London to host 12th annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) conference - the Responsible Business Summit

Crowdsourcing, media and social media crisis management to feature at the Responsible Business Summit (RBS) next month

The 12th annual Responsible Business Summit (RBS), the corporate social responsibility (CSR) conference and exhibition organised by Ethical Corporation arrives next month.

The two-day conference focusing upon responsible sustainability and CSR by Ethical Corporation (part of FC Business Intelligence) is to be held from 07-08 May 2013 at the Novotel London West Hotel, London welcoming a range of over 500 international delegates.  

Delegates will benefit from a comprehensive agenda with breakout sessions, presentations, panel sessions and roundtables from over 65 experienced academic, business and corporate guest speakers from a range of different industries.  

There are a number sessions during the summit, two in particular (on the second day) that focus upon communications, media relations and social media.  From 11:00 to 12:15 the breakout session entitled ?Crisis Communications: Live? will see speakers presented with a live crisis they need to respond to with the audience critiquing their reaction and response. David Croft, director of food technology from Waitrose (the moderator of the session) is joined by Tomas Jensen, head of corporate communications MEA at Microsoft will be exposed to issues such as negative social media fallout and scenarios to judge how best to manage reputational risk. This will also include lessons from the Arab spring, how things changed in the Middle East and northern Africa - How to maintain a consistent message when brand perception is vulnerable to stakeholder volatility.

The second social media related session (Roundtable 6) is entitled ?The Age of Crowdsourced Communication? from 13:45 to 15:15 managed by Guy White, managing director of open marketing at The Catalyx.   The session will cover how crowdsourcing and social media is increasingly being used by stakeholders (including customers) and the impact this is having upon organisations wishing to co-exist with them.

?CSR and responsible sustainability are affected by so many factors, not least the increase in the use of digital communications and social media. Agencies, brands and organisations need to move past the debate of where social media sits and ensure that is immersed across departments to make sure direct and digital activity work in harmony.  

Due to the immediate and telling impact that social media can have upon stakeholders, organisations not only need to be prepared, it?s important that they have involved in conversations now.  It?s only by using digital channels and experiencing a range of different scenarios can organisations be better prepared to work with a variety of situations,? Tim Gibbon, cofounder and editor at SMP and media partner of RBS explains.

?Although there are two dedicated sessions on communications and social media, I wouldn?t be surprised if this wasn?t a reoccurring theme throughout the summit,? adds Gibbon.  For a taste of what to expect at a RBS, see the Responsible Business Summit 2012 review at YouTube.



Tune into the two-day pre, during and post Responsible Business Summit using the Twitter account @ethicalcorp and hashtag #RBS13.

SMP is a media partner for RBS, the first time it has partnered with the CSR and sustainability event.  Communications consultancy Elemental is the creator of news and information resource SMP.

Elemental and SMP are also co-creators of the Marketers Events Calendar infographic showing the best conferences to attend throughout 2013 ? read more about the #MECinfographic at the Elemental blog.

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