Registration and Morning Coffee

Adjust Your Crisis Communications Strategy For the New Reality
In this opening keynote session, Shaila will share with you what it takes to create a crisis communications plan in uncertain times where political polarization is worse than ever, the public is increasingly confused and the spread of misinformation is rampant – and issues like human rights, climate change and other global topics can impact your local business.
Shaila Manyam, Senior Vice President, Client Lead and Senior Director, Public Affairs & Crisis, BCW Global

Be First, Be Right, Be Credible: Applying CDC’s Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Principles in Real-World Situations
CDC’s Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) curriculum provides trainings, tools, and resources to help health communicators, emergency responders, and leaders of organizations communicate effectively during emergencies; including structure for communicating with audiences under extreme stress. Learn about the CERC core principles and how they apply to each phase of a crisis. The presentation will include examples of how CERC can be used for natural disasters, chemical or radiological disasters, infectious disease outbreaks, and other events.  
Vivi Siegel, Associate Director for Communications, Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Master the Six New Rules of Crisis Communications in Post-Pandemic World
One poorly managed issue or incident can quickly and thoroughly threaten the reputation of any organization. But many organizations do not invest the necessary time and resources to plan for existential crises and other emergencies, hoping instead that they will somehow be lucky enough to escape the inevitable. Fortunately, there are steps that any organization can take to be better prepared. Greg's presentation will outline six practical rules that will enable communicators to anticipate, manage and deal with the aftermath of crises.
Greg Trevor, Associate Vice President for Marketing & Communications, University of Georgia

Lunch for Speakers and Delegates

Reimagining Crisis Communications: Understand the Importance of Quick Transformation of Your Organization's Crisis Communications Strategy
In the past two years, companies of all shapes and sizes faced a crisis unlike any other they have faced before. Communicating in the heat of the moment has become the "new normal" and the risks of missteps that could create lasting damage have increased drastically. In this session Jason will share with you lessons learned from Northwell Health's communications journey during COVID-19 and the importance of quick transformation of your crisis communications strategy in order to communicate with your key internal and external audiences with strength, resilience and compassion.
Jason Molinet, Senior Director, Media Relations, Northwell Health

 From COVID to Chaos: Effective Teams and Plans for Weathering Crisis Communications Storms
Lydia formerly served as Chief Communications Strategist for the City Atlanta, Georgia mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Shortly after joining the City, Lydia was faced with managing the Mayor’s communications response to the COVID-19 pandemic, racial justice demonstrations and a highly charged presidential and U.S. Senate election cycle. Lydia’s prior experience leading communication initiatives for the White House during President Clinton and President Obama’s administrations, a former US member of Congress, federal agencies and Washington, DC, and Atlanta mayors, equipped her with the tools needed to meet Atlanta’s challenges. She has led national communications strategies on healthcare reform, mental health, racial equity, and financial education, and for national health crises from the Ebola and Zika virus outbreaks to the U.S. City of Flint, Michigan water lead contamination.
During this session, Lydia will share best practices for building effective Communications teams and plans to help you survive during and thrive before and after a crisis.
Attendees will gain insights on how the best communications defense is built upon a great offense and approaches to determining the effectiveness and preparedness of your communication team and plans. 
Lydia Sermons, Vice President for Public Relations and Communications, Spelman College

Networking and Refreshment Break

Cybersecurity Crisis Communications: From a Breach to a Pandemic 
The world has changed dramatically for communicators in the past 24 months. Crisis has become somewhat commonplace, and radical shifts in the need to provide employees and other key stakeholders with information has never been more important. And over the past 24 months, cyber criminals have used this time of uncertainty, chaos, and fear to their advantage. In this session, attendees will learn what it was like to be on the front lines of one of the largest cybersecurity events in history. They will also walk away with insight into what it's like to be a communicator working in a cybersecurity environment - during a pandemic, for a company who played a critical role in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine distribution. 
Nancy Bistritz Balkan, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, Purchasing Power

The moment you believe it won’t happen to you, is the moment you put your business at risk. Ensuring your organization is prepared to respond to the unexpected quickly and effectively is critical to the continuity of any business. In this session Ashley Korte will discuss how Equifax equips internal stakeholders with the skills and resources to successfully navigate crises.
Ashley Korte, Senior Director, Global Crisis Management, Equifax

End of Day One