2026 Speakers

Juanita McDowell
Get Sticky™ for PR Professionals: Achieve More Without Burning Out in an AI-Shaped World

Are you feeling the pressure to do more, move faster, and still get it right, all with the same time and resources?

The role of the PR professional once centered primarily on media relations. Today, it includes social media, email marketing, website management, digital platforms, and emerging AI tools. The responsibilities have multiplied, but the hours in the day have not.

It’s time for a smarter approach.

In this keynote, Juanita McDowell shares her proven Get Sticky™ framework for sustainable achievement, updated for today’s AI-driven environment. This program blends motivation, humor, storytelling, and practical applications you can use immediately. You’ll learn how to break achievement into clear, manageable pieces using a proven method that helps you clarify what matters while leveraging AI to work more efficiently without burning out.

Let’s face it, AI is changing how the work gets done, but it’s not changing who is responsible for the results.

Riz Vazir
Everyone’s Doomscrolling: Leading in a Digitally Distracted Workplace

You wake up and check your phone. 6 out of 10 people do. A TikTok clip. An Instagram scroll. A news headline. Between each, a Slack ping or email pulls you back. By the time you start your first task, your focus is already fractured. For many, the only uninterrupted attention comes while doomscrolling.

Office workers lose 2+ hours a day to digital distraction. Poor digital habits come in the way of networking, learning, side projects, and more. The total estimated cost of excessive, unmanaged screentime may be as high as $10K–$20K annually.

Drawing on digital wellness research, this session explores how tech habits affect focus and professional judgment and equips leaders to address digital overwhelm as both a wellness and performance lever.

Susan Poole
Mastering Crisis Communications: Strategies for Transparency. Trust, and Timely Response

In an era of accelerated news cycles and social media scrutiny, even minor issues can rapidly escalate into reputation threats. This session equips public relations professionals with a robust, ethical, and research-driven approach to crisis communication—from preparation to response to recovery.

Attendees will learn how to develop clear decision-making protocols, craft messages that demonstrate empathy and accountability, and manage media and stakeholder expectations under pressure. Participants will leave with actionable templates and a playbook they can adapt to their organization’s context, and APR candidates will gain targeted insights that reinforce accreditation standards across ethics, planning, and issues management.

Joshua Jones
The Story Still Matters

In a profession built on narrative, many communicators find themselves disconnected from their own story. This interactive keynote invites PR professionals to reconnect with the experiences, values, and moments that shaped them, and to intentionally turn purpose into passion, and passion into vocation. Drawing from lived leadership across military, public safety, and healthcare systems, J. Jones explores how storytelling is not just how we communicate, it is how we endure, lead, and celebrate impact. Attendees will leave re-centered, re-energized, and reminded why their work still matters.

Keturah Stone
Know Your Audience or Lose Them: Strategic Platform Selection in Modern Public Relations

In today’s crowded, fast-moving media landscape, effective public relations isn’t about being everywhere. It’s about showing up where your audience already lives. This session dives into audience research, strategic platform selection, and message alignment through a compelling case study of the City of Montgomery’s TikTok success.

Discover how Montgomery leveraged an intentional platform strategy to reach younger audiences, boost transparency, and transform public perception. You’ll leave with actionable strategies to better understand audience behavior, sharpen your content approach, choose the right platforms with confidence, and drive measurable engagement, especially in government and nonprofit spaces, navigating constant digital change.