Public Relations Stories and Strategies

For decades, PR professionals have tried to influence what people think or how they think it. AI may be changing something even more fundamental: whether people do much of that thinking themselves. Researchers call it “Cognitive Surrender.” The tendency to accept an AI-generated answer without really scrutinizing it. And if AI increasingly sits between your message and your audience, or starts doing the thinking for communicators themselves, the implications for trust, persuasion and professional judgment could be enormous. Listen For 4:30 What Is Cognitive Surrender and How Did Researchers Test It? 7:44 Why Did People Accept Wrong AI Answers 80% of the Time? 9:53 Can Cognitive Surrender Weaken Critical Thinking Skills? 12:47 What Happens When AI Sits Between PR Pros and the Public? 15:14 Why Should Communicators Think First and Prompt Second? Guest: Dr Steven Shaw, PhD, King’s College London and Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Website | LinkedIn | Google Scholar page Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

Every PR person knows the moment: you're holding a coffee or a glass of wine at a networking event, the small talk has dried up, and the person standing next to you outranks you by a lot. Shawn Spitaleri has spent years collecting the kind of beverage trivia that fixes exactly that problem, real, verifiable stories about why your coffee tastes the way it does, why tea sparked a geopolitical crisis, and why every champagne bottle opens with the same number of twists no matter who made it. This episode is a toolkit, not a lecture. Shawn walks through coffee, tea, champagne, wine, and beer, pulling out the one fact from each that's actually worth repeating out loud, the kind that gets a genuine reaction instead of a polite nod. If you've ever needed something better than "so, how about this weather" to say to a stranger holding the same drink as you, this one's for you. Listen For 4:17 Why Did Governments Try to Ban Coffee? 6:08 How Did Britain’s Love of Tea Fuel the Opium Trade and Corporate Espionage? 9:41 Did Dom Pérignon Really Invent Champagne? 12:16 What Does the World’s Oldest Beer Recipe Reveal About Ancient Drinking Culture? 17:29 How Did Franklin Roosevelt Help Popularize the Dirty Martini? Guest: Shawn Spitaleri, The Architect, Obscura Meridian Co Distillate Podcast | Website Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

Most people don’t experience a country… they experience its reputation. Long before a flight is booked or a business deal is considered, a story has already landed in your mind. A headline. A search result. A clip that went viral. A warning someone repeated with total confidence. And once that story sticks, it starts to feel like the place itself. So, let’s test it. When you picture Egypt, what shows up first? Pyramids. Pharaohs. Ancient tombs. Maybe a biblical story, or maybe a recent news headline? Egypt is one of the most famous places on earth, but that fame can flatten it into a single image, a single idea, a single shadow. In this episode, nation branding and strategic communications leader Lamia Kamel unpacks how reputations are formed and how they can be changed, especially now that discovery runs through search, social, and AI. If you’ve ever realized you “knew” a place before you actually understood it, this conversation might rewire the way you think about perception. Listen For: 04:28 What Misconceptions Do Travelers Have About Egypt? 05:37 What Is the Real Egypt Beyond Pyramids and Stereotypes? 08:10 How Should Egypt Use Digital Marketing to Attract Travelers? 11:43 Which Social Media Platforms Are Most Popular in Egypt? 17:49 How Is PR in Egypt Different From Western PR? Guest: Lamia Kamel, Managing Director of CC Plus Website | Email | LinkedIn Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

Most of us are waiting for mentorship to look a certain way. A senior person who takes us under their wing. A scheduled coffee every two weeks. A defined relationship with a clear beginning and a clear end. And while we are waiting for that version of mentorship to show up, the real thing is happening all around us and we’re missing it entirely. But the way mentorship actually works in the public relations profession is different to almost everything you would naturally believe. Listen For 3:35 What Are the Five Biggest Myths About Mentorship? 5:35 Why Should Mentorship Work Both Ways? 7:36 Can ChatGPT or AI Replace a Human Mentor? 13:42 What Mentorship Advice Can Stay With You for Life? 16:36 How Do You Find the Right Mentor in Public Relations? Guests: Amy Thurlow Website | LinkedIn Colleen Killingsworth LinkedIn Book Rethinking the Table on Amazon Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

