8.30 Registration (venue: L’Aqua, Rooftop Level, Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Park, Sydney)
9:00 Welcome
9:10: A blank piece of paper: PR agencies, purpose, innovation, and execution in 2013
If PR was invented today, what would it look like? A panel of experts deconstructs the PR and communications industry so we can start building the future.
Matt Jones (facilitator), Creative strategist, Better Happy
Kim McKay, Director, Klick Communications
Garland Harwood, Senior VP, Weber Shandwick’s Global Technology Practice
10:00 Storytelling and social ideas
Storytelling is the art of making the complex simple and memorable, and it’s becoming a business imperative. If PR is to take its place at the top table, the industry needs to stop regurgitating jargon and develop the ability to tell a compelling story: why you should care.
Examples, trends and techniques to educate the industry and clients, and the process of creating social ideas. What makes a campaign everyone wants to talk about, and how social ideas are the future of PR.
Kieran Moore, CEO Ogilvy PR
Joanna McCarthy, corporate communications manager, Kimberly-Clark Australia & New Zealand
Catherine Donnelly, head of PR, Naked Communications
Stream 1
11.00 Got talent?
Our panel examine the most effective ways to recruit staff, retain talent and upskill your people for the future. If the PR industry is changing, what new capabilities does the PR professional need to add to their resumé? With a smaller pool of talent available than there are jobs, is the solution to import skilled people from other industries, or is the solution to outsource to other countries or to use technology to automate?
How do you protect against poaching? What is the secret to keeping staff happy, fulfilled and continually developing new abilities?
David Redhill, chief marketing officer at Deloitte
Adrian Christie, head of communications at eBay Inc
Jeremy Wrench, group managing director of Capstone Hill Search
12:00 Measurement
Three years on from the Barcelona Principles, the industry seems no closer to establishing a standard in measuring PR. Our panel will present different approaches to measurement, including how to persuade clients to pay for reliable benchmarking, what are the metrics you should use, how to measure the impact of social media and discuss whether there is any place for the widely discredited measure of Advertising Value Equivalency.
Kelly McKenzie, A/NZ digital leader, IBM
Karen Crawford, CEO of The Mediaverse
Chris Walton, principal, Quantium
Howard Parry-Husbands, MD of research agency Pollinate
Stream 2
11.00 How to engage with bloggers: the importance of authenticity
Bloggers are an increasingly important channel for brands, but what does it take to make them sit up and take notice? A case study in getting it wrong – then putting it right – followed by a panel discussion.
Moderated by Nic Christensen, senior journalist, Mumbrella
Eden Riley, blogger
Sophie Baker, senior communications manager, Hamilton Island
Lorraine Murphy, head of relationships, The Remarkables Group.
12.00 Hacks and flacks. The future of journalism
What’s the best way to approach journalists in the age of the 24-hour news cycle? And are they even the right people to talk to any more? What will the media landscape look like in the months and years to come, and if the press release is well and truly dead, what replaces it?
Sean Aylmer, editor-in-chief of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun-Herald
Marcus Strom, Media Alliance campaigner
Tim Burrowes, editor-in-chief, Mumbrella
Moderated by Simon Canning, founder, Simon Says- Communications, Marketing & Media Strategy
13:00 LUNCH
Plenary session
14:00 Crisis simulation
Our expert panel will take to the stage to respond in real time to a hypothetical crisis as damaging revelations emerge and the public turns against a hypothetical brand.
The session will involve the audience as key stakeholders and feature a live command centre displaying the issue unfolding across the digital ecosystem.
Douglas Wright, MD of Wrights PR
Brian Shrowder,director of crisis and issues management at Hill+Knowlton Strategies
Chris Grosse, head of social media and digital marketing at Fox Sports
Stream 1
15:00 Anatomy of a crisis
A panel of experts in media relations and issues management analyse high profile media crises, pinpoint what went wrong and outline best practice in creating a response to avert disaster.
Gabriel McDowell, MD, Res Publica
Susan Redden Makatoa, SenateSHJ
Jenna Price, Destroy the Joint
16:00 The world’s biggest social media team: Tourism Australia
The mastermind of Tourism Australia’s social media strategy shares insights into how the organisation became the most talked about global destination on Facebook, Google+ and Instagram.
Jesse Desjardins, head of social media, Tourism Australia
Stream 2
15.00 The business of B2G: how to engage government
We talk to lobbyists and politicians about the best ways to get a fair hearing for your brands. Hear insights from experienced lobbyists, a breakdown of the communications methodology of lobbying and how to decode spin, along with a deep dive into how governments perceive business from a communications and branding perspective.
Build your knowledge of how traditional PR/communications methods are translated into political campaigns and lobbying campaigns. Even if your brand is not currently government facing you can apply these insights to your own work or gain them insights into doing government or political.
Moderated by Toby Ralph
Matt Hingerty, CEO and MD at Barton Deakin
Simon Banks, director, Hawker Britton
Peter Collins, former NSW treasurer
John Watkins, former deputy premier of NSW
16:00 The future of PR
PRC board members reflect on the day’s discussions and outline their vision for the future of PR and communications.
Margaret Zabel, CEO of the Communications Council
Michelle Hutton, CEO of Edelman Australia
Annalise Brown, Managing Partner, Porter Novelli
Claire Salvetti, MD, Mango PR
Plenary session
17:00 Question Time
A panel of senior industry figures answer your questions in an interactive final session chaired by Mumbrella editor-in-chief Tim Burrowes.
Andy Lark, CMO, Commonwealth Bank
Michelle Hutton, CEO, Edelman Australia
Stephen Browning, head of corporate affairs, News Limited
Tiffany Farrington, director, SocialDiary
19:00 CommsCon Awards Dinner
Venue: Dockside, Balcony Level, Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Park, Sydney
Hosted by: comedian Bob Downe
DJ Set by Adam Sandlah
