On 16 May, the Yorkshire city of Leeds hosts what should be the main event in the calendar of every #CommsHero. Taking place at the riverside location of The Studio Leeds, communicators, public relations practitioners and marketing professionals will come together to celebrate being a #CommsHero under the 2018 theme, ‘Heroic customer engagement.’

The last #CommsHero event attended by Communicate magazine, held in London in November 2016 between dates in Manchester and Cardiff, focused on the theme of ‘Dare to fail.’ Encouraging comms heroes to take a leap into the unknown, the day also emphasised the importance for those working in communications to leave their comfort zone and explore new ideas. This might mean integrating comms with another department, exploring a new approach to purpose – or, on a personal level, taking control of your own happiness. After all, an organisation relies on its people.

For Asif Choudry, sales and marketing director of Resource, creator of @CommsHero, customer engagement is a vital channel to explore. Yet its impact can go unnoticed, Choudry says, and those acting as the face of the organisation can be the difference between success and failure. “Four years ago to the week, we started the #CommsHero journey,” says Choudry. “The point of it all was to celebrate the heroics comms people perform every day – mostly unnoticed by those execs with the privileged position of being at the top table.”

“The theme for this event is creating heroic customer engagement and will centre around how public and private sector companies can use multichannel campaigns, storytelling, humour and sometimes low budgets to create engagement,” he continues. “I’m proud that a project that started as a one off experiments continues to capture the attention of comms folk across the UK.”

The 11^th #CommsHero event currently has a guest list of 95 people. The speaker line-up includes:

• Caroline King, group head of brand and communications at Torus Group
• Grant Leboff, CEO of Sticky Marketing Club
• Helen Reynolds, award-winning digital communicator and cartoonist
• Helena Langdon, head of digital and communities of Innocent
• Rachel Royall, director of communications at NHS Digital
• Rob Jefferson and Liam Smith from Doncaster Council 

Follow @CommsHero on Twitter for more information and to keep up with the day’s events.

To join our regular comms conversation, follow @CommsChat and use the hashtag #CommsChat.

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