Timings

   
09:00-09:30 Registration and Networking

We're living in a virtual world and if you joined the PR industry recently, your opportunities to network in-person may have been limited. Take advantage of our Buddy scheme and we'll introduce you to a small group of other attendees before the event. You can arrange to meet when you arrive so it's easier to get the conversation started in a room full of new faces. Let us know if you want to join the buddy scheme when you book your place.

09:30-09:35 Welcome to Horizon with Advita Patel (She/Her), CIPR President 2025

09:35-10:10 Working with influencers and what's coming with Gen Alpha

Jay Richards (he/him), Co-Founder, Imagen

In this dynamic keynote, co-founder of Imagen, Jay Richards, discusses how PR professionals can work effectively with influencers for maximum impact. His insights draw on research with a global Gen Z community into what it means that Generation Alpha is the first generation to grow up with parents as influencers. From a rebellious start while at school to now the Co-Founder of Imagen Insights, a Forbes 30under30 social entrepreneur and Mediatel's Future Leader finalist of 2020, Jay and Imagen Insights have helped the likes of Amazon Prime Video, Google and Unilever to create conversations with their communities. 

10:10-10:45
Creating a sense of belonging in the PR industry

Sheeraz Gulsher (he/him), Co-Founder at People Like Us

The journey of People Like Us: belonging in the PR industry. This storytelling session covers the journey of a misfit British Pakistani from Luton in the world of consumer PR and what led him to create the multi award winning non-profit People Like Us and campaign for ethnicity pay gap reporting to be mandatory in the UK. During this compelling narrative, Sheeraz includes real stories, creative campaigns, practical tips on making PR more inclusive and you can ask him anything at the end without fear of any 'silly questions'. 

10:45-11:05 Break  


11:05-11:45 Morning breakout sessions

Session A:  Discussing the future of PR
During this interactive panel session, our chairs will take to the mic to share their own stories, perspectives and insights around the future of public relations. Topics will be directed by audience questions but are likely to include discussion around the growth in demand for data and analytics skills; relationships with influencers; artificial intelligence; the evolving media landscape; equity, diversity and inclusion; and the blurred lines between PR, digital and marketing specialisms. 

Speakers:
Fatima Banglawala (she/her), Comms & Public Affairs Manager, MedTech UK and Ireland, Johnson and Johnson 
Nathalie Diepstraten (she/her), Consultant, Blurred
Chris Maho (he/him), Senior Account Executive, The Romans 
Leila Willingham (she/her), Chart.PR, MCIPR, Associate Business & Account Director at Liz Lean PR

Session B: Using creativity to build networking confidence
Networking is a crucial activity for PR professionals, building contacts and maintaining relationships to help you tell the stories that matter and bring about change. But, walking into a room full of strangers isn’t always easy. Grace is here to share simple, memorable tools you can use immediately to feel more confident when networking and quickly develop meaningful connections. As well as being a confidence and presentation skills trainer, Grace is an actor, stand-up comic and author of a one-woman comedy show. In response to popular demand, this interactive workshop will run twice during Horizon.

Speaker:
Grace Fogarty (she/her) Founder at Grace Fogarty Training
 
Session C: Crisis Management within the Entertainment Sector
Justin Jeffreys (he/him), Head of Media Relations, ITV

A journalism graduate, Justin spent seven years working in a PR agency Taylor Herring before making the move in-house to ITV. Over the past decade, he has been responsible for the PR around some of the country's best loved entertainment television, including Love Island, The X Factor, The Voice UK, Dancing on Ice, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, Britain's Got Talent, The Masked Singer and more. Behind the glamour, Justin has also managed his fair share of crises and reputational risks. In this spirited presentation and Q&A, Justin explores his top tips from a career trying to keep celebrities off the front page, sharing insights into a life of crisis management, media training, and stakeholder liaison in the entertainment sector. 



11:45-12:30
Preventing burnout for sustainable high performance and success

Subira Jones (she/her), aka The Corporate Hippie, Sustainable High Performance & Burnout Specialist

An award-winning sustainable high performance and burnout specialist, Subira is on a mission to prevent an epidemic of burnt out professionals. In this compelling keynote, Subira will take you on a journey from powerless to empowered, showing you how to reduce feelings of overwhelm and fireproof your career (and those of your colleagues). With 9 in 10 PR professionals reporting poor mental health in the previous 12 months (Mental Wellbeing in PR 2022), Subira’s talk is designed to support talented professionals to pursue their professional aspirations without sacrificing their health and vitality. With a powerful personal journey of overcoming burnout and chronic illness, Subira empowers corporate professionals and entrepreneurs with practical strategies to build tenacity, enhance performance, and of course, fireproof their lives and careers from burnout.

