The Communications Symposium is my favorite PRSA Charlotte event of the year! Maybe I’m biased, since this year I served on the committee and helped with the communications for the event, but I just love geeking out with like-minded PR pros in the Queen City.

This year, our keynote speaker was Oscar Suris, Executive Vice President of Corporate Communications at Wells Fargo & Company, who discussed communications efforts undertaken by the company to facilitate recovery from a national scandal involving consumer banking practices.

After, I attended a breakout session on localizing #GivingTuesday. Amy Jacobs of Share Charlotte discussed how the organization localized an international giving effort, #GivingTuesday, and created a local fundraising campaign called #GivingTuesdayCLT that encourages Charlotteans to give back to hundreds of local nonprofits. Did you know that in 2016 Share Charlotte raised $7.2 million and became the largest community-wide #GivingTuesday campaign in the country? Go Charlotte! 👑

Lastly, I attended a panel session on how to reach millennials with: Garrett Tichy, Founder and Owner of Hygge Coworking and Creator of @WeLoveCLT; Corey Inscoe, Editor of CharlotteFive and Co-Host of CharlotteFive Podcast; and Paul Chabai, Associate Campus Pastor at Elevation Church. They all agreed that the biggest mistake businesses make when trying to reach millennials is being inauthentic, and this is caused by either not putting young professionals in positions of power, or not listening to them. Another key takeaway came from Paul Chabai, who said that a lack of diversity is always the symptom of a deeper problem. He suggests to figure out what about your culture says, “you’re not welcome,” and fix that – don’t just focus on filling seats.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s event!

The first Hardest Working Cities event of 2017 for our #client Freightliner Trucks is in the books! We started with a 4:30 AM wake-up call to provide workers with a hearty breakfast before their shift (and before the sunrise!), followed by an award presentation at the APWA 2017 Snow Conference, where Mayor Frank Cownie gave a speech that got right to the heart of the Hardest Working Cities program. The next day we were back at it for two more job site visits and squeezed in some more Des Moines eats, including a pork tenderloin sandwich (when in Rome…) and amazing Mediterranean dishes from Eatery A.

Thanks for the hospitality, Des Moines!

It’s safe to say I ate my way through Des Moines this past week while scouting work sites and caterers for an upcoming client event. Along with my team member from our Buffalo office, we tried cheese curds, gourmet doughnuts, endless pasta bowls, ramen, Kimchi tater tots, and a cheeseburger that had a grilled cheese sandwich as its bun. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m in desperate need of some leafy greens! 🌱

The lovely establishments we visited in Des Moines:

• The Old Spaghetti Works
• Krunkwich Ramen House
• Hurts Donut
• Zombie Burger
• Smokey D’s BBQ

Thanks for the hospitality!