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.

Three commitments that run through every session, handout, and conversation. If something doesn't pass all three, it doesn't make it into the day.

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 PRSA, IABC, and frontier AI companies.

ii.

Alaska relevance

Real Alaska case studies. Sector labs alongside peers from corporate, tribal, public, and nonprofit organizations. 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
8:30a — 4:30p
Where
Nuka Learning Center
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. Coffee, real handouts, and a training data file you'll leave with to seed your own AI agents.

Every major session includes a translation moment — what this means whether you're a small business owner, a public-sector director, a tribal or Alaska Native organization leader, an executive at a regional corporation, a nonprofit head, or running operations or HR. You don't need to wait for a session built for your seat; every session is.

Bearing
Full day
arc of five
8:00–8:30a

Registration · breakfast · sponsor networking

Coffee, sponsor visibility, and a simple pre-question prompt waiting at every seat.

Open
8:30–8:45a

Welcome · why Alaska, why now

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

Open
8:45–9:45a

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
9:45–10:15a

Hands-on 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.

Application
10:15–10:30a

Break · coffee + sponsor floor

Coffee sponsor visibility. Casual hallway conversation.

Pause
10:30–11:30a

Workshop · 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.

Application
11:30–12:00p

The trust layer · hallucinations, bias, and judgment

Where AI quietly invents content, reinforces bias, and confidently misleads — and how human leaders keep the steering wheel.

Foundation
12:00–1:00p

Lunch · local case spotlight

Short fireside-format spotlight from an Alaska practitioner already living a real AI moment. No long panel; one good story.

Pause
1:00–2:00p

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
2:00–2:45p

Use-case labs · by sector

Persona-based small groups — business, nonprofit, tribal, public sector, HR/ops, rural-serving. Bring your real problem; leave with a real plan.

Application
2:45–3:00p

Break · sponsor networking

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

Pause
3:00–3:40p

Fireside cases · AI in Alaska work

Two to three curated Alaska voices, each pointed at a transferable lesson. Elizabeth facilitates; the practitioners bring the truth.

Local
3:40–4:20p

Implementation sprint · your 30/60/90

Identify use cases, risks, owners, tools, and the next move. Leave with a written plan you can take to your team Tuesday.

Implementation
4:20–4:30p

Close · what to do tomorrow

The clear ask, the clear next step. Plus VIP and consult-cohort opt-ins for those staying in the conversation.

Close
4:30–5:30p

VIP reception · optional, for VIP ticket holders

Smaller room, lighter footing, direct access to the speaker — and to the other VIP attendees who came to make this real.

VIP
Fine print
Topics shown reflect the planned learning arc. The full timed run-of-show, including named local case-study practitioners and confirmed session leads, is released in late summer. Topics and learning outcomes subject to refinement.
E · 03 · Who It's For
Audience · Spectrum · Fit

Muddy boots to boardroom. The whole spectrum.

Alaska's leadership audience is as diverse as Alaska itself — corporate, tribal, public, nonprofit, mission-driven, 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 at an Alaska corporation, regional Native corporation, nonprofit, or mid-market firm. 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

Runs a small Alaska business or organization — three to fifty people. Tour operator, regional consultancy, contractor, healthcare practice, small nonprofit, small Native enterprise, fisheries-services firm. 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 at a state agency, school district or higher-ed institution, regional health corporation, tribal or Alaska Native organization, or large nonprofit. Constrained budget, high stakes, public-trust accountability — often serving rural 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 — operations, HR, marketing, communications, public affairs, finance, or strategy. 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 function-ready playbook your team can ship by Friday.
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 frontier 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 landscape they're inviting you into.

Founding Producer

Kristin Helvey

Helvey Communications · Anchorage

Kristin brings two decades of communications, marketing, and strategy work across Alaska's most relationship-dependent sectors. Helvey Communications 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.

Founding Producer

Heidi Embley

Embley Communications · Anchorage

Heidi has built a career at the intersection of corporate, civic, and tribal communications work in Alaska. Embley Communications 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.

Founding Partners

First in the door.

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 reception and the conversation past 4:30, and the Implementation Cohort for organizations bringing this back to a real plan thirty days from now.

Tier 01

Standard

$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 (8:30a–4:30p)
  • Printed workbook + handouts
  • Training data takeaway file
  • Breakfast, lunch, coffee breaks
  • 30/60/90-day implementation plan
  • Sector use-case lab
Reserve Standard
Most popular
Tier 02

VIP Ticket

$499 · early bird

Standard summit access, plus the post-event reception with Elizabeth and the VIP cohort — a smaller room, lighter footing, and direct conversation with the speaker after the day closes.

  • Everything in Standard
  • VIP reception (4:30–5:30p)
  • Reserved seating, distinct lanyard
  • Enhanced print materials
  • One post-event small-group online session
  • Limited to 30 seats
Reserve VIP
Tier 03

Implementation Cohort

$895 · limited

The complete summit experience plus thirty days of structured follow-up — the difference between an event you attended and a written plan installed at your organization. Includes the day, the VIP reception, and a curated follow-up cohort designed to convert insight into action.

  • Everything in VIP Ticket
  • Pre-summit AI readiness questionnaire — calibrating the day to your real context
  • Post-summit small-group consulting session, four weeks after the summit
  • Custom AI-readiness assessment for your organization, with recommended sequence
  • Shared cohort knowledge base — prompts, templates, peer learning
  • Direct line to Elizabeth's team during the implementation window
  • Limited to 40 seats
Reserve Cohort

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

W · 07 · Venue
Venue · Anchorage

Hosted at the Nuka Learning & Wellness Center.

We're hosted on Southcentral Foundation's Alaska Native Health Campus — at the Nuka Learning & Wellness Center, 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, with hotels and dining within walking distance.

Address
4085 Tudor Centre Drive
Anchorage, AK 99508
Operator
Southcentral Foundation
Alaska Native Health Campus
Parking
Free on-site
Garage adjacent
Capacity
Up to 230
flexible room sizing
Travel

Anchorage access

Direct flights from Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and other West Coast hubs. Hotel options near Tudor Centre. Out-of-state attendees can fly in Sunday and out Monday evening with no trouble.

Accessibility

Welcoming by design

The campus is fully accessible. Dietary accommodations available — note them at registration and the catering team will plan around them. Quiet space available on request for breakouts requiring lower stimulation.

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.

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