- PageViews
PageViews Monthly: Issue 11
March 27, 2025
New World Disorder: Thriving Amid Chaos was the theme of this year’s Page Spring Seminar, and for good reason. We’re in a world of extremes – a global shift toward a multipolar order, hyper-polarization fueled by mis/disinformation, a worsening climate crisis and AI-driven disruption. In this environment, communicators are now at the forefront of ensuring organizational resilience.
The majority of this year’s Spring Seminar sessions were either Chatham House or off-the-record, which created a safe environment for peers to engage in candid conversations about urgent issues. From those honest conversations, we can report the anonymized quotes and insights below.
We have put together our 2025 Spring Seminar resources page with actionable insights for communicators of all stripes.
"With AI-generated summaries taking over search and social feeds, most people don’t even click on articles anymore. They get a curated summary—sometimes outdated or misleading—without ever seeing the full context.”
AI-generated summaries are reshaping how audiences consume information—many now rely on curated snippets without clicking through for full context. This shift makes it harder to ensure accuracy and control narratives. To stay ahead, communicators must optimize content for AI-driven feeds while also building direct audience relationships through newsletters, podcasts and engaged communities, reducing dependence on search and social algorithms, prioritizing “owned” audiences rather than paid.
This topic was also discussed by Page members gathered for a Regional Networking Event in London with Frank X. Shaw, CCO at Microsoft. The session was full of strategic and tactical considerations for implementing AI into your comms workflows.
“I will not die on the hill of ESG. But I will die on all of the smaller hills that represent each element of ESG in our strategy.”
In our conversations regarding sustainability and ESG, speakers underscored the importance of proving the climate crisis is active. As one speaker explained, “Many investors have said they would rather let something hit a crisis than do something seen as anticipatory.” Another mentioned how they speak about climate change in terms of shocks to the economy, many of which are actively occurring, to prove the argument for sustainability investments. While the term “ESG” has become poisoned for many, the work is still ongoing.
Transparency is critical: acknowledging challenges and progress, rather than promoting perfect results, fosters greater trust. Additionally, understanding regional and political nuances is key—what resonates in one market may face resistance in another, requiring localized messaging strategies.
“Remain Calm, Patient and Good-Humored Amid Regulatory Risk.”
Businesses are adapting to a new global order where policy shifts, trade tensions and social divides demand proactive, not reactive, engagement.
Regulatory volatility is now a top business risk. A widely-cited lesson from the Spring Seminar was that reacting to every statement is an impossibility, and that effective engagement means focusing on policy outcomes and substance. Most importantly, communicators need to avoid knee-jerk crisis responses. When political or social storms hit, the best approach is to pause, assess, and communicate facts—not react emotionally. A constant refrain among members at the conference was that now is the time to embody the seventh Page Principle, remaining calm, patient and good-humored, citing a need for CCOs to be a calming force in the organization and for our teams.
By leaning into listening, clarity, and adaptability, communicators will help their organizations not just survive—but thrive.
Page CEO Rochelle Ford recently returned from a series of Page events across several European cities, where members and guests exchanged ideas on AI, creativity, communications in a volatile world, changes in the media landscape and the economic value of silence.