An employee communications & culture conference by Workshop

Giving The Bird At Work: What Employees Are Really Telling You

A viral TikTok trend reveals what psychologists have known for decades: relationships succeed or fail based on how we respond to tiny moments of connection. Your partner points out a bird. Do you look, or do you scroll?

At work, employees point out “birds” constantly – small signals about broken processes, growth opportunities, and personal struggles. Leaders miss these signals because they look in the wrong places. While companies build elaborate listening systems and survey their people to death, the real story plays out in hallway conversations, Slack messages, and meeting side comments that go nowhere. Research shows 86% of employees don’t feel heard fairly, yet 84% of HR leaders think their listening is “effective.”

This session uses relationship science, employee engagement research, and a healthy dose of honesty to show what happens when leaders consistently ignore the small bids employees send every day. You’ll see why micro-moments matter more than big programs, why employees stop responding to surveys when nothing changes, and what it looks like when people stop pointing out birds altogether.

​​Attendees will learn to:

• Identify the three types of daily “bids” employees send (task, growth, and human signals) and why missing them drives disengagement faster than any survey score
• Close the gap between collecting feedback and taking visible action
• Train leaders to recognize and respond to micro-moments that either build trust or teach employees to stop speaking up

About Chuck: Chuck Gose is the founder of ICology, a global community for internal communications professionals that he launched in 2015 to connect and support communicators who often work as teams of one. With over 30 years of experience in marketing, corporate communications, and internal communications — including roles at General Motors and Rolls-Royce — he brings deep expertise in how internal communications shapes organizational culture and employee engagement. Chuck is also the co-host of the Frequency podcast and is a sought-after speaker and consultant helping organizations elevate their internal communications strategies. Through ICology, he has built a thriving community serving hundreds of IC professionals around the world.

Video as a System, Not a Channel: Building Trust Across a Distributed Workforce

Trust in a distributed organization comes from consistent leadership presence. This session treats video as a system, not a channel—showing how it can extend leadership presence and how to choose the right messenger, the right moment, and the right audience. You’ll leave with a cadence model (town halls, leader updates, and targeted change moments) plus simple standards to keep video consistent and aligned with broader communication strategies across the business.

You’ll walk away with:

• A plan for “moments that matter”: a quarterly town hall outline, a steady rhythm for leader updates, and how to use video when big moments hit
• A practical video system template: who should say what—a menu of video types you can reuse, how to target messages for recognition/local moments, and an easy production flow
• A simple scorecard to prove video is working: measures what matters—are people listening, do people understand it, and do they know what to do next

About Cabral: Cabral Clements leads Internal Communications at Specialty Building Products (SBP), where he builds the systems that help messages land across a distributed, multi-national, mostly deskless workforce. Outside of SBP, Cabral runs Live Tassel, a boutique virtual and live production practice that helps organizations shape their content strategy and helps leaders amplify their voice.

What Internal Comms Can (& Can’t) Fix

Do you ever feel like just about everything slides across your desk, even when it’s not entirely yours to fix or own — a disengaged workforce, a leader whose behavior misaligned with company values, and half-baked announcements? Most internal communicators know what it feels like to have to deal with problems that they alone cannot solve. The challenge is in clearly identifying what internal communications can and can’t help with in these situations. Not everything that comes your way is solely your responsibility. Understanding your different levels of ownership and influence is one of the most strategic skills you can develop, and we’ll do that together in this session.

You’ll walk away with:

• A new way of thinking about your role that’s honest about its limits while affirming your expertise
• A framework for better mapping internal communications involvement (ownership vs. influence vs. support) across different types of work 
• Practical speaking points for moments when you need to set expectations around what work you can and cannot own alone

About Alyssa: Alyssa Towns is a writer and communications specialist who loves partnering with brands to build better workplaces, helping internal communicators do their best work, and assisting organizations in improving their internal communications. She has spent her entire career, both unofficially and officially, supporting and eventually leading internal communications and change management efforts. Alyssa pairs her education in psychology with empathy and change management principles to develop internal communications strategies that foster a human-first approach.