As a communications professional you’ve used ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot in the last 30 days. Probably in the last week. Probably earlier today. And at some point you’ve had the same experience: you put in a prompt, you get back something that’s technically competent and completely generic. You spend the next 20 minutes re-prompting, editing, wrestling it into something that actually sounds like your organization, your voice, your situation. A Workday study found that 40% of the time saved by using generative AI tools is immediately lost reworking the outputs. You traded one kind of work for another. The reason is simple and almost nobody is saying it out loud. Those tools were built for everyone. Which in communications terms means they were built for no one in particular. They don't think like a communicator. They don't have access to what a communicator needs. They don't know what’s being said about your organization right now across 4,000 TikTok videos, each with modest view counts, each repeating the same damaging narrative, each flying completely below the radar of your existing monitoring tools. Stratum is the tool that needed to be built three years ago. Watch the YouTube Video of this episode to see Stratum demonstration Listen For 3:29 Why do communications teams need AI built around use cases instead of tools? 6:30 What is Stratum and how is it different from ChatGPT or Copilot? 12:18 What is the difference between an AI agent and an agentic workflow? 17:29 Can AI detect a reputation crisis before it goes viral? 19:45 How can AI identify the right influencers for a campaign? Guest: Matt Collette, Sequencr.AI Website | LinkedIn | Stratum Platform Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

In Canada, women make up roughly two thirds of the public relations profession. They are the majority in the classrooms, the majority in the entry level roles, and the majority climbing through the middle ranks. And then somewhere around the senior level, the numbers flip. The leadership tables in PR firms and communications departments across the country look nothing like the profession they are supposed to represent. This is not a new observation. The data has been there for years. Here’s what’s new. Two researchers decided to stop describing the problem and start asking a harder question. Not how do we get more women to the table? But why does the table keep failing the women who get there. Because what the data also shows, and what too many PR women know personally, is that the exit is often quiet and deliberate. Not a firing. Not a failure. A decision. A moment where a woman who is absolutely capable of leading looks at what it costs and says this is not worth it. This episode is about what is driving that decision, and what it is going to take to change it. Listen For 4:15 Why Do Women Hold Fewer Than 30% of Senior PR Leadership Roles? 7:11 What Does It Mean to Rethink the Leadership Table? 9:15 How Can PR Organizations Create Sustainable Leadership Careers? 15:06 What Can Women and Men Do to Change PR Leadership? 17:03 Why Won’t Teaching Women to Play Golf Solve Workplace Exclusion? Guests: Amy Thurlow Website | LinkedIn Colleen Killingsworth LinkedIn Book Rethinking the Table on Amazon Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Watch this episode on YouTube Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

Most women don't lose their voice all at once. It happens slowly, quietly, and with the best of intentions. They soften their tone here. They hold back an opinion there. They make themselves a little smaller, a little easier, a little less. Until one day they can't quite remember what they actually sound like. This episode is about that. Where the muting comes from, what it costs, and what it takes to find your voice at midlife. Listen For 3:30 What Does It Really Mean to Find Your Voice at Midlife? 5:03 Why Do So Many Women Feel Ready to Explode in Midlife? 7:13 Why Are Assertive Women Judged Differently From Assertive Men? 12:19 How Can Women Process the Unspoken Grief of Not Having Children? 16:19 When Should You Speak Up, and When Should You Protect Your Peace? Guest: Priya Sudarsanam, Speech Pathologist LinkedIn | Website | Instagram | Podcast | Facebook | YouTube Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn Watch this episode on YouTube Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

There’s a booming business in divisiveness. And PR is caught right in the thick of it. Recorded at the June 2026 IABC conference in Toronto, Doug Downs speaks with Fred Cook about A Quiet Shift , a report exploring how polarization is reshaping public relations. Cook explains why division is damaging society, mental health, and business while making thoughtful communications counsel more valuable. They examine echo chambers, outrage as a political and media strategy, the possibility that AI reinforces existing beliefs, and the disappearance of productive dialogue. Cook also outlines how PR education must evolve, emphasizing crisis management, finance, government relations, public affairs, ethics, and responsible technology use. Ultimately, the conversation challenges communicators to adapt without contributing to the very divisions that create demand for their expertise. Listen For 2:33 How Is Polarization Changing Public Relations? 5:38 Why Can Polarization Make PR More Valuable—and More Vulnerable? 6:25 Is AI Reinforcing Bias and Deepening Polarization? 9:01 Which Skills Will Future PR Professionals Need Most? 12:00 Why Does Calling the Other Side “Stupid” Destroy Dialogue? Guest: Fred Cook, Director USC USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations Fred bio Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

Generic messaging fails for a simple reason. It speaks to everyone, which means it actually speaks to no one. The messages that stick, the ones people repeat, forward, and act on, are never written for "employees" or "stakeholders" or "our valued customers." They are written for one person, with one specific frustration, in one specific moment. That’s not a nice idea about storytelling. It’s a framework, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it in every all-staff email that gets ignored and every campaign that gets remembered. In this episode we get the five tip framework behind stories that actually stick, from a communicator who has spent her career studying why some messages disappear the moment they’re sent while others get repeated for years. Listen for: 3:17 The Five-Step Framework for Sticky Stories 7:12 Finding the Frustration: Real Communication Examples 10:34 Break the Fourth Wall to Make Messages Memorable 13:54 The Recipe for Stories People Remember Guest: Eduvie Martin, FCIPR, Past President of IABC UK and Ireland LinkedIn | Comic Republic Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

Reputation isn’t your shadow anymore. It’s your operating system. It’s no longer something you manage. It has already been decided, by AI, based on patterns inside your organization you may not even know exist. Most leaders still think about reputation the old way: crisis plans, issue management, damage control after the fact. But AI now reads every signal a company puts out and connects them across every location and every stakeholder, drawing its own conclusion about who you really are. A bad manager in one city used to stay local. Now it can become your global reputation by tomorrow morning. There is a scale that runs from head in the sand to full reputation architect, and most organizations are stuck somewhere in the middle, reacting instead of designing. This episode gets into why reputation now functions like a credit score, why one recent report put a seven trillion dollar number on it globally, and why the real work ahead is not protecting your brand but architecting the patterns underneath it, before AI does that job for you. Listen For 3:35 Why should organizations stop managing reputation and start architecting it? 5:13 How does reputation become operational currency across an organization? 7:48 Why is brand more than a logo or a “cowboy hat”? 10:45 How is AI becoming a stakeholder in your reputation? 16:35 How can leaders tell if they are reacting, managing, or architecting reputation? Guest: Bonnie Caver, Reputation Lighthouse LinkedIn | Website | Company LinkedIn Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

What happens when a conference has no keynote, no formal agenda, and no single expert at the front of the room? The new IABC International Chair calls this an “unconference” model. And it’s one glimpse of how professional associations can evolve: by creating space for communicators to learn directly from one another. Also in this episode – why community, credibility, and connection matter more than ever in a profession being reshaped by AI, shrinking budgets, and rising expectation, the changing role of communicators in the age of AI, and why earned media, credible third-party sources, FAQs, and even the press release may be gaining new relevance in AI search. Listen For 4:13 Why was the ABC Designation Considered Tougher than the SCMP? 5:34 How is AI Making Earned Media and Press Releases Valuable Again? 8:09 Why Should Communicators Bring FAQ Pages Back for AI Search? 9:56 Why are Chief Communications Officers Gaining a Stronger Seat at the C-Suite Table? 17:11 How Is IABC Rethinking Chapters With Community Models and Unconferences? Guest: Richard Kies, Incoming IABC International Chair LinkedIn | Bio Page Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

As a communications professional you’re operating in the most complex information environment in history. Misinformation. Disinformation. AI generated deepfakes of executives saying things they never said. Audiences who have stopped trusting what organizations tell them. Employees who can't tell what's real. And somewhere in the middle of all of that noise you’re still expected to move people. To make them understand something, feel something, and do something. With the same frameworks you have always used. Dianne Chase has written a book that argues the profession needs a North Star more than it needs another tactical playbook. She’s the past International Chair of IABC, past Chair of the IABC Southern Region, and current president of IABC Charlotte. Her book is called The Seven C's of the New Communications Compass. And the argument she makes is both simple and urgent: in an era of collapsing trust, the communicators who will matter most are not the ones with the best tools. They’re the ones who remembered to be human. This episode was recorded on location in Toronto in June 2026 at IABC World Conference Listen For 3:16 What Are the Seven Cs of the New Communications Compass? 6:16 Why Should Organizations Build Relationships Instead of Transactions? 8:19 How Does Compassion Become Empathy in Action? 13:09 Why Does Community Matter to Purpose-Driven Brands? 17:10 How Should Communicators Measure What Really Matters? Guest: Dianne Chase, President IABC Charlotte, past International Chair IABC, past Chair IABC Southern Region Website | LinkedIn Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

Communications has always been built around a sender mentality. We decide what people need to know, we package it, we push it out. That model came from journalism and broadcasting, three networks, eleven o'clock news, one message for everyone. It made sense then. The infrastructure has changed completely since. Audiences have become producers. People choose what they consume, when they consume it, and they unsubscribe from what no longer serves them. That transformation happened entirely in the outside world. Inside organizations, almost nothing changed. And the question this episode keeps coming back to is a simple and uncomfortable one: why are we still broadcasting when everything outside us has already moved on? This episode was recorded ON LOCATION at IABC World Conference in Toronto in June 2026. Listen For 4:34 How did audiences become producers of their own news and information? 6:16 Why does internal communication need to become recipient-driven? 9:33 How can communicators create identity moments that cut through white noise? 11:28 How did opening in Spanish create a powerful diversity and inclusion moment? 16:51 How is AI changing the communicator’s role from creator to prompt strategist? Guest: Brad Whitworth LinkedIn The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication The IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

Every communications campaign you have ever built had a choice architecture inside it. The order you sequenced your calls to action. The option you listed first in a petition. The default you set in an employee survey. The way you structured a crisis response. You made all of those decisions. Some of them deliberately. Most of them by instinct, habit, or convention. And the difference between those two things, between deliberate design and accidental design, is the difference between a campaign that moves people and one that wonders why nobody moved. This episode was recorded live on stage at the IABC World Conference in Toronto on June 14th, 2026, in front of an audience of communications professionals from around the world. Listen For 4:20 What Choice Architecture Means 5:52 The Default Effect 6:50 Printer Defaults Example 8:15 Removing Friction from Sign-Ups 9:31 The EAST Framework Guest: Ann-Marie Blake Website | True Website | LinkedIn Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

Recognized as the most listened-to PR podcast in the World by Podchaser, Goodpods, and data from Rephonic. Also recognized as one of best Independent Interview podcasts by the Ear Worthy Newsletter https://storiesandstrategies.ca/podcast/ Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

“Journalism is dead.” You've heard it. You've probably said it. And honestly, the evidence seems pretty hard to argue with. Newsrooms gutted, trust in tatters, cable news turned into a gladiator sport. But what if that story, the one we keep telling about journalism, is itself bad journalism? Neil Brown thinks so. He’s a 40-year editor and president of the Poynter Institute, and he is, by his own admission, an optimist about the media. When he tells you why, it might genuinely change how you think about where good information comes from. Listen For: 04:09 What Makes Someone a Journalist Instead of Just a Publisher? 06:22 Why Does Democracy Need Real Journalism? 12:24 Can Local Journalism Rebuild Public Trust? 13:03 How Did the Baltimore Banner Turn Bus Data Into Accountability? 17:30 What Responsibility Does the Audience Have in Fighting Misinformation? Guest: Neil Brown, Chairman of the Board and President at Poynter Institute for Media Studies Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | TikTok | BlueSky | Threads | YouTube Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

