Coming to Brooklyn, New York June 3-5.
Putting together the PR Daily Conference agenda requires a deep dive into the not only the biggest topics in the industry today, but also what’s likely to crop up in the months and years ahead.
We caught up with Isis Simpson-Mersha, lead conference producer for this year’s event, which will be held June 3-5 in Brooklyn, New York. She gave us a peek behind the curtain at how the conference came together and what you shouldn’t miss.
Answers have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: You do lots of research to put together this agenda. What did that look like?
Lots of reading. We go back to survey results from past conferences and start there, because we want to hear from the people that have been to our events before, get their feedback. Then we talk to our community, the comms pros, the professionals in this space and we’re getting just ideas from them and just connecting and their perspectives on what might be trending in the industry, what might be new or niche.
We also look at research, both our own, like the Communications Leadership Council Benchmark Report, as well as external.
And then I’m reading news. I’m getting newsletters. I am also referring to our own internal brain trust. I’m listening to podcasts.
We are looking for trends about what’s next, and then taking the PR Daily/Ragan spin to it: why that’s important, and how can it be presented in a way that makes it critical for a PR professional to attend.
Q: What trends showed up that you knew you had to address in this agenda?
AI is no longer just a topic. It’s becoming an infrastructure of PR, more woven into workflows. It’s not an add-on. We’re looking at measurement, governance, reputation management — it’s across the board. And you could see this in our sessions where we’re exploring GEO, we’re looking at AI-driven PR workflows, we’re looking at AI avatars and prompting.
Other major topics include the splintering of the media landscape, including declining traffic to news sites in the last 12 months due to GEO search, and why that’s relevant to media relations professionals. We’re also on top of the new “top tier” of media to pitch and pursue, including breakouts like LinkedIn and emerging Substacks/podcasts.
Of course, there’s lots on the continual state of crisis, including dis/misinformation and how it proliferates and how “brand storytelling” has become a way to reframe the work comms professionals already do.
Q: What other topics felt especially important this year?
Trust and reputation. I feel like that has become very central, and almost every major theme circles back to trust. You can see it across the agenda. We’re emphasizing transparency, authenticity, credibility, things like that.
Also, PR being repositioned as a business function and not just like a comms function. I think that is a major push towards business fluency and measurable impact, and how you’re tying that to business outcomes.
Q: Journalists are obviously a really important part of the PR Daily Conference. How are they woven into the event?
Our pre-con day, we kick off with our media pitching workshop and it opens with a panel of editors and leads of newsrooms. They’re going to be having a conversation about fostering their relationships, what’s relevant, how the newsroom is evolving, all those things.
And then we’re going to break off into desk sides where we’ll have beat reporters from all different types of verticals, who will be able to connect with attendees and share candid feedback, hear pitches and connect in that way.
So it should be very fun and low pressure, but lots of interactivity and an opportunity for both sides to learn.
Q: You’re also taking attendees on a tour of the Business Insider newsroom. Tell us more about that.
This actually takes place on our pre-con day before the actual workshops kick off. I’m really excited about this because I haven’t been in a newsroom for four years myself.
This is an opportunity to go into a digital newsroom, and we’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at what’s happening, how they’re operating and maybe ask a couple of questions.
Q: Are there any speakers or sessions attendees should keep an eye on?
There is a trio of case studies around crisis and reputation management. They’re all going to have these 15-minute case studies, share the high points, and then they’re going to come back together for a panel. We’re going to have a very candid, open conversation, but really it’s the opportunity for the audience to ask them questions and to learn about their playbooks.
The case studies include:
- Navigating Reputation in a Rapid-Response World with Kamian Allen, head of reputation and risk, Audible
- When the Internet Goes Dark: Response to Hurricane Helene with Paul Wendel, senior director, Purpose Communications & Strategic Engagements, Cisco
- Inside Out: How Internal Transparency Turned into Public Trust During a Global Tech Meltdown with Melissa Tizon, SVP and chief communications officer, Providence
Q: Are there any sleeper-hit sessions people should pay attention to?
Ultimately what I’m really excited about is our crisis simulation. It’s a crisis, but it’s always so fun, just because of how involved the audience gets to be and how they are able to have that peer-to-peer opportunity to talk through that crisis and then hear from a person who has led through that real crisis moment and those learnings.
Q: What changes about the conference now that it’s in Brooklyn, New York after years in Washington?
In New York, it is just going to be new energy, different energy. I feel like New York is the center of media and publishing and advertising and even cultural influence and fashion.
I think it’s going to be really exciting to be in that space.
Q: Anything else people should know before they attend?
We do have an entire track dedicated to PR in the age of AI. We’re going to have some really niche and interesting sessions there, and that they should come ready to learn and network and have some fun, as well.
Register today for the PR Daily Conference.
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