Within the communications profession, PR and marketing are typically areas that change very quickly, and the academic world is often slow to move: lecturers have to deliver and account for knowledge according to a prescribed framework, so they have little or no ability to keep up with changes - which is a brief summary of why recent graduates feel they have to learn almost everything from scratch when they start their careers. Moreover, their lack of strength and effort is not always compensated by the same promising career and financial prospects as even 10 years ago. So, what is Next?

 

The MCC Media School -  Corporate Communications Centre in partnership with the Hungarian PR Association, is inviting You to join the Next Gen of Communicators Conference, hackathon and workshops, where committed students interested in the communications profession, representatives of the market and communication experts from the academia are to exchange views on mutual expectations, succession issues, experiences and ambitions - the most important issues the Next Generation of Communicators are facing today.

 

The event is free, but registration is needed!

We reserve the right to change the programme!

 

Registration

 

PROGRAM

 

 

TALKING HEADS

Dr. György Szondi

Senior lecturer, Public Relations  at Budapest Business University

Dr. György Szondi is a senior lecturer in Public Relations  at Budapest Business University. He completed an MSc in Public Relations from the University of Stirling, UK and a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Salzburg, Austria. In 2003, he joined Europe’s biggest and most prestigious PR training and education centre at Leeds Business School, UK as a Senior Lecturer in Public Relations.  His research interests have centred on international public relations, public diplomacy, nation branding, crisis communication and strategic corporate communication.  He designed and led communication and PR training courses and workshops for several for-profit as well as public sector organisations in London, Brussels, Warsaw, Budapest, Riga, Tallinn and Tunisia. These included the School of Government in the UK; the Government of Estonia, the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs, and public diplomacy workshops for the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union’s European External Action Service in Brussels. He also worked for  Hill and Knowlton, the international PR consultancy in Budapest and in its international headquarters in London.

ANA MARIA CRIVĂȚ

Business Strategist & Mentor

Ana nurtured more than 16 years of business & culture transformation for leading companies, such as Ipsos, Vodafone or HEINEKEN in Romania. She started her career in Strategic Market Research and then, took the leadership of pivotal functions, such as Marketing Innovation, Consumer & Market Intelligence, and Corporate Affairs.

Ana has been instrumental in securing growth opportunities and achieving notable successes, as board member for Corporate Affairs, leading crucial areas such as reputation management, internal communications and employee engagement, external communications and stakeholder engagement, sustainability & CSR, and public affairs.

She is a strong advocate for change management, as change is a constant of our lives. By harnessing extensive expertise and elegance, Ana believes in the power of communication, as the catalyst for growing harmonious cultures and fostering solid stakeholders management.

Bence Gáspár

Head of Communications at OTP Bank

Early in his career, he spent 3-3 years at PwC and Hill&Knowlton, and then spent four years as Head of Communications at MAG Hungarian Economic Development Centre. For 13 years, he has been working at OTP Bank, Hungary's largest and fastest growing financial institution in the region, where he is responsible for the strategic management of external and internal communications. He is Vice President of the Hungarian PR Association and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Prima Primissima Foundation. Married, father of two children.

Jovana Vukotić

Head of Communications, Siemens

Jovana is a communication professional with over fifteen years of expertise in crafting corporate communications effectively, both internally and externally. In her career journey, she’s showcased expertise across various domains like government and corporate affairs, external and media relations, internal communication, crisis management, corporate branding, etc. Raising in diverse, multicultural settings, she's energized by forward-thinking peers who aspire to leave a lasting imprint. In addition to her vast professional experience, she is active in the topic of company culture and transformation as a member of Global Culture Squad at Siemens and contributer to Tech Recruiting Project. Her commitment to learning and growth is illustrated through various awards and recognitions, such as the Siemens Global Communications Award 2015 for project Media Award (now relized in 10 countries of CEE region) and AmCham Women Leader finalist. 

Hedvig Szabó

 Director of strategy & Client services, Uniomedia

Hedvig is a communication expert with 10 years of experience on agency side. She has already accomplished award-winning projects for major multinational clients in FMCG, tech, telco and pharma. She is extremely passionate about cause-related campaigns with real societal impacts, especially when it comes to sustainability.

