DAY 1 – 17TH MAY 2023
09:00
Registration & refreshments
09:30
Welcome from PRWeek + Chair’s opening remarks
09:35
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Leadership in PR: how success in comms campaigns starts with strong leaders
09:35 - 10:00
- How to inspire teams and mould consensus by understanding the audience you’re leading
- What good leadership looks like in PR: being brave, disruptive, apologetic and distinctive
- How can the best comms leaders react to constant change?
- Building diverse teams and living by strong values
10:00
PANEL DISCUSSION: Maximising your metrics: how can we become more data literate in comms?
10:00 - 10:40
- Setting yourself up for success: how to establish an effective measurement plan ahead of your campaigns
- Storytelling through data: translating data for your C-suite to prove the value of PR
- Driving development – what are the essential skills to equip your comms team with to maximise results for the present and the future?
10:40
PRESENTATION: Analytics in the times of tight budgets
10:40 - 11:00
- Why is brand performance particularly important in today’s market?
- How to optimise brand and PR strategies for maximum impact?
- Which metrics should you pay attention to while creating strategy and budget?
- How to evaluate and boost high-value PR outputs?
11:00
NETWORKING BREAK
11:40
FIRESIDE CHAT: Building pride and trust with colleagues and customers post crisis: the power of putting your people at the heart of an aligned communication strategy
11:40 - 12:00
- Creating one authentic story across all comms disciplines, both internal and external, with people at its heart
- Showcasing the originality of your colleagues to tell your story and humanise your brand
- Understanding that internal is external and external is internal
12:00
PRESENTATION: What you need to know about newsrooms in 2023
12:00 - 12:30
- Adapting to the changes in newsroom operations, particularly live video, with a focus on multi-media content
- How to engage with journalists
- The latest trends in ESG, AI and ChatGPT
- The importance of data insights and fact-checking in effective communication.
12:30
Breakout to HUB sessions
12:40
(HUB A) PANEL DISCUSSION: Making DE&I more than just a checkbox – creating real change and inclusivity in your comms
12:40 - 13:10
- Ensuring a diverse comms team as the first step to creating campaigns that resonate with different audiences
- Hear from brands on the journey: sharing learnings to do DE&I well
- Walking the walk before talking the talk: what is needed to move the industry forward?
12:40
(HUB B) PRESENTATION: What How ASICS put brand-led storytelling at the heart of its internal and external communications to drive consumer preference and increase employee engagement.
12:40 - 13:10
- Focusing on internal and external communications on one story for clarity and impact
- Empowering your employees as your brand storytellers
- Being prepared to stand against something, not just for something.
13:10
NETWORKING LUNCH
14:10
FIRESIDE CHAT: Constructing a value-led corporate affairs function that speaks to the c-suite
14:20 - 14:40
- Setting up for success: what is the optimal structure for a corporate affairs function?
- Why the best corporate affairs leaders have a good understanding of public affairs
- Thinking about corporate social responsibility: how to demonstrate you are giving back to the community in a way that makes sense for your brand
14:40
PRESENTATION: Transparency: the clear choice, but not the easy one (and what the comms industry can do about it)
14:40 - 15:00
- Why transparency is about more than scrutiny
- The barriers for brands in an environment where perfection is expected
- Creating an effective approach to transparency for your brand
15:00
PANEL DISCUSSION: How can PRs keep up strong comms in a constantly changing and uncertain environment?
15:00 - 15:40
- Managing comms in a cost of living crisis and recession
- Balancing proactivity and reactivity- how can you ensure your comms are always relevant and engaging in times of rapid change?
- Navigating and retaining audience attention and engagement: creating comms campaigns that deliver consistent results
- Managing multi-media campaigns in a crisis: knowing when to speak and what to say
15:40
PRESENTATION: The power of sport – connecting and building trust
15:40 - 16:00
- Why sport is the perfect vehicle for building trust and connecting with audiences
- How the crossover between sport, entertainment and lifestyle can engage beyond the typical fan
- Why athletes are a voice for change and the importance of brands trusting their talent ambassadors
16:00
NETWORKING BREAK
16:20
FIRESIDE CHAT: Has PR become too serious? Inspiring creativity in PR in 2023
16:20 - 16:50
- Has cancel culture taken the fun out of PR? What can brands do to navigate the grey areas with good nature?
