EARLY BIRD ENDS FEBRUARY 20, 2026
This year’s conference will dive deeper into how AI is reshaping the communications and PR landscape—moving beyond experimentation into real-world adoption and strategy. This conference will equip communications professionals with practical insights on using AI to enhance content creation, media relations, issues management, and audience engagement, while maintaining trust, authenticity, and human judgment. With a strong emphasis on hands-on applications, ethical use, and emerging best practices, the program is designed to help communicators confidently integrate AI into their work and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving, tech-enabled industry.
Presented by SummersDirect + Swansea Communications
We aim to bring you professional development that is high quality, usable, scalable and relatable. Spend your time wisely and have A LOT to show for it.
Join our email list for information about this event.
Hotel Information
The Chelsea Hotel,
33 Gerrard St W, Toronto, ON
Venue
Online via Zoom
In Person
The Chelsea Hotel,
33 Gerrard St W, Toronto, ON
Contact Us
Speakers
Andrea Montogomery APR, Prosci
Vice President, Redbrick Communications
Kristy Guthrie
Principal Strategist, Bright Light Digital
Heera Rehman
Founder/CEO,
WorldTone AI
Shani Gwin
CEO/Founder,
pipikwan pêhtâkwan
Syed Tasdid Azam Dhrubo,
AI Product Manager,
wâsikan kisewâtisiwin
Dr. Alex Sévigny, APR
Associate Professor, Communication Management, McMaster University
Emily Baillie
President,
Compass Marketing & Training
Chanele McFarlane, Certified Employer Brand Strategist and Certified Career Strategist
Ivan Gribanov, Sr. Communications Manager, Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee
Christine Andrew MBA, Managing Director, AI Enablement,
KPMG Canada
Conference – April 27-29, 2026
Monday, April 27, 2026
8:00 – 8:30 a.m. | Registration, Tradeshow and Breakfast
8:30 a.m. | Welcome and Opening Remarks from the Chairperson
Andrea Montogomery, APR, Prosci, Vice President, Redbrick Communications
8:40 – 9:40 a.m. | Future-Proofing Your Communications Strategy: 5 AI Shifts Communicators Need to Understand
Emily Baillie, President, Compass Marketing & Training, Toronto, ON
As AI becomes embedded in everyday communications work, the biggest risks and opportunities are no longer technical—they’re strategic. Communicators must navigate new expectations around credibility, ethics, workflows and judgment.
In this session, Emily Baillie explores five key AI shifts communicators need to understand to make smarter decisions, reduce risk and stay future-ready. Attendees will leave with clarity on what’s changing, what matters most, and where to focus next.
Emily Baillie is President of Compass Content Marketing, where she delivers human-first AI and marketing workshops, keynotes, and training programs for organizations across Canada. She advocates for the ethical, responsible use of AI, and is a featured AI expert on CBC News Network and a Professor at McMaster University. Emily has trained more than 4,000 professionals nationwide.
9:40 – 10:00 a.m. | Networking & Refreshment Break
10:00 – 11:00 a.m. | Building an Inclusive Communications Calendar using AI
Heera Rehman, Founder/CEO, WorldTone AI, London, England
In this session, you’ll learn a simple way to plan your communication so it’s thoughtful, inclusive, and far less stressful. We’ll map real-world messages against cultural and faith dates, time zones, school holidays, and key internal moments, so you avoid clashes and scheduling mistakes. We’ll also show how AI can act as your planner: surfacing important dates, spotting timing conflicts, and suggesting clear, sensitive wording in seconds.
Attendees will learn:
- Creating an inclusive calendar
Planning messages around global observances, time zones and internal events to avoid clashes and late messaging - Leverage AI tools
To help surface key dates, spot gaps and communicate with care - A reusable, team-ready system
Future-proof your calendars with templates, AI prompts and a checklist
Heera Rehman is a London-raised tech founder and internal communications leader. She founded WorldTone AI to help organisations plan, draft, and measure inclusive, on-brand internal communication. With 10+ years in global comms, she turns values into everyday habits that build belonging. Mother, Advisor, speaker, writer.
