AI Leadership Summit · Anchorage, Alaska · 28 September 2026

AI in Alaska

The Last Frontier meets the New Frontier.

Alaska's AI Leadership Summit · develop AI competitive advantage in a day.

A full-day, in-person summit featuring Elizabeth Edwards of Volume PR and the Engagement Science Lab. Strategic foundation, practical toolkit and a written 30/60/90-day plan in your hand on the way out the door. Designed for the leaders shaping how Alaska works next.

Reserve Your Seat See the Day
61.2°N · 149.9°W · Anchorage Bearing: True North
N · 01 · The Promise
What you'll leave with

National expertise. Alaska relevance. Practical application.

These three commitments run through every session. If it doesn't pass all three, it doesn't make the cut.

i.

National expertise

Elizabeth Edwards has been advising AI strategy since the 1990s and is a sought-after national voice on practical, responsible AI for executives, communicators and boards. The framework you'll spend the day with is the same one she brings to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and leading AI companies.

ii.

Alaska relevance

Real Alaska case studies. Conversations paced for the actual realities: rural and urban, mission-driven and revenue-driven, statewide infrastructure and small-team scale.

iii.

Practical application

You leave with deliverables: a training data file for your own AI agents, a tool-selection cheat sheet, a prompt library, an AI-readiness snapshot, a 30/60/90-day plan and a responsible-use policy starter. Real tools, ready Tuesday.

When
Mon · 28 Sept 2026
8:30 a.m. — 4:30 p.m.
Where
Nuqałi Building
Anchorage, AK
Who
200+ attendees
30 VIP seats
Featuring
Elizabeth Edwards
+ Alaska practitioners
NE · 02 · The Day
Agenda · September 28, 2026

Orient. Understand. Practice. Localize. Implement.

The day moves from foundation through toolkit to local application and visibility. And ends with a written 30/60/90-day plan you can take to your team Tuesday morning.

Every major session includes a translation moment for what this means whether you're a small business owner, a public-sector director, a tribal organization leader, an executive at a regional corporation, a nonprofit head or running operations or HR.

Bearing
Full day
8:30 a.m. — 4:30 p.m.
8 – 8:30 a.m.

Registration · breakfast · sponsor networking

Coffee, sponsor visibility and a prompt waiting at every seat.

Open
8:30 – 8:45 a.m.

Welcome · why Alaska, why now

Kristin Helvey and Heidi Embley frame the local need; introduce the national + Alaska arc of the day.

Foundation
8:45 – 9:45 a.m.

Opening keynote · the AI-enhanced leader

Elizabeth Edwards on AI as a thought partner, blind-spot detector and competitive advantage. The leadership move past prompt-and-paste.

Foundation
9:45 – 10:15 a.m.

Lab · build your AI team

When to use Claude vs. ChatGPT vs. Gemini vs. Perplexity vs. Copilot. And why trained context outperforms clever prompting every time. Bring your laptop.

Application
10:15 – 10:30 a.m.

Break · coffee + sponsor floor

Coffee sponsor visibility. Casual hallway conversation.

Pause
10:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Lab · better context, better decisions

Move from "ask AI once" to iterative, evidence-aware work. Build a knowledge base. Train a personal AI teammate. Use it for a real decision, today. Bring your laptop.

Application
11:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.

The trust layer · ethics, hallucinations, bias and judgment

Where AI quietly invents content, reinforces bias and confidently misleads. The ethical commitments human leaders carry into AI work and how they keep the steering wheel.

Foundation
12 – 1 p.m.

Lunch · local case spotlight

An Alaska practitioner already living a real AI moment. No long panel — one good story.

Lunch
1 – 2 p.m.

AI search · what AI says about you

How AI now answers questions about your organization. AEO and GEO without jargon. What websites, FAQs and press releases need to look like in this era.

Visibility
2 – 2:45 p.m.

Lab · by sector

Persona-based small groups. Corporate, tribal, public, nonprofit and entrepreneurial sectors. Bring your real problem; leave with a real plan. Bring your laptop.

Application
2:45 – 3 p.m.

Break · sponsor networking

Final break. Coffee, conversation and connection before the close.

Pause
3 – 3:40 p.m.

Fireside cases · AI in Alaska work

Two to three curated Alaska voices, each pointed at a transferable lesson.

Local
3:40 – 4:20 p.m.

