2024 AMA Leadership Summit

Times are subject to change by AMA. Please continue checking back for more info and session descriptions!

Registration

Pre-Conference Session: WTF is Going On in Marketing? Real Talk About What’s Now and What’s Next

Cookies are going away. AI is taking our jobs. GA4 is a hot mess. We can’t attribute anything anymore. With all these headlines, it’s hard to know what’s true and what’s not when it comes to the current marketing landscape. In this session, you’ll hear from someone who’s on the front lines of it every day.

You’ll leave this session with:

• Tips on how to talk to your executives or clients about the changing landscape of marketing and how it applies to them
• Real-life examples of how to use automation and AI to help you do your job better without worrying about it replacing you
• Strategies for future-proofing your marketing for 2024 and beyond

Lunch, Kick-Off and CEA Panel

Opening Keynote | You Got This: Building Confidence and Empowerment

Using a strengths-based approach, Summit attendees will enjoy a fun, interactive opportunity to increase their professional confidence in negotiation and self-advocacy. With a healthy mix of conversation and content, attendees leave with tangible tools and a feeling of connection to one another.

• Explore mindset shifts to boost professional confidence, particularly in negotiation and self-advocacy.
• Develop concrete communication strategies that reduce anxiety and can be applied immediately.
• Identify tools to life one another up, both within the AMA and outside of it.

Empower Your Chapter

BIB Leadership

In the BIB Leadership session you will learn the fundamentals of running your chapter like a business to build long-term sustainability and accelerate growth. This session is for all chapter leaders with a focus on the President and President-Elect roles.

Empower Your Chapter

BIB Membership

In the BIB Membership session, you will learn the fundamentals of recruiting, retaining and engaging members/volunteers, including how to connect strongly with programming and leverage national/local benefits.

Empower Your Chapter

BIB Programming

In the BIB Programming session, you will learn the fundamentals of delivering powerful programming that drives your chapter’s engagement, membership and revenue, including identifying and recruiting great AMA programming leaders.

Empower Your Chapter

BIB Communications

In the BIB Communications session, you will learn the fundamentals of a thorough, consistent and systematic communications plan, including the basics of marketing your chapter, streamlining internal communications and collaborating with other essential board roles like membership and programming.

Empower Your Chapter

BIB DEI

DEI is not something you either do or don’t. It should be built into the fabric of how you run your chapter. In this session, you will learn how DEI is built into every section of Board in a Box so that you can build it into every aspect of your chapter.

Empower Your Chapter

BIB Finance

In the BIB Finance session, you will learn the fundamentals of successful board financial operations including tracking finances, the benefits of reserve accounts, the role of CPAs and leveraging sponsorships to offset costs. This session is for all chapter leaders with a focus on the President, President-Elect, Secretary/Treasurer and Sponsorship roles.

Empower Your Chapter

New to the AMA Board

Is this your first time as an AMA Chapter Leader? Is it your first time at Leadership Summit? We know how overwhelming it can be as a first-timer, and that’s why this session exists to help you form a plan on where to start, the basics of what you need to know and allow a forum for questions that pop into your head at 2:00 in the morning (jot those down)!

Empower Your Community

Communications Workshop

Communicating Value to Members or Chapter Communication Tools and Strategies

Join this workshop to hear from seasoned chapter leaders as they share their wisdom on articulating chapter value. Learn from their experiences in overcoming various communication challenges within chapters.

Empower Your Community

Generating Revenue Workshop

How Programming, Membership, Partnerships and Mentorship Align

Chapters thrive when their revenue streams are diverse and sustainable. In this workshop, current and former chapter leaders delve into the synergy between programming, membership models, strategic partnerships and mentorship.

Empower Your Community

National Volunteers Workshop

In this workshop, get to know the Professional Chapters Council and learn about opportunities to volunteer with AMA at the national level!

Empower Your Community

Marketing Strategies, DEI & AI Intersectionality

Marketing LOUD Tables

One of everyone’s favorite sessions is back with a twist! Mingle with fellow attendees and dive into thrilling discussions on the hottest marketing topics.

• Influencer Marketing
• AI
• Branding/Storytelling
• User Generated Content
• Social/Corporate Responsibility + Culture
• SEO Trends
• Data + Data Privacy
• MarTech
• Small Marketing Team Challenges
• CMOs in 2024
• Marketing Freelancers
• Tips & Tricks for Marketing Strategies

Empower Your Night: Choose Your Own Adventure

Here is a list of suggested restaurants and activities!

