When: Saturday, July 27, 2019, 9:15 a.m. BRT

Where: FECAP – Fundação Escola de Comércio Álvares Penteado, – 01502-001, Avenida da Liberdade, 532, Liberdade, São Paulo

Register now

RP Week is the largest PR-focused conference in Brazil. Now in its fifth year, the conference will focus on the role of communicators in the ever-evolving business world. Discussions will offer insights on the impact of communications and PR on business. Attendees will learn from industry leaders working in multiple industries and participate in roundtable discussions, workshops and agency tours. The conference will take place in São Paulo from July 24-July 28, 2019.

Carlos Graieb, director of Public Affairs and Advocacy in FleishmanHillard’s São Paulo office, will discuss his experiences as a PR professional working at a global agency in “The Executive as a Communicator.”

Learn more about the RP Week sessions here.

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2019

When: Monday, June 17, 2019 – Friday, June 21, 2019

Where: Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France

Learn more about the sessions

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the world’s largest gathering for the creative marketing community. The five-day festival and awards ceremony celebrate and educate attendees about the power of creativity in branded communications.

FleishmanHillard will be represented on three panels during the week. The sessions and panel discussions, led by the most creative communicators around the world, are designed to inspire and inform attendees about trends in the communications industry.

Less Stuff. More Joy: Life-Changing Japanese Creativity

When: Monday, June 17, 2019, 1:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. CET

Where: Lumiere Theatre, Palais I; Available to watch online with the Digital Pass

FleishmanHillard and its specialty brand, BlueCurrent, will host the Less Stuff. More Joy: Life-Changing Japanese Creativity panel with Marie Kondo, an organizing consultant and best-selling author. Kondo and her husband, Takumi Kawahara, will reveal their secrets of the KonMari method and discuss how the method has sparked social conversation and led to cultural change. Our own Lynne Anne Davis, regional president of FleishmanHillard’s Asia Pacific operations and Titanium Lions Jury member, will moderate the panel.

Connecting Culturally in China

When: Tuesday, June 18, 2019, 12:00 p.m. CET

Where: Audi A Theatre

FleishmanHillard will host the Connecting Culturally in China panel, featuring speakers Terence Chu, Ashley Galina Dudarenok and Peggy Fang Roe. Moderated by our own Rachel Catanach, president of FleishmanHillard’s Greater China office, the session will cover the importance of brands understanding Chinese culture in order to market effectively to consumers. The speakers will also discuss the driving factors behind China’s new-found nationalism and what this means for global brands wanting to avoid cultural pitfalls in China.

Circuit Breakers: Insight from Behavioral Change Makers

When: Tuesday, June 18, 2019, 2:00 p.m. CET

Where: ICCO House of PR, 25 Rue Hoche

Cannes Lions celebrate campaigns that cause change — in behaviors, conversations and actions. Which global campaigns have moved the arrow on issues related to race, age, gender and more? Gain insight about these circuit-breaking campaigns in a session featuring our own Chris Onderstall and a panel of experts from high-profile brands, including AARP (client) and ChoZan & Alarice.

Inside the Jury Room – PR Lions

When: Thursday, June 20, 2019, 11:00 a.m. CET

Where: Awards Hub Stage 1, Palais I

FleishmanHillard will be represented on the Inside the Jury Room – PR Lions panel, as Cannes jury presidents discuss what makes a campaign “Lion-worthy.” Our own Candace Peterson, global managing director, brand marketing and PR Lions jury member, will share her expert opinion during the interactive session.

View the full festival schedule here.

When: Monday, June 24, 2019, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. CST

Where: FleishmanHillard, 200 N. Broadway, St. Louis, MO

Register now

FleishmanHillard’s St. Louis headquarters and the St. Louis Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) are joining forces to host the Digital Metrics Lead to PR Insights discussion. The discussion will consist of a panel of FleishmanHillard employees who will share their expertise and best practices on analyzing digital metrics to drive PR strategy.

