Registration for the sessions closes Fri 10/11 at 3pm ET

This year, we are excited to expand programming for senior leaders. 

We will feature four 75-minute sessions that will be intimate and interactive workshops designed specifically for individuals across several senior management levels. 

They will take place during the Learning Lab program blocks, with 3 sessions on Thursday and 1 on Friday (times below). 

Given limited capacity, these senior leader sessions require reservation and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. (You must RSVP to each session you wish to attend individually.)

Reservations are now open. We will close registration once sessions have reached their room capacity. There are 60 spots available for each session.

Thursday, October 17

Facilitated by

Meredith Bliss, Consultant and Adjunct Trainer at The Management Center

11:00 am – 12:15 pm

Senior Leader Session: Using a Consultancy Protocol to Tackle Dilemmas in Small Groups

Experience and learn a method for group problem-solving that's generative, participatory, and easily replicable with your own team. This session will be a working one, using challenges supplied in advance by participants. We are holding this session twice, and while the same format, different group challenges will be presented.

*This session is recommended for senior leaders with more than 20 years of experience, who manage teams larger than 10 and are responsible for an organization’s communications structure and strategies, brand reputation, and outreach. 

Thursday, October 17

Facilitated by

Meredith Bliss, Consultant and Adjunct Trainer at The Management Center

1:45 pm – 3:00 pm

Senior Leader Session: Using a Consultancy Protocol to Tackle Dilemmas in Small Groups

Experience and learn a method for group problem solving that's generative, participatory, and easily replicable with your own team. This session will be a working one, using challenges supplied in advance by participants. We are holding this session twice, and while the same format, different group challenges will be presented.

*This session is recommended for senior leaders with more than 20 years of experience, who manage teams larger than 10 and are responsible for an organization’s communications structure and strategies, brand reputation, and outreach. 

Thursday, October 17

Facilitated by

Meredith Bliss, Consultant and Adjunct Trainer at The Management Center

3:45 pm – 5:00 pm

Senior Leader Session: Ask An Expert

Get practical solutions, ideas for next steps, tools, tips and scripts on management questions, team challenges, leadership, and culture. Participants will submit questions in advance (and there will be time for additional questions on site).

*This session is recommended for senior leaders with more than 12 years of experience, who manage staff (and/or are growing their teams) and are responsible for developing new protocols and staff development. 

Friday, October 18

Facilitated by

Eric Antebi, Chief Communications Officer for the California Health Care Foundation

Facilitated by

Chantal Forster, AI Strategy Residency at the Annenberg Foundation

10:15 am – 11:30 am

Senior Leader Session: AI 301

Learn more about how the California Health Care Foundation has elevated its AI experience, from a content audit to building their own tailored generative AI platform for staff to use. The session will also include conversations (and questions) about the implications of AI, from creating internal policies, exploring the ethics, and learning more about where AI lives (comms or IT).

*This session is recommended for senior leaders with more than 12 years of experience, who manage staff and are responsible for developing new protocols and exploring new tactics and technology. 

  • A: While sessions are open to anyone, RSVP-ing is required (space is limited). Each session has a specific recommended audience. The content of these sessions is dependent on participant challenges and questions and several of the sessions are specifically designed for individuals with 20+ years of leadership experience.

  • A: These sessions are meant to be working sessions among peers. The answers to the questions will help the facilitators tailor the sessions to audience needs, which will ensure an interactive and connected space.

  • A: If the session you’re interested in becomes full, we hope you will join a Learning Lab instead. While space is limited for the senior leader sessions, during each of them we will have 3-4 learning labs happening concurrently. These breakouts will be led by national experts with incredible knowledge to share on a variety of topics core to communications today. We encourage folks to look at these sessions even before registering for one of the senior leader ones. You can see the Learning Lab sessions here.

  • A: Sure, as long as there is space still available. But, we highly encourage you to take advantage of our full learning program. All of our sessions are applicable to senior leaders, with expert speakers talking about core communications competencies, issues of the day, and the future of the communications space.

  • A: If you’ve already RSVP’d for one or more of the senior leader sessions and are no longer able to make one (or all) of them, please email tmohabir@comnetwork.org as soon as possible so we may make that spot available.

  • A: Each year we look forward to providing Network members and ComNet attendees with new opportunities to connect and learn. After feedback, we realized ComNet offers a space to bring senior leaders together face-to-face to connect over skills related to managing teams and processes at an organizational level. Thus, the senior leader sessions were born.