Event Details

The Counselors' Network Winter Symposium is an annual event that provides high-level professional development designed to encourage productive idea-sharing and dialogue among FPRA's most experienced professionals. The 2025 CN Winter Symposium will include:

  • A welcome reception on Thursday at the Sarasota Modern.
  • Top-level PR speakers and interactive discussions on AI in communications, trends in PR for 2025, relaunching the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, and the role broadcast TV and radio plays in extreme weather situations.
  • A behind-the-scenes tour of Feld Entertainment Inc., home of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baileyยฎ, Monster Jamยฎ, Disney On Ice, Monster Energy AMA Supercross, and the SuperMotocross World Championship, and sessions with the Feld communications team.
  • Breakfast and lunch Friday at the Sarasota Modern.
  • A private catered dinner for CN members Friday night at the Bazaar on Apricot & Lime.
  • Breakfast on Saturday at the Sarasota Modern.


The Sarasota Modern!

The CNWS room rate is just $189 plus tax with a 50% discount on valet parking. The deadline to book is December 26, 2024.

Agenda

  • Jan 16, 2025

  • Jan 17, 2025

  • Jan 18, 2025

  • CN Track

  • LFPRA Track

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Welcome Reception - The Sarasota Modern, Pool Deck
1290 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota, FL 34236 -CN members and LeadershipFPRA Class IX will come together for a Welcome Reception at the Sarasota Modern hotel featuring light appetizers and ...
1290 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota, FL 34236 -

CN members and LeadershipFPRA Class IX will come together for a Welcome Reception at the Sarasota Modern hotel featuring light appetizers and beverages. One drink is included with a cash bar to follow. Dinner is on your own after the reception.
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Speakers

  • Blair Bloomston (Founder + CEO of Leaders Uplifted)

    Blair Bloomston

    Founder + CEO of Leaders Uplifted

    https://www.leadersuplifted.com/

    As the founder + CEO of Leaders Uplifted, Blair Bloomston has carved out a remarkable career as a consultant, instructional designer and SME Facilitator, spanning nearly two decades. Throughout this journey, she's lent her expertise to some of the world's most renowned athletes, teams and corporations, enhancing their communication and engagement by transforming team culture.

    Blair's impressive track record extends beyond the classroom, leading extensive projects and multi-year collaborations with industry giants such as NASA, Deloitte, EY, Hilton and the U.S. House of Representatives. Notably, her contributions have extended to the military community, where she has designed and delivered programs for military service members, spouses, caregivers and veterans across all branches of the US Military, as well as partnering with organizations like the USO and Wounded Warrior Project.

    Blair's drive and entrepreneurial mindset has allowed her to reach professional milestones, including her work as a former partner, CEO and chief development officer at Game On Nation, notably achieving the GSA Schedule award for the firm and facilitating their subsequent awards from USDA, NOAA, VA, USAF, Treasury Executive Institute and U.S. Special Operations Command. Her work has garnered recognition on esteemed platforms, including ESPN's "Outside the Lines," BBC's "How the Best is Done," the Big 10 Network and Gulf Coast Business Review's "40 Under 40" list, alongside her recent recognition as one of SRQ Magazine's 2023 Women Who Roar.

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  • Allison Carter (Editor-in-Chief at Ragan Communications and PR Daily)

    Allison Carter

    Editor-in-Chief at Ragan Communications and PR Daily

    https://www.prdaily.com/

    Allison Carter has built her career around content in all its forms. She cut her teeth during the early days of social media, helping small businesses create and execute content strategies across platforms. After a brief stint as an advertising copywriter with companies including Microsoft and Chase, she joined her hometown newspaper, the Indianapolis Star. Over seven years she worked as a social media producer, a trending content writer, and in her happiest roles, as an editor to talented reporters and photographers, helping figure out what audiences really want to read and keeping the legacy paper’s digital strategies sharp. She played a small role in the 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning story “Mauled.” She joined Ragan in 2022 and currently works as editor-in-chief for PR Daily. She lives in Indianapolis.

