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Live sessions

Live sessions on AI for communications

Free, online conversations with the people changing how communications teams work with AI. Every session is recorded, and the recording goes to everyone who registers.

See what's coming up Get the Briefing

Coming up

Upcoming sessions

  • Friday 9 October 2026

    12:00 to 12:45 BST · Leader Interview

    Outputs or Outcomes: Stephen Waddington on the Comms Teams Getting AI Right

    Rescheduled from Wednesday 16 September 2026. Places booked for the original date carry over.

    • Stephen Waddington, Founder of Wadds Inc., past CIPR President, and co-editor of AI for Public Relations (Kogan Page, 2026)

    As AI drives down the cost of the work, selling outcomes beats selling outputs. Stephen brings a rare view across both agencies and in-house teams on which comms functions are getting AI right, and what the rest can learn from them.

    Book your free place Online · Free · Recorded · Booking on Eventbrite

    Add to calendar: Google · Outlook or Apple (.ics)

  • Wednesday 28 October 2026

    12:15 to 13:00 GMT · Leader Interview

    Guest to be announced

    A Leader Interview on AI and human judgement in communications teams. The guest will be confirmed in advance of the event.

    Registration opens Friday 9 October.

    Online · Free · Recorded. Get the Briefing to hear about new sessions.

    Add to calendar: Google · Outlook or Apple (.ics)

  • Wednesday 18 November 2026

    16:00 to 16:45 GMT · Leader Interview

    Guest to be announced

    The guest and topic will be confirmed in advance of the event. Note the later start: 16:00 GMT.

    Registration opens Friday 9 October.

    Online · Free · Recorded. Get the Briefing to hear about new sessions.

    Add to calendar: Google · Outlook or Apple (.ics)

  • Wednesday 9 December 2026

    12:00 to 13:00 GMT · Roundtable

    The year in review

    A panel of three on what actually changed for communications and AI in 2026. Guests will be confirmed in advance of the event.

    Registration opens Friday 9 October.

    Online · Free · Recorded. Get the Briefing to hear about new sessions.

    Add to calendar: Google · Outlook or Apple (.ics)

  • Wednesday 13 January 2027

    12:00 to 13:00 GMT · Roundtable

    The year ahead

    The follow-up to December: what comms teams need to get right in 2027, with a panel of three. Guests will be confirmed in advance of the event.

    Registration opens Friday 9 October.

    Online · Free · Recorded. Get the Briefing to hear about new sessions.

    Add to calendar: Google · Outlook or Apple (.ics)

Hear about new sessions

The Comms With AI Briefing is a fortnightly email on AI for comms teams. It carries new sessions as they are announced.

Guest appearances

Michael is speaking at

Sessions that other organisations run, with Michael as a guest. Each one is marked, and registration is through the host.

  • Guest appearanceHosted by Big Fish Training

    Friday 2 October 2026

    13:00 to 14:00 BST · Webinar

    AI Tools on trial: Real-life comms tasks with real results

    With Emma Ewing

    Which AI tool is best for day-to-day comms work? Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and a couple of newer names from outside the US get the same jobs: a crisis statement, a media pitch and a campaign concept. Michael will walk through how each one went, and share the tasks and the marking so you can run the same test on your own work. Time for questions at the end.

    Registration is through Big Fish Training.

    Add to calendar: Google · Outlook or Apple (.ics)

The series

How the sessions work

Leader Interviews

Forty-five minutes with one senior communicator or practitioner, in conversation with Michael MacLennan. Live and on the record, with time for your questions, and written up afterwards on Applied / Comms With AI. Some Leader Interviews are written rather than live; the full series is listed on Leader Comms With AI.

Roundtables

An hour with three guests who come at the same question from different sides, and time for yours. The first two bracket the turn of the year.

Joining

Register and your joining link comes by email and in your calendar invite, with a reminder before the start. It opens in your browser, with nothing to install. Joining links are never posted on a public page.

Archive

Past sessions and guest appearances

Our own sessions link to their write-ups. Guest appearances are marked, with the organisation that ran them.

  • Leader Interview · 1 July 2026

    The Structural Clock: Elif Güvençer on What Communications Must Become in the Age of AI

    Elif Güvençer, Creator of the Two Clocks framework

    Her framework, The Two Clocks, names the tension inside a comms function: one clock is the daily work, made faster; the other is the harder job of redefining what communications exists to do and how its value is measured.

    Read the write-up on Applied / Comms With AI

  • Guest appearanceHosted by Big Fish Training

    5 June 2026

    Live-building a comms campaign with AI

    With Emma Ewing

    The full five-step workflow using Claude Projects and Custom Skills, all the prompts you can paste in, and the tips that came up live.

    Read the post-session resource

  • Leader Interview · 22 May 2026

    The Honesty Gap: Ben Verinder on AI, PR and Trust

    Ben Verinder, Co-editor of AI for Public Relations (Kogan Page, 2026)

    Ben made the case that beneath the policy gap in AI adoption sits a deeper one: an honesty gap between teams, agencies and the people they serve.

    Read the write-up on Applied / Comms With AI

  • Guest appearanceHosted by Big Fish Training

    17 April 2026

    The AI gap: why some comms teams are pulling ahead and how to close it

    With Emma Ewing

    What is actually changing in how PR and comms professionals use AI, and what the teams pulling ahead are doing differently.

  • Guest appearanceHosted by The Data Lab

    18 February 2026

    From Blank Page to Comms Campaign in Under 30 Minutes: A Live AI Build with Claude

    A working AI content system built from scratch during the session, with reusable templates and a framework for judging where AI fits in a team's workflow.

    See the session on The Data Lab's site