Main Character Energy: From Ghostwriter to Thought Leader: Elevating Your Internal & External Brand

Internal Communications professionals spend their entire careers making other people look good. You craft the CEO’s voice, drive the All Hands approach, and bridge the gap between leadership and employees. But who is telling your story? This 60-minute session is a “glow-up” for your professional identity, designed to help you claim your seat at the table and build a LinkedIn presence that positions you as the business leader you are.

You’ll walk away with:

• A ready-to-go LinkedIn plan: Posts, new “About me” and 20+ connections
• An internal “Visibility Blueprint:” Your roadmap to ensuring you always have a seat at the table.
• The mindset to keep you in the driver’s seat as a visible thought-leader

About Kalia: With over 15 years of tech leadership experience, Kalia is a writer and storyteller at heart who specializes in shaping how people feel about their work to drive business results. Currently the VP of Employee Communications and Engagement at Freshworks, she focuses on architecting world-class culture and driving business strategy through human connection.

Before Freshworks, Kalia led impactful global teams at Zuora, Visa, and Cornerstone OnDemand, navigating high-stakes M&A and culture transformations. When she isn’t building “Main Character Energy” for internal comms pros or posting on LinkedIn, she’s living her best snack-filled life in Oakland. You can usually find her at an Orange Theory class or sourcing the perfect pairing of champagne and cheese for her next gathering.

The Internal Communicator’s Skills Stack: Writer to Advisor

As AI reshapes knowledge work, Internal Communications will become even more valuable — if we invest in ourselves. Too many Internal Comms pros are stuck as writers, event planners, and channel managers. Tacticians. But at our best, we are strategic partners who sit with the leadership team. In this breakout, Sam will introduce The Internal Communicator’s Skills Stack: your professional development blueprint to become a trusted advisor and influential leader in your own right. Join this conversation to discuss the skills to evolve from content creator to counselor to coach.

You’ll walk away with:

• A three-level framework to scale your impact at your company
• Practical ways to increase your influence and be seen as a leader
• Clarity on the skills you will build for the next chapter of your career

About Sam: Sam Drexler is Senior Change Communications Manager at Google and trusted leadership advisor. Over the past 6 years, he’s partnered with Google leaders to craft narratives that inspire their teams, coached them to communicate with clarity and build trust, and counseled them to navigate significant organizational changes. Before joining Google, Sam worked at FleishmanHillard, specializing in executive communication and corporate reputation for Fortune 100 companies. 

Sam holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Sociology from the University of California, Davis. He is also a Co-Active trained coach who helps introverts communicate with confidence and lead with authenticity. He is passionate about helping communications professionals build timeless skills and meaningful careers. You can follow his writing on LinkedIn or take his free email course, The Inspiring Introvert.

Talk nerdy to me: Building an analytics-driven content and channel strategy

In this hands-on breakout session, we’ll walk through the steps we’ve taken at Highmark Health to move our content strategy to the next level. Together we’ll discuss what we measure, how we categorize, and why we dabble in juuuust a bit of math to calculate stats beyond the basics. When combined, this approach helps keep us on track to deliver the kind of content people want to see in the places they’ll actually go to see it. 

You’ll walk away with:

• The secret sauce for measuring engagement (spoiler alert, it’s math)
• A “starter pack” of content categories to better identify patterns in user behavior 
• Talking points to take to leaders, explaining why open rates and “eyeballs-on” aren’t enough

About Emily: Emily Martin is a strategic advisor of internal communications at Highmark Health, where she specializes in translating complex ideas into clear, compelling, emotional stories that engage and inform large, diverse employee audiences. With a background spanning litigation, higher education, and health care, Emily brings a strategic, audience-first approach to her work. A self-described “book nerd turned corp comms professional,” Emily holds degrees from Kenyon College and the University of Pittsburgh. She loves the Oxford comma, and is passionate about creating content that connects and resonates with her readers.

The Culture Conversation Gap: How Internal Communications Shapes (or Sabotages) What Culture Actually Is

Culture isn’t built in mission statements or values posters. It lives in the conversations your organization has (or doesn’t have). In this interactive 60-minute session, we’ll explore how internal communications strategy directly impacts whether your stated values become lived values, and how miscommunication sabotages even the best-intentioned culture initiatives. You’ll learn to map the critical conversations your organization needs to have, identify who should lead them, and build a communication roadmap that actually shapes culture. Perfect for leaders tired of culture work feeling disconnected from business outcomes.

