Schedule of Events

Effective communication isn’t about completing the brochure, video, or website — it’s about what the communication needs to accomplish and how successful it is at doing just that — it’s the WHY are you doing the communication in the first place.  Join award-winning communication consultant Gabrielle (Gabi) Loring, FCSCE, as she explores how to disrupt how you think about metrics to reframe measurement as a powerful leadership tool — one that reveals what’s working or not working and how communication can influence real outcomes.  

The session will explore: 

• How to set goals worth measuring and tie them to business value
• Why many current measurement practices fall short and how to move beyond vanity metrics  
• Meaningful measurement through award-winning, real-world case studies
• The essential role of having a measurement plan in shaping strategy
• Using measurement to talk about the impact of your communication strategy to management and your manager, customer or client  

During the session, participants will have an opportunity to apply what they learned to their own work.  Who should attend? Designed for generalists/specialists, this session is for anyone who wants to move beyond generic key performance indicators (KPIs) to unlock deeper insights, build influence, and shape smarter strategies.

• Set measurable, meaningful goals and objectives
• Recognize the difference between output-based and outcome-based objectives
• Use measurement to inform your communication strategy and tailor your communication

In today’s crowded communication landscape, messages compete for attention like never before. Emails go unread, campaigns are ignored, and audiences scroll past important announcements. Creativity has become the most powerful tool for communicators to cut through the noise and make an impact.

In this session, Eduvie Martin and Jide draw on their combined expertise leading creative campaigns across banks, FMCGs, and entertainment platforms like Comic Republic. They will show how to turn any brief, no matter how routine, into vibrant, engaging content that captures attention, inspires action, and drives results.  

Participants will explore how storytelling, design, video, audio, and innovative formats can transform communication across internal, external, and corporate channels. Through interactive exercises and real-world case studies, attendees will learn how to manage creative teams, tailor content to diverse audiences, and why creativity and storytelling are important.  

This session is ideal for communicators, content creators, and leaders who want to push boundaries, elevate engagement, and lead disruptive initiatives. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies to harness creativity across all channels, amplify their influence, and turn everyday messages into memorable experiences that resonate long after they are delivered.

• Design engaging communication strategies across internal, external, and corporate channels that capture attention and inspire action.
• Apply creative storytelling, multimedia, and visual techniques to transform routine briefs into high-impact campaigns.
• Manage creative talent effectively to deliver consistent, innovative, and audience-centered communication results.

The most effective internal communication doesn’t just share information — it connects with both the hearts and minds of employees. In an age of constant disruption and growing disconnection, stripping communication of its humanity is a costly mistake. Change is, at its core, an emotional process — and organizations that acknowledge and support that reality unlock higher performance, adaptability, and wellbeing. 

In this talk, Andrea Greenhous explores the power of communicating with emotion: why it’s essential in today’s world of work, what gets in the way, and how to turn emotional connection into a measurable driver of success.  

She shares the story of a hospital undergoing significant transformation. When launching its new strategic plan, Andrea and her team made emotion an explicit goal — measuring how employees felt about the change and using those insights to guide next steps. The result? Communication that not only informed and inspired but also helped people move through change with confidence, compassion, and clarity.  

Because when communication connects with the heart, it drives everything else that matters.

• Understand the neuroscience behind emotion and how emotional connection shapes attention, memory, and behaviour — making communication more impactful and lasting.
• Apply creative storytelling, multimedia, and visual techniques to transform routine briefs into high-impact campaigns.
• Manage creative talent effectively to deliver consistent, innovative, and audience-centered communication results.

In a world where algorithms decide what we see, and what we don’t, communicators face a new kind of disruption: reality itself.

Every audience lives inside a personalized feed that reinforces beliefs, reshapes trust, and fragments perception.  In this session,  Angus will explore how communicators can break out of those echo chambers and rebuild audience understanding through empathy, data, and creativity.

Drawing from his work leading marketing at Fullintel and campaigns for brands like Bevi, Google, and Disney+, he’ll share actionable frameworks to balance AI-driven insights with human-centered storytelling.  As both a content strategist and viral creator with over 100K followers across platforms, he's seen firsthand how authenticity drives connection — and how creator-style storytelling is redefining PR and communications. 

You’ll leave with a five-step “Media Diet” toolkit to audit your feeds, diversify your inputs, and use AI responsibly, all while strengthening trust and creative impact in an age of algorithmic disruption.

