PR Masterclasses: AI in PR
Testimonials from our previous PR Masterclass:
"Loved the event - it's what the PR world has been missing. That heady combination of great speakers, important topics and sound advice. Well done to all involved - great event!" - PR Agency, director
"A huge thank you for yesterday! I was so impressed with the relevance and pithiness of each masterclass. Really, really valuable – please run it again!" - PR Agency, director
"I just wanted to drop you a note to say how brilliant the Masterclass was. It was so useful to get some practical advice, take part in honest discussions and hear so many inspiring talks from such a great lineup of speakers. I'd also like to give a shout out to the yummy food and perfect notebooks." - PR Agency, founder
What is the PR Masterclass: PR & AI?
For two years, the PRmoment editorial team has been investigating and reading about PR and AI. We've taken our time to identify the key issues for public relations and AI.
The program for this PR and AI Masterclass is a result of those conversations.
We've filtered out the snake oil salesman, the bluffers and the AI dead ends to create PR Masterclass: PR & AI.
Each Masterclass will last for 20 minutes. A 10-minute Q&A will follow each Masterclass.
Why attend?
It’s important. AI is going to impact all of our businesses. Whether you’ve already begun your professional AI journey or if you're looking for advice on where to start - this Masterclass will help you.
At this one event, 12 experts will give 10 Masterclasses on PR & AI.
Like in all sectors of the economy, predicting the impact and speed of AI's impact on public relations has been difficult. Now, for the first time, PRmoment brings the finest selection of experts on PR and AI we can find—under one roof, for one day only. Join us. You can purchase a face-to-face ticket or a virtual pass using the form below.
Key themes
- What PR tasks do I need an AI tool for?
- What should be in your PR AI toolbox?
- The impact of AI on your PR workflow
- How to custom an LLM for your spokesperson or company
- The legalities of AI: Are brands playing with fire when they use AI content?
- How AI is changing the PR measurement game
- Is time-based billing dead? How AI will change the structure, size and workflow of PR agencies
- What public relations will look like once AI is naturalised into everyday work
- Has AI overpromised and under-delivered?: An AI in PR reality check
After the event, all guests, including those who attend face-to-face and virtually, will receive a password-protected recording of the sessions.
There will be a canal-side breakout room/terrace and café where guests can plug in their laptops and catch up with emails. The program is designed to be fast-paced, so you can watch all the sessions and/or just join the sessions that you want.
We don’t want anyone who would like to attend, not to be able to. There are a limited number of face-to-face tickets and virtual tickets set aside for people who would like to come but are not able to afford the ticket price. Please contact bensmith@prmoment.com if you feel you are appropriate for this offer to receive a bursary form.
Please note: There will be no sponsors for this event. We don’t believe in charging delegates for a ticket and filling the room with salespeople.
Tickets
You will need to register before you can buy a ticket. If you have not yet registered, you can register here.
| Ticket | Type | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early Bird Deadline: 10/05/2024 | ||||
| PR Agency and in-house teams | Standard Early Bird | £450.00 +VAT | Buy | |
| PR Agency and in-house teams | Standard Full Rate | £550.00 +VAT | Buy | |
| Virtual ticket | Virtual Early Bird | £200.00 +VAT | Buy | |
| Virtual ticket | Virtual Full Rate | £250.00 +VAT | Buy | |
| PR Vendors and PR Recruiters | Standard Full Rate | £850.00 +VAT | Buy | |
When & Where
2nd July 2024 - 8:30am - 4:30pm BST Kings Place Events, Kings’ Cross, London
Agenda
08:30
Registration, welcome refreshments & networking
09:15
Chairperson's welcome
Speaker
Ben Smith
PRmoment, founder
Speaker
Ben Smith
founder, PRmoment
Ben has over 20 years of publishing experience, building B2B communities through digital content, predominantly in the UK. PRmoment also has a franchise in India and a significant readership in the US.
Ben launched PRmoment in 2008and Creative Moment in 2018. He hosts the PRmoment Podcast, and no one globally has created and designed more speaker programmes for PR events in the last 15 years.
Ben is the curator of The PR Masterclass: PR & AI.
09:30
Masterclass 1: What PR tasks do I need an AI tool for?
