Past Events

Event Description

You have your strategy… now what? These days, it seems that everywhere we turn, we’re surrounded by messaging. In order to truly connect, a great strategy isn’t enough: you need a creative, innovative execution that will catch your audience’s eye and imagination. This workshop will challenge and inspire you to develop creative concepts that can help take your message to the next level. Through guided discussion, brainstorming exercises and group interactions, you’ll develop new, effective ideas to help cut through the clutter and get the results you want. Come armed with a strategy for which you’d like to develop creative executions. You’ll explore your creativity for the day and also walk away with techniques to successfully generate ideas and solutions in the future.

Cheryl J. Family
Cheryl J. Family is Senior Vice President/Editorial Director in the MTV Networks creative services department, an award-winning, full-service advertising, marketing and branding studio that provides print, video, multimedia/online and merchandise solutions to serve the needs of MTV Networks’ corporate divisions and Viacom. Family is responsible for setting the creative and strategic vision for the group and its projects, and her direction has contributed to the department’s numerous industry awards. She also served on the creative committee for Viacom’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning KNOW HIV/AIDS campaign and is currently one of the creative architects for the “Get Schooled” campaign, a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation dedicated to identifying sustainable and effective ways to increase high school and college graduation rates.

This event is full. We're no longer accepting RSVP's.

Event Description

This workshop is designed to help students get the most out of primary qualitative research, consisting largely of IDIs ( Individual In-Depth Interviews) dyads and focus groups.

We will focus on the "best practices" for conducting interviews that will elicit quality data -- data that will help you generate new insights and arrive at an original strategic recommendation for a client. Two veteran ACP instructors will teach you how to craft your questions, probe deeply and effectively follow up on responses to produce the most relevant content.

The workshop will benefit anyone who is interested in sharpening general interviewing skills, as well as ACP students.

This workshop is now full. We are no longer accepting RSVP's.

Event Description

Gain perspective and advice from industry experts on how to leverage your credentials and skills to make sure you are marketable in these challenging times. Panel discussion, followed by refreshments and networking.

This event is free and open to the public.

Event Description

This interactive workshop will teach you how to use visual techniques to focus attention, clarify complexity, drive understanding and build memorability. Through a combination of real world examples, case studies and in-session teamwork, participants will learn and apply visual techniques that result in more strategic and successful communications.

This event is free and open to the public.

Download the PDF presentation from this workshop:
Design Strategies: Visual Communications to Drive Your Message Home (PDF)

Speaker Biography

Bill Schroeder
For nearly 20 years, Bill Schroeder has worked with consumer, business-to-business and not-for profit organizations to help them develop brand strategies, visual identity systems, strategic presentations and design management methodologies. He has worked with entities as diverse as Timberland, BBC News, Eurovision, IKEA and Rainforest Alliance. Bill began his career in news and information graphics where he served as the Director of News Graphics for The Associated Press, the world's largest newsgathering organization. Subsequent to that, he was Director of Project Management for Landor Assoicates, the premier global branding agency within the WPP family of companies. Bill has taught and lectured at Pratt Institute, The New School and New York University, presented at several conferences and published articles on branding and leveraging design for competitive advantage. He holds a bachelor's in Architecture from Virginia Tech and a master's in Design Management from Pratt Institute. Bill was born in Okinawa and lived in Thailand, Greece and Germany before returning to the United States. His early years abroad and passion for experiencing diverse cultures has resulted in his penchant for working with global organizations.

Event Description

Open ONLY to Strategic Communications students.

Fenton Communications is the largest public-interest communications firm in the country. Since 1982, Fenton has contributed to some of the most defining social change movements of the past quarter century, from the fall of apartheid to the rise of MoveOn.org as a grassroots political force. Fenton is small enough to be nimble and inventive but big enough to supply a full range of services, from strategic planning and media relations to advertising and online marketing.

Event Description

A workshop that will teach you how to use the blogosphere to maximize the potential of your personal and professional brand. Participants will learn how to most effectively position themselves and their message, in the ever-changing online landscape.

Download the PDF presentation from this workshop:
Tips to be a Better, Bolder Blogger by Keli Goff

Speaker Biography

Keli Goff is an author and political analyst. As an expert on youth and minority voters, she has emerged as one of the most in demand pundits of the 2008 presidential election cycle. A popular blogger and commentator she is recognized for her ability to effortlessly traverse the worlds of politics and pop culture. She has appeared on numerous national programs including: "The CBS Early Show,” CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” and “Reliable Sources,” FOX News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Hannity & Colmes,” MSNBC’s “Verdict with Dan Abrams” and NPR’s “Talk of the Nation.” A regular contributor for BET’s “The Truth with Jeff Johnson,” Goff is also an editorial contributor for RushmoreDrive.com, and the Huffington Post, as well as the resident election expert for Seventeen Magazine’s Electionista blog. She is the author of Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence (Basic Books, March 2008). Goff holds a B.A. from New York University and an M.S. in Strategic Communications from Columbia University.

