Communication Leadership Program Community Workshops

Community Workshops

The Communication Leadership program stays connected to the greater Seattle community by hosting conferences, events, and supplying speakers.

Discussing the New Social Media Order

Screen Summit Showcases the Year’s Best

smiling students sit in a row at an indoor venue

Can AI development put people first?

Communication Leadership Connects

Communication Leadership Connects is our premier public event. Each year we gather professionals, advocates, and graduate students to engage around a pressing topic related to communication, technology and society.

Connects 2024: The New Social Media Order

Comm Lead held its annual event Comm Lead Connects in March 2024. Every year, the program invites esteemed speakers for a web conference. This year’s Connects was supported by students from the Practicum course – Building Community through Live Streaming led by Comm Lead Alum Richard McLean.

The theme for Connects was ‘The New Social Media Order’. The Director of the Communication Leadership program at the University of Washington, Ekin Yasin and the Associate Director Alex Stonehill commenced the talk with laying the groundwork for the current social media structure and the importance of understanding the new global order of social media interaction.

Connects 2023: Communication & Leadership for AI

The advent of ChatGPT and similar generative AI technologies is set to reshape how we work – automating what were once human tasks and exponentially increasing efficiency.

But to use these technologies effectively in our work, we must develop a deep understanding of their capabilities and limitations: How do they work? What are the use cases and benefits? And how do we deploy them ethically, prioritizing data privacy, emphasizing transparency, and creating structures of accountability for potential abuse.

In this two-part conversation, strategists and professionals discussed the impact of generative AI tools on the fields of content, marketing, and communication. They shared current and future applications for these technologies and explore the ethical implications of their use.

Day 1 Recap: How do we get Generative AI to work for us?