12:30-13:30 Lunch and Progress speed mentoring

Progress is the CIPR's free and informal mentoring scheme for members. If you're in the early stages of your PR career, book to attend our free Speed Mentoring session and ask our expert mentors their advice on your career challenges. Chat to them about everything from managing workload to building confidence, securing a promotion, skills development and more. Details about the Progress Speed Mentoring will be shared with attendees one week in advance and places will be limited. This session is open to members and non-members.

13:30-14:30 Reimagining the World: how sustainability, technology and innovation play a pivotal role for people and nature to thrive

Diana Verde Nieto (she/her) Co-Founder @ Positive Luxury and Author, Reimagining Luxury - Building a Sustainable Future for Your Brand
Mark Shayler (he/him), Owner at Ape and Author of three books, including You Can’t Make Money from a Dead Planet 

Within this double-headed session, Diana and Mark will each put forward their case for the role of innovative and disruptive thinking in challenging the status quo and bringing about sustainable societal change. They will share their own stories and experiences as well as providing case studies of organisations that have not been afraid to do things differently. This session will feature an extended Q&A, with Diana and Mark focusing on reasons to be cheerful, positive sustainability and taking an optimistic approach to the power of the people in the room to make change happen. 

14:30-15:15 PR, AI, ethics and what comes next?

Katie King (she/her) AI in Business

From agencies swearing to never use generative texts or images to others testing the boundaries of what's possible to achieve with technology, the hype surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) is seemingly inescapable. We've heard rumours of PR pros being replaced by robots and read the horror stories of what happens when AI goes wrong. But how much of this is fact, and what is science fiction? Will automation really replace PR practitioners, or simply reshape our job function? Is AI truly here to stay, or just a passing craze? In this practical session, Katie King will address the opportunities, challenges and ethical questions which are raised by increased integration of AI tools and platforms in PR workflows, project management, and content creation. The session will draw on real-world examples from global businesses and offer hands-on preparation for AI using the tools and strategies outlined in Katie's two published books on AI in business.

15:15-15:35 Break  


15:35-16:15 Afternoon breakout sessions  
 
Session A:  A question of clients, talent and the future: Sustainability and ESG
Hear from some of the pioneers within sustainability and ESG communications, as they outline the challenges, opportunities and future of PR practice. Representing a vast array of clients, Amanda, Patrick, Michael and Suzy will share their perspectives as changemakers and consultants, supporting organisations to take an evidence-based approach to sustainable business practices. With different agency set-ups and principles, the panel will also discuss questions of purpose and authenticity when it comes to attracting, recruiting and retaining the best people. And, they’ll gaze into their crystal balls to predict what might be coming around the corner in the fields of environment, society and governance. 

Speakers:
Michael Bennett, Divisional Managing Director Jargon Group
Patrick Cousens, Board Director - Head of Energy and Sustainability at PLMR
Suzy Giles, Associate Partner at ERM: Environmental Resources Management and Co-chair of the CIPR ESG Communications Expert Panel
Amanda Powell-Smith, CEO, Forster Communications
  
Session B: Using creativity to build networking confidence

Networking is a crucial activity for PR professionals, building contacts and maintaining relationships to help you tell the stories that matter and bring about change. But, walking into a room full of strangers isn’t always easy. Grace is here to share simple, memorable tools you can use immediately to feel more confident when networking and quickly develop meaningful connections. As well as being a confidence and presentation skills trainer, Grace is an actor, stand-up comic and author of a one-woman comedy show. In response to popular demand, this interactive workshop will run twice during Horizon.

Speaker:
Grace Fogarty (she/her), Founder at Grace Fogarty Training
 
Horizon Chat: An interactive discussion on the future of PR on the programme page of Horizon
  
Aimee Postle Chart.PR (she/her)

Want to have your say on where the CIPR and the PR industry goes next? In this highly interactive workshop, you will be invited to share your stories and experiences, make suggestions, and debate the priorities which you think the CIPR and the PR industry more widely should focus on in the next five years. In this CIPR Horizon Chat, you will record your thoughts, ideas, drawings and insights to be written up and reviewed by the CIPR team.
  


16:15-17:00 The changing media landscape and what comes next

Alex Partridge (he/him), Founder of UNILAD and LADBible, ADHD Chatter Podcast host and Investor

Alex Partridge is one of the pioneers of social media content the way we know it today. At age 21, he founded UNILAD and LADBible, two of the most popular social news and entertainment Internet companies in the world with an astonishing following of 100 million people around the globe. In this energetic keynote, Alex shares how the media landscape is changing, what the future holds for media, and why adaptability is your greatest strength. As a mental health advocate, Alex will also talk about his real experiences of anxiety, mental health and neurodiversity in the workplace and how they have shaped his relationship with media and entrepreneurship. 

17:00-17:15 Event wrap-up with Advita Patel (She/Her), CIPR President 2025