11:00 a.m. – 11:45 p.m. | INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION GROUPS
This attendee session is a favourite! Delegates will break into small groups and share their own experiences with AI in comms. Learn and share experiences, questions and concerns in your own organizations around this timely topic. Delegates will walk away with great information and new colleagues to connect with.
11:45 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Networking Luncheon
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. | 7 Comms Fails You'll Blame on AI
Ivan Gribanov, Sr. Communications Manager, Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee
AI is transforming and speeding up communications across organizations, but faster isn’t always better. Off‑brand messaging, biased outputs, misinformation, and tone errors can quickly undermine trust and damage reputations. This session examines the most common pitfalls of AI‑assisted communication, with real‑world examples such as a chatbot that alienated customers and an AI‑generated email that sparked internal backlash.
Attendees will learn:
- The top communication risks when using AI
- How reputational damage can escalate in fast‑moving environments
- Practical strategies for oversight and mitigation to keep communications both efficient and trustworthy
2:00 - 2:20 p.m. | Networking Break
Did you know hundreds of global communications campaigns are based here in British Columbia and reaching audiences everywhere? We’ll talk about the challenges and rewards with PR professionals who have mastered the art of global conversations. From sharing complex oceans research to managing controversial climate action learn what makes being grounded in BC a communications advantage.
Moderator
Nicole Sendey, CPRS VI + General Presidents’ Maintenance Committee for Canada and National Maintenance Council for Canada
Panel
Michael Gregory, Senior Communications Officer, Ocean Networks Canada
Stephanie Willerth, Ph.D., P.Eng., FCSSE, FBSE, Full Professor, Biomedical Engineering, University of Victoria
2:20 – 3:20 p.m. | Change Management in the Age of AI: Upskilling, Adoption & Culture Shift
Integrating AI into communications isn’t just a technological challenge—it’s a human one. Successful adoption requires more than tools; it demands new skills, a shift in culture, and a clear roadmap for change. In this session, you’ll explore strategies for building an AI-ready communications team, from upskilling talent and addressing resistance to fostering a culture that embraces experimentation and continuous learning. You’ll also learn how to manage expectations across your organization, align AI adoption with business priorities, and create a sustainable path forward. The goal: ensuring AI enhances, rather than disrupts, your people and your purpose.
Christine Andrew is a growth-driven digital leader with over 20 years of domestic and international experience. Christine is currently the AI Adoption lead at KPMG and specialises in operationalizing AI and execution through people and processes, partnering with KPMG’s technical leads. She leads change management and communications to ensure successful AI adoption and works with client service teams on the firm’s AI market strategy.
3:20 – 4:20 p.m. | Your Career, Reimagined: Building a High-Impact Communications Career with AI
Chanele McFarlane, Communications Lead, Global Data & AI Strategy, Sanofi
The traditional linear path in communications is shifting. New tools, new expectations and new ways of working are creating a world where one communicator can be a strategist, creator, educator and advisor—often at the same time. Artificial intelligence is accelerating this shift, expanding what’s possible for professionals who want to grow their impact, expand their skills and build a career that blends multiple strengths.
In this session, Chanele McFarlane, senior AI communications leader and Certified Career Strategist, shares her own journey transitioning into an AI-focused communications role and building a multi-hyphenate career. She will explore how AI is reshaping the profession, how communicators can use these tools to scale their expertise and why a strong digital presence is becoming an essential part of modern influence. Attendees will learn:
- How the portfolio career model is emerging and why AI is driving its growth
- Ways to apply practical AI workflows across strategic thinking, content creation and personal brand building
- A clear framework for turning communications expertise into an adaptable ecosystem of influence
Chanele McFarlane is an award-winning communications leader and TEDx speaker with over 10 years of experience at the intersection of tech and storytelling. As Communications Lead within a global data and AI team, she drives executive influence and enterprise AI adoption. She’s currently pursuing a MA in Digital Futures at King’s College London.