Prof. Dr. Petra Aczél

professor of communication and rhetoric at Moholy-Nagy University of Arts and Design (MOME)

Dr. Petra Aczél is a full professor of communication and rhetoric at Moholy-Nagy University of Arts and Design (MOME). She has in-depth expertise in leading and guiding Communication and Media majors at all levels at universities (Corvinus University of Budapest, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, University of Richmond, etc.). Born in Budapest, she studied at Eötvös Loránd University where she earned the PhD degree of linguistics and rhetoric. She gave her habilitation lecture in 2011 and was appointed full professor in 2016. Her research interests focus on rhetorical theory, visual and sensual rhetoric, new media rhetoric and more recently, future skills. Her latest works include Visual Hybrids (article), Poetics Today, 2023, Screening the Future Faces of Rhetoric (article), HAS, 2022 and Future Shock or Future Chic? Future human skills in the context of technological proliferation (chapter), Palgrave, 2021

András Sztaniszláv

Strategic Communications Consultant, President of HuPRA, CEO at ICCO

He has worked in PR communications since 2005, specializing in planning, content and stakeholder management, measurement and evaluation, sustainability and CSR consultancy and communications. He has been a member of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) since 2015. He was the first Hungarian PR professional to be accredited by the CIPR and is also an accredited CMS auditor.

Alexandra Nagy-Béni

Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Corvinus University of Budapest

Alexandra Nagy-Béni is an Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Corvinus University of Budapest. Her main research area is the visual representation of violence in online news, primarily from the perspective of visual metonymic framing. In a broader sense, she deals with media representations, visual communication and the use of cognitive linguistic tools in media research. She is also the leader of the Global Connections and Communications BA specialization.

Tamas Tofalvy

Associate professor, Department of Sociology and Communication, Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Tamas Tofalvy is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology and Communication at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics where he is head of the Digital Media MA Program, and the project leader of the Hungarian Online and Digital Media History (MODEM) project. Between 2013 and 2017, he was Secretary General at the Association of Hungarian Content Providers (MTE). In 2012–2013, he was a Fulbright fellow at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His works have been published by academic journals such as New Media & Society, First Monday, and Media History.

Paul Olscaher

Head of PR & Communication, MODUL University Vienna

Paul Olsacher has extensive leadership experience in various communication roles. Until 2021, he served as Spokesperson and Head of the Press- & Communication-Department for the Austrian People's Party, followed by a role as Head of Communication at the Austrian subsidiary of the Swiss insurance group Swiss Life until November 2023. Since December 2023, Olsacher has been working as the Head of PR & Communication at Modul University Vienna. In 2023, he was awarded the Austrian "30 under 30" award in PR & Communication.

Endre Mentes 

CEO , ACG PRo Kommunikációs Kft. 

Communications specialist, cultural organizer, founder, and PR partner of the 20-year-old ACG Agency. He is a regular contributor to publications and a producer of television series and films. Furthermore, he holds the position of chairman on the board of trustees at the Szeretem Magyarországot Club, an association of businessmen and personalities dedicated to socially responsible initiatives. 

Balázs Szántó

Managing Partner, Noguchi, Member of the Board, Hungarian PR Association 

He is a communications strategist who leads internationally recognized consultancy Noguchi. He started his career with the agency in 1998, with specialties in strategic planning, issues management and crisis communications, as well as purpose-driven brand building. He led award-winning communications programs for numerous Hungarian enterprises and multinational brands, among them an issue management project covering 24 countries. 

Ágnes Szőke 

Founder, Owner, CEO - Open Communications 

CEO and founder of Open Communications. She has been consulting several multinational companies in the last 25 years such as P&G, Pfizer, IKEA, Deloitte. She started her teaching cereer at the Budapest College of Communication - now Metropolitan University – teaching at the Department for Training Spokesperson. In the recent 8 years she has been teaching at Corvinus University Department of Communication and Social and marketing. She is the initiator and trainer of a new 2.5-month executive training course at Corvinus for people interested in sustainability communication.  She believes in practice-oriented training in the spirit of which she - as a start-up – brought the speakers bureau genre to life in Hungary a few years ago under the brandname Smartfluencer, with the aim of introducing experiential knowledge sharing adapted to today's trends. 

Andrea Nagy 

Managing Partner of Positive Adamsky  

Managing director of Positive PR, the PR member agency of Positive Adamsky creative agency group. Her field of expertise include shared value communication solutions, purpose driven marketing, personal branding and talent management. Her team conducted several researches examining customer attitudes on brands purpose communication; currently her research focus is the generational differences in the agency labor market.  

Gábor Varga G. 

Director of Content and Storytelling , Uniomedia 

Lead storyteller of Uniomedia. With 20 years of media and journalism experience, still believe in the power of thoughts and in the curiosity of people – everyday need this mindset when creating communication strategies for corporates.  As passionate teamleader believing the force of young talents, as he got huge motivation and support in summer camps of Association of Young Journalists, where he still currently senior advisor.