The data makes one thing clear: the importance of internal communications is no longer up for debate.

In this opening session, we’ll share highlights from Simpplr’s State of Internal Communications 2026 Report, based on research focused squarely on the IC function itself — the work, the role, and the people doing it.

We’ll explore what communicators are saying about their business impact, how and where AI is actually showing up day to day, and a question that cuts deeper than most surveys ask: If you were starting over, would you choose internal communications again?

Together, the findings offer a revealing snapshot of the profession today, setting the stage for the rest of the summit and grounding the conversation in real data, real experiences, and the shared questions facing communicators right now.

Reaching the entire workforce isn’t about sending more messages. It’s about designing communication that works for how people actually work. 

In this session, we’ll look at why even well-crafted messages fail to reach employees across roles, locations, and work environments, and how communicators can move from broadcast tactics to intentional design.

That means stepping back to define clearer priorities, making smarter channel decisions, and partnering more closely with HR, IT, and operations to build communication systems that scale without adding noise.

You’ll walk away with a practical mindset shift: stop trying to reach everyone by sending more. Start reaching them by designing smarter systems, aligning on what matters most, and building the partnerships that make clarity possible at scale.

15-minute break

When communication lives in too many places, the employee experience starts to fall apart.

For internal communicators, this fragmentation is easy to spot. Messages compete for attention. Important updates get missed. Visibility into what’s working is limited. Personalization becomes difficult. When the experience feels disjointed, even strong content struggles to break through.

In this session, we’ll explore why communicators need to care about tech consolidation. Not as a technology decision, but as a communication and experience imperative. We’ll examine how fragmented systems make it harder to deliver relevant communication, recognize employees, and listen at scale.

You’ll hear how our speaker advocates for consolidation, speaks the language of IT, and helps design systems that support clarity, consistency, and focus across the employee journey.

Internal communications teams are under pressure to show impact. Most don’t have perfect data. Many are still building the basics.

So how are teams making progress anyway?

In this session, we’ll look at how IC teams are starting to shift how they work. Not by chasing better metrics alone, but by clarifying priorities, aligning with HR and IT, and setting expectations with leadership about what IC can and can’t take on.

We’ll talk honestly about what it looks like to move away from reactive, request-driven work and toward more intentional operating models — even when measurement is still a work in progress.

Internal communications can be deeply meaningful work, but it can also be exhausting.

Communicators are navigating constant change, rising expectations, and the pressure to hold trust and clarity together at scale. Burnout is real. So is the tension between staying authentic and getting everything done.

In this closing session, Regine Nelson, Internal Communications and Employee Engagement Leader, and Regan Zuege reflect on what it takes to not just survive in internal communications but to build a career that lasts. They’ll share candid perspectives on knowing your value, setting boundaries, and making intentional choices about where to focus your time and energy.

They’ll also explore how systems, partnerships, and guardrails create room for communicators to protect what makes the work human while still delivering real impact.

The future of internal communications will not be won by doing more with less forever. It will belong to communicators who know their value and build ways of working that are both human and sustainable.