Events
Upcoming
Outputs or Outcomes: Stephen Waddington on the Comms Teams Getting AI Right
New date: Friday 9 October 2026, 12:00 to 12:45 BST. Online, free, recorded.
The session on 16 September could not start, so it has moved to Friday 9 October. If you registered for the original date, your place carries over and there is nothing you need to do.
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. He co-edited AI for Public Relations (Kogan Page, 2026) with Ben Verinder, our first Leader Interview guest.
Forty-five minutes, live and on the record, with time for your questions. Everyone who registers gets the recording.
Coming up
Every upcoming Comms With AI live session, with registration, is on commswith.ai/events.
Advocate and Sceptic: Billy Partridge on AI and Human Judgement
Wednesday 28 October 2026, 12:15 to 13:00 GMT. Online, free, recorded.
A Comms With AI Leader Interview on healthy scepticism, knowing when to stop automating, and keeping human thinking in charge. Declared interest: Michael also works with Billy and Grayling as a freelance digital and social director. Register on Luma
After Adoption: Zoe Amar on What Charities Do Next with AI
Wednesday 18 November 2026, 16:00 to 16:45 GMT. Online, free, recorded. Note the later start.
A Comms With AI Leader Interview with Zoe Amar on governing AI and using it ethically, with lessons for any comms team whose organisation depends on trust. Register on Luma
Comms With AI Roundtable: the year in review
Wednesday 9 December 2026, 12:00 to 13:00 GMT. Online, free, recorded.
Comms With AI Roundtable: the year ahead
Wednesday 13 January 2027, 12:00 to 13:00 GMT. Online, free, recorded.
Guests for both Roundtables will be confirmed in advance.
The clocks go back on Sunday 25 October, so every session from 28 October is on GMT.
The Comms With AI Leader Interview series
Live, online conversations with people who are changing how the profession thinks about AI, hosted by Michael MacLennan. Each runs to forty-five minutes including questions, is free, and is recorded. The write-up is published here afterwards.
The Two Clocks: Elif Güvençer on Repositioning Comms for the AI Era. July 2026. The structural choice facing every comms function: one clock is the daily work made faster, the other is the harder job of redefining what communications is for. Read the write-up.
The Honesty Gap: Ben Verinder on AI, PR and Trust. May 2026. The gap between how the profession says it uses AI and how it actually does, and what that costs. Read the write-up.
Past sessions
Lunch, learn, launch: live-building a comms campaign with AI. June 2026, with Emma Ewing, Big Fish Training. A full campaign workflow built live inside the hour, using Claude Projects and Skills, and handed over as a workflow attendees could run the next day.
AI Agents for Comms Leaders. April to July 2026. A six-part online masterclass series following the article series of the same name, one session per phase of the Comms With AI operating system: Strategise, Create, Distribute, Govern, Monitor, Transform.
The AI gap: why some comms teams are pulling ahead and how to close it. April 2026, with Big Fish Training. What is actually changing in how PR and comms professionals use AI, and what the teams pulling ahead are doing differently.
Building AI systems for communications teams: a live demonstration. February 2026, for The Data Lab's community. 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. Read the write-up.
Speaking and training
Michael speaks on practical AI in communications at industry and sector events, and runs closed sessions for membership bodies and leadership groups. Bespoke training for communications teams is delivered through Comms With AI with a specialist training partner. Organisation-wide AI adoption, including policy, governance and rollout, is consultancy work and sits with Faur.