I will be heading to Chicago tomorrow to attend the 2014 Edelman Academic Summit focusing on storytelling for PR professionals. I am very excited and honored to be part of a group of professors from around the USA as well as from other countries to attend this two day summit and hear form some of the leading professionals in the business.

[youtube width=”400″ height=”300″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBeFIwgmguY[/youtube]

The focus of the 5th summit by Edelman lies with storytelling at the speed of now. We are seeing agencies, public relations professionals, and brands try to share their brand narrative in an rapidly changing and evolving market and sphere. There is a growing pressure to be the first to break the story online as well as be the first (and most effective) to newsjack or even trendsjack a topic, event, or moment captured by the global audience on social media.

Everyone who will be speaking and attending the event will hear from not only leading public relations professionals from Edelman, but also representatives from Starbucks, CVS, and LinkedIn to name a few. As a professor, this is a HUGE learning and networking opportunity!

Learning does not stop when you get your degree, and I am absolutely thrilled that Edelman has created such an event to spark discussion, generate more creative ideas, and share best practices they have learned along with their clients with us so we can pass this along to our students. Edelman PR has always been engaged with the PR community and with professors, so this is really a great event to separate themselves and create the necessary bridge between practice and academics.

I am very excited and honored to be representing the University of Louisville at this event and will be tweeting (make sure to follow the hashtag #2014AcademicSummit) and follow @EdelmanCHI as well to see their Storify from the event. I am sure there is going to be a lot of discussion, insights shared, and wonderful networking involved. Special thanks again to the team at Edelman for inviting me to be part of this great event, but also special thanks to fellow #prprofs Emily Kinsky and Amber Hutchins for introducing me to this event. Thank you!

Safe travels to all of my fellow professors to Chicago and will see you all soon. Have a great day!

Best Wishes,
Karen