• Zanies Rosemont Comedy (Rosemont) – Special guest Pat Tomasulo – Show is at 7:15 $35
• INGS Dining & Entertainment (Rosemont) – Bowling, game, food, drinks – Reservations suggested. Part of Parkway Bank Park Entertainment District.
• Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar (Rosemont) – Drinks + song requests + loud signing = good times! 
• Carmines (Rosemont) – Italian Food $$$
• Giordano’s (Rosemont) – World’s BEST Chicago style pizza $
• Bub City (Rosemont) – American Bar Food + BBQ $$
• Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse (Chicago) – World’s BEST Steakhouse $$$

Registration

Breakfast

Join us for breakfast and table games, and get ready to show off your city in style! Join fellow AMA members in a dynamic showcase of city pride on Saturday during LS24!

As you pack your bags for the Leadership Summit, bring a piece of your city with you. Whether it’s a sports jersey, a local university hat, or a t-shirt from your favorite local hangout, wearing your city’s gear is the perfect way to strike up conversations and bring a little piece of home with you. There’s nothing like seeing an assortment of different colors and logos come together in one exciting, vibrant mix.

We can’t wait to see where you’re from and what stories you’ll bring!

Empower Your Marketing | AI | Beginner

Introduction to AI in Marketing

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the marketing landscape, empowering marketers to make data-driven decisions, enhance customer experiences and optimize campaigns. In this beginner-friendly session, we’ll explore the fundamentals of AI in marketing, demystify its applications and equip you with actionable insights.

• Learn what AI in marketing entails and how it complements human creativity.
• Discover the collaborative potential of AI and marketers in driving innovation.
• Explore real-world examples of successful AI-driven marketing strategies.

This session is designed for beginners, so no prior AI knowledge is required.

Empower Your Marketing | Data & Analytics | Intermediate

Giving Your Analysis, And Audience, The Story It Deserves

You’ve got data analysis under your belt for a few years or maybe more. You’ve used your share of bar and pie charts to help explain your analysis. You may have even used some visualization tools that create newer donut charts. But, do you really know how well these visualizations tell the story of your analysis? Here’s a hint: most pie and donut charts don’t do this well!

In this session, you’ll learn effective ways to illustrate data analysis with lessons and examples. Your audience will realize (and appreciate) the new approach in your future presentations.

Empower Your Marketing | Content Marketing | Advanced

How Inclusive Leadership Can Invigorate Your Marketing Campaigns

This workshop will empower you to increase your understanding of inclusive leadership and how it relates to inclusive, authentic and profitable marketing campaigns. Topics include:

• Defining diversity, equity and inclusion
• Understanding empathy
• Defining inclusive leadership and how to use it for impactful marketing
• The purchasing power in diversity
• Examining inclusive marketing wins and missteps

The session is a safe place to learn and ask questions.

Empower Your Marketing | Marketing Leadership | Intermediate

Managing from the Middle: 4 Skills for Marketing’s Make-It-Happen Managers

Middle managers are the “make-it-happen” connective layer translating strategy into execution, yet they are often undervalued and ill-equipped to tackle the gamut of challenges that come with the role. This session explores critical capabilities marketing’s middle managers need to design strategic plans, solve complex problems, communicate effectively, and coach their teams. You’ll learn principles for building these skills and prepare for what’s next in your marketing management journey.

Empower Your Marketing | AI | Advanced

Questions are the Key to AI and Ethics

Every new technology introduces unique moral issues that humans must identify and address. Artificial Intelligence is different in that the technology itself can determine what’s ethical, if it’s allowed. As marketers increasingly leverage their work with AI, they must realize the risks and rewards of potential moral delegation, which means asking the right questions and understanding how much to lean on AI or depend on themselves and other humans to make ethical decisions.

Four main takeaways for the session:

• Recognizing the increasing importance of marketing ethics in an age of AI
• Understanding AI’s abilities and limitations in making moral choices
• Identifying the right questions to ask about ethical issues in marketing, especially ones involving AI
• Making individual and organizational commitments to prioritize moral choices

Empower Your Marketing | Content Marketing | Beginner

Improving Your Online Reputation

In the digital age, your online reputation precedes you. Whether you are an individual looking to bolster your personal brand or a business seeking to build trust and attract customers, the internet plays a pivotal role in shaping how you are perceived.

“Improving Your Online Reputation” is a comprehensive workshop designed to empower participants with the strategies and tools necessary to assess, manage and enhance their digital footprint.

This interactive session will guide attendees through the critical process of evaluating their current online reputation, identifying the sources of information that contribute to it, and discerning the editability of these sources. Participants will learn how to proactively manage their online presence through the development of strategic online assets.

