2023 QuickStart Conference Recap

Review our conference summary below and save the date for 2024 QuickStart: September 14

WE TOOK THE HIGHWAY TO QUICKSTART & FOUND THE RUNWAY TO THE FUTURE

Risa Richardson had left Kentucky before dawn and she was still more than three hours away from Columbus, Ohio when the message “YOU HAVE A FLAT TIRE – PULL OVER” cast a sick, green glow across her dashboard. Panicked images flooded her head. “What am I going to do? I can’t change a tire. This is a rural area – I’m in the middle of nowhere!”

Risa was headed to the ECD QuickStart Leadership Conference weekend, and this was a bad start. The ECD board retreat would start without her and might be over before she could get there.

That introduction to this summary of the ECD QuickStart Leadership was generated by a human writer, not by Chat GPT.  That mattered in the AI context of this very forward-thinking conference.

If you’re wondering what happened to Risa, and were compelled to continue reading to find out, then the writing worked!

(BTW – She’s fine, she found an open auto repair shop at the next exit and made it to the ECD board meeting right on time!)

We learned more on why SMART PR, content, and creativity matters in the brave new word of AI as QuickStart returned to a live gathering in Columbus for the first time since the pandemic. It was enthralling to hear new ideas unravel before us, and it kept us listening.

Amplifying Voices, Driving Impact – QuickStart Leadership Conference 2023

Welcome – Jennifer Kramer, APR, QuickStart Chair and ECD Chair-Elect:

“In a world brimming with diverse perspectives, experiences, and ideas, the power of amplifying our voices cannot be overstated,” Jennifer said as she opened the conference.

“Together, we will explore how we can harness the collective power of our voices to drive tangible, positive change in our chapters, our profession, and the world at large.

“As we embark on this transformative journey, let’s remember that every voice, regardless of its origin, holds the potential to spark a revolution. It is through our collective efforts that we will pave the way for a more active organization.”

ECD Overview – Kaylin State, APR, ECD Chair:

“We’re glad to be back in person,” said Kaylin in her welcome to the conference attendees. “It’s a wonderful way to share our multiple messages, network ideas, and share our successes.

“When it comes down to it, leadership is at the core of who we are. We live our mission every day as we help you build stronger Chapters through leadership development, communication, and more. This is one of the ways we also live out our value proposition — by hosting QuickStart and other programs and initiatives.”

“It’s doing some of our work – we say it out front – but it’s not going to replace us,” said Ben. “It allows us to move faster and think faster and better but you still have to populate it.

4 Stages of ChatGPT:

1. This is fun.
2. This is scary.
3. This is serious.
4. This is something I can’t live without.

“It can make an outline for me so much faster than the time it takes me looking at the ceiling and thinking about it – and then I can populate it,” said Ben.

We’re in the Serious Stage:

“Everyone will be affected, it’s just a matter of when,” said Dillon. “Microsoft and others are investing billions.”

“I believe strongly we have choices to make,” said Ben. “I like to write but I take an oath to support clients and to do that, you have to have belief in what you’re doing. We don’t want anyone to be obsolete or fall behind.”

Dillon’s 5 needs to know/must haves:

1. This is only the beginning of generative AI. As time progresses and investments are made the tech will get better.
2. AI is a tool. Unlike internet, email, SM, AI is a tool that helps us do better at our jobs. Up to us to determine how useful it is to our business.
3. We won’t be replaced by AI. It will replace the mundane tasks that take hours to complete.
4. We should not fear AI. We hold the key to support or fear of AI. Up to us to determine how helpful or harmful.
5. But we need to protect ourselves. Ensure that you are keeping in contact to legal representatives as you venture into AI.

BUILDING RESILIENT BRANDS IN A TIME OF UNCERTAINTY – BJ FISCHER, PRES. STRATEGY BY FISCHER

COVID caused change of focus:

“Employees at agile companies are more than twice as likely to say their business is doing better since COVID-19, according to Survey Monkey.

What are we building today that will help us weather difficult times we feel are here and are our future?

Building strength to survive no matter what: The Resilient 5

Trust: DEI, sustainability, and employer brand dashboard; regular CEO communications; monitor and influence Google results; use earned, paid and owned channels to tell story.

Culture: tell employee stories internally and externally; define culture with actions not words; stories of being a good employer help with all audiences.

Engagement: build strong employee experience; build strategies for a comprehensive and segmented stakeholder manifest; communicate on and offline with key stakeholders.

