PR News’ Next Practices Digital PR Conference Aug. 6 in San Francisco

Speakers:

• Tim Baker, VP, Digital Strategy, MWW
• Robert Brunner, Founder/Partner, Ammunition
• Amelia Burke-Garcia, Senior Director of Digital Media, Westat
• Jess Clifton, Senior Vice President, Los Angeles Group Digital Director, Edelman Digital
• Diane Gage Lofgren, APR, Fellow PRSA Senior Vice President and Chief Communication Officer, Brand Communication, Kaiser Permanente
• Mitch Germann, Senior Vice President, Fleishman-Hillard San Francisco
• Jessica Henry, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Not For Sale
• Julie Inouye, Head of Product PR, LinkedIn
• Kriselle Laran, Senior Account Supervisor, Digital, Zeno Group
• Dallas Lawrence, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Mattel, Inc.
• Amanda Mahan, Creative Director, Digital, The Clorox Company
• Morgan McLintic, Executive Vice President, LEWIS PR
• Sandy Malloy, Senior Information Specialist, Business Wire
• Darrel Ng, Public Relations Director, Anthem Blue Cross
• Matt Rozen, Group Manager, Corporate Social Media, Adobe
• Aaron Sherinian, Vice President of Communications and Public Relations, United Nations Foundation
• Greg Swan, SVP of Digital & Interactive, Weber Shandwick
• Jon Swartz, Reporter and Tech Team Leader, USA Today
• David Tinson, Vice President, Integrated Communications, Electronic Arts
• Dan Wire, Social Communications Team Lead, VMware

What We'll Cover:

8:30 - 9:00 a.m. - 8 Essential Skills Communicators Will Need to Thrive in 2014 and Beyond

Darrel Ng
Public Relations Director
Anthem Blue Cross
@AnthemPR_CA
@darrelng

Greg Swan
SVP of Digital & Interactive
Weber Shandwick
@gregswan

9:00 - 9:45 a.m. - Media Relations Next Practices

Media relations specialists will work in tandem with a leading journalist and offer you not just the best practices, but the next practices in working with media brands to get your organization the coverage it deserves. You'll hear new ways to use Twitter, Tumblr, Google+ and LinkedIn to identify influencers, build strong relationships with journalists and bloggers and serve their content needs, manage difficult questions in interviews and more.

You'll learn how to:

• Use subject lines that compel journalists to open your emails
• Leverage new ways to use LinkedIn, Tumblr and Twitter to identify and engage influencers in your market
• Build relationships with journalists by commenting on and sharing their content
• Handle difficult questions in interviews, particularly during a crisis
• Measure the value of media placement online and offline
• Cut through the increasing volume of social noise in your communications with journalists
• Build long-term relationships in a short-term environment
• Make adjustments for the era of generalist reporters in shrinking newsrooms

Julie Inouye
Head of Product PR
LinkedIn
@julieinouye
@LinkedIn

Aaron Sherinian
Vice President of Communications and Public Relations
United Nations Foundation
@ASherinian

Jon Swartz
Reporter and Tech Team Leader
USA Today
@jswartz

9:45 - 10:30 a.m. - Secrets to Facebook Communications

Our speakers will provide an overview of Facebook's latest features and updates, followed by an in-depth discussion on how VMware uses Facebook successfully to build its audience, communicate core messages and impact PR objectives. You'll learn how to maximize engagement on branded Facebook content, and how Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm and newly released GraphSearch will impact the ranking of branded content in news feeds. Finally, our speakers will cover how to use Facebook's latest paid products and more.