Speaker
Andrew Bruce Smith
Escherman, managing director
Speaker
Andrew Bruce Smith
managing director, Escherman
Andrew Bruce Smith, FCIPR, MPRCA, is a well-known expert in artificial intelligence and its applications in PR and communications. With a foundational education in Philosophy and Mathematical Logic from the University of Edinburgh (1981-1985), he developed a keen interest in AI early in his career. Andrew further honed his skills in AI programming languages in the late 1980s, a time when AI was still nascent.
Pioneering the adoption of AI content tools such as Wordsmith in the early 2010s, Andrew has consistently stayed at the forefront of technological innovation. This, coupled with his leadership as the Chair of the CIPR’s AI in PR panel, makes him a much sought-after speaker and commentator on the impact of AI.
Andrew is the co-author of 'Share This' and 'Share This Too' (publisher: Wiley), best-selling handbooks that reflect the evolution of media.
Andrew’s commitment to digital innovation is evident in his early adoption of communication technologies such as e-mail (1990), the World Wide Web (1994), and Twitter (2007). Known as the "de facto godfather of PR blogging", Andrew continues to influence the industry with his insights on the confluence of PR, social media, search optimisation, and AI.
- How do I choose the right AI tools for my organisation?
- Why free tools come at a cost
- What is your consideration set of AI platforms?
10:00
Masterclass 2: What should be in your PR AI toolbox?
Speaker
Jonny Bentwood
Golin, Global head of data analytics
Speaker
Jonny Bentwood
Global head of data analytics, Golin
Jonny Bentwood heads data and analytics globally at Golin. Awarded four consecutive back-to-back wins from 2019 to 2022 for AMEC Large Research and Measurement Team of the Year, Jonny has put data at the centre of communications.
In his role, Jonny enables Golin’s clients to be data-driven. A firm believer that when art is combined with science and decisions purely based on instinct are rejected, then clients will have winning programs. A champion of using data to deliver focus through the customer journey, Jonny has challenged historic approaches to measurement to evolve the approach from descriptive to prescriptive to predictive.
- When to use generalist tools and when to use specialist tools?
- How to integrate your AI tools into your client offer
- AI tool user cases: When you use AI and when you don't
- Defensive communications: Using AI to combat misinformation
10:30
Masterclass 3: The impact of AI on your PR workflow
Speaker
Allison Spray
Hill & Knowlton, Global head, Intel & Tech Innovation
Speaker
Allison Spray
Global head, Intel & Tech Innovation, Hill & Knowlton
Allison Spray is the global head of Intel & Tech Innovation at Hill & Knowlton. In her role, she is focused on developing new solutions for emerging client needs through the application of data and technology.
Allison additionally leads the London specialist data team, which she has built and grown since 2017.
Allison joined H+K from FleishmanHillard, where she was Director of Insights and planning and EMEA measurement lead. She brings a decade of experience in integrated measurement and creative brand strategy, having overseen global measurement and research programmes for Fortune 500 brands.
She is a respected industry figure and International Board Director for the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications (AMEC). She has spoken on data and insights at numerous conferences, including PR360, ICCO Global Summit, and the AMEC Global Summit.
In 2022, Allison was awarded a postgraduate diploma with distinction from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, in artificial intelligence for business.
- Where do PR people start on their AI journeys? Why do some succeed, and why do some fail?
- Understanding the four keys to successfully embedding AI into your organisation: People, capabilities, resistance to innovation and governance
- You must allow your people time to experiment with AI and give them permission to fail
- What should be your short-term, medium-term and long-term AI in your PR workflow?
11:00
Refreshments and networking break
11:30
Masterclass 4: How to custom a LLM for your spokesperson or company
Speaker
Paul Wooding
Founder, PR & AI Consultant, Independent public relations practitioner
Speaker
Paul Wooding
Independent public relations practitioner, Founder, PR & AI Consultant
An experienced senior communications professional, Paul has held senior positions both in-house and agency side, managing global accounts for leading technology brands in the B2B and B2C sectors. Currently, Paul is exploring the application of AI in public relations, looking at how it can enhance both operational performance and creative output.
- How to build your own AI chatbot that uses your tone of voice and monitors your competitor activity
- How to train your AI chatbot to use relevant content
- How your personal AI chatbot can give you near-instant ideas, frameworks, perspectives, and content
12:00
Masterclass 5: The legalities of AI - Are brands playing with fire when they use AI content? Be it written, an image or video
Speaker
Luke English
English Media, Lawyer, Media & Technology
Speaker
Luke English
Lawyer, Media & Technology, English Media
Luke English is a lawyer who specialises in Media and Technology. He runs his own law firm, English Media.
