Top 5 PRSA ECD Conference Takeaways: AI, Thought Leadership and More
Posted on Oct. 7, 2025 / Subscribe 0
I recently had the pleasure of representing PRSA Detroit alongside a few other members to come together with 14 fellow PRSA Chapters at the PRSA East Central District (ECD) Conference. We were joined by PRSA’s new CEO, Matthew Marcial and PRSA Chair, Ray Day, who discussed member updates. Ray’s remarks, which included professional development, digital transformation, AI, DEI and more. The rest of the day was shaped by professional development in key PR areas, including mental health. Here are my top five takeaways from the day's activities.
- Owned and earned content strategy is more important than ever before.
- Muckrack says 95% of AI citations come from non-paid media, 89% come from earned media and 27% come from journalistic content
- Owned: Write content with optimal formatting and structure - keep sound bites in mind. Your content should E-E-A-T ( aka demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)
- Earned: Consider targeting media outlets AI trusts and don’t be afraid to pitch media with non-traditional platforms such as Substack.
- When it comes to trends, act on what makes sense that’s authentic to your brand voice.
- If it’s a microtrend or fleeting viral video, does it make sense for your company to leverage it in a tactic or will it not feel natural? There’s no sense in hopping into trends that aren’t the right fit.
- Thought leadership should be a disciplined, principled practice of patiently earning trust and influence over time by educating and inspiring - not selling.
- Consider ways to develop content, speak at key events, etc., that are relevant to leverage subject matter expertise for altruistic sharing with key audiences to thereby earn trust.
- AI itself isn’t unethical - it’s how we use it that determines if it’s ethical.
- As communicators, we are responsible for judgment of output, overall narrative building, creativity and trust. Rely on AI to summarize, conduct pattern recognition and execute spelling and grammar.
- When facing imposter syndrome, consider something you’re not giving yourself enough credit for and write a pretend headline about your achievement.
- We’re so used to being behind the scenes and celebrating others that we need to remember to celebrate our own wins!
I’m always encouraged to be in a room with knowledgeable and creative colleagues. Many thanks to PRSA ECD for a wonderful gathering and celebration of our profession. I’m looking forward to the conference being hosted here in Detroit next year!
Megan Bonelli is a senior corporate communications specialist at Bosch and the 2025 PRSA Detroit president.
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