Writing & Content Strategy Virtual Conference
Storytelling in the AI Age
11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. ET
- Superior storytelling
- Captivating copy
- Optimized content strategy
- Streamlined processes
- Creative brainstorming techniques
- AI-enhanced writing
- Improved productivity
- Enhanced engagement
- Higher ROI
Creating compelling content that hooks audiences—and search engines—remains a critical skill. According to research from Ragan and HarrisX, writing is the No. 1 most-valued skill for comms executives. It’s also the skill comms leaders say needs the most improvement on their teams.
It’s even more important today to hone your writing, as well as incorporate smart ways to pair with generative AI in your workflow to boost your output. After all, weak writing can kill your copy, campaign—or career.
Join us for this info-packed virtual writing conference where you’ll discover timeless formulas and new techniques, featuring a dozen experts from brands, nonprofits and educators. This advanced course bridges timely AI innovations with creative writing and storytelling craft—so you can balance your expertise with automated efficiency and modernize your toolkit.
You’ll discover how to innovate and elevate your approach to writing so you can truly:
- Craft compelling content that resonates with algorithms—and audiences.
- Refine your writing with AI tools while maintaining your voice and style.
- Elevate your storytelling with new structures and journalistic techniques.
- Augment your creativity, awakening your inner poet for the age of AI.
- Transform headlines and optimize content for greater reach and engagement.
- Enhance your content strategy with AI strengths while avoiding pitfalls.
Agenda
Ragan’s Virtual Writing Conference is your ultimate guide for penning powerful, snappy copy…faster! This 4.5-hour program will give you the formulas, tricks and tips you need to quickly elevate your writing skills and increase your readership.
The ability to craft compelling, precise and impactful writing is a more critical skill than ever—thanks to multi-screen media consumption, multitasking and information overload. This session shows you out to integrate time-tested journalistic principles and new tools to streamline your writing process, boost efficiency and capture shorter attention spans on any platform. You’ll learn:
- Journalism Tenets: How to apply news value principles like timeliness, proximity, impact, prominence and even oddity to engage busy internal and external readers.
- Headlines That Pop: How to craft irresistible headlines for everything you touch,
from articles and blog posts to press releases and even emails. - Bold, Blooper-Free Writing: Secrets of clear, correct, concise and colorful copy—plus how to use AI and other tools for quick grammar checks and readability analysis.
- Voice Matters: How to discover or rediscover your “can’t miss” writer’s voice—and align in with your organization’s brand voice and style guide.
- Emotional Hot Buttons: How to identify reader interests and needs using audience analysis tools (including AI)—ensuring your copy stands out and drives action.
Communicators face unprecedented pressure to produce high-quality, engaging content at breakneck speeds across multiple platforms. This session outlines how to harness AI-assisted writing and content creation to keep pace and meet these demands without sacrificing quality or creativity. We’ll review how to apply strategic prompts to generate powerful prose, and leave you with takeaways that you can use later to sharpen those skills in real time. We’ll cover:
- Caveats: The drawbacks of using Gen AI for writing, why it's important to resist feeling like you "must use AI."
- AI Toolkit: A look at the capabilities of Gen AI writing tools like ChatGPT and Claude (plus what makes ChatGPT 4.5 Turbo worth the upgrade).
- Writing and Prompt Engineering: How AI can help edit and improve your writing, plus how to select and fine-tune prompts that elevate your prose — without sacrificing creativity and voice.
- Scaling Workflow: Tips for using Gen AI to reduce the time and effort required to craft compelling comms content.
- Ethical Questions: Tips for addressing potential biases and copyright issues while ensuring factual accuracy and disclosing AI use in your writing.
Staying on top of the latest SEO trends is crucial in the always-evolving world of digital marketing. With search engines updating their algorithms almost weekly, you don’t have time for outdated SEO fundamentals or esoteric strategies. This session is the brass tacks SEO cheat sheet you need to stay current—so your content engages your audiences and climbs the search rankings. Join us to learn:
- Current Trends: The latest developments and algorithm updates reshaping SEO.
- Creating Quality E-E-A-T Content: How to produce content that meets Google’s “Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness” guidelines to improve rankings.
