Registration and Morning Coffee
How AI Is Changing the World of Communications—and What It Means for Communicators
AI is no longer a future trend; it is actively reshaping how communications is planned, executed, measured, and trusted. This opening keynote sets the strategic foundation for the AI in Communications Boot Camp by cutting through hype to explain what is genuinely changing—and what is not. It explores how AI is redefining the communicator’s role, from content creation and audience insight to reputation management, ethics, and decision-making, and what skills, mindsets, and guardrails communicators need to stay credible, relevant, and in control in an AI-driven world.
Simon Ornelis-Park, Director Brand Development and Corproate Identity, du
Creative Intelligence: How AI is Fueling Bold New Campaign Ideas
AI is no longer just a tool for efficiency—it’s becoming a collaborator in the creative process. From generating fresh concepts to unlocking data-driven insights, AI is helping brands dream bigger and move faster. In this session, we’ll explore how AI is being used to spark bold campaign ideas that break through the noise and connect with audiences in unexpected ways. You’ll learn how creative teams are blending human intuition with machine intelligence, balancing experimentation with brand integrity, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in storytelling. The focus: using AI not to replace creativity, but to supercharge it.
Simon Jenkins, Head of Creative Intelligence, Spotify
Beyond the Buzzwords: What AI Can (and Can’t) Do for Creative Strategy
This session cuts through the hype to clarify where AI genuinely adds value to creative strategy—and where human insight remains irreplaceable. It explores how communicators can use AI to expand strategic thinking, test creative directions, and surface sharper insights, without diluting originality, brand voice, or intent. Participants will gain a practical understanding of AI’s strengths and limitations in ideation, concept development, and narrative framing, and learn how to integrate AI into the creative process as a disciplined tool that enhances judgment, speed, and strategic confidence rather than replacing creative leadership.
Ali Cheikhali, Creative Strategy & Innovation Lead, Google
Lunch for Speakers and Delegates
From Prompt to Impact: How AI Is Transforming Strategic Storytelling
This practical keynote explores how generative AI elevates storytelling by strengthening thinking, clarity, and decision-making—without replacing human creativity. Rather than focusing on tools, the session positions AI as a cognitive partner for communicators and leaders, helping them shape stronger narratives, pressure-test ideas, and make smarter storytelling choices. Attendees will learn how to use AI responsibly to build stories that resonate, scale across audiences, and deliver real impact.
Chama Moumile, Communications Director, talabat
AI With a Job to Do: Moving Beyond Generalist Use Cases
Most organisations are using AI in a generalist way to support writing, research, and analysis. It saves time, but it rarely creates advantage. When everyone uses AI the same way, differentiation disappears.
This session focuses on the next phase of AI adoption: defining specific problems and training AI to solve them. Rather than broad experimentation, it shows how communicators can apply AI to clearly defined challenges and embed it into everyday workflows to drive real, measurable impact.
Henry Jakins, Founder and CEO, The House of Alchemy
Networking and Refreshment Break
Supercharging Communications Workflows with Custom AI Agents
AI is reshaping how communicators work—and custom AI agents are quickly becoming the most powerful tool for boosting speed, productivity, and measurable impact. In this session, Karim Chaanine will show how communication teams can build and use tailored AI agents to streamline research, enhance content creation, optimize workflows, and deliver real ROI.
Through practical examples and proven frameworks, you’ll learn how to integrate custom agents into day-to-day communications, improve team efficiency, and elevate the quality and consistency of your outputs. This is your roadmap to transforming your communications function with AI—faster, smarter, and with clear business value.
Karim Chaanine, Chief Marketing Officer, PJP Investments Group (Papa John’s GCC)
Change Management in the Age of AI: Upskilling, Adoption, and Culture Shift
As AI rapidly reshapes healthcare and corporate environments, the real challenge is no longer technology but people, mindset, and execution. This session explores how organizations can move beyond pilots and isolated tools to achieve meaningful AI adoption at scale. Drawing on real-world experience from a complex healthcare organization, Sameena Khanam will share how leaders can prepare teams for AI-driven change, address resistance and uncertainty, and build the skills needed for sustainable impact. The session will focus on practical approaches to upskilling, aligning leadership and culture, and embedding AI into everyday decision-making while preserving trust, ethics, and human judgment. Participants will leave with a clear framework for leading AI transformation in environments where change must be managed carefully, credibly, and at speed.
Sameena Khanam, Director, Marketing & Corporate Sales, Zulekha Healthcare Group
End of Day One
AI-Ready Communications: Workflows, Risk, Measurable Results
This full-day, professional-level training equips you with practical, immediately usable skills to apply generative AI in communications and marketing work. The focus is on safe, strategic use with measurable impact—helping you understand how modern AI tools actually work, where they can and cannot be trusted, and how to manage risks such as hallucinations, confidentiality, and brand voice drift.
What You’ll Learn
You gain a clear, practical understanding of how generative AI fits into real communications environments, including:
- How modern generative AI tools work—and where they should not be trusted
- How to manage AI-related risks such as hallucinations, confidentiality issues, and brand voice drift
- How to apply human judgment alongside AI to protect credibility, accuracy, and reputation
Applying AI to Real Communications Work
The training is hands-on and grounded in real-world communications workflows you already use, including:
- Turning transcripts into executive briefs and action logs
- Extracting storylines and insights from datasets
- Using AI as a strategic and contrarian thinking partner to strengthen messaging and decision-making
High-Value AI Use Cases for Communicators
You explore advanced, high-impact applications of AI that are shaping modern communications, including:
- Avatar-enabled video workflows
- Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to improve discoverability in AI-driven search and summaries
- Advanced structured prompting (JSON/XML) to create consistent, reusable outputs at scale
Capstone Build
You design a practical CustomGPT or Copilot-style assistant tailored to a real communications task, such as:
- Brand voice and compliance checks
- Press release-to-social content kits
- Issues and reputation triage
- Executive briefing generation
What You Take Back to Work
You leave with:
- Practical templates and reusable prompt libraries
- A clear 30-day implementation plan
- Skills you can apply immediately in day-to-day communications work
About Your Workshop Leader:
Alex Sévigny, PhD, APR, is a tenured associate professor of communications management at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He teaches in the internationally recognized McMaster University Master of Communications Management, an executive education degree that offers the core courses of the MBA complemented by cutting-edge knowledge of strategic communications.
He is the CPRS Chief National Accreditation Examiner, overseeing the APR program for the national society. He has been a lecturer, consultant, and trainer around the world for global corporations, not-for-profits, government agencies, governments, military, as well as postsecondary and health institutions.
Alex is known for his friendly, engaging, and encouraging style—his courses are highly valued by professionals who want to build confidence and practical skills while enjoying the learning process.
