08:30 Registration, Breakfast & The Hot Topic Card
On arrival, take a moment to write your single biggest challenge on a card at registration, anonymously if you prefer. Cards are collected and used live throughout the day – to shape the lunchtime peer discussion groups and to seed the closing debate. The expectation from minute one: this is a participatory day, not a spectator sport.
OPENING REMARKS
09.00 GIC Welcome & Morning Chairs’ Opening Remarks
Jerina Hardy, Corporate Affairs Director, Müller UK & Ireland
Clare Dunn, Engagement Lead, Danone North Europe
The Revolution Is Already Underway
The chairs open with the day’s theme and plant three critical provocations that will run throughout the day. The tone from the start: this is not a comfort zone.
- Provocation 1: Is IC still a communications function – or something else entirely?
- Provocation 2: Will AI make great IC professionals indispensable – or obsolete?
- Provocation 3: Does IC have a duty of truth inside the organisation?
THEME ONE: The AI Revolution: Opportunities, Threats & Ethics
AI As Part Of The Team - From Concept To Reality
KEYNOTE | NEW
09.10 Harness The Transformative Power Of AI To Deliver Faster, Smarter & More Impactful Internal Communications That Elevate Your Function, Evidence Results & Future-Proof Your Career
- The genie is out of the bottle; AI is already embedded in the most effective IC teams worldwide. How do you move from experimentation to genuine transformation of your function?
- From content generation and audience insight to strategic planning and channel optimisation, explore how AI has fundamentally changed what one practitioner’s team delivers, and at what speed
- In practice: what worked immediately, what took time, what failed, and the moment it became clear there was no going back
- What does a genuinely AI-enabled IC function look like in practice? Headcount, workflow, capability and culture
Joshua Deacon, Head Of Internal Communications, Bentley Motors
On Stage, In Real Time - AI Prompt Masterclass For IC
LIVE DEMO | NEW FORMAT
09.30 Build The Prompting Skills That Separate Average AI Output From Genuinely Usable, High-Quality Internal Communications, Demonstrated Live
- Understand what separates a weak AI prompt from one that produces genuinely usable IC output, and why prompting is itself a new and critical IC competency
- Witness the iteration process live: how the first output is rarely the right one, and how to interrogate AI-generated content for tone, accuracy and authenticity
- Walk away with a working prompt structure you can apply the morning after the conference – whether you use Copilot, ChatGPT or any equivalent tool
AI Risks, Ethics & Governance For IC
PRESENTATION
09.50 Protect Your Organisation, Your Employees & Your Credibility By Building Robust AI Governance Frameworks That Manage Risk, Maintain Authenticity & Position IC As The Ethical Lead
- Who sets the guardrails in your organisation, and if it is not IC, should it be? Explore the case for internal communications as the function that defines and enforces ethical standards in AI-generated content
- Navigate the thorniest dilemmas in AI governance for IC: synthetic leadership voices, content generated at scale, automated personalisation, and the risk of algorithmic bias in employee communications
- Factor AI threats directly into your crisis communications planning: how do you respond when AI-generated misinformation enters your organisation from the outside, or is created inside it?
Hot Takes: The AI Opinions Nobody Says Out Loud
HOT TAKES | NEW FORMAT
10.10 Hear The Unfiltered, Unscripted Truth About AI & IC From Five Practitioners Who Have Earned The Right To Say What They Really Think
- Five IC leaders. One bold, uncomfortable opinion each about AI in internal communications – something they genuinely believe but rarely say in a room like this
- Expect genuine disagreement! Topics may include AI making IC teams smaller, the impossibility of authentic synthetic content, governance frameworks that exist only on paper, or why most AI in IC is still cosmetic
Elizabeth Nyawade, Chief of People & Culture, Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
Thomas Hall-Tse, VP Internal Communications, Rolls-Royce
Daniel Oyebamiji, Academy & Women’s Communications Manager, Brentford Football Club
Adam Sunman, Head of Communications, Valeo Foods UK
10:40 Bonus Session; Reserved For Exclusive Conference Partner
10:55 Morning Refreshments With Informal Networking & Mini-Exhibition
THEME TWO: The Revolution In IC Skills, Strategy & Proof
11:25 Bonus Session; Reserved For Exclusive Conference Partner
The Strategic Seat
PANEL DISCUSSION
11.40 Earn Real Influence In The C-Suite By Aligning IC With Business Performance, Demonstrating Commercial Value & Transitioning Your Function From Broadcast Service To Strategic Intelligence Asset
- Not a seat in the room; a seat that changes decisions. How do IC leaders build the credibility, commercial literacy and data fluency to genuinely shape organisational strategy?
