Simpplr Employee Comms & Experience Virtual Summit 2026 for internal communications and EX leaders
March 31st
9:00 am – 1:00 pm PT
12:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET
4:00 pm – 8:00 pm GMT
Register Now
Simpplr Employee Comms & Experience Virtual Summit 2026 for internal communications and EX leaders

A must-attend virtual meet-up for passionate communications and EX professionals.

The Employee Comms & Experience Virtual Summit is a half-day gathering for internal communications and EX leaders who are always thinking about how work… actually works.

This year, we’re talking about the work behind the work: the business impact of internal communications, how AI is showing up day to day (not just in decks), and what’s shifting related to the role of the communicator as expectations and complexity continue to rise.

At the center of it all is a shared challenge: how to deliver clear, credible communication at scale — without losing the human side of the work.

Across sessions, we’ll explore:

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What new data is telling us about the state of the IC profession including career longevity, influence, and impact

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How AI is showing up inside comms teams today, where it’s genuinely helping, and where human judgment still matters most

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Real stories from leaders navigating change, credibility, and scale across global organizations

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How communicators can partner more effectively with IT and other stakeholders — without losing ownership

SPEAKERS

Regine Nelson

Internal Communications & Employee Engagement Leader at Couchbase

Kristen Eliason

Sr. Director of Corporate Communications at MasterControl

Zac Zaffke

Zac Zaffke

Enterprise Communications Manager at Ascentek

Michele Rest

Michele Rest

Corporate Communications Leader at Vera Therapeutics

Allegra Kipnis

Senior Internal Communications Manager at Coursera

Victoria Dew

CEO at Dewpoint Communications

Sarah Byrne

Sarah Byrne

Director of Communications at L+M Development Partners

Keemya Manley

Keemya Manley

Senior Communications and Marketing Specialist at L+M Development Partners

Riley Ware

Internal Communications Coordinator at INTRUST Bank

Stacie Taylor

VP of Communications at Pikeville Medical Center, Inc.

Wyatt Semanek

Director of Corporate Communications at Sunrun

Miriam Connaughton

Chief People & Experience Officer at Simpplr

Carolyn Clark

VP Communications & EX at Simpplr

Regan Zuege

Internal Communications Lead at Simpplr

Rachel Tolhurst

Communications & Marketing Lead at Simpplr

Agenda

09:00 AM –
09:45 AM PT

What the data says about IC’s impact, influence, and future

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.

09:45 AM –
10:15 AM PT

How AI Is showing up in real IC work

AI is everywhere. Opinions are strong. And for many communicators, the feelings are complicated.
 
In this session, you’ll hear directly from an IC leader who adopted AI not because it was trendy, but because these tools presented an opportunity to deliver better work, faster, and raise the potential of internal communications pros to handle the growing demands of their roles. 
 
Allegra Kipnis, Sr. Internal Communications Manager at Coursera, will share how she thinks about AI as a communicator, how those beliefs align with Coursera’s broader AI philosophy, and what shifted once AI-powered tools and a more centralized planning approach became part of her day-to-day work. She’ll speak candidly about what improved, what required guardrails, and how human expertise remains the most essential part of any strategy. 
 
You’ll leave with a practical understanding of how AI can reduce cognitive load and support communicators without replacing the thinking, context, and care that define the role.
10:15 AM –
10:45 AM PT

Why it’s not a messaging problem — it’s a design problem

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, Victoria Dew, Founder of Dewpoint Communications and author of the Connecting the Frontline report, will moderate a conversation on why even well-crafted messages fail to reach employees across roles, locations, and work environments.
 
Joining Victoria are Riley Ware of Intrust Bank, and Keemya Manley and Sarah Byrne of L+M Development Partners, who will share how they approach communication across desk-based, frontline, and distributed teams.
 
Together, they’ll explore how communicators can move beyond broadcast tactics toward more intentional communication design — setting clearer priorities, making smarter channel decisions, and partnering with HR, IT, and operations to build 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 and aligning around what matters most.
10:45 AM –
11:00 AM PT

Break

15-minute break

11:00 AM –
11:30 AM PT

Fragmented tools create fragmented experiences

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, Miriam Connaughton and Stacie Taylor, VP of Communications at Pikeville Medical Center, will explore why communicators need to care about tech consolidation. Not as a technology decision, but as a communication and experience imperative.
 
Together, they’ll discuss how fragmented systems make it harder to deliver relevant communication, recognize employees, and listen at scale — and how communicators can partner with IT and HR to design systems that support clarity, consistency, and focus across the employee journey.
11:30 AM –
12:00 PM PT

From activity to impact: Proving the value of IC

Internal communications teams are increasingly being asked to show impact. The challenge is that many teams don’t have perfect data, and many are still building the foundations for measurement.
 
So how do you make progress anyway?
 
In this session, Wyatt Semanek, Director of Corporate Communications at Sunrun, will share how he’s starting to shift the way his team operates. Not by chasing better metrics alone, but by clarifying priorities, aligning more closely with HR and IT, and setting clearer expectations with leadership about what IC can and can’t take on.
 
Together, Wyatt and Rachel Tolhurst will talk candidly about what it looks like to move away from reactive, request-driven work and toward a more intentional operating model — even when measurement is still a work in progress.
12:00 PM –
1:00 PM PT

Surviving and thriving in internal communications

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.

Registration

A must-attend virtual meet-up for passionate communications and EX professionals.

Take your front-row seat for the Employee Comms and Experience Virtual Summit 2026