4:20 p.m. | Conference Concludes
April 28, 2026
8:00 – 8:30 a.m. | Registration, Tradeshow and Breakfast
8:30 - 8:40 a.m. | Welcome and Opening Remarks from the Chairperson
Andrea Montogomery, APR, Prosci, Vice President, Redbrick Communications
8:40 – 9:40 a.m. | wâsikan kisewâtisiwin – AI with Heart: How We Built an Indigenous-Led and Informed LLM
Shani Gwin, CEO,Founder, pipikwan pêhtâkwan
Too often, generic AI tools flatten or misstate Indigenous histories and protocols because the data they’re trained on under-represents Indigenous voices. Their response is wâsikan kisewâtisiwin, an Indigenous-led writing assistant that helps communicators spot harmful phrasing, offers respectful rewrites, and explains why the change matters. The heart of this work is story stewardship: elevating Indigenous voices, protecting sacred knowledge, and ensuring consent and benefit flow back to community.
wâsikan kisewâtisiwin is a writing tool using artificial intelligence to assist non-Indigenous people in their efforts to write about Indigenous Peoples. Like other plug-in subscription tools that assist writers with grammar and spelling, wâsikan kisewâtisiwin corrects unconscious bias or racism in written material.
They’ll walk through how they centre story stewardship, data sovereignty, and consent at every stage of the model lifecycle, and what it means to design “AI with heart” grounded in matriarchal values rather than purely technical efficiency. Attendees will leave with concrete examples and principles they can bring back to their own institutions and AI projects.
Delegates will learn:
- How and why conventional AI systems can cause harm when dealing with Indigenous content
- A different perspective on how AI can be built and governed in true partnership with communities
- Why including Indigenous voices, governance, and data sovereignty is critical in AI projects
- What we mean by “matriarchal AI” and how centring care, relationships, and consent changes technical decisions
- Practical examples of how wâsikan kisewâtisiwin flags and gently rewrites harmful or inaccurate language about Indigenous Peoples
Shani is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of wâsikan kisewâtisiwin and pipikwan pêhtâkwan. Shani is a sixth-generation Métis and a member of the Cunningham Clan on her mother’s side and a descendant of the Michel Band and Ferguson Clan on her father’s side. Shani is a proud Métis woman with a passion for elevating Indigenous voices, projects and successes.
Syed is the AI Product Manager for wâsikan kisewâtisiwin, overseeing AI strategy, architecture, and deployment. 2.5+ years of experience leading Indigenous AI technology projects, with a focus on culturally grounded AI for hate speech detection, Indigenous data governance, and ethical AI integration. Research expertise in multimodal learning, adversarial robustness, and bias detection, directly aligned with the technical and ethical challenges of the project.
9:40 – 10:00 a.m. | Networking & Refreshment Break
10:00 – 11:00 a.m. | Stop Chasing Tools: Using Custom AI to Fix What’s Broken in Communications
Kristy Guthrie, Principal Strategist, Bright Light Digital
Every day, a new AI product launches that promises to make communications faster, smarter, or more efficient. But for many communications teams, the problem isn’t a lack of tools. It’s that none of them quite fit the way their work actually happens.
This session challenges the assumption that the best AI solution is always the newest platform on the market. Instead, it explores why custom AI solutions are often the most effective (and surprisingly accessible!) way to solve your biggest communications problems.
Kristy walks attendees through how to think about custom AI without needing to be technical. She demystifies what “custom” really means, when it’s worth considering, and how to decide whether you need a lightweight solution, a tailored workflow, or a fully integrated system.