- Hear from senior IC Practitioners who have successfully unified internal and external communications to create a single brand voice and demonstrated IC’s direct link to business performance and commercial outcomes
- Explore the specific moments that defined their strategic influence: the measurement framework that convinced the CFO, the campaign that moved the dial and proved it, the conversation that changed their relationship with the CEO
- Where should IC sit in your organisation today: HR, corporate comms, marketing or as a standalone strategic function? And does it actually matter where it lives if it operates with the right mandate?
Esther Kuku, Director Of Communications & Engagement, Resuscitation Council UK
Alison Last, UK & Ireland Corporate Communications Director, Kellanova
Satnam Kaur, Director of Internal Communications & Engagement, Priory
Lucy Clarkson, Internal Communications & Engagement Business Partner, Marie Curie UK
David Glanville, Head of Communications & Marketing, City Of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Measuring What Matters
PRESENTATION
12.00 Move Beyond Vanity Metrics To Deliver ROI-Evidenced, Data-Led Internal Communications That Demonstrate Tangible Business Impact, Secure Budget Approval & Earn Lasting C-Suite Credibility
- The uncomfortable truth: most IC teams are still measuring opens, clicks and page views – metrics that tell you almost nothing about impact and convince nobody in a boardroom
- Walk through a real measurement framework: objectives set before a campaign launches, benchmarks established upfront and ROI calculated in the language of the business, not the language of comms
- Hear the specific experience one IC leader had: the numbers that created credibility, the questions they were not prepared for, and what they changed as a result
- Connect IC activity directly to business outcomes – behaviour change, retention, productivity, culture health and commercial performance – and learn how to report it in a way that finance takes seriously
John Hopson, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Manager, JLR
12:20 Bonus Session; Reserved For Exclusive Conference Partner
12:40 Lunch, Networking & Speaker-Facilitated Peer Discussions
Peer To Peer Discussion
A) Creative Content, Campaigns & Messaging
Carys Wilkins, Internal Communication Specialist, Monzo Bank
A) Creative Content, Campaigns & Messaging
B) D&I: Making IC More Inclusive
C) Internal & External Comms Collaboration
D) Remote, Deskless & Hard-To-Reach Engagement
E) Employee Experiences
13:40 Afternoon Chairs’ Opening Remarks
Katie Featherby, Head of Internal Communications & Events, First Bus
Laura Pickering, Head of Internal Communications & Engagement, Macmillan Cancer Support
Talk-Back: Collective Insight
NEW FORMAT
13.50 Surface The Real-World Intelligence Of The Room & Convert Peer Discussion Into Collective Insight That Drives The Afternoon Agenda
- Each lunch group’s facilitator shares one insight in 60 seconds; not a summary, but the single sentence that surprised them or shifted their thinking
- The chair synthesises live, identifying patterns, contradictions and unexpected consensus and turning the room’s collective experience into a live research snapshot
THEME THREE: Revolution In The Real World: Change, People & Constant Flex
14:00 Bonus Session; Reserved For Exclusive Conference Partner
Change, Comms & Constant Flex
CASE STUDY
14.15 Deliver Effective, Trustworthy & Resilience-Building Change Communications That Drive Employee Engagement, Protect Culture & Navigate Transformation Without Losing Your Workforce
- Post-acquisition, restructure, crisis or major transformation: what does effective change communications look like when the pressure is real, the timeline is impossible and the workforce is anxious?