Implementation sprint · your 30/60/90

Identify use cases, risks, owners, tools, policy guardrails and the next move. Leave with a written 30/60/90-day plan and a responsible-use policy starter you can take to your team immediately.

Implementation
4:20 – 4:30 p.m.

Close · what to do tomorrow

The clear next step you'll take Tuesday. Plus VIP and Implementation Cohort opt-ins for those staying in the conversation.

Implementation
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

Speaker hour · optional, for VIP ticket holders

A smaller room, informal setting, refreshments and direct conversation with the featured speaker and the other VIP attendees who came to make this real.

VIP
E · 03 · Who It's For
Audience · Spectrum · Fit

Muddy boots to boardroom. The whole spectrum.

Persona-based small groups. Alaska's leadership audience is as diverse as Alaska itself: corporate, tribal, public, nonprofit and entrepreneurial all in the same room. Wide audience, single underlying need: every leader here has decided AI is real and is asking the harder question. How do I lead through this responsibly? The day is built for that question, calibrated for where you sit on the spectrum.

Persona 01

The cross-sector executive

C-suite or senior VP. Has heard three AI vendor pitches this quarter. Hasn't written the org-wide policy yet and is feeling the weight of that decision.

Leaves with A framework you can show your board next month.
Persona 02

The owner or small-team leader

Owns or runs a small business, three to fifty people. Wears every hat. Already uses AI for proposals and email. Knows there's more.

Leaves with A workflow that pays for the ticket by Tuesday.
Persona 03

The public-sector, education or mission lead

Director or senior staff. Mission-driven work with constrained budgets, high stakes and public-trust accountability, often serving communities where the Lower 48 playbook does not apply.

Leaves with A responsible-use policy starter, ready to adapt.
Persona 04

The functional team lead

Heads a team or function inside a larger organization. Already the de-facto AI evangelist for their unit. Now responsible for installing AI fluency across a real team without breaking what works.

Leaves with A team-fluency rollout you can begin this week.
SE · 04 · Featured Speaker
Featured Speaker

Elizabeth Edwards.

Volume PR · Engagement Science Lab · The Affect Institute. Lead AI Speaker for the Public Relations Society of America.

Elizabeth Edwards, Founder of Volume PR and the Engagement Science Lab. Featured speaker for AI in Alaska
Featured Speaker
Elizabeth Edwards

The national lens. 25 years at AI's intersection with leadership.

Founder of Volume PR, the Engagement Science Lab and The Affect Institute. Lead AI Speaker for the Public Relations Society of America. President of PR Consultants Group, a national consortium of 50+ independent agency owners.

Elizabeth has been advising AI strategy since the 1990s. Including early work with Microsoft and ongoing engagement with leading AI companies. Her keynotes have shaped how thousands of executives and leaders think about AI in their organizations.

Her work centers on a steady, anti-hype premise: AI is a thought partner, not a generator. The leaders who win are the ones who learn to ask better questions, build better context and keep human judgment in the steering seat.

Selected speaking
PRSA ICON · National
SPRF Annual · Keynote
CAPIO · Opening Keynote
NSPRA
IABC · National
Society for Consumer Psychology
Additional voices · to be announced

The day will also feature curated Alaska practitioners. Fireside-format conversations with leaders who have already lived a real AI moment in their organization. Names announced as the agenda finalizes.

S · 05 · Alaska Partners
Founding Producers · Anchorage

Built in Alaska, for Alaska.

A local production with a national featured speaker. Convened by two Alaska firms whose work runs across the corporate, tribal, public and nonprofit and entrepreneurial landscape.

Kristin Helvey, APR, MBA
Founding Producer

Kristin Helvey, APR, MBA

Helvey Communications LLC · Anchorage

Kristin brings two decades of communications, marketing and strategy work across Alaska's most relationship-dependent sectors. Helvey Communications LLC is known for organizational positioning, executive communications and the kind of community-aware campaign work that only lands with a local hand. She also teaches the next generation of Alaska communicators at the university level.

Heidi Embley, APR
Founding Producer

Heidi Embley, APR

Embley Communications LLC · Anchorage

Heidi has built a career at the intersection of corporate, civic and tribal communications work in Alaska. Embley Communications LLC brings a sharp instinct for how organizations actually operate in this state: what plays, what doesn't and the difference between national framing and local truth.

Partners

Already on board.

Claim Your Position
SW · 06 · Tickets
Tickets · Three Ways In

Reserve your seat.

