YELLOW ACADEMYPROGRAMME 2019

The Yellow Academy is celebrating its eighth year!

The Yellow Academy is a series of workshops on EU Lobbying and Communication with a strong focus on case studies. The key concept of these sessions is to focus on sharing the latest trends in communication and lobbying and illustrate them with concrete examples, in order to generate interaction between participants.

Trainers have been selected from among the best consultancies in Brussels in order to spark vibrant interactions. Participants are EURACTIV’s communication partners coming from trade associations, corporations, NGOs, political parties or think tanks.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

• Senior management.

• Registrations are on a first-come, first-served basis.

• These workshops are by invitation only and will take place at EURACTIV’s offices in the International Press Centre, Boulevard Charlemagne 1, in Brussels.

WORKSHOP OUTLINE

Each workshop will take place during lunch time from 12.00 until 13.45 :

• 12.00 Sandwich lunch and drinks

• 12.30 Presentation

• 13.00 Open discussion

E X P E R T S

C R E D I B I L I T Y

S O C I A L M E D I A

R E G U L A T O R Y A F F A I R S

C O M M U N I C A T I O N

I N F L U E N C I N G

B R U S S E L S P R E S S C O R P S

S T A K E H O L D E R S

M E S S A G E

C A M P A I G N

W 12 4 J A N U A R Y

Building grassroots support in a changing political environment

W 41 6 M A Y

Developing an awareness raising campaign from design to implementation - a case study of the European Portable Battery Association

W 32 1 M A R C H

Brexit: the final countdown

W O R K S H O P D A T E S I N 2 0 1 9

W 62 6 S E P T E M B E R

Lobbying dynamics under the new EU legislature

W 22 1 F E B R U A R Y

EU technical regulations, standards and innovation funding: how to build winning EU advocacy strategy

W 51 3 J U N E

How media drives regulation

Building grassroots support in a changing political environment

W 1 • 2 4 J A N U A R Y

B R E T T K O B I E , S V P & D I R E C T O R , E M E A D I G I T A L P U B L I C A F F A I R S L E A D ,

F L E I S H M A N H I L L A R D

Brett Kobie leads FleishmanHillard’s Digital Public Affairs offering across the EMEA region, which works across sectors to combine deep political and policy expertise with innovative, creative communications. A seasoned transatlantic public affairs professional and strategic digital communicator, Brett has split the last 15 years across private sector, government and non-profit roles in Brussels and New York. He also sits on FleishmanHillard’s global social & innovation leadership team.

B R E N D A N T O B I N , H E A D O F G R O W T H , E C A N V A S S E R

Brendan Tobin is head of growth at eCanvasser – a grassroots political technology company based in Ireland. He has worked with over 2,000 political and issue-based campaigns in 70 countries worldwide helping organizations to solve the challenge of communicating effectively with voters.

Presented by Brett Kobie

Presented by Brendan Tobin

EU technical regulations, standards and innovation funding: how to build winning

EU advocacy strategy

W 2 • 2 1 F E B R U A R Y

Presented by Thomas Linget

T H O M A S L I N G E T , S E N I O R A C C O U N T M A N A G E R

Thomas Linget is a highly qualified and recognized EU public affairs and communications consultant with a particular focus on transport policies. Over the years, he has acquired in-depth knowledge of the automotive, aerospace and smart mobility industries. Having led high-profile advocacy campaigns for global manufacturing companies, Thomas is a skilled negotiator and an excellent communicator, with a strong ability to engage both political or technical audiences. He currently leads the Transport Practice within LOGOS-MCI, while managing two cutting-edge industry coalitions, driving strategic engagement and advising to Board members. Thomas has a Master’s degree in European Politics & Public Affairs from Sciences Po Strasbourg.

Brexit: the final countdown

W 3 • 2 1 M A R C H

T H O M A S T I N D E M A N S , C H A I R M A N , B E L G I U M

Thomas Tindemans is a Belgian national with over 20 years experience in EU public affairs and communications. He has a proven track record of advising corporate, government and NGO clients on their public and corporate affairs strategies, including legislative procedures and political developments in the EU institutions and the Member States. He assists clients in establishing their public and corporate affairs strategies, including the drafting of legislative proposals, position papers and suggested amendments to draft legislation, and has been instrumental in forging coalitions to carry majorities on these issues.  This work includes the establishment of contacts with Commission officials, Council representatives and MEPs. He speaks frequently at major conferences and has published articles and interviews in major European newspapers. Thomas is Chairman of H+K Strategies Brussels and Global Practice Leader Public Affairs of Hill+Knowlton Strategies.

