ConversationsFest25 will take place over the weekend of Friday 12 to Sunday 14 September – from early Friday evening until midday Sunday.
The pitch
ConversationsFest25 is an opportunity to transform the way you think about your work in communications and PR so that it can have more impact and deliver greater relevance and value.
The event
ConversationsFest is a ‘salon’ conference where the emphasis is on time for conferring and engaging with fellow delegates through conversation rather than listening just to presentations from others.
The weekend – from Friday evening to Sunday lunchtime – will enable you to build your capability, confidence, and resilience in these challenging times. It is a place to meet new people, explore new ideas, and emerge with renewed confidence, direction, energy, and vigour.
It all takes place in the delightful settings of Sligo, famed for its food and live music on the northwest of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. The conversations will start and finish in the Inspirational Yeats Centre, taking in also an eclectic mix of locations a short stroll away, including Ireland’s ‘pub of the year’, an oyster bar, a theatre and even a milliner’s shop – where the break-out room entrance is through a hidden door behind the socks (it’s bizarre but true).
The people
Now in its third year, ConversationsFest attracts people from all over the globe from varying backgrounds in the practice and the study of professional communications.
To maintain the opportunity for meaningful conversation, attendance is limited to just 40 (with scholarship places to ensure a diverse mix of attendees)
The theme
This year the challenge we are embracing is to help communication and public relations practitioners “see the change we need” in a chaotic uncertain world where their work of is never more needed but never less respected.
The schedule
Friday – framing the setting
We open with a keynote panel on Friday evening at the iconic Yeats Society Building at the heart of Sligo town which will include diverse voices in business, in activism and in the study of civic society and politics to contextualise what society demands from communicators.
Saturday – the deep dive
This will be a day of conversations. It will start out in the Yeats Building with three ‘stimulus’ talks, setting out a context for discussion by asking
- what is the currency of effectiveness in the work of the contemporary communications professional, does it start with ‘the client’ or ‘society’.
- is it better to look like the world we serve… does diversity in the communications function have a real purpose and value for an organisation?
- Isn’t it time to really tell our story better… evidence shows that we are entering a new era of ‘Post Public Relations’… what does that mean and is there an opportunity in that for our work?
Included in those talks will be a world-first preview of some ground breaking research from Canada that challenges the shape and presentation of the practice of Public Relatrions globally.
After that we will scatter across that eclectic set of smaller locations in the town centre (none more than 5 minutes walk) to participate in moderated breakout discussions to tease out the topics of the talks.
After a light catered lunch there will be a series of workshops and talks across the afternoon where we will be sharing the new Dublin Conversations 2.0 Toolkit on how to look beyond the existing and ‘traditional’ barriers that are limiting the perspectives of most communications practitioner.
The evening time is for leisurely conversation, with dinner at a seaside location along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way and the opportunity to participate in Sligo’s widely admired night-time live music scene.
Sunday – wrapping our thinking for takeaway
On Sunday morning, having shared a summary of the previous day’s discussions, we will open with a keynote expert speaker (from the United States) to put some shape and context on the learning from those discussions.
We will then use an expert panel and further breakout discussions to identify the practical drivers and enablers for effective communication in and by an organisation in the post public relations world.
Getting there
Sligo is well-served by train and local bus. For international visitors it is just an hour from West Ireland International airport or you can travel via Dublin and onwards byt
Accomodation
We have arrangements in place with three hotels in Sligo for the Friday and Saturday nights – The Glasshouse, The Riverside and The Clayton. Please email conversationsfestsligo@gmail.com for details by return.