You’ll walk away with:

• A clear framework for identifying which conversations matter most to your culture and which ones are currently missing 
• The “Culture Conversation Roadmap” template: a practical tool to map conversations, owners, timing, and success metrics 
• Three tactical steps to start bridging the gap between what your leadership says your culture is and what employees actually experience

About Regine: Regine Nelson is an Internal Communications & Employee Engagement Leader and Strategist with 10+ years of experience at Fortune 500 companies including Visa, Adobe, PayPal, NetApp, Infobip, and Couchbase. Known for her bold perspective and business-first mindset, Regine challenges the IC profession to prove its strategic value by connecting communication work to metrics executives actually care about; risk mitigation, cash flow protection, retention impact, and productivity gains. As a speaker and consultant, she delivers actionable frameworks that communicators can implement immediately. Regine is also a certified life coach and author of The Comms & Culture Devotional. She is Founder of Rise & Reign LLC.

Worth It? Let’s Work It: How IC Can Craft Authentic Organizational Values

Your organization has core values. But are they alive in the day-to-day experience… or just decorating the lobby? 

Internal communicators are uniquely positioned to help close the gap between what an organization says it stands for and what employees actually experience. We know our people. We understand your leaders. We know how to communicate with clarity, empathy, and authenticity. This work is MADE for us!

In this hands-on session, we’ll work through a practical framework and real case study for pressure testing and refreshing core values.

You’ll walk away with:

• A clear-eyed understanding of what good core values are (and aren’t!)
• A framework for auditing and gut-checking your org’s values
• Confidence that you are exactly the right person to steward this work

About Gabriel: Gabriel is an internal communications consultant who helps organizations solve communication and culture challenges with strategies that actually land. With a decade of experience spanning digital marketing and internal communications, he brings a love for data and measurable impact combined with an obsession for keeping communication human.

His internal communications work has spanned tech, biotech, retail, financial services, and nonprofit sectors—partnering with IC leaders on channel strategy, employee listening, and culture work. He’s a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events, presenting on topics including internal communications and culture.

When he’s not helping organizations figure out if anyone is actually reading their emails, you’ll find him tending his indoor jungle, baking sourdough, or flying through the air on the trapeze in San Francisco.

Inside-Out Employer Branding: How Internal Communications Builds Culture That Attracts and Retains Talent

Employer branding doesn’t start with recruiting campaigns — it starts with internal communication. In this session, you’ll learn how internal communicators can shape a clear, credible employer brand by aligning vision, mission and values with the everyday employee experience. We’ll explore how to create consistent messaging across the employee lifecycle, from attraction to advocacy, and how to identify and activate internal thought leaders to strengthen brand trust. You’ll also see how AI can be used for deep audience research and talent positioning — helping you better understand what specific employee groups value and how to communicate accordingly. This session offers practical tools to ensure your employer brand is not just aspirational, but operational.

You’ll walk away with:

• A deeper understanding of how vision, mission and values can anchor consistent, behavior-driving messaging across the employee lifecycle
• A simple AI-powered research workflow to refine employer brand positioning for specific talent segments
• A clear method for identifying and empowering internal thought leaders to amplify your employer brand authentically

About Lynn: Lynn Zimmerman, ABC, SCMP®, has more than 25 years of experience in internal and change communication. She is the owner and chief strategist for Swing Communication, where she helps organizations communicate in a way that help employees understand how the work they do contributes to the success of the company. She has been a part of more than 40 acquisitions, multiple capital projects such as Workday and SAP implementations for large global corporations and other large-scale business transformation projects. Lynn is an award-winning strategic communicator who is an active member of the International Association of Business Communicators and has received the Accredited Business Communicator designation and Strategic Communication Management Professional® certification. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism with an emphasis in Business Communication from the University of Kansas. Lynn is based in Fort Collins, Colo.

