Sponsored By:
CS Week  | April 30 - May 4, 2018 | Tampa Convention Center | Tampa, FL
In this edition:

- Online or By Phone: Register and Reserve Your Spot Today

to January 15, 2018 -

- Growth Marks 2 nd Year for Customer Advocacy Collaborative -

- Sponsors and Exhibitors Are Stepping Up to Meet Tampa Attendees -

- McKendry’s Mentoring Book Turns CS Week Attendees into Authors -

- This Month’s Success Stories Webinars -

- Almost Set: Conference Workshops and Synergy Groups -


- What Time Is It? Time for CS Week 311 Award of Excellence Submissions -
Online or By Phone:
Register and Reserve Your Spot Today
Visit  CSWeek.org and click the REGISTRATION tab to learn more about registration, group discounts and more!

Check out the ACCOMMODATIONS tab to view venue prices and select your choice of three designated conference hotels nearby the Tampa Convention Center.

The TRANSPORTATION tab provides helpful tips about the two international airports, local driving and parking options, and other fun and free ways to get around Tampa.

Click the hotel titles for deals created especially for CS Week!

$219 plus tax

No shuttle service available. 
$28 per day valet parking

Within a block of the Tampa Convention Center, and site of CS Week’s Executive Summit and Key Account Forum.

$209 plus tax

No shuttle service available.
$26 per day valet parking
 
Private waterfront retreat within walking distance of the Tampa Convention Center. Also, the s ite of CS Week’s ENGAGE311.
CS Week proudly repeats its discount offer to provide utilities a cost-saving way to send multiple attendees. To qualify, utilities must register all attendees on the same date. Learn more by contacting Julie Shankles , Registration Manager or call her at 903-893-3214 or directly at 903-821-8631, Monday – Friday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm CST.
Group Registration Rates:
20% Discount: 3 - 5 attendees

30% Discount: 6 - 10 attendees

40% Discount: 11 + attendees
Submissions for the 2018 CS Week Expanding Excellence Awards have been extended to January 15, 2018 . These coveted awards recognize and salute excellence in utility customer service and bring recognition to the dedication and customer-centric focus of today’s progressive utilities. Four award categories honor outstanding system implementations, projects, business process redesign and customer experience improvements completed during 2016 and 2017. Click the award titles below to read award descriptions and guidelines.
Call for Submissions
Extended to January 15, 2018
Apply by completing the official Expanding Excellence Awards application form.

As your company considers and submits this application, please remember CS Week will request photos, images, videos and visual documentation of your project or implementation to create winners’ videos that are shown at Thursday’s General Session. Award finalists are also recognized. 

Click VIDEOS to view 2017 and even the past five years of winners’ videos.

For questions about CS Week Expanding Excellence Awards or the nomination process, email or call Shelley Carter at 903-821-8647 or Lisa Collins  at 903-821-8675.

Utilities submitting an awards entry will receive a 50% discount on up to five Conference 42 registrations. Email or call Julie Shankles , Registration Manager at 903-821-8631 for information.
The industry collaborative, Utilities United Against Scams (UUAS), recently held its second annual Scam Awareness Week (November 11 – 17, 2017) and Utility Scam Awareness Day on November 15, 2017. Read about UUAS’s social media program and its digital customer engagement achievements during this important, education-packed week. 
1.      Launched new Twitter account:

#StopScams

Data includes tweets with #StopScams or including “Utility Scam Awareness Week” or “Utility Scam Awareness Day”

  • Twitter Potential Reach = 5.4 million in 2017 vs. 1.9 million during 2016’s
  • Twitter Potential Impressions = 15.3 million in 2017 vs. 5.4 million during 2016’s
  • 2,513 total tweets by 1,168 people and organizations

