“PR Impact Awards 2018” Conference asks: are robots going to replace PR professionals?

The most important event on PR and communications in Lithuania, “PR Impact Awards 2018” will gather experts from around the region for the fifth time on May 18. Considering such innovation examples as artificial intelligence and robotics, and their impact on communications, the event, organized by the Lithuanian Communications Association and the Lithuanian Association of Public Relations Agencies, is focusing on the future of communications this year: is anyone going to need PR?

“We would like to pose a challenge to the participants of the fifth “PR Impact Awards” event and are encouraging them to think about the future and what awaits us. Are robots going to replace us, the PR professionals?” says Lina Jakučionienė, the Chairwoman of the Lithuanian Communications Association.

According to Mrs. Jakučionienė, innovation is not only the topic of “PR Impact Awards 2018”, but also will be present in the event’s agenda. A number of speakers from Lithuania and abroad will look into the impact of innovation on communications, and analyse if emotions and relationships are still relevant or being replaced by automatization.

This year, the “PR Impact Awards 2018” Conference’s keynotes will be followed by three panel discussions. During them, several experts from the Baltic States will examine the life of trolls and their efforts to spread fake news, look into people experiences after surviving tremendous publicity, and try to find some synergy between Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and their communications aiming to determine a vision for common regional communications.

“As always, the conference is supplemented by the most important competition of the year: we are going to select the best PR projects of the year. The “PR Impact Awards 2018” event is always considering the impact of communication on society and the changes within it. That is precisely why we are asking applicants to specify the impact of their PR projects in their awards applications. That way we will be able to determine how our area of expertise affects the country and its people” says Romualda Stonkutė, the Chairwoman of the Lithuanian Association of Public Relations Agencies.

In addition to the Jury votes, the best PR project will also be selected by the “PR Impact Awards 2018” audience, who will vote for their favourites using a mobile application during project presentations.

Communication professionals and agencies are invited to submit their projects to compete in 11 categories. The organizers are happy to introduce two new categories to the competition: the Innovation in Communications of the Year and the Influencer and Viral Communications of the Year.

The “PR Impact Awards 2018” competition is open to applications from around the Baltic sea. Last year, the largest amount of application came from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, thus this year’s event is expected to be a strong and ambitions Baltic competition.

Applications for the “PR Impact Awards 2018” awards are open until April 27. They will be evaluated by an international Jury comprised of PR and communications experts from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Ukraine and other countries.