• Decode the Algorithmic Mind: Understand how algorithms quietly shape public perception — and learn to use data, empathy, and curiosity to see beyond your own feed.
• Design a Healthier Media Diet: Audit your team’s “information intake” and rebuild it with diverse sources, creator perspectives, and AI insights that sharpen strategy instead of reinforcing bias.
• Turn Disruption into Connection: Apply creator-era storytelling and real-time audience awareness to build brand trust, transform PR blind spots into opportunities, and make your next campaign genuinely scroll-stopping.

We've overcomplicated this.

Leaders today are drowning in advice about how to communicate through change. Master storytelling. Leverage AI. Navigate hybrid teams. Stay authentic while staying on-message. The list is endless—and exhausting. Here's the disruption nobody's talking about: What if the most radical thing leaders could do right now is get back to basics?

As a senior and C-suite leader turned coach and consultant working with executives navigating chaos, I've watched leaders exhaust themselves chasing the next communication trend. Meanwhile, the fundamentals - empathy, authenticity, accountability, simplicity, and influence - sit unused like power tools gathering dust.  

This keynote isn't about adding more to your leadership toolkit. It's about stripping away what's not working and rediscovering the core communication principles that actually move people through change. Through stories from boardrooms and communities, from tech giants to grassroots organizations, we'll explore why the basics aren't basic at all — they're revolutionary.  

You'll leave with renewed clarity about what matters most when leading through disruption, practical wisdom you can apply with your team Monday morning, and permission to stop doing the performative leadership communication that never worked anyway.  Sometimes the most disruptive thing a leader can do is return to what's always been true.

• Identify the five fundamental communication principles that enable leaders to move people through disruption effectively and distinguish these from the noise of trends, tools, and performative leadership tactics that undermine trust.
• Articulate how returning to human-centered communication basics serves as a disruptive leadership strategy that builds followership and accelerates change adoption more effectively than complex frameworks or polished corporate messaging.
• Apply at least one "back to basics" communication principle with their team within 48 hours, using a simplified decision-making model that prioritizes genuine human connection over leadership theater.

What if the rules that move planets could also move people at work?  

This energetic session reframes classic science ideas into a practical playbook for modern communicators. Chuck and Pinaki  translate Force, Energy, Gravity, and Newton’s Laws into everyday planning tools that help you build messages with substance, speed and stickiness.  

You will learn how to give your message “mass,” when and where to add “acceleration,” and how to use culture as a multiplier rather than a blocker. We will run quick labs, do safe mini “experiments,” and map a real campaign to the Force Equation so you can see what creates motion and what creates friction.  

Expect fun, not fluff. You will leave with a reusable playbook, a simple adoption scorecard, and language you can use with leaders and teams to explain why a message will move people, not just inform them. Ideal for communicators who want fresh thinking and practical tools that fit frontline and hybrid realities.  

Disruption is here; this session gives you the science to harness it.

• Map any communication initiative to the Force Equation by defining message mass, selecting two acceleration levers, and predicting expected impact.
• Design a micro-experiment that increases adoption, including a hypothesis, a cultural fit check, and one metric for engagement.
• Anticipate likely resistance using Newton’s “equal and opposite reaction” and draft tcounter-messages that reduce friction.

What if you could make your communication strategies as captivating and unforgettable as a magic trick? In this engaging and fast-paced session, you’ll uncover The Magic Behind Award-Winning Communication Strategies, a practical and entertaining look at how creativity, curiosity, and strategy combine to drive measurable impact in disruptive times.  

Led by multi-Gold Quill “Best of the Best” Recipient and Blue Ribbon Panel Judge Jeff Pekar, this session uses live magic demonstrations to reveal the secrets behind communication that truly connects. Each illusion becomes a teaching tool – a simple, memorable way to recall key principles such as linking tactics to strategy, focusing attention where it matters most, and turning disruption into opportunity.  You’ll explore real-life case studies from global award-winning programs, learn proven tips and tricks for crafting measurable strategies, and discover how to mystify your audience for all the right reasons.

Expect plenty of interaction, laughter, and a few surprises along the way.  Ideal for early- to mid-career communicators, this session blends insight, inspiration, and showmanship, helping you master the real magic of communication that informs, engages, and endures.

• Upon completion, participants will be able to identify and describe the key components that make communication strategies award-winning – including clarity of objectives, alignment of tactics to strategy, and the use of measurable outcomes.
• Upon completion, participants will be able to apply simple, magic-inspired mnemonics and frameworks to plan and evaluate their own communication programs in disruptive or changing environments.
• Upon completion, participants will be able to demonstrate how creativity, storytelling, and audience engagement techniques – the “tricks” of the trade – can be used to capture attention, sustain interest, and improve results.

Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we create, share, and consume content — and not always for the better. This session explores how AI-generated “slop” and mass content production are disrupting authenticity, trust, and the value of human creativity in communications.  

Join Samuel Chen as he unpacks real-world examples of how communicators are navigating this disruption and reclaiming authenticity in the age of automation. Attendees will discover the best AI tools used today, learn ethical practices for integrating them into workflows, and explore strategies to outpace competitors who rely solely on machine-generated content.  

Through live demonstrations and interactive discussions, participants will gain hands-on experience using AI responsibly while reinforcing their unique human advantage — empathy, storytelling, and strategic thinking.  

This session is ideal for communication professionals in marketing, public relations, and corporate communications who want to stay ahead of the curve, strengthen trust with audiences, and lead with authenticity in an increasingly AI-driven world.

• Understand their value as communicators when dealing with their organization and potential clients
• using selective AI tools the right way and showcasing the efforts of trust with their community
• identify the risk of using certain AI tools within an organization that could harm their current workflow consistency

What does it really take to build a fulfilling, future-proof career in communication, one that thrives amid disruption?  In this energising and deeply personal session, award-winning podcaster and agency leader Katie Macaulay shares surprising insights from more than 200 interviews with the pioneers, change-makers, and rebels redefining our profession.  First presented to rave reviews at the 2024 IABC World Conference in Chicago, this session has been fully revised and updated after another two years of interviews and research, offering fresh perspectives and new lessons from leading voices in our field.  Drawing on six years of The Internal Comms Podcast — nearly 300 hours of conversations — Katie reveals six timely lessons for communicators seeking to stay curious, courageous, and relevant in a rapidly changing world.  You’ll explore how to “institutionalise curiosity,” speak truth to power, build networks that last, and turn failure into fuel for growth.  Expect stories and audio clips from industry luminaries, along with moments for reflection and peer conversation. Designed for communication professionals at every level, this interactive session will equip you with practical tools, proven habits, and renewed confidence to navigate disruption and shape the future of communication from the inside out.

• Identify six key traits and mindsets, including self-awareness, honesty, curiosity, courage, and interdisciplinary thinking, that define the most fulfilled and successful communication professionals.
• Apply practical strategies to build stronger professional relationships, such as cultivating generosity in networking, institutionalizing curiosity, and speaking truth to power to enhance their influence and impact at work.
• Reflect on and reframe their approach to professional growth by embracing experimentation, learning from failure, and defining success in alignment with their personal purpose and values.

Since ChatGPT’s launch in 2022, three out of four communicators have started using AI in their work. I’m one of them. I use it every single day. It’s fast. It’s clever. It’s a great BFF, researcher, and editorial assistant. But, there are two problems: 1. Readers are turning away from AI-written messages. They recognize that the generic, untouched by-human-hands, chemical-vanilla-candle scent of AI writing. Smooth, but soulless. Researchers at the University of Michigan and others have found that readers prefer human-written messages to AI-written messages by as much as 30%. They can feel the difference. 2. Worse, the rush to AI is starting to cost IABC members their jobs. Writing roles now rank fifth most likely to be lost to AI, according to Microsoft. Let’s disrupt that risk. Let’s use AI, for sure, but use it better. In my session, you’ll learn: how to outwrite a robot, how to bring human intelligence to artificial intelligence, and how to win back our readers — and our jobs — by making writing human again.

• Connect with your audience, use AI to tap into what keeps your readers up at night, then write pieces that speak to their hearts, not just their inboxes. Turns out, a robot can help you relate better to humans.
• Outwrite a robot. ChatGPT can’t tell stories. Co-Pilot doesn’t have personal examples and observations. Grammarly doesn’t get goosebumps. Learn to craft content so real, so resonant, only a human could write it.
• Go beyond AI. Walk away with smart, free tools — better than AI — for writing subject lines that get opened and messages that get read, remembered, and shared.

What if your next communication strategy was more like a DJ set than a content plan? In this high-energy, music-infused session, Monique Zytnik and Pinaki Kathiari explore what communicators can learn from the world of club DJs, masters of reading the room, crafting emotional journeys, and building shared experiences that move people to action. Together, they’ll remix traditional communication thinking by shifting our role from content production to creating multisensory, shared experiences. You’ll discover how to “read your dancefloor,” when to turn up the volume or dial it back, and how to tell stories that make people feel part of something bigger. This interactive session includes live music moments, storytelling techniques, and practical tools to help you design communication experiences that resonate. It’s about rhythm and melody. Perfect for communicators ready to move beyond content and start orchestrating connections.

