For a while, the wave of new technologies offered communicators opportunities to incorporate these tools into their communication strategies. The introduction of Twitter and Instagram, the rise of mobile use, chatbots and other technologies that were grounded in communication were introduced at a dizzying pace.

Many of today's new crop of technologies have less obvious communication applicability, but that doesn't mean communicators should ignore them. From artificial intelligence to blockchain and livestreaming to machine co-creativity, there are technologies gaining steam that can have a significant impact on the effectiveness of both internal and external communication.

In this episode of Circle of Fellows, four IABC Fellows discuss the effectiveness and potential of emerging communication technologies.

About the panel

Diane Gayeski is recognized as a thought leader in the practice and teaching of business communications. She is dean and professor of strategic communications at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and provides consulting in communications analysis and strategies through Gayeski Analytics. Diane was recently inducted as an IABC Fellow. She's been active in IABC for over 30 years as a featured speaker and think-tank leader at the international conference, the author of three editions of the IABC-published book, "Managing the Communications Function" and the advisor to Ithaca College's student chapter. She's led over 300 client engagements for clients including the U.S. Navy, Bank of Montreal, Fiat, Sony, Abbott Diagnostics and Borg-Warner, focusing on assessing and building the capacities and new technologies for workplace communications and learning teams.

Mary Hills' career as a marketing and communication professional has been in companies undergoing significant evolution, change and growth. She has held leadership positions with responsibility for developing plans and schemas to support long-term growth and business sustainability goals. She has over 20 years of experience and expertise in designing and delivering training and development programs for companies and organizations, bringing theories, models and frameworks into everyday practice. In addition to her role at HeimannHills Marketing Group, Mary serves as adjunct faculty in the MS – Global Strategic Communication program at Loyola University Chicago. Mary speaks internationally and nationally on marketing, communication, standards and practices.

Brad Whitworth is a veteran communicator and communication coach at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Brad was most recently a communication manager at Hitachi Vantara. Before that, he was an executive communication manager at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and senior communication manager at Cisco Systems. Before Cisco, Brad led communication programs at HP, PeopleSoft and AAA. He earned undergraduate degrees in both journalism and speech at the University of Missouri and an MBA at Santa Clara University. A former broadcaster, Brad has made over 300 presentations to executives, communicators and university classes around the world. Brad has a long history with IABC, including serving as chairman of the International Executive Board and president of two local chapters. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication.

Stacy L. Wilson, ABC, helps clients get more ROI from their technology investment, specifically leveraging technology for collaboration and communication. She focuses on the people and process sides of intranets and digital workplace, including strategy, governance, usability, content and adoption. She works for global, Fortune 1000 clients, particularly those with a lot of employees who don't sit in front of computers; for example, industries such as mining, oil and gas, healthcare, utilities, manufacturing, etc. She is an international speaker and enthusiast of bluegrass music, hiking, food and whiskey.

Shel Holtz

Shel Holtz, IABC Fellow, ABC, is director of internal communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor headquartered in San Francisco. Before joining Webcor, Shel spent 21 years as principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, business initiatives and communications research.