You'll learn how to:

• Create content that generates maximum engagement and appears in your target audience's news feed at high-impact times
• Consider the impact of EdgeRank and GraphSearch when creating content for Facebook
• Use Facebook Insights and other measurement tools to determine the reach, virality and overall impact of your posts
• Leverage Facebook's paid products (advertising)
• Use Facebook's latest features and how to incorporate them into your brand's content strategy
• Use Facebook page apps/tabs to create new ways to interact with and engage your audience
• Apply best practices to Facebook's brand Timeline

Morgan McLintic
Executive Vice President
LEWIS PR
@morganm
@LEWISPulse
 

Dan Wire
Social Communications Team Lead
VMware
@DWire
@VMwareNews
@VMware

10:30 - 10:45 a.m. - Networking Break

10:45 - 11:30 a.m. - Tell Brand Stories With Video, Pinterest & Instagram

Your online audiences want and expect great visual content, and this session will offer case studies in how to make the leap to visual storytelling with video, Twitter's Vine app, Pinterest and Instagram. Learn how to mine your existing visual content and create new content (affordably); determine how to use those images to tell a brand's story across social channels; apply storytelling principles to the use of still images; get started using Facebook's new video on Instagram service; and launch visual stories that motivate audiences to participate and share their own images.

You'll learn how to:

• Spot opportunities within your organization for visual storytelling
• Create effective and affordable videos
• Craft creative and shareworthy Vine videos
• Be inspirational on Pinterest and drive pinners back to your brand pages
• Use storytelling concepts in the creation of your boards on Pinterest
• Leverage Facebook's new Instagram video service
• Showcase your brand's history and story on Instagram
• Create short, specific campaigns on Instagram

Tim Baker
VP, Digital Strategy
MWW
@MWWGroup
@iamtimbaker

Matt Rozen
Group Manager, Corporate Social Media
Adobe
@Mattyroze

Jessica Henry
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
Not For Sale
@JessicaHenry

11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. - Tap Into the Power of Content Marketing

Content marketing has transformed traditional notions of PR, as content-hungry audiences are less interested in the source of content as they are in the quality and utility of the content. This session will show PR pros how to use the power of story, all their content assets, collaborate across department lines and expand the notion of "PR" to encompass (meaningful) content creation and distribution.

You'll learn how to:

• Think like a publisher and media producer
• Apply storytelling concepts and high editorial standards to the creation of text and visual content
• Socialize your content to extend its reach with Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Tumblr
• Create credible content that will be found by search engines
• Attract and retain customers with your brand's unique content
• Use measurement tactics to determine what's working and what's not working in your content strategy

Jess Clifton
Senior Vice President, Los Angeles Group Digital Director
Edelman Digital
@jessclifton

Amanda Mahan
Creative Director, Digital
The Clorox Company
@amandamahan
 

Sandy Malloy
Senior Information Specialist
Business Wire
@BWInfodiva
 

12:15 - 12:30 p.m. - Networking Break

12:30 - 1:15 p.m. - Luncheon & Keynote – Beats by Dr. Dre designer Robert Brunner: Finding the Powerful Stories That Communicate Your Brand's Essence 

As a communicator, you may think your efforts are creating positive emotional connections with your brand, but have you stopped to check your own gut feelings about your brand and ask yourself what exactly makes people love a brand in the first place? In his keynote address, world-renowned industrial designer Robert Brunner—who helped launch the Beats by Dr. Dre brand of headphones, created the Beats Studio line and was previously the director of industrial design at Apple—will talk about how communicators need to make their own emotional connections with their brands and share that gut feeling with their target audience. And he'll challenge you to go a step further—to take what you've learned from your communications with your audience and bring those stories back to your product's designers.

Robert Brunner
Industrial Designer (Beats by Dr. Dre)
Founder/Partner
Ammunition
@rdbrunner
@ammunitiongroup
 

1:15 - 1:30 p.m. - Networking Break

1:30 - 2:30 p.m. - Interactive Clinic: Manage an Escalating Crisis on Twitter

Work in small groups with your fellow Next Practices Annual Conference attendees as you immerse yourself in a mock crisis that threatens the reputation of an organization. Dallas Lawrence of Mattel, Inc. will define the crisis and begin his stopwatch—then it will be your team's job to create a strategy to manage a developing crisis on Twitter. Team leaders will share their strategies with all attendees, and our workshop leader will analyze the results to create a set of best practices.

