, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.

12:00 PM - 01:30 PM

Lunch

01:30 PM - 02:30 PM

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

02:30 PM - 03:00 PM

Workplace Culture Session

03:00 PM - 04:00 PM

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

04:00 PM - 04:30 PM

Workplace Culture Session

04:30 PM - 05:15 PM

Closing Keynote Presentation

05:15 PM - 05:30 PM

Closing Remarks

06:00 PM - 08:00 PM

Reception