Relevance: Consistent content about why your organization matters to people; create partnerships that share values.

Common Understanding: Proactive content on what people need to know, use videos and infographics to explain difficult concepts; remember vital messaging needs to be repeated.

“This is our time: skills we have and things we do are needed more now than ever. Never been more important for building strong companies, helping people have livelihood, and building strong communities.”

“Vital to the success of the campaign is company’s willingness to admit any mistakes, own them, present good faith remedies.”

OBJECTIVES ARE EVERYTHING: PLANNING AND MEASUREMENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE – SEAN WILLIAMS, BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY

“Chat GPT does your strategic planning for you,” said Sean. “I still believe in people, despite the fact that we have machines to do the work for us.

It didn’t take 10 seconds to come up with it – but it’s not my work. I’m not sure it supports your clients or agency to rely on it. It might be a start.

New(ish) perspectives:

1. Digital is primary.
2. Organic is ‘difficult.’ (algorithms designed to avoid organic – want you to pay for it); everybody is responsible for everything; going to have to pay at some point. They are creating tools to stop organic.
3. Strategy vs. tactics vs. measurement. Thought vs. implementation.
   1. (GOAL is to take a trip; STRATEGY is which way am I going to go? TACTICS are car, maps, snacks to get there.
   1. Strategy is what you are going to do. Without tactics, you won’t get there.
   1. Measurement is how effective were our tactics to fulfill the intentions of our strategy.
4. PESO means integration. PAID/EARNED/SHARED/OWNED media.  Means integration and organizations are putting this all together.
5. Measurement and strategy.

AMMO process:

1. Audiences: stakeholders, publics, constituencies
2. Objectives: what do you need people to think, feel, do?
3. Messages: Framework, architecture, tiered priority.
4. Methods: of delivery, conversation, engagement.

How it flows:

1. Audience – anyone we need to interact with. Can be just to build a relationship, goodwill for when you do reach out to them.
2. Objective – SMART- obtainable, measurable, time-bound. (goal, grow membership, objective to grow membership x% over x years).  How does it link to your overall strategy? Set objectives – can’t measure without objectives! Can’t measure if objectives are not measurable.
3. Message – what do we have to say, show or demonstrate to attain our objective.  MESSAGES ARE NOT COPY – they underpin the copy we create to communicate the message. Messages inspire content; they’re an idea.

MAN BITES DOG: THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF CONTENT CREATION – WHAT TO DO WHEN AI WANTS MY JOB – MARK POMPILIO – SOLVITA

1. W.I.F.M. What’s in it for me?

A. What will make them read or watch?

B. ChatGPT — useful tool if creating content based on construction of 5 W’s of journalism.

Eliminate the mundane part of writing/communicating; move to the fun part of communicating.

2. AI can’t replace creativity, yet.

A. AI is only as creative as we are able to communicate.

B. If we are worrying that the human element of storytelling is about to go the way of the rotary dial phone and the VHS video store then we should all take a breath.

3. I’m coming with a thesis about Chat GPT, and I am not totally sold on it at all.

A. ChatGPT is not as unique as a human telling a story.

B. I can’t see ChatGPT replicating communicating because it’s important to research and see the environment when gaining the information.

4. Gathering the elements

I think we have all been challenged to find the “Man Bites Dog” element of good storytelling long before ChatGBT arrived with the implicit threat that it could do the same thing quicker, easier, and better.

A.  Go to the story.

B. Talk to people.

C. Ask why?

D. Take pictures and/or videos.

E.  Do the research.

5. Putting it together

A. Let your brain create.

B. How do I get started? Quote, image, umbrella lead (so many things to unpack so lets go for the overview).

C. Let the story follow its own path.

D. Transcribe quotes, verbatim or paraphrased.

E. Bring the story full circle (bring back the primary thought in the lead in the closing paragraph). A sense of real satisfaction by the reader…the writer brought me into the whole story.

6. Mark brought the room to tears with his story of Carolyn and Carl. 

A. ChatGPT can’t evoke this kind of emotion.

It’s easy to say that the problem is the fabrications. You can’t just make things up. It’s unethical. But it could give you an outline, in which you could insert the names and information about real people. You will have a story about a family dealing with a disease and their challenges.

Final Thought 

A. Keep the story moving forward.

B. Stay fluid no lurching moments or wrong turns.

C. Stay focused. Stay in that creative moment and keep riding it to the end.