Communications

Five Good Ideas about impactful communication on a shoestring budget

Sevaun Palvetzian

Published on May 16, 2017

How can you make a more memorable impact on your partners, funders, and broad stakeholder network? Time and time again, organizations doing important work forget about one key puzzle piece of driving change: effective communication tactics. For non-profit leaders, communicating is essential to building strong partnerships, which is often done on a shoestring budget. Under this kind of pressure, it can be easy to skip over the more meaningful ways of connecting with others. In this presentation, CivicAction CEO Sevaun Palvetzian will toast to five good ideas she’s picked up on how non-profit leaders can communicate effectively with stakeholders and not break the bank.

Five Good Ideas:

Data is your seatbelt, but stories put you in the driver’s seat.
Pick coffee over the computer.
All the news that’s fit to print, not (only) scroll.
Invite yourself to a pithy party. Regularly.
Never underestimate the impact of gift wrap.

Resources:

What Writing Speeches for Michelle Obama Taught Sarah Hurwitz about Great Storytelling
https://heleo.com/conversation-what-writing-speeches-for-michelle-obama-taught-sarah-hurwitz-about-great-storytelling/13140/
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, Chip Heath and Dan Heath
https://www.amazon.ca/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-Others/dp/1400064287
Start With Why, Simon Sinek
http://www.startwithwhy.com/Books/StartWithWhyBook.aspx
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, Garr Reynolds
https://www.amazon.ca/Presentation-Zen-Simple-Design-Delivery/dp/0321811984
Pexels—free stock photography https://www.pexels.com

Sevaun Palvetzian

President and CEO, UNICEF Canada

Sevaun is the President and CEO of UNICEF Canada, the leading humanitarian organization dedicated to helping children around the world survive, thrive and reach their full potential. Sevaun is a widely respected Canadian leader who has built and led high-performing teams in each of the public, corporate and NGO/charitable sectors. As a strategist and values-driven executive, she finds creative solutions to challenges while operating in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. She was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by WXN.

Before her appointment at UNICEF Canada effective June 1, 2023, she was a Senior Fellow at the Munk Centre of Global Affairs and Public Policy and executive advisor to leading companies in Canada and the U.S. on ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) and its related impact on organizational strategy.

Prior to this, Sevaun served on the executive team of Rogers, a leading Canadian technology and media company. As Chief Communications Officer, she led communications, ESG and corporate responsibility across the company’s multiple business lines including wireless, cable, business services, TV, radio and sports.

Before joining Rogers, Sevaun was CEO of CivicAction, a prominent Canadian not-for-profit that boosts civic engagement and addresses critical urban issues by unlocking the collective impact of all people and sectors. Additionally, she held a series of leadership roles over the course of a decade with the Ontario Government including launching a strategy to attract future generations of leaders which included the award-winning Learn and Work Program to re-engage youth from priority communities.

An active member of the community, Sevaun has served as an advisory member to several orders of government and as a director on boards including Waterfront Toronto, NEXT Canada, NPower Canada and the Ivey Business School Leadership Council. Sevaun holds an M.A in history from Western University and has completed executive programs at the Ivey School of Business and Harvard School of Business.