Attendees will learn how to:
- Clearly define the problem they’re trying to solve
- Create a strong AI brief, and confidently engage the right technical partner
- Communicate requirements effectively, avoid common pitfalls
- Develop an AI solution that evolves alongside their communications strategy
Kristy Guthrie is the Principal Strategist at Bright Light Digital, a Canadian agency helping mission-driven teams achieve digital greatness. She’s also the CEO and co-founder of municiPal AI, a platform bringing secure, accessible AI to municipalities. Kristy’s work bridges strategy, storytelling, and technology—turning complex ideas into tools that create real community impact.
11:00 a.m. – 11:45 p.m. | INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION GROUPS
This attendee session is a favourite! For a second day, delegates will break into small groups and share their own experiences with AI in comms. Learn and share experiences, questions and concerns in your own organizations around this timely topic. Delegates will walk away with great information and new colleagues to connect with.
11:45 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Networking Luncheon
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. | AI on a Shoestring: How Lean Teams Can Work Smarter, Not Harder
Stacey Sevilla, Manager, Communications & Marketing, Municipal District of Greenview
Communications and marketing professionals, particularly in government and non-profits, are being asked to deliver more content, manage more channels, and demonstrate more measurable impact with the same or shrinking resources. Artificial intelligence is transforming that reality.
This session explores how today’s most accessible AI-powered tools are helping small teams achieve large-scale results. Platforms like ChatGPT, Copilot, Canva Magic Studio, and Midjourney are now integrated into everyday workflows, quietly enhancing writing, visual creation, data analysis, and accessibility. These tools are enabling communicators to focus on strategy and storytelling while automating repetitive or time-consuming tasks that once drained entire days.
Attendees will learn how these technologies can be applied within public accountability frameworks—aligning innovation with transparency, accuracy, and trust. Real examples from government and non-profit organizations will show how teams are improving content turnaround, elevating campaign performance, and reclaiming valuable creative time.
This session is not about replacing human creativity—it’s about protecting it. By adopting AI strategically and ethically, communications leaders can expand capacity, reduce burnout, and build future-ready departments equipped to thrive in an increasingly digital world.
Participants will learn to:
- Evaluate and pilot AI tools under public accountability standards
- Build internal confidence and literacy for ethical AI adoption
- Measure productivity and creative impact in human terms
- AI isn’t the enemy of communicators—it’s the colleague we can finally afford.
Stacey Sevilla is the Communications & Marketing Manager for the Municipal District of Greenview in Alberta. With over 15 years in public and non-profit sectors, she leads strategic Communications and Marketing with AI integration, helping lean teams build capacity, strengthen public trust, and deliver impactful campaigns with limited resources.
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. | Reimagining Media Relations with AI: From Smart Strategy to Stronger Storytelling
Samiha Fariha, Senior Associate, Golin & Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University’s Chang School
As AI continues to reshape the communications landscape, media relations is entering a new era, one where technology can enhance, not replace, the craft of storytelling and strategic relationship building.
In this session, we will explore how communicators can integrate AI into the core of their media relations strategies to strengthen outcomes from building smarter media lists and personalizing outreach to elevating thought leadership through AI-assisted op-ed development.
Drawing from real-world applications and learnings, this presentation will demonstrate how AI can become an extension of a communicator’s strategic thinking, helping identify emerging storylines, optimize pitch timing, and uncover the journalists and outlets most aligned with your brand’s narrative. I will also discuss the balance between human creativity and machine efficiency, offering guidance on when to rely on AI tools versus human intuition and experience.
Attendees will walk away with practical insights and actionable steps for applying AI in ways that drive stronger, more strategic media engagement and earned results.
Key Outcomes:
- Strategic Integration: Learn how to embed AI tools into your media relations workflow—from research and media list building to insights and measurement, without losing the human touch that makes communications authentic.
- Enhanced Story Development: Discover how AI can support the creation of high-impact thought leadership content, including op-eds, by surfacing new trends, data, and narrative angles.