One day. Three ways in. Standard for the full summit, VIP for the speaker hour past 4:30 p.m. and the Implementation Cohort for leaders building this into ongoing practice with the Summit Producing Team over time.

Tier 01

Standard

$349 $249
Early bird

Full summit access. The whole day, the workbook and every session deliverable. Built for the leader who wants to get there, work hard and walk out with a plan.

  • Full-day summit access (8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)
  • Printed workbook + handouts
  • Training data takeaway file
  • Breakfast, lunch, coffee breaks
  • 30/60/90-day implementation plan
Reserve Standard
Most popular
Tier 02

VIP Ticket

$649 $549
Early bird

Standard summit access, plus the post-event speaker hour with Elizabeth and the other VIP ticket holders. A smaller room, lighter footing, refreshments and direct conversation with the speaker after the day closes. Plus a single post-summit virtual Q&A hour four weeks later with Elizabeth and your fellow VIP ticket holders.

  • Everything in Standard
  • Speaker hour (4:30 – 5:30 p.m.)
  • Reserved seating
  • Enhanced print materials
  • One post-summit virtual Q&A hour with Elizabeth, four weeks out, for VIP ticket holders only
Reserve VIP
Tier 03

Implementation Cohort

$1,095 $995
Early bird · limited

For individual leaders ready to take the day from event to ongoing practice. The complete summit plus twelve months as part of a curated implementation cohort — a working think-tank of peers learning from each other and from the Summit Producing Team. Where Monday's decisions become next quarter's results.

  • Everything in VIP Ticket
  • Pre-summit AI-readiness questionnaire and assessment with recommended next steps
  • Twelve-month membership in the implementation cohort
  • Quarterly virtual group sessions with the Summit Producing Team
  • Peer learning channel with shared prompts, templates and cases
  • Direct line to the Summit Producing Team throughout the year
  • Limited to 40 seats
Reserve Cohort

Have an access partner ticket discount? Use the registration link provided to you. It includes your discount automatically. Need help? Contact us.

All ticket purchases are non-refundable.

Tier 03 · year-long extension

The Implementation Cohort.
A year-long Alaska conversation.

The AI in Alaska Implementation Cohort extends the summit experience into an ongoing year-long leadership conversation focused on real-world AI implementation in Alaska organizations. Through quarterly virtual sessions, cohort participants continue exploring emerging trends, implementation strategies, governance considerations and organizational impacts alongside national experts and Alaska-based leaders across sectors.

Designed for thoughtful, practical application, not hype. The cohort creates space for continued learning, strategic discussion and long-term organizational readiness in a rapidly changing environment.

  • Quarterly virtual sessions following the summit
  • Continued access to national expertise and emerging AI conversations
  • Real-world implementation discussions tailored to Alaska organizations
  • Peer learning and cross-sector leadership perspectives
  • Strategic guidance around adoption, governance, communication, operations and organizational readiness
  • Flexible participation that feels valuable but not overwhelming

Group rates · sector access · scholarship inquiries. contact us directly

W · 07 · Venue
Venue · Anchorage

Hosted at the Nuqałi Building.

We're hosted on the Alaska Native Health Campus at Southcentral Foundation, in the Nuqałi Building. A modern facility built specifically for the kind of multi-format learning day this summit is designed around.

The space is bright and flexible: a main plenary room, breakout spaces and an open hub where breakfast, breaks and sponsor activations happen throughout the day. Free on-site parking. Centrally located in Anchorage on Tudor Centre Drive.

Address
4085 Tudor Centre Drive
Anchorage, AK 99508
Operator
Southcentral Foundation
Nuqałi Building
Parking
Free on-site
large surface lot
Capacity
200+ attendees
room scales beyond
Travel · Alaska

Coming in from across the state

This is built for Alaska first. Easy travel from Fairbanks, Juneau, the Mat-Su Valley, Kenai and rural communities.

Travel · Out-of-state

For visitors flying in

If you have leaders outside Alaska who'd benefit from the day, Anchorage is reachable via direct flights from Seattle and other West Coast hubs.

Accessibility

Welcoming by design

The campus is fully accessible. Dietary accommodations are available; note them at registration and the catering team will plan around them.

28 September 2026 · Anchorage

Set your bearing.

One day. Two hundred Alaska leaders. The conversation that will shape how organizations across this state lead through the next five years. Reserve your seat before they're gone.

Reserve a Seat Explore Sponsorship