IABC World Conference 2023
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Ending the Great Isolation - We’re Coming Home

8 June 2022

Guest Essay from IABC member Mike Klein

There’s been an immense amount of talk about a “Great Resignation” – one that’s driven a lot of workplace attrition and credits the pandemic as its cause.

For communication professionals, there’s a much-less-talked about phenomenon that’s been around a lot longer, and which undoubtedly worsened over the last few years, something I’d call “The Great Isolation.”

Isolation is, and has long been, an occupational hazard for communication pros. In companies that are “lean and mean,” there is rarely a surplus of fellow pros to have as friends, allies, sounding boards and sources of inspiration. Maybe if you’re a Head of Internal Comms, maybe there are some folks in PR, or maybe a few direct reports to hang with.

Outside the firewall, excepting a few PR agencies and some rare IC-specialty firms, most communication pros work on their own, part of ad-hoc alliances sometimes, or occasionally cobbled-together project teams consisting of folks from disciplines.  

To be sure, the pandemic sparked a lot of new conversations online, new activities and new relationships.  

It is indeed possible to create and sustain relationships with people you’ve never met – but at a certain level, the sole reliance on online connection can further deepen the sense of distance and isolation at a personal level.

Fortunately, there’s a cure.

You can find it in New York on 26-29 June. 

IABC World Conference.

Yes, I know there’s a listening out there for IABC as being a bit insular and clubby. That World Conference is kind of like a family reunion.

It is. But much more importantly, it’s a homecoming. For all of us. 

For those who survived the pandemic, and who want to move our profession forward.

Yes there will be the traditional array of keynotes, breakouts and workshops. 

But the real difference will be in the conversations in and around the event.

Breaking with precedent, IABC is working with other associations and players in the industry to generate a broader set of participants. Like the European Association of Communication Directors, and #WeLeadComms.  

IABC is also organizing a participative “design sprint” on how Communication Pros can affect the global discussion about climate science and climate change, one that I will have the distinct privilege of helping to open.

I know World Conference is a considerable investment of time, expense and commitment. But if you can make it, you will be bringing something great to the party.

Your thoughts, your ideas, your inspiration.

Join us. We’re coming home.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=e6X1Igwasyk&list=OLAK5uy_mmec6vtsJjWYF1JIzKOPfwmjuVp4_URwA

 

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