When: Wednesday, July 17, 2019, 5:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. CDT

Where: DePaul University, 1 E Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL

Register now

The PR Council is hosting the From Ground Floor to Breaking the Glass: Chicago SHEQUALITY Roundtable to provide tips and tricks for women who work in communications agencies, particularly those who work closely with clients. The workshop will cover several subjects, ranging from women as leaders to work-life integration, and offer informative discussions led by professionals in the industry, including our own Kristy Wilson, general manager of FleishmanHillard’s Chicago office.

Wilson brings more than 20 years of experience in providing strategic communications counsel to consumer clients in a broad range of industries, including telecommunications, financial services, energy, travel and healthcare. Wilson will lead “Nothing Grows in Comfort Zones” discussion, one of the six roundtable discussions offered.

View the full schedule here.

When: Wednesday, June 5, 2019, 2:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. EST

Where: Public Affairs Council, 2121 K Street, NW, Suite 900 Washington, DC; or Digital

Register now

The Public Affairs Council is hosting the Aligning CSR with Business Opportunities Workshop that will teach attendees how to embrace Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that will lead to improvements in their company, with employees and the environment. The workshop will cover several topics around CSR and will offer informative discussions led by professionals in the industry, including our own Bob Axelrod.

Axelrod, who is certified in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines, has more than 20 years of CSR/sustainability communications experience. He currently supports our Reputation Management practice and corporate social responsibility efforts in our St. Louis office. Axelrod will co-lead the panel session “How Integrated CSR Strategies Can Improve Your Organization” with Alex Schuman, the head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Alexion. This session is one of the two afternoon panels offered and will take place from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

View the full schedule here.

When: Thursday, March 28, 2019, 8:55 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. GMT +11

Where: The Westin Sydney, 1 Martin Pl, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia

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At the 2019 Mumbrella CommsCon, FleishmanHillard’s own Brian West and Jenna Orme will discuss cybercrime, crisis communications and best practices to respond in Cybercrime: How PR Can Head Off the Fastest Growth Industry in the World. West and Orme will share recent cybercrime findings and offer insight on issues and crisis PR to manage the occurrences. The session will take place at 3:10 p.m.

View the entire program schedule here.

When: Sunday, February 24, 2019, 12:30 p.m. to Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 11:00 p.m. CST

Where: Embassy Suites by Hilton Hot Springs, Hot Springs, Arkansas

Register now

The 45th annual Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism will equip attendees with actionable planning tools, useful marketing strategies, social media skills and current travel trends. The 2019 conference focuses on how tourism builds community. Presented by Arkansas Tourism, the convention will offer informative sessions and discussions led by professionals in the travel and tourism industry, including FleishmanHillard’s own Amanda Rast.

Rast, an integral member of the brand marketing practice in our St. Louis office, will co-lead the panel session “Public Relations: Then and Now” with Mark Raines of CJRW on Tuesday, February 26. This session is one of the three afternoon panels offered from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

View the full schedule here.

When: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. UTC +1 and Friday, February 22, 2019, 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. UTC +1

Where: Quadriga Forum, Werderscher Markt 15, 10117 Berlin

Register now

The seventh annual Crisis Communication Conference, presented by Quadriga University, will inform attendees on all aspects of international crisis management. The conference will feature new approaches, insights and perspectives on crisis communication and mitigation while offering attendees the chance to obtain new skills in the interactive workshop sessions and simulations. This year’s conference will feature presentations from various crisis experts and PR professionals, including FleishmanHillard’s own Volker Pulskamp.

Pulskamp, who leads the corporate reputation and crisis team in FleishmanHillard’s Berlin and Frankfurt offices, will lead the Preparation is Key: Challenges in International Crisis Prevention and Preparation workshop. This workshop is designed to offer practical experience and provide key insights of crisis preparation and prevention. Pulskamp will hold two workshop sessions on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 1:15 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. UTC +1.

Additionally, Pulskamp and other workshop presenters will hold a summary of the workshops on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 4:00 p.m. UTC +1.

View the complete agenda here.

When: Friday, January 25, 2019, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CST

Where: St. Louis Union Station Hotel, St. Louis, Missouri

Register now

The 14th Annual Women’s Conference, hosted by St. Louis Business Journal, brings together women who are joining forces and using their voices to enact meaningful change. This year’s conference aims to ensure “Voices” are heard. The conference will include various speakers, including FleishmanHillard’s own Dawn Gipson, as well as breakout sessions and discussion to deepen knowledge and allow for everyone’s story to be told.