- What went wrong before the breakthrough, and what that cost the organisation in time, credibility and engagement
- Explore the strategies that genuinely drove engagement during transformation: two-way listening, rapid channel switching, leadership visibility and when to communicate before you have all the answers
Andrew Borthwick, Global Head of Internal Communications, Skyscanner
Cracking The Messy Middle
CASE STUDY
14.35 Solve IC’s Most Persistent Challenge By Designing Manager-Enabled, Frontline-First Communication Strategies That Reach Every Employee – Regardless Of Location, Device Or Role
70% of managers report communication challenges. Between 62% and 76% of employees say they have missed important updates. The messy middle is not a new problem, but most organisations are still getting it wrong
Hear the specific tactics that finally worked with middle managers and frontline workers in a large, operationally-complex organisation, and the ones that didn’t quite work before them
Explore the manager-enabled versus manager-dependent distinction: how do you turn line managers into trusted communicators without making them the single point of failure in your channel strategy?
Evaluate what technology and behaviour change can and cannot do for this challenge; from employee engagement apps and digital signage to printed briefing cards and in-person cascades
Andrea Tarpey, Head of Communications & Colleague Engagement, N Brown Group
THEME FOUR: The Reshaped IC Function: More With Less & The Human Connection
Listening At Scale
PANEL DISCUSSION
14.55 Rebuild Trust, Restore Genuine Human Connection & Drive Sustained Employee Engagement By Moving From Broadcast IC To Two-Way Dialogue, Authentic Listening & Advocate-Led Communication
- As AI scales content creation and automation replaces manual processes, the risk of IC becoming clinical and impersonal grows. How do the best IC leaders maintain the human connection at scale?
- From listening infrastructure and two-way dialogue mechanisms to employee advocacy programmes and co-created communications, what does it actually take to make employees feel heard rather than broadcast at?
- The workplace remains one of the few institutions capable of building trust across difference. What does that responsibility mean for IC in practice?
- Hear how IC leaders are responding to low employee trust, disengaged workforces and constant change: what they have stopped doing, what they have started and what the data shows
Lauren Mottram-Heathcote, Global People Experience & Internal Communications Partner, Costa Coffee
Chantel Slater, Head of Internal Communications & Engagement, MAG (Airports Group)
Kitty Appleby, Director, Employee Experience & Internal Communications, Tate & Lyle
Jody Lewis, Internal, Digital & Creative Communications Director, Centrica
Leanne McGuire, Internal Communications & Engagement Partner, First Bus
15:25 Afternoon Refreshments With Informal Networking & Mini-Exhibition
Geopolitics, Polarisation & Misinformation
PRESENTATION | NEW
16.00 How Internal Communications Can Help Build Understanding, Belonging & Resilience In An Increasingly Divided World
- Global events, political change, misinformation and growing social division are increasingly being felt locally, affecting both our communities and our colleagues. As a local authority, we’re conscious of the impact this can have on wellbeing, belonging and community cohesion.
- We’ll share how internal communications have supported colleagues during periods of community tension, helping people feel informed, safe, connected and supported.
- Drawing on our experience, we’ll explore how communicators can identify and address emerging issues, provide trusted information, create space for dialogue and help leaders provide solidarity and support when it’s needed most.
Vic Conway, Communications Lead – Internal & Workforce, Stockport Council
Doing More With Less
CASE STUDY | NEW
16.20 Deliver High-Impact, Credible & Strategically Aligned Internal Communications On A Constrained Budget – Without The Enterprise Tech Stack, The Headcount Or The Luxury Of Getting It Wrong
- The reality for a significant proportion of IC practitioners: no Copilot licence, no intranet budget, no dedicated channel team and an organisation that expects the same results regardless
- Creative workarounds, prioritisation frameworks and low-cost tools that genuinely deliver
- Challenge the assumption that great IC requires great resources: explore what discipline, focus and clarity of message can achieve when there is no alternative to getting it right first time
- Walk away with practical, repeatable approaches that do not require sign-off from a budget holder, applicable the day after the conference
CLOSING THEME: The New Era Of IC
The Three Provocations- Answered, Challenged Or Still Open?
CLOSING DEBATE | NEW FORMAT
16.40 End The Day With A Verdict: Hear How A Room Of Senior IC Professionals Has Moved, Where The Profession Still Has No Answer & What That Means For The Work You Return To Tomorrow
Asha Constanza, Senior Manager Internal Communications, Admiral Group Plc
17.10 Afternoon Chairs’ Closing Remarks
Katie Featherby, Head of Internal Communications & Events, First Bus
Laura Pickering, Head of Internal Communications & Engagement, Macmillan Cancer Support
17.20 Close of Conference