Event Description

For years, marketers have thought of customers in groups or as individuals. But today, new technologies are leading to the rise of the interconnected individual--the rise of customer networks. This interactive workshop focuses on: why these networks are forming, how they are transforming business, and the five behaviors that you need to understand in order to build brands in an interconnected world.

Speaker Biography

David Rogers is the executive director of Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership. He is the host of the center’s series of BRITE conferences and CMO summits on branding, innovation, and technology. Rogers blogs at BRITEblog.net and is the author of articles and case studies on marketing and digital media. He is the co-author, with Bernd Schmitt, of the book There's No Business That's Not Show Business and co-editor of the forthcoming Handbook on Brand and Experience Management (Elgar, 2008). Rogers has advised and developed marketing and digital media strategies for clients in consumer packaged goods, electronics, pharmaceutical, food & beverage, IT, telecom, hospitality, non-profit, and media industries. He teaches in Columbia Business School’s Executive Education program and speaks at conferences worldwide on the ways that digital media and innovation are transforming communications and branding. He has appeared on CNNfn, national radio, and in various international business magazines. Rogers is also a composer and musician whose music ("Rhythmically vital!" - The New York Times) is heard from jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall. Rogers holds an MS in Strategic Communications from Columbia University.

Event Description

Your best ideas may come to you in the places you'd least expect- at night, in the shower, while stuck in traffic. Modern brain science now reveals the ways that these flashes of insight happen. It's a special form of intuition. We call it strategic intuition, because it gives you an idea for action-a strategy. Join Columbia University Associate Professor William Duggan as he discusses his book, Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement. This book outlines the science behind "aha!" moments. Once you know how creative intuition works, you can learn to use it better.

Speaker Biography

William Duggan is the author of three books on strategic intuition as the key to innovation. In 2007 the journal Strategy + Business named the most recent one, Strategic Intuition, as “Best Strategy Book of the Year.” Professor Duggan has a B.A., M.A., and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Duggan teaches strategic intuition in three venues at Columbia Business School: M.B.A. and Executive M.B.A. courses, and Executive Education sessions. He sometimes teaches the core M.B.A. course in strategy formulation as well. Before joining the Columbia faculty, he spent twenty years as a strategy adviser and consultant.

Event Description

Hear from instructors and successful students what the Advanced Communications Project (ACP) is really about, and get a jump-start on your project. Jim and Louise, both longtime instructors of the ACP, explain the basic structure of the final course in the program, and give you tips and pointers on how to choose a topic that's appropriate. They will also convene a panel of successful graduates who represent a range of project types, and they will share their stories and answer your questions.

For Strategic Communications students only.

Event Description

Hear what the Advanced Communications Project is really about from instructors and successful students, and get a jump-start on your project. Louise and Tom, both longtime instructors of the Advanced Communications Project, explain the basic structure of the final course in the program, and give you tips and pointers on how to choose a topic that's appropriate.  A panel of graduates, representing a range of projects, will share their stories and answer questions.

Event Description

How to use data generated by digital communications to create a focused message and a better user experience. Includes information on current players and trends in Web analytics as well as methods to grow traffic using search engine optimization and marketing.

Event Description

Siegel+Gale is one of the world's premier strategic branding companies. Meet the people who apply the art and science of simplicity to create branding programs that help organizations excel.

Hall & Partners
Roger Baxter, Managing Partner
Liam Daley, Partner
Faith Markham, Research Director

Widely regarded as one of the world's most innovative brand and communication research firms, Hall & Partners works with clients and agencies at all points in the brand development cycle. They'll show you how they bring fresh thinking and "creativity with discipline" to brand and communications planning, development, and evaluation.

Event Description

Come learn how insights, ideas and results led  OMD  to become one of the largest and most innovative media communications specialists in the world. With more than 140 offices in 80 countries, OMD was named 2006 Most Creative Agency in the World by The Gunn Report for Media, 2005 Global Media Agency of the Year by Adweek and 2005 Media Agency of the Year in the U.S. by Advertising Age. The agency network is a unit of Omnicom Group Inc.

Event Description

Learn two essential but often forgotten components of strategic presentations: audience and story. Jane Praeger and Tasha Space will share two powerful techniques that can help you transform your presentations: how to get inside the head of your audience to find their passion points and how to use the principles of story to engage and inspire your audience to action.

Event Description

Students will learn how to develop comprehensive communication strategies for multiple constituencies through an interactive case discussion. The session will also focus on how issues of reputation affect communication strategy.

Event Description

Developing 360 Integrated Campaigns
Today's marketing communications are built with simple unifying ideas that are then translated across an ever expanding range of channels. Join us at Ogilvy & Mather to learn how great campaign ideas are developed and then executed in a world of changing media. The talk will be led by Colin Mitchell, Chief Strategic Officer.