- Google Trends Keyword Research: Tools and techniques others use to identify and incorporate the right search terms to target audiences more effectively.
- SEO Best Practices for Writers: Tips and checklists for quickly optimizing your writing—including using headers, concise language, bullet points and more.
- The AI Question: How AI is helping—and potentially hurting—SEO with AI overviews.
Gone are the days when internal comms stayed buried in an intranet silo—or when social media posts went unnoticed by employees. Today’s content needs to work across platforms, connecting your brand, employees and external audiences with bold storytelling that drives engagement. From crafting parody videos for town halls to tackling privacy concerns while creating campaigns like clearing $1M in healthcare debt for veterans, this session explores how to create “hero content” that grabs attention, sparks joy and drives real impact. You’ll learn:
- AI-Powered Planning: How tools like Gemini can refine your strategy, helping tailor messaging for platforms like TV, radio or social media—and segment audiences for maximum relevance.
- Secrets of “Click Me!” Copy: How to draft clear, colorful, concise and cool content that drives engagement across internal and external platforms.
- Hero Content Creation: How to produce compelling cornerstone campaigns—like clearing $1M in healthcare debt for veterans—and adapt them for intranets, emails and social media.
- Engagement Boosters: Snappy headlines, listicles and even parodies (like a “Nightmare Before Christmas” parody) that boost shareability and get your workforce talking.
- When Things Change: How to pivot when content sparks pushback or last-minute adjustments—turning challenges into opportunities to evolve.
The accelerated pace of digital comms puts pressure on writers to publish quickly—often at the expense of quality. Yet we’re expected to produce perfect prose posthaste. This session helps you meet those demands with a self-editing system that blends traditional techniques that even the best book authors use, along with software and AI tools. You’ll discover how to PROOF your work like a pro—ensuring polished, error-free copy that beats expectations. We’ll explore how to:
- Perfect Your Style: Tips to create your own tailored style guide and a quick-reference checklist for consistent, clear and accurate writing.
- Review with Fresh Eyes: Why we often miss our own errors—plus easy techniques to gain fresh perspectives on our copy.
- Optimize with AI: Top AI and software tools for editing—and how to use them effectively without abdicating your voice, expertise or ownership.
- Overcome Common Pitfalls: Easy ways to spot and fix frequent writing errors and editorial pet peeves.
- Facilitate Collaborative Editing: Insights to transform group editing into a productive process—plus how to tactfully edit your boss’s work (or take their notes on yours).
Studies show that stories are 22 times more memorable than facts alone. Yet many communicators lack a structured approach to consistently create compelling narratives that tie to organizational goals. This session gives you the insights and tips you need to craft emotionally resonant stories that capture imaginations—and drive action. Join us to discover how to touch emotional chords and create lasting connections with brand storytelling based on your organization's voice, values and vision. You’ll learn:
- Story Structure: What “brand storytelling” is and isn’t—and how to craft a convincing story by focusing on “people and problems.”
- Organizational Storytelling: How to uncover, craft and share powerful internal stories that highlight challenges, celebrate wins and reinforce company culture.
- Emotional Impact: How to make your stories more memorable by focusing on relatable characters, suitable protagonists and everyday challenges.
- Strategic Buy-In: How to sell the value of storytelling to execs, create a structure they can support and handle “creativity killing” legal reviews, sign-offs and approval layers.
- Secrets of Success: How to clarify your message and drive action—with examples from heavily regulated and traditionally “boring” industries.
Let’s dive into a world where business acumen meets artistic flair! In this session, you’ll discover poetic techniques and quick creative hacks to transform your writing from mundane to magnificent. You’ll learn to wield metaphors and more, giving your words the power to dance off the page and into the hearts of your readers. If you’re ready boost your results and engagement rates with poetic punch, this is the place to be. We’ll cover:
- Neuroscience of Connection: How to tune language to connect with maximum memorability—and how to apply it to your current project.
- The Poet’s Toolkit for Pros: How to use metaphors, similes and sensory language to craft vivid content that audiences can’t ignore.
- Resonance Through Rhythm: How cadence and sentence variation can evoke emotions—and make your communications unforgettable.
