Enjoy complimentary coffee, tea and continental breakfast as you meet your fellow attendees.
Sign-in, pick up your materials and enjoy a continental breakfast before we start the day.
Be sure to stop by and visit your sponsors!

Welcome to the 5th Annual Strategic Corporate Communications Conference.

In this fast-paced forum, you'll get to know your fellow peers, their biggest internal communications challenges, and a few fun facts.

• Transform your communications team from editors and production assistants into business partners and contributors to your company’s growth and success.
• Define an authentic EVP that deeply resonates with your ideal candidates and supports the needs of your business.

• Translate your EVP into a dynamic employer brand activated across all your internal and external channels.
• Create a suite of engaging content and resources that multiplies impact and reach.
• Measure and report the ROI of your employer branding efforts in support of core business metrics.

Enjoy complimentary coffee, tea, and other refreshments as you network with your peers.

Be sure to stop by and visit your sponsors and be sure to fill out your evaluation forms.

Many organizations invest heavily in internal brand campaigns—posters, toolkits, launch videos—only to watch momentum fade once the campaign ends. This case study explores how Teach For America shifted from episodic brand efforts to a more sustainable internal brand system embedded into everyday work…and still left themselves room to adjust. For a non-profit that recruits college students, brand isn’t just a design system. It’s what makes sure that everyone (from staff to donors to prospects to community partners) are hearing the same story. That means making sure staff get to go deeper than just a poster.

Attendees will learn how Teach For America’s communications team aligned staff, leadership, and even alumni of the Teach For America around a shared brand narrative. You’ll hear what worked, what didn’t, and how the organization moved from surface-level awareness to consistent brand expression at scale. Participants will walk away with practical lessons about how to tell the story of brand changes while always modeling that brand is about more than just a splashy event or new campaign.

A case study on building a playbook before the crisis hits, including governance, escalation paths, and leader readiness.

Reservations have been made at a number of local restaurants.
Don't miss this opportunity to have lunch with your peers at a local Chicago hot spot!


**Everyone is financially responsible for their own lunch.

Take part in a lively Gallery Walk designed to spark conversation and shared learning. Flip charts with key communication questions will be posted around the room for participants to add their ideas, experiences, and comments. Afterward, the session chair will guide a group discussion to highlight common themes and insights gathered from the room.

In today’s environment, corporate communications must do more than inform—they must inspire trust, align stakeholders, and drive action. This case study breaks down how a purpose-driven communications strategy was designed and executed to engage diverse audiences, unify internal teams, and deliver measurable outcomes across platforms.

Drawing from real-world campaigns spanning internal communications, executive messaging, social impact initiatives, and media strategy, this session will walk attendees through the end-to-end process: identifying the insight, shaping the narrative, aligning stakeholders, and measuring success. Attendees will gain practical frameworks for building trust-based messaging, activating employees as ambassadors, and ensuring communications strategies ladder up to broader business and cultural goals.

Attendees will learn how to:

• A repeatable framework for building trust-based communications that drive real behavior change and moves audiences from awareness to action
• Unify internal, executive, and external communications under a single strategic narrative
• Practical methods for proving ROI in communications by amplifying how communications efforts drive trust, engagement, and business outcomes

Take advantage of this interactive break to connect with our sponsors and experience their products and services firsthand. Each sponsor will host live demos at their table—giving you the chance to explore innovative solutions, ask questions, and find the tools that best support your work. 

In this "no-pressure" setting, you'll be able to ask your most pressing questions and receive honest feedback from your peers. Corporate leaders discuss how they justify investment, prioritize work, and say no when everything feels urgent.

Don't stop the conversation!

Join us at the lobby bar as you network with your peers and sponsors in the adjacent at the #ALIcomms

Participate in raffles & sign-up for dinner with your peers!

Want to keep the conversation going? Join a group of attendees for dinner at a local Chicago hot spot.


Sign-up at the registration desk or during the networking reception to join a group at tonight's dine-around. Reservations have been made.


**Dutch treat.

Enjoy complimentary coffee, tea and continental breakfast as you network with fellow attendees on this final day.

Together we will recap yesterday's top takeaways and set the stage for this final day of learning.

The communication profession has shifted steadily over the past several decades from tactical support (“babies and bowling scores” newsletters) to a vital, strategic part of an organization’s success. It hasn’t been easy, and there are still businesses whose leaders do not understand the value of strategic communication and how it not only informs but inspires and motivates audiences to change behaviors and beliefs.

In this session you will learn about

• Building trust and a great reputation among leaders with whom you partner;
• Learning more about your business and industry to support more strategic communication; and
• Being proactive with strategic communication planning that positions you as a trusted advisor and savvy communications professional (vs. “communicator”)

A candid look at what metrics resonated with leadership, what did not, and how measurement influenced future investment decisions.

Enjoy complimentary coffee, tea, and other refreshments as you network with your peers.

Be sure to stop by and visit your sponsors and be sure to fill out your evaluation forms.

In this interactive session, participants pair up to share brief stories of when communication worked well and identify common themes that can be applied in their own organizations.

In this "no-pressure" setting, you'll be able to ask your most pressing questions and receive honest feedback from your peers. Panelists share what works, what fails, and how to manage leaders with very different communication styles.