You'll learn how to:

• Prevent or deter issues from escalating into a crisis
• Evaluate emerging situations and determine what to do in the first 24 hours
• Engage company employees, the media and followers on Twitter during a crisis
• Align your messages on Twitter with your other crisis management efforts
• Measure the effectiveness of your crisis communications

Dallas Lawrence
Vice President, Corporate Affairs
Mattel, Inc.
@Mattel
@dallaslawrence

2:30 - 2:45 p.m. - Networking Break

2:45 - 3:30 p.m. - Anatomy of a Successful PR Team

We'll offer you a rare look at the inner workings of a PR department, including how the company's internal PR team interacts with marketing, the CEO, IT and its agency partner; how it develops PR metrics that speak the language of the C-suite; and how silos have been effectively broken down within the company to enable PR to truly move the business needle.

You'll learn:

• How to structure an integrated team that's optimized for today's communications landscape
• How to create and leverage an internal content and conversation engine
• How to leverage big data to create relevant story lines in real time
• How to activate employees to amplify and interact with content consistently
• How to measure content relevance and performance and adapt as necessary
• How an in-house integrated communications team works optimally with an agency partner

David Tinson
Vice President, Integrated Communications
Electronic Arts
@dptinson

Mitch Germann
Senior Vice President
Fleishman-Hillard San Francisco
@MCG5

3:30 - 4:00 p.m. - Top Apps & Tools All Communicators Should Use

Do you ever wonder if your PR colleagues and competitors have a line on the best apps and software tools to make their working lives more efficient and successful? We'll show you which apps, tools and emerging social media platforms you can't afford not to have—tools that can help you manage and monitor your social media presence on the go, simplify your business travel, communicate and share ideas internally and more.

You'll learn:

• Which mobile apps no PR professional should live without—for work and for travel
• Which tools are easiest to use for monitoring social media activity on the go
• Which tools or apps can make your professional life easier to manage
• Which are the best tools to help you balance your professional and personal life
• Which emerging platforms and tools you should start using now

Kriselle Laran
Senior Account Supervisor, Digital
Zeno Group
@krisellelaran

4:00 - 4:30 p.m. - Why Didn't I Think of That? 15 Unique PR Ideas in 30 Minutes

Close out PR News' Next Practices Annual Conference with a fast-paced rundown of practical, effective and original communications tactics you can put to work when you get back to the office.

You'll get:

• Tips on how to find and create visual content within your organization
• Best practices in creating social responsibility programs that inspire employees
• Practical takeaways for creating engagement on social channels
• Insight on how to generate media interest in a corporate blog

Amelia Burke-Garcia
Senior Director of Digital Media
Westat
@socialibriumm

Diane Gage Lofgren, APR, Fellow PRSA
SVP and Chief Communication
Officer, Brand Communication
Kaiser Permanente
@dianelofgren

Pricing:

The PR News Writing Boot Camp will take place on August 5, a day prior to PR News’ Next Practices Annual Conference on August 6. Both events will be held at the Westin San Francisco on Market Street.  When registering, you have the option to register for the Next Practices Annual Conference only or add the PR News Writing Boot Camp to your registration. 

Special Bonus for Attending: Each attendee receives free access to PR News' Social Media Customer Service Webinar.

The group rate is for two or more people. Register now and join us at the Westin San Francisco Market Street on August 6 and immerse yourself in the skills you need to compete and thrive as a PR practitioner!

Questions? 
Contact Saun Sayamongkhun at [email protected] or 301-354-1694.
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PR News Certificate in Social Media :

Each PR News Digital PR/Social Media conference you attend will come with points toward your Certificate in Social Media. Once you attend four PR News conferences within a 24-month period, you will earn your Certificate and become a PR News Digital PR Master. This elite group of PR Professionals, PR News Digital PR Masters, will receive industry recognition as being one of the top Digital PR Pros. PR News will honor an annual class of Digital PR Masters at one of its signature events.  It is the goal of PR News to provide this one-of-a-kind opportunity to our PR community while raising the bar on digital communications excellence and showcasing top talent in this key area of PR. [Back to the Top]

Sponsored by:

Conference Location:

The Westin San Francisco, Market Street
50 3rd Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Hotel Rooms:
  
PR News has arranged a room block at The Westin San Francisco for a rate of $269 a night. Click here to book your room.
The room block ends July 19. 

Dress Code: Business Casual

Questions?
If you'd like to register by phone or have questions regarding the program, please contact, Saun Sayamongkhun at [email protected]; 301-354-1694.