Grow your Reach, Relevance & Impact 

On an unassuming August morning in Austin, minds were blown. 

In the space of just 75 minutes, KPCC’s Ashley Alvarado and a trio of extraordinarily smart, funny and committed engagement pros showed how it’s possible to make Community Engagement a bedrock of your local service. 

It was time for a breakthrough.  

Community engagement has reached an inflection point. The promise of deeper, richer relationships with a wider cross section of our community has been smacking headlong into cynicism as local station leaders struggled to get started. 

Public radio stations can’t stay stuck in neutral any longer. 

Alvarado summed up the stakes in her opening remarks:
“As the media environment gets more challenging, the time is NOW for public media to strengthen existing relationships and add new ones... We can't take our place in the media landscape for granted, we can't assume that younger audience members will find us on the radio, we can't assume that they naturally intuit or understand the mores and values that drive the current approach and, critically, we can't take our members' support for granted. This is the space engagement steps into. Engagement allows us to reach them on their terms when we can.”

Share this one with your colleagues and then reach out to Ashley and the panelists to see how you can grow your reach, relevance and impact by applying the ideas and insights they share in this terrific General Session.

Moderator: 

• Ashley Alvarado, Director of Community Engagement, KPCC

Panelists:

• Stephanie Federico, Digital News Editor, KUT
• Jackie Hai, Senior Digital Editor, KJZZ
• Hannah Wise, Engagement Editor, Dallas Morning News