One-Day, Industry-Led Conference & Networking Exhibition
Master AI, Navigate Political Uncertainty & Crisis, Sharpen Your Impact & Defend Your Function's Future Under Real Pressure:
Cutting-Edge Corporate Communications Strategies To Guarantee Undeniable Value & Impact As AI & Geopolitics Shake The Foundations & Future Of Communications
Registration
Tea, coffee and networking
GIC Welcome & Chair's Opening Remarks
Andrew Commons
Head of External Communications
First Bus & Group
AI In Comms -What’s Actually Working Now?
Cut Through The Hype To Explore The Real Wins & Applications As Well As Failures & Guardrails From Teams At The Frontline Of AI Adoption
- What is AI actually doing to press releases, media monitoring and the daily grind of the press office?
- In-house team representatives share real ‘before and after examples’, the wins alongside the ones that quietly failed
- AI slop is a real risk, not a buzzword! Learn how to keep output human while still moving fast
- Walk away with practical guardrails on licensing, embargoed information and the EU AI Act's new rules
- Proactively manage the risks of deepfakes, misinformation and disinformation
Tracy Truelove
EMEA Corporate & Marketing Communications Director
Canon
Ben Bibby
Staff Communications Manager
Lancaster University
Emma Cooke
Head of Communications
Connells Group
Building Trust In A Sceptical World
Authentic Comms Which Close The Gap Between What You Say & What People Actually Experience To Earn Trust That Holds Under Scrutiny & Protects Reputation
- Trust is down again this year, across politics, media and business alike, and nobody has cracked how to reverse it
- Audiences can spot legally-vetted language a mile off, hear how leaders are learning to speak for themselves instead
- AI-generated content is making the authenticity problem worse before it makes it better
- Create a short, practical checklist for finding where your message and your delivery have quietly split
XXXX
XXX
XXX
Case Study Reserved For Conference Partner
So What? Proving Value For Comms Which Actually Move The Needle
Determine The Measurement Approach For Your Organisation Which Irrefutably Demonstrates Impact & Value To The Wider Business & Board
- No single metric has cracked comms ROI yet, so what should you actually be building into your measurement from day one?
- Move beyond share of voice, sentiment and impressions toward language the C-suite genuinely understands
- Hear one leader's honest account of the measurement approach that failed, under Chatham House Rule, before the one that worked
- Quantify the value of good communication to stakeholders in terms your Board will actually act on
Tom Mason
Head of Strategic Communications (Social & Campaigns)
University of Bath
Morning Refreshments & Informal Networking Break
Comms & AI On Trial
Is Corporate Comms Still Worth It’s Seat At The Table Or Is AI Quietly Killing It Off?
Is your own team built for what's coming, or still built for what already happened? Can you prove the function's value now that a press release or a plan can be generated in seconds? How can your human voice shine through and create the value-add?
Fiona Mannion
Head of Communications & Brand
The Crown Estate
Ewan Robertson
Head of Media Relations
Thames Water
Political Acumen As A Core Comms Skill
Master Geopolitics, Polarisation & Regional Nuances: When Any Statement Can Be Read As A Political Statement, Navigate Ministerial Upheavals, Controversy & Whatever Monday's Headline Brings
- The ministers keep changing, the issues never do, so how do you keep convincing a moving target?
- Hold one consistent global message together while regional politics pulls it in five different directions
- Political acumen is fast becoming as essential as media acumen, find out where your team's skills gap actually is
- When the next headline lands mid-project, the teams that adapt fastest all share one habit
Asa Bennett
Director of Communications
GoFundMe
Caroline Ledger
Senior Corporate Communications Manager
Macmillan Cancer Support
What Would You Do? Crisis In Real Time
Test Your Instincts Against Real-World Scenarios To Explore What Good Judgement Looks Like Under Real Pressure
Balancing restraint as much as speed, learning to spot the moment a crisis does not actually need a response and validating fast enough to stop misinformation and disinformation setting the story before you do. What would you do here?
- A deepfake of a senior leader admitting a safety failure is already spreading… what do you do in the next ten minutes?
