This is where executive communications professionals come to share ideas, solve problems, learn skills and plan for the future—together.
“The first conference for executive communicators, by executive communicators,” as a participant in the inaugural Executive Communication Summit called it.
The first—and still, the only.
Join your colleagues to:
- Get serious about the most urgent issues of 2024: AI. Political polarization and the U.S. election. The backlash against DEI and ESG. What can—what must—exec comms pros do? Asked and answered, by the leading experts in all three.
- Get ideas from some of the best exec comms pros in the world: How to make an integrated exec comms plan, how to stage a more effective employee town hall, how to animate your CEO on social media, how to find the best forums for your leaders.
- Get wisdom on how to be a “happy warrior” in exec comms, providing max value to your organization, and receiving max reward. Career advice from some of the very most successful, long-serving exec comms professionals in the business.
Attend solo, or register your whole team for a convenient, affordable and lasting group experience.
Attended by almost two hundred exec comms pros, the Executive Communication Summit has become a perennially popular event, described by happy participants as “incredibly insightful, packed with both thoughtful approaches to exec comms strategy and practical to-do’s” … “so applicable to my role and full of great, usable tips and best practices” … and “the most impactful conference I’ve ever attended.”
This year’s Summit reaches even higher.
PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP
TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 11:00-1:30PM EASTERN
Modern Presentation Structure and Design—for Exec Comms Pros
Despite the best efforts of traditional word-oriented exec comms pros, many leaders are leaning more and more heavily on less scripted speeches, and more visual presentations.
Are you going to serve them, or aren’t you?
The good news is that many of the skills that help you structure great scripts, help you construct coherent, persuasive presentations. You only need to reapply them to structuring and designing presentations, and you’ll amaze your principal and surprise yourself with your ability to touch audiences on multiple emotional levels.
Mike Teixeira, the founder of the presentation agency DECK, will bring you profound insights and practical tips he’s learned in a career of creating presentations for hundreds of executives, entrepreneurs, and speakers. The result? You will feel more comfortable—even enthusiastic—conceiving slide decks that resonate, and honor the strength of your writing.
In an interactive hands-on session, you’ll learn and practice:
- How to structure effective presentations. Utilizing an easy storyboarding technique, we’ll show you how to map the story to the visual ideas. Chicken scratch is encouraged!
- How to determine the presentation format. Many speeches are live, and even though we all know supporting slides should be sparse and add insight, the drive to “leave something behind” or to “remind me of what to say” pushes the design in negative ways. We’ll discuss strategies to avoid this situation.
- How templates work. We’ll dig into the logic of how template master slides and sections work. For some reason, this is “hidden knowledge,” but it can help you become faster and less stressed when creating and editing decks.
- Foundational design tips—the essentials you have to know. We’ll dig into basic color palettes, typography, and layout tips that will bring your slide design skills to the next level and make the design your ally in enhancing your written word.
- Ways to create impressive visuals without a “design background,” or even great design instincts. We will demonstrate some AI and open-source tools to help you quickly enhance your speaker’s message.
AGENDA
(All times Eastern)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26: THE STATE OF THE ART OF EXEC COMMS
11:00-11:45 • Exec Comms, for All the Marbles: What We Can All Learn From Google DeepMind’s High-Stakes Campaign for AI Acceptance
For two years, Google DeepMind communications head Amanda Carl has worked with her CEO Demis Hassabis to build and execute one of the most important and intricate thought leadership platforms in the modern moment. With AI now under a more powerful magnifying glass than ever—and in the midst of a polarizing election year—Carl’s work is even more difficult … and more crucial. “We’re essentially running our own campaign, and AI is the candidate,” Carl says. “If we can’t get society on board, we’re dead in the water. That’s my main mission right now.” Carl will share the powerful lessons she’s learned on this jangled journey—and help you understand how to help your principals talk about AI responsibly and intelligently, too.
11:50-12:15 • You Don’t Find the Holy Grail, You Fashion It Yourself: The Making of a Fully Integrated Executive Communication Plan
Maureen Kasper has been in exec comms for more than three decades. She marshalled all that experience in building a comprehensive strategic exec comms plan for the leadership of Intuitive Surgical: Four top-line company narratives and a host of aligned content and sub-narratives with clearly identified executive spokespeople for each category. Maureen walks us through how she and her colleagues set about this process—from ideation to socialization to execution—for an organization that had never had such a strategy before. You’ll leave this session knowing what truly strategic exec comms is—and what it takes to get there.
12:20-12:40 • The Employee Town Hall: How Walmart Revitalized This Exec Comms Staple, and How You Can, Too
Twenty-five years ago, just holding an employee town hall was considered a best practice. The novelty has long worn off, and though the town hall is still a staple of most internal exec comms operations—isn’t it time for a refresh? That’s how Walmart executive communicators felt a few years ago, when they found attendance lagging at their company-wide meetings. While thoughtfully honoring their corporate traditions, they strategically modernized their approach: tactically, tonally, thematically. Walmart’s senior director of global communications and CEO speechwriter Jerry Wohletz and executive communications director Jacquelyn Cook will walk you through the changes they made, the results they achieved and the lessons they learned along the way.
12:45-1:05 • CEO Social Media Case Study: ‘Leading With Love’—on LinkedIn, Instagram … and Beyond?