- Visual Storytelling: How to sharpen your “writing for the eyes” skills to paint mental pictures and bring abstract concepts to life.
- Creativity under Pressure: Techniques to beat writer’s block, silence your inner critic and transform constraints into creative fuel (yes, AI can help!).
- Protecting Your Creative Heart: How to fill the creative well with experiences and inspiring "inputs" so you and your "outputs" flourish.
We’ll share the top tactics and strategies from the virtual conference as you prepare to implement these ideas for your organization.
Speakers
INTERESTED IN SPEAKING?
Please reach out to Director of Event Programming
Alyssa Smith.
Top things you’ll learn at this conference:
- Mastering AI-Enhanced Writing: How to leverage AI tools to streamline your writing process, enhance creativity and boost efficiency.
- Crafting Compelling Brand Stories: Techniques to create emotionally resonant narratives that captivate audiences and drive engagement, whether for internal or external comms.
- Optimizing Content for Multiple Channels: How to create and adapt “hero content” that performs well across diverse platforms—from intranets to social media.
- Elevating Your Editing: A foolproof system for self-editing that blends traditional techniques with AI tools, ensuring polished, error-free copy that meets tight deadlines.
- Enhancing Creativity and Impact: Poetic techniques and creative hacks to transform your writing from mundane to magnificent, adding flair and joy back into your writing process.
| VIP | Regular Rates | |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual Conference Registration | $1,399 | $1,599 |
| Virtual Conference Ragan Insider Member | $1,349 | $1,549 |
| Nonprofit/Gov Event Registration | $1,299 | $1,499 |
All attendees will receive the recording of the event.
Group Discounts
Would you and your team like to attend? Group pricing for 3 or more is available when going through the registration process!
RAGAN COUNCIL MEMBER DISCOUNTS
Membership includes free registration passes. Contact Shallon Blackburn for more information on becoming a member.
RAGAN INSIDER DISCOUNTS
Insiders save on all Ragan events. Not a Ragan Insider? You can become one during registration for this event!
Phone registrations and group pricing: For group orders, please contact our customer service team at 800-878-5331 or cservice@ragan.com
Register to secure your spot today! Don’t miss this opportunity to:
- Access exclusive content and resources.
- Connect with your peers.
- Get the ideas & tools to stay ahead in today’s rapidly changing world.
Register today. Once registered, you’ll be able to join the private LinkedIn group right away.
- Checklist: The AI Writing Prompt Flowchart
- The Clear and Concise Technical Writing Guide
- Strunk & White’s Timeless Secrets for Rocket-Powered Writing
- Why and How to Create an In-House Style Guide
- Bias-Free Writing: What’s Preferred and What’s Problematic
- The Art of Storytelling (A Practical Guide)
Sponsors & Partners
Want to become a sponsor? Get in touch with our team to discuss sponsorship opportunities.
Who Should Attend?
You should register if you spend at least a quarter of your time in any of these areas:
Writing • Editing • Content Strategy • Storytelling • Brand Journalism • Internal Communications • Executive Communications • Employee Engagement• Social Media • Public Relations • Digital Marketing • Content Marketing • Community Management • Crisis Communications • Corporate Communications • Strategic Communications • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Communications
Get Recognized!
Each registration comes with a personalized "Writing and Content Strategy" Certificate of Completion for attending.
WONDERING IF YOU SHOULD ATTEND?
Here’s what past attendees are saying about Ragan and PR Daily Events!
I like that Ragan provides speakers from a wide variety of fields, but their messages can be applied to all communicators. No matter what you do, you can ALWAYS walk away from a Ragan conference with solid knowledge and advice.
This conference refreshed me on the basics of being a writer. It is easy to fall into a habit of writing the same way over and over. This conference reminded me to try to mix up my style every once in a while and take new chances.
This is THE place to learn from the best in the industry. The networking amongst the participants is extremely valuable, always sharing best practices.
Inspiring content and a great way to connect with fellow writers in the communications world!
I learned many angles of storytelling - from planning a story, to writing with power, to editing - this conference inspired me to think differently when I approach my next long-form written piece.