• Read the Room Like a DJ: Learn how to sense audience energy, emotion, and engagement, and adapt your communication “setlist” in real time for maximum resonance.
• Design Multisensory Experiences: Move beyond content delivery to create communications that engage sight, sound, and emotion, turning information into shared experiences that connect and inspire.
• Master the Rhythm of Engagement: Discover how pacing, pauses, and storytelling flow can sustain audience attention and prevent “message fatigue” - the communication equivalent of an overplayed track or not enough recovery tracks.

In a world defined by growing uncertainty, organizations face unprecedented pressure to make sense of long-term change. Geopolitical shifts, technological acceleration, and evolving cultural expectations are reshaping every industry, creating a landscape that is more volatile, complex, and contested than ever before. In response, leaders across strategy, insight, risk, and innovation functions are investing in horizon scanning, scenario planning, and long-term decision-making frameworks. Yet in many organisations, something critical has been missing: the communicator’s voice.

Building on the success of the 2025 IABC World Conference session, this practical, energizing session introduces new insight, tools, and case studies to help communicators fill that gap. Attendees will learn how to build their own horizon-scanning practice, translate external signals into internal meaning, and prepare people to engage with change confidently and constructively. We will explore how to connect foresight to behavior — equipping employees to adapt, stay curious, and make decisions that support long-term resilience. Attendees will leave with actionable methods to shape future-ready communication strategies, embed strategic thinking into everyday workflows, and strengthen their role as trusted advisors in an age of constant disruption.

• Define horizon scanning and explain how it equips strategic communicators to add value by anticipating disruption, identifying emerging risks and opportunities, and guiding informed decision-making.
• Apply a structured framework for horizon scanning within their organization to identify, interpret, and prioritize trends that could shape future communication, reputation, and stakeholder engagement.
• Translate emerging trends into actionable insight, using practical techniques to craft proactive, future-ready communication strategies and messaging that help their organizations navigate and thrive amid disruption.

In today’s rapidly shifting communications landscape, disruption is constant, but so is the opportunity to lead with purpose. This dynamic session explores how KPMG’s Global Values Week united 275,000 colleagues worldwide to strengthen trust, foster ethical decision-making, and drive engagement during times of change.

Attendees will discover proven best practices and real-world case studies — such as the high-impact Ethical Avengers Quest and global speaker broadcasts — that empowered employees to connect, collaborate, and put shared values into action.  Through interactive scenarios and peer discussion, participants will gain actionable strategies for embedding core values in communications, cultivating resilience, and building cultures of trust,even amid uncertainty. You’ll leave equipped with practical tools to activate ethical frameworks, design engaging campaigns, and measure impact across diverse teams.

This session is tailored for internal and external communications professionals, change agents, and leaders seeking to future-proof their organizations. Whether you’re navigating global transformations or inspiring local teams, join us to reimagine the communicator’s role as a catalyst for positive disruption and sustainable success.

• Describe how to embed organizational values into communications strategies by leveraging real-world examples from KPMG’s Global Values Week, including the Ethical Avengers Quest and global speaker broadcasts.
• Demonstrate actionable techniques for fostering engagement, collaboration, and ethical decision-making within teams during periods of disruption, using interactive scenarios and best practices shared in the session.
• Measure the impact of values-driven campaigns by identifying key indicators of trust, employee participation, and behavior change across diverse and global audiences.

In an era defined by disruption — rapid technological shifts, evolving ethics, and global energy transformation — how do organizations keep employees aligned and engaged?

Hydro-Québec faced this challenge head-on during a period of unprecedented change: multiple leadership transitions, bold strategic pivots, and the launch of a transformative 2035 Action Plan. This session explores how we turned complexity into clarity and disruption into opportunity. Through innovative internal campaigns, gamified tools, and multi-channel strategies, we empowered employees to embrace strategic priorities and measure success with tangible performance indicators.

We’ll share how we adapted messages for diverse internal audiences, leveraged creative engagement techniques, and built a culture of understanding and ownership around strategic goals.

Attendees will gain actionable insights on:

• Simplifying complex messages for diverse internal audiences.
• Driving engagement through creative, interactive communication methods.
• Measuring impact to prove ROI and sustain momentum.

Beyond practical tools and examples, participants will also gain fresh ideas and perspectives on how they can tackle similar challenges in their own organizations, turning disruption into a catalyst for stronger internal alignment and engagement. If you want to learn how to communicate strategy in times of uncertainty — and walk away with strategies you can implement immediately — this session is for you.

• Describe key challenges in communicating strategic priorities during disruption.
• Identify innovative techniques to simplify and personalize internal messaging.
• Develop metrics to evaluate the success of internal communication campaigns.