These 90-minute deep dives led by expert practitioners will focus on topics every communicator needs to know. You’ll be able to join 3 Learning Labs on Thursday and 1 on Friday.
Putting Generative AI to work
Aimee Rinehart, Associated Press, Program Manager for AP’s Local News AI initiative
Mikhael Simmonds, Executive Director at the Center for Community Media at CUNY
A primer: what this technology is all about
Learn what tasks generative AI is great for and when to avoid it
How to best prompt generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard for text, and DALL-E and Midjourney for images
Systems Change: Internally & Externally
Dr. Laura Gerald, President, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust
Nora Ferrell, Director of Communications, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust
Working for racial equity and systems change requires transparency and accountability from philanthropy about our own history and investments in order to build community trust, address root causes, and reach lasting outcomes
Designing and implementing an internal strategic implementation process requires alignment of staff roles and responsibilities with systems change work and listening and learning together
Key external components of effective systems change include power-building in community, capacity building, data and learning, advocacy, and storytelling
Ethical Storytelling
Lisa Nelson-Haynes, Chief Program Officer, StoryCorps
Caitlin Moses Bowser, Managing Director, StoryCorps Studios and Strategic Partnerships
Emily Janssen, Director of Learning & Engagement, StoryCorps
Jacqueline Van Meter, Director of Creative Operations, StoryCorps Studios
Reflect on ways that narrative change requires a shift in our approach to story collection and dissemination
Learn how to create safe spaces to share, techniques for eliciting stories, and honoring storytellers in the editing process
Identify ways to incorporate principles of care into your practice that you can begin to implement right away
Depolarization & Building Social Cohesion
Kristen Cambell, CEO, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement
Phebe Meyer, Chief of Staff, Center for Christianity & Public Life and Affiliate, Clapham Group
Norris West, Director of Strategic Communications, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Foundation and nonprofit communicators can contribute to bridging the political/social divide — by creating opportunities for leaders with opposing views to focus on shared interests
Find common ground on the most divisive issues while reducing volatility in the public discourse and preventing people from dehumanizing one another
Design strategies that enable organizations to reach and engage beyond traditional partners
Boosting Your Brand
Victor Ng, Creative Director, Ford Foundation
Pierre Tardif, Creative Director, Mellon Foundation
David Perrin, Design Lead, Ford Foundation
Abby Feuer, EVP, Marketing & Growth, DonorsChoose
Strategic communication increasingly requires sophisticated storytelling, branding, and design.
Hear strategies to integrate branding into your organization's work.
Including making the case to your board, leadership, and staff for investing in branding and visual identity, sharing practical advice on planning and executing brand work, and offering exercises that organizations of all sizes can start doing today.
Language and Disability Justice
Dom Kelly, President and CEO at New Disabled South
Kiana Jackson, Research and Coalition Organizing Manager at New Disabled South
Accessible communications go beyond alt text, captions, and image descriptions -- language is a critical component
Plain language and easy read are important modes of communicating that are helpful for all people, not just disabled people
This session will teach the basics of plain language and easy read, how and when to use acronyms and define terms, and how to create a communications strategy that reaches the most people
Advancing DEI Impact through Comms
Niiobli Armah IV, Founder and Principal at We-Collab
Ashley Jones, Senior Director of Strategy at We-Collab
Explore how your experiences, biases, and worldviews may influence the content you produce
Understand how to creatively embody the values of this work and present it in a way that moves people
Learn how to craft your own equity comms guide to create alignment with your organization’s equity mission and brand
Strategic Comms
Kristen Grimm, President at Spitfire Strategies
Demystify the communications planning process by walking through the choices that must be made to put a strong strategy in place
Strategies for incorporating equity and racial justice while integrating the latest in brain science research
Have a chance to not only hear relevant examples, but get a chance to ask questions, and share tips with each other (and the Spitfire team) about how to make the most of the SmartChart tool
Asset-Framing® for Equity, Communication + Community
Trabian Shorters, CEO/Founder at BMe Community
Practice: Programs are temporary, the practice of Asset-Framing® is a long-term approach
A call to activation: Building on the lives, dreams, and brilliance of people to create a world where each of us are holistically well, living in dignity and prosperity
Looking within: Empowering ourselves to move beyond the temporary labels and helping the next generation transcend
Grantee Capacity Building = Equity
Robyn Rosenthal, Communications Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Paul Hernandez, Chief Strategy Officer, Fenton Communications
Brandon Wilson, Senior Director, Center for Community Engagement in Health Innovation at Community Catalyst
How building grantee’s communication capacity is an equity issue and essential to driving advocacy, strategy, and social change over the long term
Approaches for making the case for and designing a grantee communication support program that works for your organization (no one-size-fits all)
This session will include tools, best practices, and lessons learned to help you implement (or advocate for) a capacity program and a shared communications hub
Audience Engagement
Doug Hattaway, President, Hattaway Communications
See a sneak preview of new research showing why people give their time and money to good causes—and how they want to engage
Learn science-based insights for engaging people in meaningful ways to inspire more support for your cause
Try your hand at using audience personas to tailor messaging, storytelling and engagement to appeal to people with different mindsets and motivations