MOSCOW — Communications leaders and students from across Russia and Eastern Europe will meet in Moscow on 10-11 November to discuss the future of public relations at the Leadership Dialogue Forum.

Organized by Orta Communications Group, Russian Managers Association, Lomonosov Moscow State University philosophy faculty and the Russian State Social University (RGSU), the event is also being supported by the Holmes Report.

The forum embraces a series of events:

10 November: The first forum day will be devoted to public presentations of the best communications projects applied for the Eventiada Awards – the 5th international contest of student and corporate communications projects. This year, there are more than 800 projects entered from 123 cities across five Eastern European countries.

The contest includes 5 blocks of nominations: student nominations (supported by Tele2), corporate nominations, healthy lifestyle nominations (supported by Boehringer Ingelheim), special nominations and the premiere block of school-students nominations (supported by RGSU).

The unique double-jury formula, where students select the best corporate projects, while senior communications executives consider student entries,  results in two types of winning projects – a student and a corporate one, for each category.

11 November: The Leadership Dialogue Conference – a meeting point for sharing experiences between industry experts and future generation of professionals divided into two panel discussions: Future of Media and Future of Leadership.

The conference will kick-off with presentation of the Future Outlook Research devoted to the future media, communications and leadership – as seen by professionals and by students from 123 cities across five Eastern European countries. Within the panels, industry leaders will speak to the most talented and promising students studying communications about future of the market and ways to create leadership in the ever-changing media and communications landscape.

Future of Communications – a high-level strategic session with two blocks, Future of Corporate Communications and Future of Social Communications. At the session, top industry leaders and experts will bring to the table the most pressing questions and help shape future agenda of communications.

The speaker line-up includes recognized regional and international experts and major professionals representing leading companies, organizations and media — including Rainer Bock from Kaspersky Labs, Elena Fadeeva from FleishmanHillard Vanguard, Russian journalist Alexei Vevendiktov, and strategic PR expert Alexander Zipkin.

The Forum will be crowned by the Eventiada Awards Gala Ceremony that will take place on the evening of 11 November and celebrate the most outstanding communications projects.


Alexey Safronov, general director of Orta Communications Group and Leadership Dialogue Forum president said: "Variety of thought-provoking and future-focused events makes the Forum a unique experience to discover, learn, celebrate and shape the future of communications."

"Central theme of the Forum is future of communications and media as well as building leadership in these areas. It brings together today’s and future leaders of communications in the region and therefore serves as most efficient platform for shaping the agenda of the industry for years to come. At the same time, it is a great opportunity for current industry leaders to better understand and find a common ground with young generation, and a perfect place for young pros to stand out, discuss their expectations and get professional advice from the blue-chip communication professionals. This two-way-street format will become beneficial for both today and future leaders."