When PG&E CEO Patti Poppe came onboard in 2021, she brought to the traditional utility a radically new leadership style called “Leading with Love”—along with an active LinkedIn account for the communications team to manage. This opened up a whole new world for the exec comms team, which has since refined their process with Poppe, and expanded to Instagram. Next on the list? TikTok! (maybe). During this session, PG&E exec comms pro Ari Vanrenen will share best practices gleaned from managing their CEO’s dynamic social media presence and engagement.
1:10-1:30 • DEI and ESG, Now: An Executive Communicator’s Reckoning
Six years ago, Janet Stovall gave an industry-roiling, game-changing TED Talk in which she claimed that corporations had the power to end racism. In the meantime, she left her job as a top corporate speechwriter, became Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the NeuroLeadership Institute and co-wrote a book on DEI and communication, “The Conscious Communicator: The Fine Art of Not Saying Stupid S***.” Over those years she has ridden a massive DEI wave generated by the murder of George Floyd—and also witnessed the crashing of that wave, and the pulling back. Where are we now? In conversation with ECC executive director David Murray and you, Janet will offer a sober, not to say blunt, assessment of how exec comms should help leaders lead in this area, now.
1:30-2:00 • Talk Directly with Today’s Speakers
Whichever of today’s sessions interested you the most—join the speaker in a dedicated Zoom room, for a freewheeling Q&A where you can ask the speakers whatever you like as you consider how to apply these ideas to your own organization, and your own leaders.
THURSDAY, JUNE 27: MANAGING THE ISSUES, MANAGING YOUR CAREER
11:00-11:45 • Emergency Meeting: In This Election Year, What Can CEOs (and Exec Comms Pros) Do to Minimize Polarization and Maximize Civility
No one wants or needs a stable society more fervently than the CEOs of corporations and leaders of other major institutions. But in a tumultuous political climate that only promises to get more stormy as this year rolls on, what can leaders really do and say to reduce polarization and build common purpose among stakeholders inside the organization, and out? That’s the question that Bob Feldman has dedicated his life to answering, as founder of The Duke Dialogue Project, at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Counting among its contributors the CEOs of Pfizer, Southwest Airlines, Walmart, AARP, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and many more major institutions, The Duke Dialogue Project serves as the center of thought leadership in this area. Feldman will share his vision for CEOs as dialogue-makers—and help exec comms pros see their role in this vital project, at this crucial moment.
11:50-12:15 • Environmental Scan: What Do Conference Organizers Want from You and Your Leaders These Days? (And Up With What, Will They Not Put?)
Four years ago around now, it was all virtual, all the time. Three years ago, too. Now, virtual is nearly verboten, say the conference organizers surveyed by Amy Scarlino, president of the corporate leader / conference matchmaking firm Scarlino Speaker Strategies. Scarlino joins us to tell us not just what’s out with conference organizers, but what’s in—“Super Fireside Chats,” and Q&A stages, for instance. She’ll tell you how to pitch your speaker these days (and when)—and offer savvy tips on how to make sure every engagement is beneficial to the conference and your speaker both.
12:20-12:40 • How to Be a Better Candidate for Exec Comms Roles: A Veteran Recruiter’s Candid Counsel
Over decades in the executive search business, Susan Thomas has seen the good, bad and the ugly when it comes to clients seeking candidates, and candidates seeking jobs. As client partner at the communications-focused search firm Heyman Associates, Thomas can tell you, and she will: Why top exec comms jobs are so hard to fill. And what you can do to make yourself a more visible candidate—and a better one.
12:45-1:30 • The Happy Warriors: Wisdom from Exec Comms Pros Who Have Had Extraordinarily Long and Fruitful Careers at One Organization
“We need help with career pathing” is what we constantly hear from exec comms pros. Or as Carole King might have sung it, “Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore?” Well, Boe Workman has been running CEO communications at AARP since 1993. Kari Aakre worked in comms at Intel for 23 years that culminated in a crowning, award-winning achievement as VP of executive communications. Tony Telschow is the newcomer, having joined Target’s exec comms team in 2010—an A-team he now happily leads. In conversation with Sharon McIntosh, who specializes in executive coaching for executive communicators, Workman, Aakre and Telschow will share advice for forging an interesting, stable and rewarding executive communication tenure in this volatile business.
1:30-2:00 • Talk Directly with Today’s Speakers
Whichever of today’s sessions interested you the most—join the speaker in a dedicated Zoom room, for a freewheeling Q&A where you can ask the speakers whatever you like as you consider how to apply these ideas to your own organization, and your own leaders.
SPEAKERS
SPONSOR
One Strategy Group is the next-generation corporate strategy firm that advises C-suite leaders and growth-focused companies on reputation, communications, and market positioning.
REGISTER
$495 to register for the pre-conference session, "Modern Presentation Structure and Design—for Exec Comms Pros," June 25, 2024. ($371 for members of the Professional Speechwriters Association. Discount is automatically applied to cart when current members are logged in.)
$995 to register for the Executive Communication Council's Executive Communication Summit, June 26-27, 2024. ($746 for members of the Professional Speechwriters Association. Discount is automatically applied to cart when current members are logged in.)
$1995 trio rate (you and two team members - please enter team member emails in the Order Notes so that they also receive credentials)
$2995 team rate (four or more team members - please enter team member emails in the Order Notes so that they also receive credentials)
Credentials to access the event will be sent the week of June 17.
A link to view the session recordings will be available shortly after the Summit concludes, and accessible anytime through the end of July, 2024.
Phone registrations please call 312-585-6383.
Cancellations Policy
No refunds on cancellations will be issued once the event credentials have been provided.
$495.00 – $2,995.00