From 1994 to 2010, Thomas Tindemans was head of the Public Affairs practice at renowned law firm White & Case. Before that he gained business and political experience.

Thomas Tindemans is a guest lecturer on EU lobbying and interest representation at various academic institutions in Europe, including the KULeuven, UCL, Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris. He is also a former Director of Ideas Matter. Thomas speaks Dutch, English, French and German and studied law.

Presented by Thomas Tindemans

Developing an awareness raising campaign from design to implementation - a case study of the European Portable Battery Association

W 4 • 1 6 M A Y

H A N S C R A E N , S E C R E T A R Y - G E N E R A L

Hans Craen joined Kellen’s Brussels office in 2003. He specializes in EU affairs, with a focus on environmental, construction and energy policies. Hans acts as secretary-general for several of Kellen’s European clients including the European Portable Battery Association (EPBA).

As secretary-general, Hans supports the Board in its strategic thinking, implementing public affairs and public relations activities and representing the organization in front of the European and national legislative bodies.

Within Kellen, Hans is responsible for the cluster regrouping all clients active in the field of building, construction, energy and/or environment. He is also involved in strategic advice projects for associations in various business sectors. He has managed facilitation sessions and supported organisations in developing their strategic plan and goal setting and is also involved in conducting governance audits for associations.

Before joining Kellen, Hans worked as an EU Affairs coordinator for Hitachi’s liaison office in Brussels, covering environmental policy issues. Prior to that, he worked as a trainee in the legal department of the European Ombudsman’s office in Strasbourg.

Hans holds a law degree from the Antwerp University, as well as a European law degree from the Liège University. He also obtained a post-graduate degree in Business Management from the Vlekho Business School.

Presented by Thomas Tindemans

How media drives regulation

W 5 • 1 3 J U N E

Presented by Roxana Turcanu

R O X A N A T U R C A N U , A C C O U N T M A N A G E R

Roxana supports regulatory engagement and communication campaigns for Red Flag’s clients. Before joining, she worked in a Brussels based legal consultancy coordinating compliance assessments in the field of health, financial services, justice and home affairs legislation for the European Commission. Her previous experience includes advising Romanian companies in the agri and fisheries sectors on how to access European Structural funds and the Romanian Embassy to Belgium.

Lobbying dynamics under the new EU legislature

W 6 • 2 6 S E P T E M B E R

G I L E S K E A N E , P A R T N E R

Giles Keane has ten years’ experience in EU public affairs consultancy. Prior to joining acumen public affairs as a founding partner, he was a Director at Hill & Knowlton in Brussels. His first role in Brussels was as a trainee in the External Relations Director General of the European Commission. Giles’ strength lies in his ability to combine traditional public affairs with other communications disciplines to provide integrated communications counsel to his clients. He has worked across numerous sectors and policy areas including food & agriculture, environment & energy, healthcare and international trade. Current and recent clients of Giles since the creation of Acumen include Cargill Europe, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, Heineken, LEO Pharma, PlasticsEurope, Procter & Gamble and Syngenta. Previous clients of relevance include the British Poultry Council and US national renderers association for whom he monitored and advised on EU veterinary legislation, the European Sugar Manufacturers Association, Kellogg’s, and the European Whey Producers Association. Giles is an Irish national and in addition to his native English, he speaks fluent French and Spanish, as well as conversational Italian.

N I K O S M A N A R A S , A C C O U N T D I R E C T O R P U B L I C A F F A I R S

A N D C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

Nikos Manaras has 8 years’ experience in public policy, EU public affairs and communications as well as an in-depth knowledge of health policy. Prior to joining acumen public affairs, he worked at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) as the Senior EU Affairs and Media Coordinator, where he set up the EU Affairs and Media department. He provided strategic advice on public awareness campaigns, public policy issues, media and communication strategies and the organisation’s interactions with the EU institutions. While at EADV, he set up and managed a number of partnerships on key policy issues (occupational skin cancer, the risks of sunbeds, psoriasis) with other non-profit stakeholders, pharmaceutical companies and other medical associations. Nikos has also worked extensively with key EU health journalists and media outlets pitching stories, providing comments, op-eds and articles. Prior to coming to Brussels, Nikos worked in academia for six years as a researcher and lecturer on negotiation techniques and policy coordination. In addition, he was a campaign manager for an election campaign in Greece and an external consultant specializing on EU social policy issues. Nikos is a native Greek speaker, is fluent in English and an intermediate level French speaker.

Presented by Giles Keane

Presented by Nikos Manaras

N O T E S

JANA ZARIC jana.zaric@euractiv.com

tel. +32 (0)2 226 58 29