Communication Trends for Community Leaders

Tuesday, February 7 at 12 PM CT

Presented by: Dr. Mike Yao, College of Media Department Head and Professor of Digital Media, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Communication in public sector organizations can make or break the effectiveness of local government services, the viability of leadership, and the pivotal roles that civic engagement plays in how governance can solve complex community demands. This webinar will focus on the impacts, opportunities, and pitfalls of emerging technology trends as they are related to strategic public communication. Participants will have an opportunity to engage in a Q and A with the presenter immediately following the presentation.

About the speaker:

Mike Yao is Professor of Digital Media and the Head of the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising in the College of Media. He also teaches digital media & marketing courses at the Gies College of Business as an affiliated professor of business administration. As a thought leader on emerging media, human-technology interaction, and digital marketing, Dr. Yao’s scholarly work focuses on the societal impacts of emerging technologies such as AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), VR/AR, Web3, and the Metaverse. He studies and publishes on topics such as online privacy, internet addiction, technology-driven marketing and advertising, human-technology interaction, and digitally mediated social behavior. Besides his academic work, Dr. Yao is passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation, social impact, and non-profit development. He has advised on multiple student-led venture projects and founded the Illinois Hub for Brand Innovation and Advertising Technology at U of I. He is the current Board President of Countryside School, a K-8 Independent school in Champaign Illinois and has served as a two-term Board Governor of The Women’s Foundation Hong Kong before moving to Illinois.