Luke has been in the media and tech industry for over 25 years and has worked for some of the biggest entertainment companies in the world, such as Walt Disney, Sony Music and the BBC, advising on intellectual property.
Luke guest lectures on media and tech, including at Future Echoes in Sweden, The Great Escape in Brighton, BPP Law School in London, Bournemouth University, Arts University Bournemouth and Solent University in Southampton.
Luke's clients in the technology world have included subscription models for dog food to high-end cosmetics, software for hip replacements to dairy farms, Apps for Lego Star Wars games to playgrounds, and terms and conditions for Hollywood FX companies to music festivals.
As a media and technology lawyer for his clients, Luke has to stay up to date with the current AI companies and the services they provide, against the background of English law and intellectual property.
Luke will discuss the legalities of AI. Are brands playing with fire when they use AI content, whether written, visual, or video?
- Why we are at the Wild West stage of AI content use
- Currently, does any AI company in the world have a copyright licence?
- What current legal cases globally are likely to signpost the use of AI copyright?
- The future of AI: copyright bot wars?
12:30
Masterclass 6: Master's Thesis Results - Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLM) and the impact on storytellers
Speaker
Emily McDaid
Filter, Owner
Speaker
Emily McDaid
Owner, Filter
Emily's career began at MIT in 2001 and from there she fronted client teams for two of the most respected technology PR agencies in Boston and London.
In 2008, she founded Hatch PR, a unique network of PR freelancers that has successfully rivalled the largest agencies in the UK for mobile and enterprise contracts. In 2020 the business rebranded to Filter.
Client experience includes Catalyst, Instil Software, NearForm, Vertical Structure, Nokia, Deutsche Telekom, Viewster, Xtract, Verint, Huddle and Doodle.
From 2015 to 2019, she wrote and edited the award-winning TechWatch blog.
At PR Masterclass: PR & AI, Emily will reveal the results of her Master's Thesis on "The Impact of the AI Era on Multi-Modal Storytellers."
- Five recommendations for storytellers on how to use generative AI
- How will AI impact storytellers and content creators?
- How content creators can integrate LLM into their workflow
- Stay optimistic: The more you know about AI, the less scary it becomes
- The impact of AI on the size, shape and skill of PR teams
- What AI can do creativity and what it can't
13:00
Lunch and informal networking
13:55
Chairperson's welcome back
14:00
Masterclass 7: How AI is changing the PR measurement game
Speaker
Maya Koleva
Commetric, Director of research and insight
Speaker
Maya Koleva
Director of research and insight, Commetric
Maya Koleva has over ten years of experience in the media measurement and evaluation industry.
After starting as an analyst working on multimarket qualitative reputation measurement programs, she then moved on to senior client-facing roles.
Maya has worked with clients from government, NGOs and businesses, spanning sectors from energy, technology, telecoms and healthcare.
She has consulted them on campaign evaluation, competitor benchmarking, setting KPIs and shaping measurement programs to provide deeper and more practical insight.
In her current role as head of research and insight at Commetric, she is also involved in integrating NLP—and AI-based tools and technologies into new products, research methods, and operational processes.
Maya holds a PhD from Sofia University's Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communications. In her doctoral research, she focused on entity-centric content analysis and the application of network analysis to media texts.
She commonly applies this academic approach to research methodologies, setting up robust programs specifically for clients needing to understand stakeholders and pathways of influence in broad media conversations on policy issues or controversial topics.
Maya also holds a MA in Public Policy from Central European University, where she focused on measuring the effectiveness of awareness campaigns.
- From one-stop shop measurement providers to channel-specific tools: Understanding the disruption in the PR measurement market
- What the intersection of AI, PR measurement technology and humans looks like in practice
- Clients want data and measurement faster and cheaper
- Most PR campaigns have unique data challenges: that's a challenge for SAS software solutions
- Why B2B measurement is harder for SAS software measurement
- Integrated AI measurement of PR: using Chat GPT to integrate your channel data from channel-specific tools
14:30
Masterclass 8: Is time based billing dead? How AI will change the structure, size and workflow of PR agencies
Panellist
Roopa Ramaiya
Feedzai, VP of Communications
Panellist
Emily Morgan
The Red Consultancy, MD Operations & Innovation
- How data can help PR firms understand thor business better
- How are agencies using AI currently: administration, creativity and process
- Understanding AI related data and security issues
- Will AI change the services bought from PR firms
- How will AI change the demands of PR clients?
