Overview
Right now, universities are having to grapple with diverse stakeholder needs, dispersed teams, a febrile political and media environment, crises, AI disruptions, and challenging targets. So, how can you position yourself for success when creating marketing and communications strategies?
Join us on Tuesday 4 June 2024, either in London or online, to explore the practical steps needed to tackle these challenges and network with experts in the sector.
The conference will cover key areas, such as:
- How can you secure buy-in for your strategy? Get insights from industry leaders and peers.
- How should you use AI and how do you create a safe environment for your team to experiment?
- Effectively navigating dispersed and evolving channels to achieve integrated communications and deliver maximum impact.
- What can we learn, from both inside and outside of the sector, about crisis management and the influence of politics on public narrative in the run up to the general election?
Why should you attend?
As a university professional in marketing, digital, brand, external and internal communications, it can be hard to keep on top of new insights and opportunities that could help you and your teams make an even bigger impact. This is your opportunity to step back. As a manager this is an opportunity to sharpen your skills and keep pace with the latest trends or help set yourself on the right path to your next promotion.
With a focus on interactive sessions and networking opportunities, expect plentiful opportunities to bring your current questions and challenges to the table and gain valuable strategic insights, tips, and advice from leading experts in the field as well as peers within the higher education sector.
If you are unable to join in person, you can register for access to a livestream of the plenary sessions (interactive sessions will not be streamed).
Have any questions? Please contact us at [email protected] or 07500 441505.
We allow delegates to cancel their bookings up to one month before the event and receive a refund. If this applies to you, please contact us at the email or phone number above.
If you want to stay up to date with our events, news and publications, you can sign up for our newsletters here.
Agenda
Speakers
Amy Mollett
Head of Social Media, Video and Photography
Andrew Bruce Smith
Founder
Andrew Bruce Smith, MPRCA, FCIPR, is a well-known expert in artificial intelligence and its applications in PR, comms, social media, SEO, and analytics. 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 in communications.
Emma Leech
Global Marketing Director
Emma Leech BA (Hons), MBA, Found.Chart.PR, FCIPR, Dip CIPR, Dip PR (CAM), FCIM, FIIC, FIoD, FRSA, FInstILM, FCMI, MPRCA, MCIOF
Emma is Global Marketing Director at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. She was previously Director of Marketing and Communications at Nottingham Trent University where she sat on the University Executive Team.
She started her career in fashion and consumer PR in 1988, working in tourism and destination marketing before settling in higher education in 1997.
A Founding Chartered PR Practitioner, Chartered Marketer and Chartered Manager, she has won a string of awards over almost three decades spanning PR, marketing, innovation, fundraising, digital, and web.
Emma holds an MBA and various PR, marketing and management qualifications. She was the Chartered Institute of Public Relations President 2019 and is a Lead Assessor for Chartered Practitioner status.
Helen Byard
Director
Helen Byard is a Director in MHP Group’s Brand and Reputation practice. An established leader with over 17 years’ experience working across corporate and consumer communications, Helen has provided senior advisory on engagement and behaviour change programmes for brands, organisations and government including Universities UK, NHS Blood and Transplant (including PR Week’s Campaign of the Decade Missing Type), World Book Day, Barclays and Hilton.
Helen is also designated senior lead for client service within MHP Group, driving the agency’s approach and delivery of gold standard practice, across a variety of sectors and an increasingly diverse stakeholder landscape.
James Purnell
President and Vice-Chancellor
James Purnell is President and Vice-Chancellor of University of the Arts London (UAL). Before joining UAL, he was Director of Radio and Education at the BBC, where he oversaw teams in various divisions, including BBC Radio and Music, BBC Children's and Education, and BBC Arts. In 2001, Purnell was elected as a Member of Parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde, and later served as the Secretary of State for Culture and then for Work and Pensions.
Naomi Goodman
Head of Change and Employee Engagement
Naomi specialises in employee communications for change and transformation.
She has led communications and culture change programmes for UK SMEs to global Fortune and FTSE companies. Brands include Baker Hughes, Deutsche Bank, innocent, Invesco, Roche, The Coca-Cola Company and Upfield. Sector agnostic, she blends her breadth and depth of experience with each company’s unique challenge.
Certified in PR, change management and meditation teaching, Naomi is passionate about equipping organisations to embrace change.
She is an active member of the International Association of Business Communicators, a career mentor and a regular judge for the Institute of Internal Communication’s National Annual Awards.
Peter Foster
Public Policy Editor
Peter covers all aspects of UK policy, including the implementation of Brexit, the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the economic and 'levelling up' agendas of the Rishi Sunak government.
He has more than two decades of experience covering global affairs from all sides of the world, based in New Delhi (2004-2008) and Beijing (2008-2012), as well as Washington DC, where he served as The Telegraph's US editor from 2012.
Rob Miller
Strategic Director
Steve Clarke
People Communications Lead
Steve leads a team of communications professionals responsible for people engagement and culture, content development and storytelling, and communication channels at Virgin Atlantic. Steve spearheaded Virgin Atlantic’s internal launch of Workplace by Meta, and it’s launch of Tik Tok as a consumer facing social channel. Working across internal communications and social media, Steve has radically evolved Virgin Atlantic’s approach to content development to focus on social first, audio-visual storytelling and integrated campaigns.
Who should attend?
This conference will be useful for staff who have responsibility for or play a part in the communications and marketing strategy of their organisation. All with an interest in this topic may attend, but relevant job titles include:
- Director/Head/Manager of Communications
- Director/Head/Manager of External Relations
- Director/Head/Manager of Public Affairs/Strategic Partnerships
- Director/Head/Manager of Marketing
- External/Internal/Student Communications Teams
- Communications/Marketing Manager/Officer
- Head of Campaigns
- Head of Digital
- Head of Media/Media Manager
- Social Media Manager/Officer
Sponsorship
We have a range of sponsorship opportunities available at our events. Please contact Magda Graszka, Senior Events Manager, for more information: