AI, Diversity, and the Future of PR: Highlights from the CIPR Midlands Conference

I attended the CIPR Midlands Conference: Raising the PR Bar at Birmingham City University , co-organized by Chartered Institute of Public Relations and PRCA .

After a morning run, dropping my children at school, hopping on a train to Birmingham, and navigating the sometimes inaccurate advice from Google Maps, I arrived just in time to hear ?? Amy Kean ?? 's presentation on the formula for a powerful voice. Amy shared the 3 Ts of originality: Tone, Temerity, and Thing. Tone – what's original about your voice? Temerity – how are you believable? Thing – what's original about your content? Amy encouraged us all to use our voices and tell our unique stories. She motivated us to speak up throughout the day.

This resonated with me because I often find myself defaulting to silence. Being in spaces where I am either the only African, one of the few Africans, the only Black person, or someone with non-UK communication experience, it can be challenging to join conversations that are more UK-centric than global. I am also self-conscious about my accent and the differences between PR practices in the global north and south.

Despite this, I am working on understanding the UK PR and Communication landscape better so I can contribute meaningfully to these discussions.

Later, Peter Heneghan presented on social media trends. I was a bit disappointed as I expected to learn more about the latest social media information. Instead, the session focused on Artificial Intelligence tools for PR and Communication practitioners. Peter introduced tools such as Fireflies, Heygen, Speechify, Sora, Synthesia, and Opus AI.

Following Amy's advice, I voiced my concerns about bias within these tools and what is being done to address it. Andrew Bruce Smith 's presentation on AI-driven Public Relations covered prompt frameworks for language models, privacy concerns, data security, potential biases, ethics, legal considerations, and integration with existing PR workflows. A key takeaway was that employees use AI even in companies where management has banned it, which I found interesting.

Tom Skelton's presentation on raising the bar with COMMedy was followed by a discussion on diversity and inclusion led by Katrina Marshall . I was impressed by the diversity in the room, which is often lacking in such sessions. We had a fruitful conversation about the challenges and opportunities in this area. I shared my exhaustion from fighting for equity, diversity, and inclusion at both personal and professional levels, and Katrina offered tips on how to keep going.

The day concluded with a panel on reputation management, discussing legal and moral challenges, featuring Alison Clarke, Daniel Jennings, Kate Toft , Katrina Marshall , and Richard Fernandez . The highlight was hearing stories about navigating complex challenges in daily work. As PR and Communication professionals, we are advisors to our organizations and clients, but our advice is not always heeded.

Reflecting on the day, I think about the wealth of knowledge I gained and the potential for bringing diverse perspectives to such conferences. The Midlands, known for its diversity, could benefit from showcasing experiences from Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and beyond. Including such diversity would help practitioners whose work extends beyond the UK feel at home and share their experiences. Additionally, PR and Communication conferences often focus heavily on the private sector, making it difficult for those outside it to relate. Expanding the content to include other sectors would be beneficial.