- Smarter Media Engagement: Understand how to leverage AI for data-driven pitching, timing optimization, and identifying journalist affinities to increase story pickup and deepen relationships.
AI isn’t just a tool, it’s a strategic partner. This session will show communicators how to harness its potential to work smarter, tell stronger stories, and build lasting media impact.
3:00 – 3:20 p.m. | Networking Break
3:20 – 4:20 p.m. | TBA
To be announced
4:20 p.m. | Conference Concludes
Workshops
April 29, 2026
OPTIONAL POST-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS
(online or in person)
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | Workshop A: Level-Setting AI Training Session
Alex Sévigny, PhD, APR, Associate Professor, McMaster UniversityI
Dr. Alex Sévigny, APR, will lead an interactive, practical AI level-setting session designed for communications professionals who want to use generative AI with confidence and control. You’ll get a clear, plain-language overview of what generative AI is and where it came from, then move into real-world risk management—what can go wrong, and how to reduce those risks with smart processes and human oversight. From there, the session focuses on hands-on workflow transformation through structured prompting: using AI to pull insights and storylines from a realistic (fictional) meeting transcript, quickly surface patterns from a spreadsheet, and help you test your ideas as a strategic—and even contrarian—thinking partner. Participants will also design a simple custom AI agent (e.g., CustomGPT/Copilot/Gemini) using training their own data to automate a workflow they can take back to work. Participation requires a paid subscription to ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot.
Alex Sévigny, APR is an associate professor of communication management at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is an expert in public relations, communication management, and data-driven communication strategies, most recently using AI, augmented and virtual reality. He is an active researcher and consultant who maintains a foot in both academia and the dynamic world of the communications industry. He has a forthcoming book on how communicators and marketers can strategically use generative artificial intelligence in their practice.
1:00 – 4:00 p.m. | Workshop B: How to - AI Tools in Communications, Marketing and Advertising
Kristy Guthrie, Principal Strategist, Bright Light Digital
Building on the key themes introduced in Kristy Guthrie’s “Stop Chasing Tools: Using Custom AI to Fix What’s Broken in Communications” session, this highly practical, hands-on workshop will help participants move beyond theory to create a real, context-specific use case for a custom AI solution.
Through guided exercises and clear frameworks, attendees will learn how to think about custom AI without needing technical expertise. They’ll translate everyday workflow challenges into viable AI concepts, and create a clear, actionable brief they can take to leadership, vendors, or developers.
This workshop equips participants to critically evaluate existing AI products, confidently engage technical partners, and avoid common pitfalls that derail AI initiatives. By the end, attendees will leave with tangible outputs, including a clearly defined problem statement, a custom AI concept, and an initial business case for development. If you’re looking to move from AI curiosity to AI confidence and gain the know-how you need to make a real impact in your organization, this workshop is for you.
By the end of this workshop, participants will have:
- Identified a real communications problem worth solving with AI
- Determined whether custom AI is the right approach (or not)
- Created a clear AI solution concept
- Drafted a practical AI brief they can take to leadership, vendors, or developers
- Gained confidence in how to engage, evaluate, and manage technical partners
This workshop is about doing, not theorizing. Participants will leave with tangible artifacts and next steps.
Kristy Guthrie is the Principal Strategist at Bright Light Digital, a Canadian agency helping mission-driven teams achieve digital greatness. She’s also the CEO and co-founder of municiPal AI, a platform bringing secure, accessible AI to municipalities. Kristy’s work bridges strategy, storytelling, and technology—turning complex ideas into tools that create real community impact.
Cancellation & Refund Policy
Substitution of delegates is permissible without prior notification. Refunds will be given for cancellations received in writing no later than 10 days prior to the conference date subject to an administration fee of $250 plus $12.50 for GST. After this time, you are liable for the full registration fee even if you do not attend the conference. If you register during this 15 day period, you are also liable for the full fee. Summers Direct reserves the right to change program date, meeting place or content without further notice and assumes no liability for these changes.