By Ntia Usukuma.
Come March 2016, leading experts in social, political and business communication will all assemble at the prestigious Davos Congress Centre in Switzerland for the World Communication Forum (WCF), the largest gathering of communication experts in the world. The two-day event would start from March 8, 2016 and end the following day, 9th March. Just like the ones held in previous years, the 2016 event will attract Communication professionals across different continents, CEOs, representatives of government ministries, global media practitioners and some of the world’s most influential PR and marketing communications personalities.
These experts would be gathering to discuss key trends in the field of global communications at the WCF Forum in Davos. The focus of this year’s edition of the forum will be on the global communication agenda. Various papers and discussions at the forum would cover relevant and controversial subjects like: Country Branding; Communications in the Arab world; Communicating Inter-Governmental Brands; Education in Communications and Global Tourism industry in the age of Communications.
Other germane topics that would be covered at the forum include: From digital evolution to robot revolution – humanity, communications and ethics; Quantity or Quality- What is your social media top priority and Revolutionizing Communications – How to prepare for the future.
Among the speakers and moderators of the plenary panels are leading experts like:
Mustapha Khalfi, Minister of Communications and Spokesperson of the Government of Morocco; Scott Fahlman, Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, also known as “Father” of the smiley emoticon; Tanuja Kehar, Vice President- Corporate Communications at Unitech in India; Solly Moeng, Managing Director of Don Valley in Soth Africa; Kate Thompson-Duwe, Managing Director of Amplicon Group in South Africa; Sean Gardner, co-Founder of the pioneering Huffington Post “Twitter Powerhouses Series”; Don Anderson, Chairman and co-Founder of the Asia Content Marketing Association and Regional Managing Director of We Are Social in Singapore; as well as Saurabh Uboweja, Founder, CEO & Director Brand Strategy at Brands of Desire.
Mustapha Khalfi, Minister of Communications and Spokesperson of the Government of Morocco; Scott Fahlman, Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, also known as “Father” of the smiley emoticon; Tanuja Kehar, Vice President- Corporate Communications at Unitech in India; Solly Moeng, Managing Director of Don Valley in Soth Africa; Kate Thompson-Duwe, Managing Director of Amplicon Group in South Africa; Sean Gardner, co-Founder of the pioneering Huffington Post “Twitter Powerhouses Series”; Don Anderson, Chairman and co-Founder of the Asia Content Marketing Association and Regional Managing Director of We Are Social in Singapore; as well as Saurabh Uboweja, Founder, CEO & Director Brand Strategy at Brands of Desire.
The depth of resources persons and participants at this programme will undoubtedly provide a diversified content and publicity opportunities for experts and players with out-of-the-box vision for the future of the industry. Participants will, at the end, discover new ways to add meaning, integrate interests, engage the globe with captivating storytelling, as well as manage crisis periods on the social media, and much more.
Traditionally, the Communications for Future (C4F) Davos Award will also hold during the Forum. However, this year, it has been expanded. It will offer up to 23 categories of awards for the recognition of outstanding creativity, and unique vision for the future of communications. These categories would be within the two major Segments of awards: Personal (individual communicators with a strong influence on global communications) and Corporate (companies setting the standards for effectiveness & professionalism).
Another innovation at this year’s forum will be a parallel session that will be held for the first time, to focus on global education in communications. This session is intended for students and young communication professionals. During the two-day training session, participants will be grouped into several teams of 5 students with a senior university representative as leader. A real case study would be assigned to each team. At the end of the training, a jury will evaluate and acknowledge the most effective strategy for dealing with specific assignments.
This loaded 2016 package and previous WCF programmes has received notable commendations from experts and communication leaders.Commenting on WCF, Mustapha Khalfi, Minister of Communications of Morocco, said, “I have no doubt that the World Communication Forum is assured of its place in the history as a platform where new solutions for an exciting new world are being shaped”.
Paul Holmes, the PR industry guru worldwide and Founder of the Holmes Report, added: “No idea how they did it, but in just a few years the organizers have created the most lively, engaging and influential event in the industry. This forum is an absolute phenomenon!”
This year’s WCF is supported by exclusive partner agencies from all over the world like, Kaiser Communication (Germany), Capital Communications (Hungary), CROS (Russia), Don Valley (South Africa), Cyber Gear (UAE), RADA Research & PR (Egypt), JSP Communications (Nigeria), Depot WPF (Russia), Armenian Public Relations Association (APRA), PR Hub, PR Newswire, and China International Public Relations Association (CIPRA)
Since it was initiated by an International Coordinating Committee in 2010, the World Communication Forum (WCF) has united a great number of acknowledged professionals from 55 countries worldwide. Since its third annual edition in Davos, WCF has started expanding its global professional community with regional sessions held in some of the largest cultural centers and business capitals across Europe and Asia. The two-day conference covers the latest trendy areas and issues and outlines future tendencies in the global communications industry.