- Are agencies selling time? Or a consultancy service?
15:00
Refreshments and networking break
15:30
Masterclass 9: The new PR -What public relations might look like once AI is naturalised into everyday work
Speaker
Dr Clea Bourne
Goldsmiths, University of London, Reader - PR, Advertising & Marketing
Speaker
Dr Clea Bourne
Reader - PR, Advertising & Marketing, Goldsmiths, University of London
Dr Clea Bourne is a Reader in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is founder and director of Goldsmiths’ MA Promotional Media: Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing. She also designed and teaches the undergraduate module, The Future of Media Work.
Clea current research examines how digital economies and markets are mediatised. Her most recent work analyses the public legitimisation of narratives surrounding digital technologies, and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation on work, culture and society.
Clea’s sole-authored books include Public Relations and the Digital: Professional Discourse and Change, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2022. The book unpacks the rise of digital platformisation and its impact on public relations practice. Clea locates public relations within broader scholarship on the digital disruption of professional work. She explores public relations’ current trajectory in the face of increased digital automation and commoditisation of professional skills. Throughout the book’s chapters, Clea dissects issues ranging from digital skills and recruitment, to the commoditisation of creativity, changing relations with journalism, and the implications of AI and automation for the future of public relations.
Clea has also published journal articles on the rise of the AI economy in AI & Ethics and Public Relations Inquiry, as well as book chapters on AI in Artificial Intelligence in Public Relations and Communications (Quadriga Press), and the forthcoming Sage Handbook of Promotional Culture and Society. She is currently writing her third sole-authored book entitled Understanding Promotional Media: Professions, Culture, Practice for Sage Publications.
- What does the PR team of the future look like?
- Why PR seems to be embracing AI technology more than it embraced previous technology shifts
- How AI means the replacement of white-collar workers
- It’s rarely an entire job that gets replaced by AI
- The tech sector has gone after the creative sector; how will the creative sector respond?
- Why it will come down to money: Is it cheaper or more effective to employ someone or to use software?
16:00
Masterclass 10: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should - An AI in PR reality check
Speaker
Stephen Waddington
Wadds Inc, Founder and managing partner
Speaker
Stephen Waddington
Founder and managing partner, Wadds Inc
Stephen Waddington is the Founder and Managing Partner of Wadds Inc., a professional advisory firm that helps agencies and communications teams with planning, strategic decision-making and execution.
He is a PhD research student at Leeds Business School investigating the contribution of public relations to management.
Stephen was previously managing director at Metia Group (2019-2020) and Chief Engagement Officer at Ketchum (2012-2018). He provided lead senior counsel on integrated global accounts, including IBM, IKEA, and Phillips.
He was President of the CIPR in 2014, during which time he helped return the organisation to its roots of professionalism as set out in its Royal Charter. He is the former chairman of the CIPR Artificial Intelligence panel and Social Media panel.
Stephen is the co-editor with Ralph Tench of the fifth edition of Exploring PR and Management Communication, the definitive book on PR theory and practice, published by Pearson in January 2021. His other books include #BrandVandals (Bloomsbury, November 2013), Brand Anarchy (Bloomsbury, February 2012), Platinum (CIPR, September 2018), Share This (Wiley, July 2012) Share This Too (Wiley, September 2013) and Chartered Public Relations: Lessons from Expert Practitioners (Kogan Page, February 2015).
Stephen originally trained as an engineer and a journalist before pursuing a public relations career. He co-founded, managed and sold two award-winning public relations agencies, Rainier PR in 1998 and Speed in 2009.
Stephen is a Chartered PR Practitioner, a CIPR Fellow (Hon) and a PRCA Fellow.
- Has AI in PR overpromised and underdelivered? (so far!)
- We were promised a magic content creator; that's not what we've got
- What is the likely productivity increase for PR teams who use AI?
- A reality check: The written content produced by AI tends to be low-quality, lacks context and emotional intelligence
- Are you likely to spend more time editing and rewriting than just writing something original?
- Will the standardisation of content always make content boring?
16:30