- A senior executive is accused of inappropriate behaviour, and the allegation reaches the media before the company can respond
- A ransomware attack takes critical systems offline while customers demand to know whether their personal data is safe
- An AI-powered company product produces harmful or discriminatory outcomes, prompting calls for it to be withdrawn
- The company announces unexpectedly poor results, triggering a sharp share-price decline and speculation about restructuring
Justin Jeffreys
Head of Media Relations
ITV
Case Study Reserved For Conference Partner
Networking Lunch For Delegates, Speakers & Partners
Peer-To-Peer Discussions – Tailor Your Day
Internal Communications & Employee Engagement
Working together with internal communications to reach a workforce and protect morale when not everyone even works behind a desk
Ben Bibby
Staff Communications Manager
Lancaster University
Stakeholder Engagement & Proactive Reputation Management
Get ahead of reputational risk before it becomes a crisis
Generational Differences In Comms
Bring younger voices into the mix and adapt to a changing workplace culture
Diversity & The Talent Pipeline
Widen who enters and rises through the comms profession
Kate Jones
Director of Communications, Brand & Content
Macmillan Cancer Support
Chair's Opening Remarks
Political Neutrality?
Decide Live Where Neutrality Ends, Lobbying Earns Its Legitimacy & Silence Stops Being An Option
- Speakers argue it out while the room votes before and after, come ready to change your mind
- The old rule of no politics, no religion no longer works when even a sustainability report gets read as a political statement – so how do we navigate comms with political neutrality?
- Defend the legitimacy of corporate lobbying against the charge that it is influence dressed up as engagement
- Work out how much political ground your organisation can hold while staying impartial across every market it operates in
Tom Gurney
Director of Public Insight & Communications
NHS Hampshire & Isle of Wight
Patrick Keating
Head of External Affairs
Honda
Sophie McHale
Corporate PR Lead
Coventry Building Society Group
Earned Media, Social & The New Rules Of Visibility
Reload Your Earned & Owned Media Playbook With Chrystal Clear Value-Add & Ensure Leader Advocacy Is Strategic & Sustainable
- What does optimising for AI and GEO search actually require? Is it just old-fashioned earned media discipline in new clothes?
- LinkedIn now dominates the corporate channel mix, but its algorithm rewards individual voices over company pages, so who should be posting?
- Prove ROI on social spend without leaning on vanity metrics nobody in the boardroom believes any more
- Own the tension between a leader's personal brand and the organisation's corporate voice
XXX
XXX
XXX
Case Study Reserved For Conference Partner
Afternoon Refreshments & Informal Networking
Human Storytelling
Master Storytelling, Narratives & Newsworthiness In An AI-Driven World Where Human Communication Skills Still Drive Influence & Authentic Engagement
- The human voice still reigns supreme?
- Applying a consistent and clear narrative to internal and external audiences for an authentic voice throughout
- How can you translate creative storytelling into cross-platform narratives that fuel growth and influence?
- Craft narratives which work across channels, hook diverse audiences and serve real organisation goals – whilst keeping that human interest
Ioan Reed-Aspley
Head of Corporate Affairs
East Midlands Airport
Celestine Cheong
Head of External Communications
UK AEA
Ella Hulbert
Head of Communications, Commercial Solutions, Lenovo EMEA
Lenovo
Jonathan Henderson
Head of Public Relations
Standard Life
Peter Klomp
Head of Communications, Advocacy & Campaigns
UEFA
Nikki Moore
Head of External Communications
NHS
Lee Parker
Head of External Relations
Football Beyond Borders
Sonia Johal
Head of Communications
Citizen Housing
Case Study Reserved For Conference Partner
The Future Of Corporate Comms, Reputation Management & Stakeholder Engagement
Face What AI Actually Changes, What It Never Will & What That Means For The Next Generation Of Comms Talent To Cement Corporate Comms As Central To Organisational Strategy
- Will AI wipe out the junior rungs of the ladder, or just change what standing on the first one looks like?
- From blurred reporting lines to the rise of the Chief Storytelling Officer, find out where the function's edges are actually moving now
- Turning comms into a growth driver by prioritising what works, securing investment and delivering measurable ROI
- Align the function with executive priorities to reposition comms as a strategic driver
- Futureproof the function with new skills, training, tools and mindset shifts to stay relevant
Andrew Roache
Senior Director, Corporate and Government Affairs
Mondelēz International
Melanie Diamond
VP, Global Digital Communications - Group Communications
Sodexo
Jenny Hall
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
IDS & Royal Mail
Sebastian Button
Corporate & Investment Banking Communications Lead, EMEA
Citi
Will McSheehy
Group Head of Corporate Affairs
Starling Bank
