Lessons From the PRSA Midwest District Conference
Last week I was pleased to attend the Midwest District Conference, held at the University of St. Thomas in downtown Minneapolis. About 200 pros of all ages convened for discussion, networking and learning…it was a real breath of fresh air to be there and catch up with so many friends from over the years.
Here, in my opinion, are the top three takeaways:
I fear there’s an emerging disconnect between what executives say they want from AI and what people can actually do with it. In other words, I think executives want magic bullets and lightning bolts…they expect that AI is going to solve the big problems and revolutionize their operations in relatively short order. From everything I’m hearing, that’s just not the case right now. There are plenty of ways to leverage AI to do things smarter and more efficiently, and I think most of us are on the same page about what those strategies are – and have some early experience doing the work. It’s just up to us as professionals to properly manage expectations of those around us and not overpromise at this stage of the game. We risk losing our credibility if we bite off more than we can chew.
There was more evidence that leaders are increasingly valuing strategic communications and including it among their core business disciplines. The speaker lineup alone featured the heads of communications at more than half of the pro sports franchises in the Twin Cities…the publisher/CEO of the Star Tribune…practicing lawyers…and more. It’s been well documented this year that chief communicators are more than delivering in the C-suite, and this conference was proof that we’ve penetrated a wider cross-section of the business world than we previously had.
I was really pleased to see a solid percentage of attendees come to the Twin Cities from Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and other places – more out-of-towners than I’ve seen at past conferences around the area. There also was a formidable collection of students and up-and-coming professionals in the building over the three days.
Congrats to Minnesota PRSA, the organizing committee and all the volunteers for putting on a great event. Here’s hoping we can build on it!