Event Description

Ask questions, and network with graduates.

• Hayley Miller, Strategist, Siegel & Gale
• Ahmad Azadi, Project Manager, Office of the Under-Secretary-General, Department of Peacekeeping Operations
• Tom Nardacci, Principal, Gramercy Communications
• Moderated by Kate Premo, Director, Marketing Communications, F. Schumacher & Co.

Event Description

Nichell Taylor Bryant, SoulSource Communications, a New York-based consulting firm providing targeted media/public relations, writing, and editing services for charitable organizations, corporate foundations, government agencies, and emerging individuals in the arts, entertainment and public life.

Simon Sinek, founder. SinekPartners inspires. It gives companies the power to inspire their customer to buy from them and their employees to love working for them. With research that starts inside the organization and then moves outside to customers, SinekPartners finds a single, life-enhancing insight that employees and customers can rally around.

Tom Nardacci, principal of Gramercy Communications, an Albany-based firm specializing in public relations and marketing communications, representing corporate, nonprofit, public affairs, and political clients.

Felicia Stingone, Founder and Partner, SmartyPants Partners, works with retail and consumer brands, advertising and public relations agencies, business consultants and designers to deliver: Brand Architecture/Names, Brand Strategies, Communications Alignment Plans, Design and Merchandising Systems, Distribution Strategies, Product and Service Innovations and Retail Environments.

Event Description

Join us at Burson-Marsteller for a discussion on CSR led by Managing Director, Diana R Shayon, and her colleagues.

Learn how it works, the challenges of helping clients partner with a cause, the opportunities for global communications, and how to succeed in this growing field.

Event Description

Creating positive brand experiences has never been more important. In our powerful, networked world, impressions travel around the globe, at the speed of light, touching an exponential number of people along the way. Word-of-mouth, peer-to-peer networking, and advocacy are at work in today's marketplace, and they are shaping the destiny of many brands.

The question is, how are you making them work for you? Learn how brands like Lee Jeans, Ralph Lauren, Air Tran and others build buzz.

Jon O’Toole is Director of Communications at BzzAgent Inc., where he has been since its establishment in 2002. His primary role is overseeing the 75K+ strong BzzAgent community as well as working extensively in strategic development and community building. O’Toole is a leader in the word-of-mouth marketing industry and has been interviewed by a variety of publications, including Fast Company and Forbes, for his knowledge in community building and the study of word-of-mouth marketing. BzzAgent was also featured in a New York Times Magazine story that focused on communities, social networking, and word-of-mouth marketing. O’Toole is a founding member of the Ethics Council of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA).

Event Description

Steven Rubenstein, president of Rubenstein Communications, will provide practical guidance for generating meaningful publicity. He will discuss understanding the media and the news cycle, thinking strategically and placing great stories, and delivering work clients will pay for and employers will value.

Steven Rubenstein is President of Rubenstein Communications. During his career of more than 14 years in a 51-year-old family business, Steven has learned PR from the ground up. His clients include the Late Show with David Letterman, the Tribeca Film Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, News Corporation/the New York Post, American Express, and Kraft Foods. As a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, Steven plays a key role in setting business and client service standards and objectives. Steven, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, is a vice president of the Board of Directors – and a member of the Executive Committee – of the Association for a Better New York (ABNY). He is a member of the Board of Directors of Safe Horizon and sits on the Advisory Board of the Strategic Communications program at Columbia University.

Event Description

This workshop is for anyone who might interview with the media at some point in their careers, whether it be with television, print or radio media.
Learn how reporters are trained to think, the techniques they employ in interviews, and the traps they use to ensnare unsuspecting interviewees. Participants will first learn the Do's and Don'ts of a successful media interview, then through role-playing exercises, how to non-evasively deliver pre-determined messages, regardless of the questions asked.

Dan Broden is vice president of the Communications Training Network at Ketchum Public Relations in New York, where he provides media training and presentation skills coaching for a wide variety of Ketchum’s clients. A former national television anchor and reporter as well as attorney, Dan counsels clients on how to master the art of persuasive communication, whether before a news camera or a live audience.

Dan has worked with such diverse clients as Kodak, IBM, The Home Depot, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Delta Airlines, Visa, Best Buy, Federated Department Stores, Gillette, Frito-Lay, Tropicana, Eli Lilly, Comcast, Kimberly-Clark, The New York Stock Exchange, and the WNBA. He has trained a variety of celebrity spokespeople, including Duchess Sarah Ferguson, Dick Clark, Walt Frazier, Henry Winkler, Debra Norville, Lauren Bacall, Keith Hernandez, and Diahann Carroll. Dan has also conducted presentation skills seminars at Rutgers University and for members of NYAAPOR, the NY Chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.