Gipson, a St. Louis Business Journal’s Diverse Business Leader of 2018, will participate in Voicing Our Differences (Diversity & Inclusion panel) with Angela Cody and LaShana Lewis. This open-ended discussion is designed to spark conversation about executing and implementing a welcoming culture for all.

This panel is one of the three morning sessions offered from 10:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. It will take place in Regency Ballroom C.

See the complete agenda here.

As day two of Web Summit draws to a close, we’ve heard a tremendous amount of conversation and debate about fake news – as Sophie Scott wrote about yesterday.

Today our CEO & President John Saunders took part in this debate, joining a fascinating panel with Margot James, UK Minister of State for Digital and the Creative Industries; Ann Mettler, Head, European Political Strategy Centre, European Commission; and Hadas Gold, Reporter, Media and Business, CNN.

The discussion, as well as the news cycle this morning around the US mid-term elections across the board, got me thinking about the dual challenge institutions face today. They need to defend themselves against political, legal and cultural attacks, while at the same time rebuilding trust amongst the public. They need to be defensive and proactive at the same time. And their solutions need to address all at once a polarized political environment, the influence of business and government outside of national levels, and the unprecedented opportunity to mobilize specific population segments.

As we’ve counseled clients in a variety of countries on how to respond to this complex challenge, the following areas of focus have come to the fore.

Engage Young People

Part of the solution must involve engaging and mobilizing young people. This was something that came across in the panel debate John participated in today.

The younger population are more supportive of multilateral approaches to problems, and they’re also more likely to differentiate between facts and ‘fake news’.  According to the Pew Research Center, for example, younger Europeans are more left-leaning than older voters, but they don’t hold positive views of traditional centre-left parties. As a result, they may not associate with the organizations that traditionally defend multilateral institutions, even though they themselves are significantly more likely to support those institutions.

Young people also need to play a central role in the fight against fake news. When another Pew Research Center study evaluated whether Americans could distinguish between statements of fact and opinions, 32 percent of 18- to 49-year-olds correctly identified the factual statements as factual, versus 20 percent of 50-plus respondents. And 44 percent of 18- to 49-year-olds identified the opinion statements as opinions, compared with 26 percent of those 50-plus.

Use the Process of Reform to Restore Trust

Supporters of multilateralism need to use the reform process to create stronger institutions and help rebuild public trust. Simply put, the institutions don’t just need to be better, they need to recreate themselves in a more inclusive way.

UN Secretary General António Guterres has called for reforms that will refocus the UN on its core mission of preventing conflict. Similarly, EU leaders have engaged in an ongoing dialogue about how to make European institutions more effective.

But in an environment of distrust, these discussions often revert to opaque debates about rules and systems. This reinforces the public’s sense of detachment, particularly among those who feel that those rules and systems are biased against them. The reform process should therefore be far more transparent and open, with wide-ranging involvement from the public.

Leverage the Power of Communications

Populist movements have harnessed the power of social media to mobilize large numbers of passionate supporters. Defenders of multilateralism and international institutions have tended to rely upon traditional media outlets alone, and don’t always leverage the full power of digital and social communications to inform, motivate and activate supporters. Simultaneously, and as Ann Mettler so pointed out today, media is – and has to be – the backbone of democracy.

If international institutions want to rebuild trust, communications must play a central role in several ways:

• First, supporters of multilateralism, rules-based trade, and shared standards on human rights need more clearly defined spaces – especially on the internet – where they can convene and collaborate.
• Second, they should evolve a narrative that shows how shared values lead to shared positive outcomes. Populist movements are often powered by messaging about the threats to values, reinforced with tangible examples related to economic security, immigration, terrorism and other issues. In the face of all that, defenders of multilateralism too often talk only about intangible values that don’t acknowledge and address the fears or needs of their skeptics. This clearly needs to change.
• Third, international institutions need to broaden their base of support to better include people in emerging markets.

Leaders in the BRICS countries and many other emerging markets have committed multilateral arrangements. Their support can be rallied in order to establish stronger global support for institutions that are currently under attack.