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  • Chandra Clark, PhD (Associate Professor, Journalism & Creative Media at The University of Alabama)

    Chandra Clark, PhD

    Associate Professor, Journalism & Creative Media at The University of Alabama

    http://jcm.ua.edu

    Dr. Chandra Clark is an associate professor in the Department of Journalism & Creative Media at University of Alabama where she teaches broadcast journalism. Clark teaches electronic news, producing and digital news classes following a career as a senior news producer, a freelance producer and a broadcast media marketing specialist. Clark’s creative scholarship and research focuses on the impactful role of journalists in our society. She is innovative in teaching technology and storytelling across all platforms of news, weather and sports.

    Clark has produced more than 40 award-winning mini-documentaries related to how broadcast television and radio play a critical role as “first informers” in natural disasters. She is the producer of the forthcoming documentary series on tornadoes and hurricanes since 2011 titled “Eyes of the Storm.” Clark is also the producer of the documentary “Do Right: the Stallings Standard” featuring National Championship Coach Gene Stallings and his family’s legacy on the advocacy and improving resources for people with developmental disabilities. She’s been recognized as Crain’s Newspro Magazine’s 2020 Top 10 Journalism Educators and Business Alabama Magazine’s Top 25 Women in Media. Clark believes in experiential learning and she and her students have worked extensively with more than 60 nonprofit organizations and corporations to create over 100 comprehensive multimedia projects to date.

    Clark completed her B.A. in Telecommunication and Film at The University Alabama in 1995. She completed her M.A. in Broadcast News Analysis and Management in 2001 at the Capstone, and her PhD in Mass Communication and Business Management from UA in 2009.

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  • Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA (General Manger, Podcast Host and Adjunct Professor at C+C Boston, EthicalVoices and College of Communication, Boston University)

    Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA

    General Manger, Podcast Host and Adjunct Professor at C+C Boston, EthicalVoices and College of Communication, Boston University

    https://www.ethicalvoices.com/about-mark-mcclennan-apr-fellow-prsa/

    Mark McClennan is the general manager of the Boston office of C+C, a communications agency that helps good causes and purpose-driven brands. He is the host of EthicalVoices, a blog and podcast on communication ethics. Mark also teaches PR ethics at Boston University and was the 2016 National Chair of PRSA. In 2023, he co-led the development of the PR Council's Ethics Guidelines on Generative AI. He is a frequent keynote speaker and trainer on ethics and artificial intelligence. His book, “Ethical Voices - Practicing Public Relations with Integrity” was released by Business Expert Press in 2022 and for a time was the #1 PR book on Amazon. It includes more than 100 real-world ethics incidents with advice from global industry leaders at companies including Starbucks, Lenovo, the TSA, the Federal Reserve, Harvard Business School, IBM, CDC and the world’s largest public relations agencies.

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  • Global Communications Department (Feld Entertainment Inc.)

    Global Communications Department

    Feld Entertainment Inc.

    https://www.feldentertainment.com/

    Feld Entertainment®, family owned and operated, is the worldwide leader in producing and presenting live touring family entertainment experiences that bring people together and uplift the human spirit. Properties include Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey®, Monster Jam®, Disney On Ice, Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the SuperMotocross World Championship. Across the brand portfolio, Feld Entertainment has entertained millions of families in more than 80 countries and on six continents. The tour of Feld Entertainment Studios World Headquarters will include behind-the-scenes look at how these massive touring shows are produced, along with an interactive discussion with Feld Entertainment's Global Communications Department.

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Community

Connect with 30 people attending this event

Tickets

CN Member Registration
Member Price $545
LeadershipFPRA (Sold Out)

CNWS Registration for LFPRA Class IX

Standard Price Complimentary

Venue

Sarasota Modern

290 Boulevard of the Arts
Sarasota, Florida

If you have any questions please contact Melanie Reda

Contact Organizer

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