This workshop is ideal for anyone looking to take control of their digital narrative and shape the way they are perceived online. Whether you’re just starting or looking to refine your existing online presence, “Improving Your Online Reputation” will equip you with the knowledge and skills to make a lasting positive impact.

Empower Your Community

Finance for Marketers Workshop

Understanding finance is essential for marketers to make informed decisions, analyze performance and contribute effectively to chapter goals. In this workshop, we’ll demystify financial concepts, equipping marketers with the knowledge needed to navigate financial statements, budgeting and profitability analysis. Join us and enhance your financial literacy with our very own CFO, Jeremy Van Ek!

Empower Your Community

Programming Workshop

Beyond the Trophy: A Crawl, Walk, Run Approach to Big Ticket Programming

Learn how to take your chapter programming to the next level. Creating and managing successful awards and conference programs involves meticulous planning, strategic execution, and continuous improvement.

In this workshop, we’ll delve into the essential roadmaps that guide chapters from program inception to the grand execution using a crawl, walk, run methodology.

Whether you have aspirations for creating a Big Ticket signature program or are already running one, join this session to unearth strategies that will drive revenue and build your community.

Empower Your Community

Leadership Workshop

Effective leadership is crucial for driving growth, fostering collaboration and achieving organizational goals. This session is tailored for chapter presidents, president-elects, VPs and committee chairs who want to elevate their leadership skills and make a lasting impact within their marketing communities. Join us for an engaging session that will equip you with actionable strategies to lead your AMA chapter with confidence and impact!

Empower Your Community

Chapter Workshop

Open time to discuss the day and the year ahead!

Empower Your Community

Impactful and Productive Conversations

Impactful and Productive Conversations

In this workshop, one of TDM’s expert DEI practitioners will lead your team through a live and interactive learning experience focused on impactful and productive conversations.

Topics include:

• Variety in workplace communication
• The difference between calling in and calling out
• How to move through resistance and fear
• How to impactfully apologize when a misstep is committed
• And more!

Participants will leave with actionable tips that can be applied in the workplace immediately.

Lunch and Lightning Talks

Keynote | The Evolution of Marketing: A Fireside Chat with AMA CEO, Bennie Johnson

Join us for an engaging Fireside Chat as we delve into the vibrant landscape of marketing with two distinguished leaders—our own Bennie Johnson and Curtis Midkiff, Director of Global Social Engagement, 23andMe}. This conversation promises to be an empowering exploration of the evolution of marketing, providing attendees with a deeper understanding of the strategic considerations necessary for staying ahead in our industry.

Key Takeaways:

• Future trends and innovations
• Challenges and opportunities
• Strategic implications for AMA

Empower Your Marketing | AI | Intermediate

An Alternative View of Gen AI

In his 2021 seven-time award-winning book Leading in a Social World, Aaron used research to, as one book review put it, “turn our perception of social media marketing on its head.” In this presentation, he’s at it again, this time with so-called AI.

Marketers have AI all wrong. While unions strike and artists file lawsuits over AI job- and value-displacement, marketers wring our hands about so-called AI threatening marketing jobs and making our marketing departments obsolete while we… wait for it… use AI to do marketing.

Operating under this strange dichotomy, marketers have fallen hard for unprecedented hype and are rushing to be the first to master AI tech, hell-bent on self-fulfilling a fate of our own making — all for a tool that, as one scientist puts it, is nothing more than algorithms that are “haphazardly stitching together sequences of linguistic forms … according to probabilistic information.” Or as a user on Mastodon put it, “mansplaining as a service: superficially plausible but totally fabricated nonsense presented with unflagging confidence.”

Implausibly, we’ve decided to pay a steep ethical price for participating in this illusion:

• We’re now just stealing content (content that we’ve created for our brands and clients, astonishingly).
• We’re publishing content from and giving juice to a biased system that causes real harm to many groups, a system that one scholar calls “the civil rights issue of our time.”
• We’re choosing not to accept the significant environmental impact of our actions during a climate and humanitarian crisis.

There is another path.

Audiences will take away:

• Take an alternative view of generative AI, understanding how its technology is anything but intelligent, and how using it is commoditizing marketers’ hard-earned exercise.
• Take a clear and honest look at the ethical trade-offs marketers are making by using these tools.
• Learn four specific ways we as marketers can take an active role in creating an alternative, more ethical future for so-called AI that will better serve us and our craft.

Note: This session assumes familiarity with AI principles.