2.      Unveiled new Facebook page:

Utilities United Against Scams

  • 47,880 impressions
  • 550+ fans

3.      Created new webpage:


  • Nearly 3,000 visits

4.      In response to this collaborative’s efforts, more than 250 news stories were generated by local and national TV, print and digital media groups.
CS Week is pleased to congratulate UUAS on its amazing growth. Together, CS Week and UUAS will continue to offer a forum at CS Week’s annual conference for utilities interested in learning more and engaging with this collaborative and their customer advocacy efforts. Visit Utilities United Against Scams Synergy Group to view the mission and objectives of this Group who will meet Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at Conference 42 in Tampa, FL.
Sponsors and Exhibitors Are Stepping Up to Meet Tampa Attendees
Exhibit Hall Shopping List:
  • Plug-and-play apps that support the customer experience lifecycle
  • Individualized solutions specific to customer preferences
  • Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) systems that reduce implementation costs as compared to custom solutions
  • Self-service alternatives that offer operational savings and enhance the CX
  • Vendors who want to partner with utilities for metric-driven results
Whether your shopping list is long or short, CS Week’s 2018 Exhibit Hall is THE place to find options and answers to utility customer service and related IT needs.

Some attendees prefer the random aisle-walking method. Others are more systematic, researching vendors in advance and using the Exhibit Hall map to budget time. Regardless of navigation style, vendors will be ready on Tuesday through Thursday, May 1-3, 2018, to meet attendees and share their latest innovations, best practices, success stories, experiences and advice. Private invitation-only appointments will be offered again on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, and Exhibit Hall receptions encourage mingling and discussion.

Platinum, gold and silver-level sponsors are already committing to the 2018 Conference. They recognize and appreciate the quality of utility professionals who attend CS Week and want to support the week-long conference in visible and significant ways. Click Sponsors to see a current list of vendors who value the branding, networking and marketing opportunities inherent in being a CS Week sponsor. More vendors are stepping up weekly.

The CS Week Exhibit Hall will be filled with vendors who have household-names, along with niche companies and those emerging and growing in this market space. Booths are now open to non-sponsors. For more information about sponsoring and exhibiting and the opportunities they offer to both companies and attendees, co ntact Gail Farmer  at 903-821-8623.
CS Week Attendees into Authors

Thank you! Merci ́ ! Gracias!
On behalf of Dave McKendry, Director, Customer Service at Hydro Ottawa and its next author, CS Week Publishing is thrilled with the response to his book plan: to create a compilation of CS Week attendees’ stories about their mentors and the lessons taught and learned. If you are one of the scores who committed to write a chapter and become an author, please accept our sincere thanks. 

Self-awareness and appreciating others are the nuggets of McKendry’s mentoring book. He wants to turn CS Week attendees into authors by having them join him in recognizing and thanking teachers, coaches, relatives, colleagues, bosses, neighbors and friends who have made both positive and negative impacts on their professional and personal lives. McKendry also hopes these testimonials will allow CS Week authors to reconnect with their mentors “in the living years.” He knows CS Week attendees have stories and history to share that others will find instructive and inspirational.
Because of this enthusiastic response, CS Week Publishing has extended the submission deadline, and it welcomes others who were busy during fall 2017 but still want to commit and submit.

Think about the questions in the (color) box. A short survey has been designed to make participation easy. Click  Mentoring Survey to review and complete it.

Upon receipt of your submission, a CS Week auto-reply will be sent, thanking you and providing additional information and instructions. Every submission will be read and thoughtfully considered. Selected submissions will likely require follow up to answer questions or seek clarification. “Authors” will be asked to submit 3-5 photo images to supplement “their chapter.” A signed CS Week Consent Form will also be required from those whose submissions “make the cut.” 
Survey submission deadline is extended!

For questions about this book or CS Week Publishing, contact Lisa Collins at 903-821-8675.
Visit CS Week Success Stories to view the complete 2018 schedule. Next up:
A great performance demands an encore. 2017 Conference surveys help identify stellar workshops that deserve a repeat. That’s why CS Week Success Stories, also called 2T2 Webinars, are so popular. These encores allow a second showing of significant programs and accomplishments made by industry-leading utilities. January’s webinars were originally presented in the Credit & Collections and Digital Customer Engagement tracks:
 
Presenters:
Willa Hightower, Director, Customer Financial Operations , PECO, an Exelon Company

January 9, 2018   2:00 pm EST
 
Workshop Objectives:
  • Improve internal collections with predictive risk assessments;
  • Utilize credit scoring tools to identify potential risks;
  • Reduce collection costs and improve customer satisfaction by focusing on the right accounts for collection.

