London,
12
November
2021
|
12:34
Europe/London

PR has "been at the heart of the national response to the pandemic" - exploring stakeholder engagement in a changing world at #CIPRConf21

Nearly 200 PR and business professionals from around the world gathered online across for the CIPR's annual conference to discuss stakeholder engagement in a changing world.

The two-day conference - headline sponsored by Signal AI - brought together expert speakers across a number of sectors, industries, and disciplines as discussions looked at the role of PR in supporting businesses navigate a crisis and how gaining stakeholder trust will become a more essential requirement of the profession in the future. All on-demand content is now available to purchase for those that were not able to attend the conference.

In his first public speech since taking up the role, the new chief executive of the Government Communication Service, Simon Baugh, outlined his plans for the future of government communications and the UK Government's first-ever LGBT+ Business Champion, Iain Anderson, announced plans for the UK to host the first-ever global LGBT Conference in June 2022.

Following the launch of Meta - the new holding company for Facebook and its associated platforms and technologies - Dex Hunter-Torricke, Head of Communications at their Oversight Board, discussed the challenges he faces solving their content problems.

Overcoming challenges was a common theme as Ruth Shulver, Deputy Director of Media and Communication for the Metropolitan Police Service, addressed recent controversies surrounding the Met, Jo Roberts, Communications Director at Heathrow Airport, shared her experience of communicating with 10,000 staff during the pandemic, James Lyons, Director of Communications at NHS England, shone a light on how "comms has been at the heart of the national response to the pandemic", and Baroness Blackwood, Chair of Genomics England, confronted the issue of mis- and dis-information surrounding the vaccine rollout.

With COP-26 taking place at the same time, Rachel Lawrence, Community Engagement Manager at SSE Renewables and Sarah Binnie, Head of Climate Change and Public Policy at Natwest Group, looked at how PR can support organisations in their efforts to become more sustainable.

On the use of technology and the future of the profession, delegates heard from Dr Francesca Sobande on the risks surrounding CGI Influencers, a panel discussion explored the topic of corporate digital responsibility, and Raj Kumar, Group Brand and Reputation Director at Aviva Plc, shared his experience of using data to gather insights and develop strategy.

Other topics included how UK businesses can engage with the EU post-Brexit, how COVID changed the PR agency model, an introduction to the principles of behaviour change, and crisis communications and the "expectation tsunami".

CIPR President, Mandy Pearse Chart PR, FCIPR
We have had a tremendous two day conference and I hope all the delegates who joined us have had plenty of insights to takeaway. I’d like to thank our sponsors, speakers and staff for supporting us to create such a brilliant event. Making and taking the time to step outside of the day-to-day is so important and this conference had a fantastic mix of case studies and horizon scanning to help us all re-evaluate our practice.
CIPR President, Mandy Pearse Chart PR, FCIPR

If you registered as a conference delegate but missed any sessions or want to re-watch some of the best moments from #CIPRConf21, all the sessions are available to enjoy on-demand, without any additional fees, for 60 days, starting Monday 15 November.

For those unable to attend the conference live, on-demand content is now available to purchase. Learn, develop and upskill through knowledge and insight from our industry-acclaimed speakers.

Prices

CIPR members will be able to see the conference appear on your MyCPD 'Progress' tab to add your reflections and claim your CPD points: 25 CPD points per conference day (50 in total).

 

 
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About the Chartered Institute of Public Relations

Founded in 1948, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is the world's only Royal Chartered professional body for public relations practitioners with nearly 10,000 members.

The CIPR advances professionalism in public relations by making its members accountable to their employers and the public through a code of conduct and searchable public register, setting standards through training, qualifications, awards and the production of best practice and skills guidance, facilitating Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and awarding Chartered Public Relations Practitioner status (Chart.PR).