Empower Your Marketing | Marketing Leadership | Advanced

Path to CMO: Navigating the Marketing Executive Journey

The path to becoming a CMO is both exhilarating and demanding. In this advanced session, we’ll dissect the strategic milestones, skills and experiences necessary for your ascent. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer eyeing the C-suite or a rising star, join us to unlock the secrets of the CMO role.

• Discuss the various paths and opportunities to advancing into the C-suite.
• Identify the steps to advancing, pain points and challenges along the way, and how to navigate the journey.

Empower Your Marketing | Content Marketing | Intermediate

Beyond the Buzzword: How to Effectively Use Storytelling in Your Marketing

It’s not enough for a message to be clear – it must resonate. It has to engage. And above all, it has to tell a story that places your prospect or customer at the center.

It’s not just about crafting your message. It’s about crafting a story where your prospect or customer is the hero and your brand is the guide to their success. Crafting engaging messages that resonate with your audience is both a science and an art, and you’ll leave this session knowing how to:

• Get super clear and concise about your brand message
• Make your story about your customer and not your own brand
• Turn storytelling concepts into real-world practical marketing magic.

Empower Your Marketing | Marketing Leadership | Beginner

Back to Basics: Building a Magnetic Brand

Refresh your marketing chops in this one-hour session where we will delve into branding and marketing basics–from creating an impactful marketing strategy which includes KPIs, goals to elevating customer experiences that enhance customer loyalty!

Empower Your Marketing | Data & Analytics | Intermediate

Marketing Data 101: Fundamentals for Marketers

This session explores the essential data and analytics metrics vital for marketing professionals and discusses insights on acquiring diverse marketing data for informed decision-making.

Empower Your Marketing | Data & Analytics | Advanced

Unlocking Behavior Change: Inspiring Humans to Action

Dive into the heart of influence and persuasion at this dynamic session. Jennifer is here to unravel the secrets behind consumer behavior. Her mission is not just to theorize but to equip you with the concrete research tools and innovative strategies you need to turn insights into action. Whether the goal is to enhance sales, amplify your message, or foster positive change, understanding the ‘why’ behind people’s choices is crucial.

This session is more than a learning opportunity—it’s an interactive experience. Prepare to be engaged with live polls, enlightened through striking case studies, and introduced to cutting-edge research methods. Oh, and expect the unexpected with a unique theme of winged dogs, making for a memorable and insightful session. Jennifer will give you the insight to make you look like the rock star you are.

AMA LOUD Tables

Awards Gala + Dinner

Celebrate the 2023 CEA Award Winners and hear from this year’s Volunteer of the Year as you savor a sit-down dinner!

Sneaker Ball

Dust off your fanciest kicks and get ready for a night of stylish networking at the American Marketing Association (AMA) Sneaker Ball at LS24! Join us as formal meets casual in the most fashionable way possible. Imagine the scene: a room filled with marketing professionals and enthusiasts, all decked out in their most dapper suits and dresses, but with a twist—everyone’s sporting their coolest sneakers!

This isn’t your typical business gathering; it’s a chance to strut your stuff in your favorite pair of Jordans, Yeezys, Converse or whatever sneakers you hold dear, all while making valuable connections in the marketing world.

Registration

Breakfast

Co-Chair Chat + Lightning Talks

Chat with the 2024 AMA Leadership Summit co-chairs, then seize the spotlight on stage! Lightning talks offer a thrilling and rapid-fire session, providing chapter leaders with the perfect platform to share their unique stories.

Empower Your Impact

Membership Insights & Community Catalysts: Fueling Future Growth

Delve into the data landscape of membership dynamics, conquer renewal hurdles, and ignite vibrant communities for sustained engagement. Join us for an interactive session where we’ll equip volunteer leaders with insights from our latest research and practical strategies you can use to elevate member experiences and drive organizational success in the year ahead.

Empower Your Impact

Mentorship

Led by AMA Support Center, these sessions are designed to get you equipped with new insights and aligned with what’s next for the organization so that your influence and impact as a chapter soars in the year ahead.

Empower Your Impact

Student Engagement

Led by AMA Support Center, these sessions are designed to get you equipped with new insights and aligned with what’s next for the organization so that your influence and impact as a chapter soars in the year ahead.

Empower Your Impact

People, Places, Things: Support Center Connections & Resources

Let’s delve into essential resources available for chapter leaders and discuss how leveraging these tools can pave the way for a successful and rewarding chapter year. This discussion aims to EMPOWER participants by shedding light on the Support Center’s initiatives designed to streamline and simplify the nuances of our community.

Closing Thoughts