Pando PR Tips No. 50
Awards, Conferences, and Contests
ACTE’s Centennial Celebration Merchandise Art Contest — Submit artwork by May 1
Career and technical educators, see your students’ designs featured on ACTE’s official 100th anniversary merchandise in 2026. Open to all students enrolled in primary, secondary, and postsecondary institutions.
FETC 2026 — Proposals close June 1
FETC has 8 different tracks including District Leaders, IT Leaders, Coach Leaders, and Classroom Leaders for the January 2026 conference in Orlando.
TCEA 2026 — Speaking submissions due June 2
TCEA is dedicated to breaking down barriers in education and helping educators make a difference in the lives of students around the world. Over 35+ topics in four presentation styles are available.
Cloud Awards' 2025 A.I. Awards — Early entries by May 30
The A.I. Awards program celebrates the brightest and best in artificial intelligence. Open to organizations across the globe. Final submissions due at the end of July.
Upcoming Conferences
PR Daily Conference — May 21-23: Washington DC
At this conference you hone crisis communications, tackle metrics that truly matter to the C-suite, and develop strategies for reputation management, strategic messaging, and executive visibility.
ISTE+ASCD 2025 — June 29-July 2: San Antonio
ISTELive and ASCD's Annual Conference have combined their events into one large conference for educators focused on innovative teaching, leadership, and learning.
EdUp Experience PodCon — July 12: Chicago
EdUp Experience's inaugural PodCon will be held at the University of Illinois Chicago from 8:30am to 7:00pm on July 12. Learn how to podcast and meet several HE podcasters.
Upcoming Conferences Discounts
SXSW EDU 2026 — Extended early presales until Apr 18
For the lowest rates of the year for2026 SXSW EDU, register by April 18. You'll also get first access to the SXSW housing and travel rooms and rates before regular registration opens.
ACTE's Postsecondary CTE Summit 2025 — Early Bird discounts until Aug 8
Save $50 on registration for the October 2025 summit in Austin. Join a community of practitioners and researchers committed to fostering dialogue and driving action to advance postsecondary CTE.
Podcasts to Check Out
Here are some podcasts we follow which you might interesting.
- Higher Ed Geek — Dustin Ramsdell's podcast explores the impact of edtech on the student experience by speaking with diverse leaders from institutions, companies, and nonprofit organizations.
- Edtech Bites — Gabriel Carrillo shares his educational technology and food expertise.
- Coruzant Technology — Brian Thomas' daily tech podcast on emerging technologies. He has interviewed hundreds of CEOs, influencers, and celebrities.
- Future U Podcast — Hosts Jeff Selingo and Michael Horn discuss what’s next for higher ed and they interview newsmakers.
- Cool Cat Teacher Podcast — Vicki Davis' 10 minute teacher podcast brings the freshest insights, innovative strategies, and heartwarming stories from remarkable educators around the globe.
- Aspire to Lead — Josh Stamper interviews some of the most experienced and accomplished educational leaders.
- EdUp Experience — Host Dr. Joe Sallustio dives into the insights from today's brightest and most influential minds from across the higher ed space. This podcast continues to grow in popularity and has an impressive list of interviewees.
- Teacher RockStar Podcast — A weekly podcast hosted by Steve Hiles where tips and strategies critical to the first-year teacher are discussed. It's a great way to better understand the teaching profession.
Available On Demand
Navigating the high-stakes world of crisis management: Insights from SXSW 2025
At this year’s SXSW, leaders in corporate communications came together to tackle one of the most pressing challenges that PR teams face today: crisis management. The session was led by Greg Galant: CEO and co-founder of Muck Rack, and featured Molly McPherson: PR and crisis communications expert, Eleanor Hawkins: Senior media reporter at Axios, and Laura Barganier: managing director, head of communications & public affairs, U.S. personal banking at Citi.
What I'm reading
I found this Substack on new AI image generators by Ethan Mollick to be fascinating. Frankly, anything he writes is fascinating.
I'm reading Doctored by Charles Piller - a chilling example of academic fraud and corporate greed robbing lives and a lifetime of productive work. The money and time lost in this scandal could have moved the scientific world forward in finding a cure, rather than wasting intellectual resources and billions of dollars.
I’m the founder and CEO of Pando Public Relations. If you liked this issue of PR Tips, subscribe here. New issues each Thursday, alternating between articles with practical advice on the PR profession AND Pando PR Tips, which includes awards, conference RFPs, general info, and other links that may be helpful in your PR efforts. Thanks for reading! —Jennifer