CIPR Conference 2017
On Tuesday 31 October the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) held their annual conference event. Far from a Halloween spook-fest, the event featured a range of fantastic speakers from some of the UK’s greatest companies.
The conference theme this year was ‘2020 Vision – the evolution of PR’. Speakers shared their experience across topics from company transparency, finding your company purpose to the importance of knowing who you are as a business.
The morning began with speakers from Vodaphone and Everton Football Club, followed by Ben and Jerry’s and LADBible Group. Each of the four speakers brought something new to the stage, whether that was sharing tips on crisis communications, social media engagement or the power of supporting good causes.
Peter Heneghan from social publisher LADBible discussed how the phrase “content is king” is not completely true.
Heneghan explained that a better phrase would be “content in the right format, distributed on the right platforms, at the right time and to the right audience…is king”. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue but highlights the struggles of the modern comms professional.
The afternoon session began with speakers, Melissa Hinds and Zareen Siddiqui from communications agency Edelman. The duo discussed the power of getting people to listen, working with influencers and gave some tips on how to reach millennials.
Dr Johanna Fawkes shared research from the University of Huddersfield about the core capabilities of PR professionals. This was followed by a highly informative presentation from Rachel Royall, Director of Communications for NHS Digital.
The day was wrapped up by final speakers Dave Barton and Shane Whelan from British and Irish Lions and Robyn De Villiers, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Africa.
Overall the event provided a look into the inner workings of PR strategies from a great range of companies.
We look forward to seeing what in store for the event next year.
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