Every PR professional has sat in a meeting where leaders ask you to “show up in AI” Here’s the problem. The AEO/GEO industry has built an entire measurement apparatus around citations… the moment an AI visibly names your brand. But the research shows that moment is essentially an echo of a decision that was already made, upstream, in conversations that left no trace. Brands have been optimizing for the receipt, when the purchase decision happened days ago. The deeper irony is that the work which does move the needle in those invisible conversations looks exactly like what PR teams have always done. Original research. Expert voice. Earned credibility. Third-party validation. The toolkit that has historically been the hardest to attribute is, it turns out, the one doing the most work in the AI era. The people who were always right about what good looks like just never had the data to prove it… until now. Listen For 3:35 Why Does AI Influence Start Before the Conversion Stage? 7:41 Is AEO Really Just Earned Media Strategy in Disguise? 10:09 What Are the Three Levers That Shape AI’s View of a Brand? 13:13 Are “Hey AI” Pages and Schema Tricks Ethical or Effective? 15:49 How Can PR Teams Prove Earned Media Builds AI Influence? Guest: Tom Rudnai, Founder and CEO Demand-Genius Website | X | LinkedIn Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

There is a prayer that crisis communicators have been quoting for decades. “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” It sounds right. It feels grounding. But maybe it’s been pointing us in the wrong direction the whole time. The problem is the concept of CONTROL. Because control, in a crisis, is a myth. And every strategy built on the assumption that you can control the outcome of a crisis is a strategy built on sand. Let’s replace that idea with INFLUENCE. Doing that replaces an entire philosophy. Alongside that shift comes something more uncomfortable… the suggestion that when a crisis hits, the quality of your advice has almost nothing to do with your frameworks, your playbook, or your years of experience. It has to do with who you are as a human being. As a parent. As a citizen. As a person who is also living through the same world your client is trying to navigate. The professional and the person are not separate. And pretending they are, may be the most dangerous crisis communication strategy of all. Listen For 3:41 Why Are Global Risks Becoming More Connected and Harder to Manage? 6:09 Is Employee Mental Health a Bigger Business Risk Than AI? 9:32 Why Do Companies Know the Risks but Still Fail to Prepare? 11:20 What Is “Agency” in Crisis Communications and Why Does It Matter? 14:29 How Can Leaders Use Empathy and Understanding to Respond to a Crisis? Guest: Rod Cartwright, Principal, Rod Cartwright Consulting Email | Website | LinkedIn 2026 Reputation, Risk, and Resilience Report Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Stories and Strategies is the Official Podcast Sponsor of IABC World Conference in Toronto June 14-16, 2026 Click here to check it out https://wc.iabc.com Support the show Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

This episode first published in April, 2021 We haven't always seen color the same way. Pink used to be for men. Blue for women. People HATED colorful outfits when they first emerged. One aristocrat complained of "loud, swearing colors," because the new bright fabrics distracted him from his reading. In this episode Carolyn Purnell takes us on a magical journey through the history of color. Guest Carolyn Purnell, Ph.D. https://www.carolynpurnell.com/contact Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

This episode first published in July 2024. Those big networking events. Many of us enjoy those but the repetitive small talk can be exhausting and challenging especially when conversations are frequently interrupted. In this episode we look at strategies for engaging storytelling in brief interactions, making meaningful connections, and ensuring your conversations stand out. Listen For 5:06 The Power of Listening 9:13 When You’re an Introvert 13:30 Finding Your Wedge into Group Conversations 20:14 Tailoring Your Stories Guest: Robert Kennedy III Website | You Tube Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads Request a transcript of this episode Stories and Strategies is the Official Podcast Sponsor of IABC World Conference in Toronto June 14-16, 2026 Click here to check it out https://wc.iabc.com Support the show Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show