Reflections from the IABC World Conference
By Susannah Goddard, Partnerships Co-Chair, IABC Victoria.
In the last week of June, more than 700 communication professionals from around the world converged on Chicago for the IABC World Conference over four and a half days (the conference was 2.5 days, and full program 4.5 days). In the humidity of what one weather report described as a ‘heat dome’, the annual event coalesced around the theme ‘Communication Creates’.
With masterclasses, professional development sessions, the Annual General Meeting, networking events, Quill awards and chapter awards, if you chose to fully engage, your dance card was full. There was just enough time to fit in an architectural boat tour of the river and sprint down the Magnificent Mile between sessions, trying to remember to remove your conference lanyard so you weren’t gifting random locals your name.
The conference was a little ‘Choose your own adventure’, with many concurrent sessions. All had relevance and sounded interesting, so it was difficult to decide which mystery doors to open.
Opening speaker Oscar Munoz, former CEO of United Airlines credited with turning the company’s fortunes around, touched on a number of themes which, for me, became those of the conference – the value of genuine engagement with employees and the importance of being human in your communication and writing for all audiences.
Another theme which emerged was the increasing importance of communication professionals being able to answer the question defined by Sia Papageorgiou as ‘How does communication help organisations make or save money?’. All the Australians presenting – Sia, David Imber, David Whitely and Katie Bennett-Stenton – set a high bar.
What has stayed with me in the weeks after the conference, in addition to some interesting thoughts about potential uses of AI, was a better understanding of the workings of IABC, a reaffirmation that I’m in the right line of work, and connections with some extraordinary people from across the world.
If you have an opportunity to participate in the global conference in future – the next one is in Vancouver in June 2025 – do! And throw yourself into every part of it.
If you’re interested in David Imber’s conference presentation ‘What professional communicators can learn from political communications’, join our online Power Hour in August – it’s free for IABC members. You can register here.