Putting the U in Culture: Turning Big Culture Ideas into Everyday Actions

What does it take to build a culture that is shaped by employees and strongly supported by leadership? In this session, we share the story behind Toyota Industries Commercial Finance’s “Putting the U in Culture” initiative. This multi‑year culture journey began with redefining the organization’s purpose, mission, and vision and evolved into meaningful employee engagement and leadership alignment. Participants will get an inside look at how the foundation was built, how culture was brought to life through intentional communication, and how ideas were turned into action. You’ll hear about what worked, what was refined along the way, and why simplifying culture into clear, relatable concepts made all the difference.

You will walk away from the session with:

• Foundational framework that allows culture to take hold across teams and initiatives.
• A culture-driven lens for communication, shifting from announcements and updates to communications that reinforce culture.
• How Toyota Industries Commercial Finance utilizes Workshop to drive culture-driven messaging.

About Christine:

Christine Wernecke is an Internal Communications and Culture leader passionate about storytelling, connection, and building momentum. Currently serving as Communications and Culture Consultant at Toyota Industries Commercial Finance, she focuses on creating meaningful employee experiences, elevating diverse perspectives, and turning complex ideas into clear, personal communication. 

Her career path across financial services, restaurant groups, sports, and the music industry has shaped her ability to connect with audiences and craft messages that resonate. Christine is driven by communication that not only informs but also reinforces culture, strengthens engagement, and helps people feel valued and connected to their work. When she is not drafting, scheduling, or sending emails in Workshop, she is on a highly committed personal mission to find the best burrata in town.

How to Foster Authentic & Effective Brand Storytelling 

In a world where audiences are quick to spot performative purposes, authentic storytelling starts with how you show up for your own people. This session explores how Patagonia leans into employee culture and elevates internal communications as a strategic stakeholder in sharing goals, brand moments, and DEI-led initiatives. Through real case studies—from frontline retail to warehouse teams—you’ll learn how early inclusion, transparency, and community valor build trust that lasts. That means having the courage to shape your internal voice to be less….stuffy. *pulls at collar​* This session is built for anyone who wants to create storytelling that resonates because it’s real.

You’ll walk away with:

• Engaging discussion on how to better connect with and serve the communities you belong to
• How different sectors of a business require different approaches
• How employee experiences can become the deepest well of brand truth

About Kirstie: Kirstie Carrizales hates corporate fluff and is here for tangible impact fueled by culture and philosophy. Kirstie channels this — and their passion for writing and improvising — at Patagonia in their role as the Internal Communications Content Creative.

Building Culture Through Change: A Real-World Case Study in Communication, Trust, and Frontline Alignment

Major organizational changes are where culture is most tested and most visible. During a recent warehouse consolidation, corporate office move, and sales reroute, a team navigated a complex transition that impacted frontline employees, leadership teams, and daily operations across the business. This session will walk through how internal communications played a central role in maintaining clarity, building trust, and supporting employees through uncertainty. From leadership visibility to frontline communication strategies, attendees will see how communication shaped the employee experience in real time. Grounded in real examples and practical application, this session offers a clear look at how culture is built during moments that matter most.

You’ll walk away with:

• Practical ways to communicate clearly and consistently during periods of change
• Specific approaches to engage and support frontline employees through operational shifts
• Real-world tactics to build trust and reinforce culture when uncertainty is high

About Jennifer:

Jennifer Mathis is the Communications & Media Manager at Silver Eagle Distributors Houston, a Redwood Beverages Company, and one of the nation’s leading beverage distributors. She leads the company’s internal and external communications strategy, partnering closely with executive leadership to align messaging, drive engagement, and support key business initiatives.Since joining Silver Eagle in 2022, Jennifer has played a central role in strengthening organizational communication, enhancing employee engagement, and ensuring consistency across channels. Her work spans executive communications, media strategy, and corporate giving, with a focus on delivering clear, effective messaging that connects people to business priorities. Jennifer brings more than 10 years of experience across corporate, entrepreneurial, and nonprofit environments. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a double major in Marketing and Management from the University of Alabama. She lives in Houston with her husband, Garrison, and their two children, Kelly and Jack.