Media Relations Conference June 5-6, 2024 | Washington, D.C.

There is a lot of buzz about how AI is rapidly transforming the future of the communications industry, and it’s true — AI-powered tools can automate tasks, help draft creative content and analyze data in ways that were previously tedious, manual and resource-intensive. But for comms leaders, AI can do much more than you may realize. It can supercharge strategy, mitigate risk and enhance reputation.

In this 30-minute session we pull back the curtain on how AI works and help you understand how to make AI work for you, exploring:

• How AI can optimize your messaging, identify white space opportunities and flag emerging risks.
• Case studies of top companies across industries — from Life Sciences to Tech — are deploying AI end-to-end across the entire storytelling spectrum.
• Why AI can demonstrate your impact by enabling reputational ROI for the first time.

The world can feel like a scorched landscape these days — thanks to declining public trust and increasing hyperpolarization. But the only way forward is with courage and conviction, a truth our keynoter knows firsthand. As a survivor of the Pulse Night Club Shooting who went on to create a powerful, thought leadership platform, Brandon Wolf now serves as the national press secretary and senior director of political communications at the Human Rights Campaign. In this inspiring keynote, he’ll outline how we, too, can forge a path forward so we don’t just survive turbulent times, but thrive in them with resilience and authenticity. He’ll share:

• From Survivor to Change Agent: How Brandon turned tragedy into purpose and became a leading advocate for LGBTQ rights and public safety.
• Passion, Perseverance and Storytelling: Why we respond to stories of resilience grounded in authenticity and passion — and how to find yours.
• Thought Leadership Case Study: How to build an authentic, story-based thought leadership platform that the press and public will love.
• Inform and Inspire: What to expect in the news cycle in the months ahead and how to make your message resonate.

Media relations professionals are always finding new ways to improve workflows, boost brand presence, and lead in their field. Lockheed Martin is pioneering the use of AI to transform its media strategies. This session outlines how they're developing brand personas, using AI to analyze online sentiment and messaging, and crafting custom GPTs for thought leadership. We’ll cover:

• Secure, Generative AI: How to use OpenAI’s custom GPTs to safely automate content generation tasks in your voice, generate ideas for pitches, serve as your private data scientist to crunch numbers, and create free-to-use images using the embedded Dall-E functionality.
• Executive Persona Innovation: Pushing creative boundaries with custom GPTs to reimagine content creation,  engagement strategies and establish thought leadership.
• Transcript Integration for AI Training: Integrating transcripts from tools like Otter.AI to train AI in executive voices, enabling personalized communication and connection.
• Brand Persona Alignment: Crafting brand personas to streamline communication across platforms, enhancing social media presence and press release effectiveness.
• Sentiment Analysis and Key Message Extraction: Leveraging AI to analyze online sources for sentiment and key messaging, providing actionable insights for product milestone coverage and decision-making process.

News consumption has evolved radically, shifting from traditional print and TV to podcasts and digital spaces. Nearly 90 percent of U.S. adults say they often or sometimes get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet—and 30 percent say they get some of their news from TikTok. Discover what it takes to break through in this new landscape firsthand from a  journalist, a producer, a podcaster and a content creator. They’ll cover:

• New Media Players: A deep dive into the new print media (Substack newsletters), the new radio (podcasts) and the new video journalism (TikTok, YouTube, etc.)—and how to score coverage.
• Relationships First: How to build connections with influential new media journalists—including best ways to friend, follow and DM them on Twitter/X, LinkedIn and beyond.
• Winning Pitches: Templates for winning email, DM or even in-person pitches—plus the best news pegs, trends, stats, exclusives and multimedia elements to include.
• Follow-Ups and More: Why it’s important to be available post-pitch to help share out your target new media journalist’s story or post—plus how to help with follow-ups, second-day stories and more.
• What’s Next: Exciting, new media formats and platforms journalists are experimenting with—and how to be a valuable resource to them as they adjust to emerging tech.

Successfully measuring your efforts lets you showcase the depth and impact of your hard work—so you can pinpoint new opportunities, improve your messaging strategies and even increase your budget. Yet too many in media relations rely on outdated measurement methods and vanity metrics that fail to integrate paid, earned, shared, owned and social media efforts (PESO)—and therefore struggle to be seen as strategic advisors to leadership. Join three panelists as they break down how they’re making informed, data-driven decisions grounded in evidence—so they can prove their value to the bottom line and improve their PESO performance. We’ll uncover:

• KPIs Execs Expect: The quantitative and qualitative measurements that leadership most wants to see—from competitive benchmarking against positive coverage to share of voice, website traffic, social media sentiment and even leads/sales growth.
• Paid Media Impact: How to measure the direct impact of paid advertising on brand awareness, how it can effectively supplement media placement and organic reach, and how to determine the most cost-effective budget allocation plans.
• Earned Media Analytics: Essential analytics tools to measure the impact of media coverage, plus: how to quickly analyze KPIs like EMV to make data-driven recommendations for improvements.
• Shared Media Strategies: How to evaluate the effectiveness of your social media campaigns—plus, how to track media coverage’s impact on social.
• Owned Media Optimization: New ways to monitor and adjust the value of your organization’s original content across your websites, blogs and online newsrooms.
• Telling the Story: Techniques to present your measurement successes in a way that execs will understand—plus the infographics, dashboards and tools that make it seamless.
• Benchmarking Best Practices: Real-world examples of how other teams are using measurement to elevate their media relations strategies.

Excellent interviews don’t just happen, they take work—and placing an exec at a podium without preparation is a sure recipe for disaster. That’s why PR pros must educate, elevate and empower their organization’s more influential voices with the right media messages and delivery techniques and then deploy them across the right mediums. In this session, you’ll learn about:

• Selling Media Training: The metrics and competitive comps you need to demonstrate the value of media training to stubborn or resistant leadership.
• Building Trust: How to develop a rapport with your spokesperson, allowing you to give direct feedback—and how to make your media coaching interactive and learner-friendly.
• Interview Preparation: Techniques to prepare spokespeople for various types of engagements, from internal events and townhalls to broadcast, digital and even print interviews.
• Leveraging Thought Leadership: How executive communications can help shape the reputation of your company, articulate brand values, build community and draw interest from potential customers, partners or employees—plus, the best LinkedIn formats.
• Body Language: What to wear, how to sit and which micro-expressions to be aware of during interviews—and why you should tape your execs during coaching sessions.
• Delivering Bad News: How to prep execs to field and answer tough questions from the media, analysts and even employees—plus easy hacks to stay on message.

At a time when every message counts, Courtney Williams exemplifies how to craft narratives that resonate beyond the noise. As the head of communications for the Obama Foundation, her expertise in blending mission with media is more crucial than ever. She’ll share how to captivate press and public alike with authentic storytelling that inspires action in these charged times. Join us to amplify your reach—and media results—when it matters most. We’ll touch on:

• Inspiring Action: Examples of how to craft narratives that move people and the press—especially in a news environment dominated by division.
• Mission Meets Message: Ideas for threading your values into every message to build a meaningful brand presence and media platform.
• Building Bridges: What’s working to craft campaigns that unite instead of divide, so you create a community of brand ambassadors.
• Dignified Engagement: How to navigate high stakes press queries and interactions with poise, keeping your message on track no matter what’s in the news.
• Digital Storytelling: Examples of captivating content that’s engaging and informative—from behind-the-scenes tours to fun multimedia-friendly moments with your famous execs.
• Thought Leadership in Action: Examples of the Obama Foundation’s thought leadership that resonates internally and externally—and how to emulate its successes.