The TCU Nonprofit Communicators Conference returns in person Friday for the first time since 2019.
This year’s conference – which offers two morning workshops, a luncheon keynote and a networking session – will focus on “Listening: A Strategy, A Value, and A Tool for Transformation.”
The annual event is open to any nonprofit communicators “looking for the best way to tell their stories,” said Ashley English, a conference cofounder and strategic communication assistant professor in the Bob Schieffer College of Communication. English will give this year’s keynote speech.
Panelists include experts from both the nonprofit and academic sectors, including Adam Powell of Communities in Schools of the Dallas Region; Taylor Toynes of For Oak Cliff; Jennifer Treviño of Leadership Fort Worth; Corina Sadler of the City of Plano; Dr. Emily Nwakpuda of UT Arlington; and professor Johny Garner of TCU’s communication studies department.
Drs Ashley English (left) and Jacqueline Lambiase (right) cofounded the TCU Nonprofit Communicators Conference.
“Every year, we have a combination of practitioner voices and scholarly voices,” English said. “We want to use this as a theory and practice kind of conference. It helps our scholarship reach the community and to elevate the voices of the community.”
English cofounded the conference with strategic communication professor Jacqueline Lambiase in 2009 at the University of North Texas, where English had been a student of Lambiase.
The purpose of the conference is to provide convenient one-day training and support for nonprofit communication professionals through interactive workshops at an affordable cost.
“It’s a labor of love. Most nonprofit communicators cannot afford professional development,” English said. “We know that someone is paying out of their pocket. Their organization can’t afford to send them.
“We wanted to keep the cost low but the content high.”
The first conference was at UT-Dallas in 2010. Since 2011, it has been hosted by TCU.