Workshop Summary:
See how one utility is utilizing effective credit scoring processes to manage their collection strategies to identify and address higher risk accounts. Identification of credit risks and reducing expenses focusing on lower risk accounts. Effectively manage internal collections with predictive risk assessments.
 
Presenters:
Daniel Séguin, Manager, Media & Public Affairs , Hydro Ottawa Limited

January 25, 2018    2:00 pm EST
 
Workshop Objectives:
  • Discover how to use video to educate and engage customers in a dynamic way;
  • Learn how visual, story-telling strategies can re-energize your brand;
  • Understand the importantce of extending reach beyond your current followers.

Workshop Summary:
In Vegas, Elvis may still be King, but on social media, it’s video. Thanks to video interaction across nearly all social media platforms, there’s no denying that video traffic is growing globally. The old saying, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” rarely holds true anymore. Hydro Ottawa uses video to educate and connect customers to its business, employees and events in a dynamic way. The utility shares its best practices on how to stand out on social channels, its visual storytelling strategies and how to use the power of video to re-energize your brand. In this presentation, learn the importance of extending reach beyond your followers and using public sentiment to strategize a new path forward for your utility.
Click on the underlined webinar title above to register. F or a complete 2017 - 2018 schedule, visit 2T2 Webinars. Questions or comments?
Contact Danise Mullendore, Workshops Manager, at 903-893-3214.
Almost Set: Conference Workshop and Synergy Groups
Workshops and Synergy Groups for Conference 42 are taking shape..This process of buildilng the annual selection of 60+ workshops and six business process-driven Synergy Groups around the Customer Experience Lifecycle begins in September each year. Conference track and Synergy Groups planning teams have been very busy this past fall identifying top-of-mind topics, contacting potential speakers and putting the finishing touches on these Tuesday through Friday programs.

Visit Conference Workshops and Synergy Groups to see the latest objectives, abstract descriptions, agendas and presenters.

Watch your mailbox in early February for the 2018 Program.

Questions about either Conference Workshops or Synergy Groups? Contact Danise Mullendore , Conference Workshops Manager, or Shawnna Ansley , Synergy Groups Manager.
What Time Is It?
It’s Time for CS Week 311 Award of Excellence Submissions
CS Week 311, the customer service center venue re-branded in 2016, is currently receivi ng applications for its annual CS Week 311 Award of Excellence.

CS Week 311 is the professional, unbiased environment for on-going discussion of current issues, forums for networking and sharing of innovative best practices that will advance customer service capabilities for current and prospective 311 municipal and governmental entities throughout North America.

Click 2018 Award of Excellence Application to access the form an d submit how your center has consistently demonstrated a customer-focused approach to improving local government. The 2018 award will be presented during the CS Week ENGAGE311 Conference in Tampa, FL.

Submission deadline is February 5, 2018.

Have questions about submitting? Contact Amber Wiens at 903-821-8721.
Want to Be a LeadNext Participant? Nomination Season Is Open
The second LeadNext class, spanning CS Week 2018 and CS Week 2019, will begin its year-long agenda in Tampa, FL and complete it in Phoenix, AZ. This ten-member class is currently in the middle of its year-long agenda and will graduate with their conference attendance at Conference 42.

These past summer months have found LeadNext participants engaged with their executive coaches in monthly webinars focusing on the customer experience lifecycle. In September, Consolidated Edison and its SVP for Customer Operations Marilyn Caselli hosted the class and their coaches for a meeting at the utility’s New York City offices. Additional webinars are planned for fall and winter, and a second off-site meeting is forecast for February.
Call for Nominations
Opened October 1, 2017 and Closes March 31, 2018
If you are interested in participating in LeadNext, please review the Program Overview and submit the Nomination Form . An executive sponsor from your own utility is required. Utility professionals may self-nominate. For questions about this program, email or call Lisa Collins  at 903-821-8675.
For the latest news and updates, follow CS Week on social media and visit our website .
CS Week e-News is an information-packed newsletter sent at the beginning of each month, formatted so you can access the information you want immediately, scan other topics and check upcoming dates. We encourage you to share this information with a colleague, and your suggestions are welcome at [email protected]