Good governance should make better content easier to create - not add another layer of process for everyone to battle through. How do you create consistency, maintain quality and give people clear responsibilities without becoming the content police? We’ll get into practical approaches to governance that can actually survive the complexity of a university.

We all have opinions about what works. But what does the evidence say? From research and user testing to analytics and everyday observation, we’ll look at ways to understand whether your content and digital experiences are genuinely doing their job, and how better evidence can lead to better decisions.

Content professionals are often expected to make things better without actually owning the systems, teams or decisions that need to change. So how do you make progress when “because I said so” isn’t an option? We’ll explore influence without authority: building trust, finding allies, challenging established ways of working and creating enough momentum to get things done.

Universities are overflowing with extraordinary ideas, research and expertise. Unfortunately, “extraordinary” doesn’t automatically mean anyone outside the institution wants to read about it. How do we preserve the substance while making expert knowledge accessible, relevant and genuinely interesting? We’ll explore what it takes to turn academic expertise into content people choose to consume.

More information isn’t always the answer. When people are choosing a course, a university or their next step, what they often need is clarity, confidence and help making sense of their options. We’ll explore how content can reduce uncertainty, answer the questions that really matter and help people make complicated decisions without making the experience more complicated.

The official university account isn’t always the most interesting (or trusted) voice in the room. Students, academics, creators, ambassadors and staff can all tell different parts of the story. So who should be speaking, when, and with how much freedom? We’ll explore authenticity, representation, trust and what it means to hand over the microphone.

Search isn’t disappearing, but it is changing - and quickly. AI-generated answers, new discovery behaviours, GEO, AEO and an ever-expanding collection of acronyms are reshaping how people find information. We’ll cut through some of the noise and ask what content teams actually need to understand, what may change next and where it’s worth focusing your attention now.

Thousands of pages. Multiple systems. Too many stakeholders. Not enough people. And somehow you’re supposed to know where to begin. Big digital and content projects can become paralysing when everything appears to need fixing at once. We’ll explore how to find a sensible starting point, make priorities visible, build momentum and keep moving when the full problem is far bigger than the resources available.

Most social content gets a fraction of a second to earn somebody’s attention. What makes them stop? We’ll look at social-first thinking, creative ideas, video, storytelling and the small decisions that can make the difference between content that disappears into the feed and content people actually choose to watch, read, respond to or share.

Publishing globally means much more than translating the words. Language, context, expectation, humour, imagery and even ideas about what feels trustworthy can shift dramatically between audiences. We’ll explore how to create content across cultures without flattening the differences that matter, and how localisation, representation and cultural understanding can become part of the content process rather than an afterthought.

Forget the demos for a moment. Where is AI genuinely making content work better? We’ll move beyond novelty and hype to look at useful applications, awkward limitations and the questions teams need to ask before adding AI to a process. Where can it save time or improve the work - and where might it simply create a different problem?

Schools, colleges and universities are very good at talking about themselves: our strategy, our facilities, our excellence, our achievements. But that isn’t necessarily what audiences care about. What changes when we start with people instead? We’ll explore ways to put experiences, needs, voices and human stories at the centre of content, but without losing the things the institution genuinely needs to say.

Nobody waits until their first day on campus to decide whether a place feels like it might be for them. Content is already sending signals about who belongs, what life will feel like and whether somebody can imagine themselves there. We’ll explore the role of representation, student voice, useful information and honest storytelling in creating connection long before arriving on campus.

Not everything needs replacing. Sometimes the smartest content work is fixing the thing you already have. We’ll celebrate iteration, simplification and the unglamorous joy of making existing content, journeys and systems noticeably better - without automatically reaching for a new platform, a wholesale redesign or another shiny tool.

Accessibility can’t be something one specialist checks just before publication. If we want genuinely accessible content, it has to influence the decisions made by writers, designers, developers, marketers, leaders and everyone else involved along the way. We’ll explore how accessibility becomes an everyday habit, a shared responsibility and part of the culture of making good content.

We know good content matters. The harder part can be persuading somebody controlling the budget, resources or priorities. How do you demonstrate value when the impact of content isn’t always neatly captured in a dashboard? We’ll explore evidence, measurement and influence, and how to connect content work to the things senior leaders already care about.

Every institution wants a strong reputation. Fewer stop to ask what they actually want to be known for, or why that should matter to anyone else. We’ll explore the relationship between content, credibility and distinctiveness: how universities can build a reputation that feels meaningful, relevant and rooted in something more useful than simply telling everybody they’re excellent.

Publishing the research is only the beginning. How do great ideas escape the journal article, institutional news page or academic conference and reach the people who might actually use them? We’ll explore what helps research travel: making complex ideas understandable without making them simplistic, finding the right formats and stories, and creating content with the potential to have an impact beyond academia.

Channels multiply, behaviours shift, budgets tighten and yesterday’s best practice becomes today’s questionable habit. So what is actually still earning its keep? We’ll look at the changing recruitment landscape, the tactics and approaches that continue to deliver value, what might need rethinking and the things we could perhaps finally give ourselves permission to stop doing.

Universities invest huge amounts of effort helping prospective students find, choose and join them. And then? Current students still need to navigate complex systems, make decisions, find support and understand what they’re supposed to do next. We’ll explore what a genuinely student-centred content experience looks like after enrolment - and how clearer, more joined-up content can improve the experience throughout their time with you.

Content leadership isn’t just approving copy or keeping the production machine moving. It means creating the conditions in which good work can happen: building capable teams, setting direction, influencing decisions and helping organisations value content differently. We’ll explore what effective content leadership looks like when you’re working across the boundaries and complexities of a modern institution.