- Looking at the best and most fun creative campaigns from the last year – what made them stand out?
- Addressing tough topics with humour or humanity: what is best practice to gain positive sentiment from your campaigns?
16:50
Chair’s closing comments & close of conference
16:50 - 16:55
Speaker:
16:55
Networking drinks
17:40
Close of day (all)
DAY 2 - 18TH MAY 2023
09:00
Registration & refreshments
09:30
Welcome from PRWeek & chair’s opening remarks
09:30 - 09:35
Speaker:
Communicating on climate, society and people: breaking down the E, S and G
09:35
OVERVIEW PANEL DISCUSSION: Becoming a better brand through your sustainability & ESG comms – the 2023 update and figuring out what you want to focus on
09:35 - 10:15
- What is the purpose of ESG comms today?
- Taking a stance: knowing when and how to speak up and make statements on social issues in an authentic manner
- How can you future proof your brand in ESG whilst dealing with geopolitical changes and the cost of living crisis?
10:15
PRESENTATION: Adapting to the Next Generation of Misinformation: How Can We Protect Reputation in an AI-Enhanced Age?
10:15 - 10:45
- Actionable lessons from the counter-health misinformation operation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Unanswered questions: future risks to reputation management and how to mitigate them.
- Building a toolkit to respond to new reputational challenges, regardless of the size of your team.
10:45
NETWORKING BREAK
11:30
CASE STUDY PRESENTATION: Talking purpose without purpose washing – gaining consumer trust through comms that come second to action
11:30 - 11:55
- Why it matters: the importance of highlighting ESG actions to maximise trust
- Sharing purpose driven stories in the right way: curating authentic comms to support your actions
- Maximising consumer impact by avoiding performative PR
11:55
BREAKOUT TO HUB SESSIONS
12:10
(HUB A) PANEL DISCUSSION: Why comms should care about working towards being B-Corp certified
12:10 - 12:40
- Building a B-Corp brand: what does a B-corp certification mean for comms?
- Authentically approaching sustainability in PR to promote audience trust
- Ensuring your ESG comms resonate: what does sustainable PR look like in practice?
Speakers:
12:10
(HUB B) PRESENTATION: Why the future of PR is trust and how you can leverage it to build stronger relationships authentically with consumers AND Google
12:10 - 12:40
Trust and PR aren’t words that traditionally go hand-in-hand, and with brands needing to be much more transparent and communicate their values and policies with transparency, how do you build trust with journalists and audiences in an authentic way?
- The value of using stakeholders as experts
- The impact of recent Google algorithm updates
- How to create content to support brand PR
- How authenticity and trust drives revenue for brands
- Pitfalls to avoid when trying to build trust
Speaker:
12:40
NETWORKING LUNCH BREAK
13:55
BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN CASE STUDY PRESENTATION: invaluable insights from an award-winning comms campaign
13:55 - 14:25
Creating maximum impact through award-winning campaigns – hear the process, inspiration and results of curating compelling PR:
- Designing everything for maximum reach and impact – insights into CALM’s ‘The Last Photo’ campaign
14:25
PRESENTATION: Learning and “UNLearning” – An approach to embedding D&EI in comms
14:25 - 14:55
- Empowering and motivating comms teams on D&EI
- Practical considerations for content creation and co-design
- Challenging “traditional”comms norms and best practice
14:55
NETWORKING BREAK
15:30
PRESENTATION: Telling the internal PR story: proving value by sharing the story behind the metrics
15:30 - 15:55
- How PRs should stop being their own worst PRs
- Communicating what you do as a comms professional: helping others understand your work
- Communicating the comms process to your peers to showcase merit
15:55
FIRESIDE CHAT: Looking to the future: how can PR prepare?
15:55 - 16:25
- Friend or Foe: how can PR and Comms successfully utilise new tools and technologies like AI in comms for the future?
- What should your priorities be for comms in 2023 and beyond?
- Planning ahead: what might the comms landscape look like in the next five years?
16:25
Chair’s closing comments
16:30