Public Affairs
& Speechwriting Virtual Conference

Change is the one constant in government and public affairs—especially in an election year when issues shift quickly. Yet many public affairs teams prefer to play it safe and stick with the same static content that fails to keep pace with the news cycle. Join this session to see how to break free from boring with an adaptable public affairs content strategy that keeps you relevant and in sync with sudden pivots in public perception, policies and preferences. You’ll learn:

• Adaptable content strategy: How The Aerospace Corp. team upshifted from 30-day approval cycles and boring press releases to owning the “Wild West of Space” by moving with agility and speed while embracing:
  • A broadcast newsroom mindset (including hiring videographers).
  • Long- and short-form video (including cutting-edge animation).
  • Trend-driven media briefings (e.g., a media primer on AI and space).
  • Cultural relevancy (e.g., framing content around “Our American Way of Life”).
• How to market shape: A step-by-step guide for defining a thought leadership platform that’s proactive and years ahead—instead of reactive.
• People over processes: How to tap into the passions of your SMEs to “think great thoughts” and deliver posts, programs and policies that impact real people.
• Diversity driving change: How DEI builds your “change power” so your team can be more inclusive, responsive and adaptable—plus how to tackle diversity fatigue.
• Agility through data: Measurement tools to unleash agile content—plus how data can help public affairs teams manage risk to ensure they’re not moving “too fast.”

AI presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities for Public Affairs professionals—this emerging technology will change both the way you work and the issues you work on, opening new lanes for creativity while raising new policy and legal issues that you’ll need to help your organizations navigate. As we work through this new technological evolution, our expert will help you consider:

• Enhanced efficiencies: How AI can help optimize your workday, support message and content creation, and improve engagement for your advocacy and initiatives.
• Targeted engagement: How to leverage AI for audience engagement, allowing you to reach key stakeholders with more personalized and relevant content.
• Issue management: How AI tools enable your ability to understand and respond to emerging issues, helping you stay ahead in comms and crisis management.
• Deepfake dilemmas: How to approach issues around AI-generated deepfakes — including potential faux political ads featuring your exec(s).
• Legal and policy challenges: A snapshot of the legal, policy and regulatory AI landscape to help you prepare.

In the volatile and rapidly evolving digital, economic and political landscape, communicators have seen their roles evolve to put them on the front lines of detecting and responding to cyber and digital threats. Today’s crises can become viral news stories in moments — whether it’s a brand crisis tied to misinformation, a natural disaster, a global conflict, a cybersecurity attack or worse. This session takes a page (pages, actually) from today’s public affairs emergency playbook to help you communicate through chaos, mobilize into action and protect your brand or the stakeholders you serve. You’ll learn:

• Crisis frameworks: How to revisit your playbook for crisis management to ensure you have insights into the vulnerabilities of key assets like customer loyalty, employee safety, and brand and reputation.
• Threat detection: The importance of early identification of threats so you can more effectively mitigate risks.
• Risk assessment: How to  when to speak up, when to stay silent and when to bring other stakeholders into the fold so you can more effectively assess risks before they become crises.
• Prebunking: How to get in front of potentially damaging attacks and narratives — including how to develop holding statements for scenarios in advance.
• Effective mitigation strategies: Actions like prebunking narratives, exposing bad actors via the press and taking legal action based on illicit activity.
• Managing global forces: What to consider when operating internationally amid continued global conflict — and stateside during a divisive election year.

Social media shakeups are to be expected — but there's been a LOT of flux on top social platforms lately. That’s why public affairs pros aren’t just worried about growing their social media audience these days — they’re worried about retaining it. Join for ideas you can use to navigate the latest wave of social media changes, challenges and opportunities:

• Meta changes: How Threads, Instagram and Facebook are adjusting algorithms— and how to stay up-to-date without losing reach.
• Twitter/X ideas: What others are doing with their Twitter/X accounts as the platform evolves.
• TikTok wins: How others are experimenting with TikTok, plus what TikTok bans and concerns mean to public affairs.
• The others: Ideas for building a loyal following on other channels like LinkedIn, Threads, Reddit and more.
• Measurement matters: How to monitor your social media impact — from the best monitoring tools for public affairs purposes to the best KPIs to track

Employees, customers, stakeholders and the general public have come to expect leadership to step up and speak on issues ranging from corporate citizenship, social justice, workplace issues and pressing social and political topics. But doing so in a divisive election year can be a strategically delicate proposition. Join this closing, unvarnished talk to hear:

• The socio-political landscape: Issues on everybody’s minds now — plus how to assess and act on them.
• Authenticity and trust: Why, when and how to take the lead in social impact by speaking out on relevant issues.
• Your changing role: Why public affairs is in an era of increased influence and integration with other departments, the recent rise of employees as your #1 stakeholder — and what to do about these changes.
• What’s working: How others are “talking politics” or opining on issues with without stepping on landmines.
• Being a strategic counselor: How to advise execs, leadership or members on speaking out this election year.
• What CEOs really think: The truth from one of the nation’s leading social media (and social) platforms (who also instructs our next generation of public affairs leaders).