Marcomms professionals are increasingly only as successful as the technologies that enable them. From creator marketing and media outreach to campaign measurement, social media management, and demonstrating ROI, mastering the latest tools has become essential. On May 14th, 2025, The PR Net hosted the Tech Demo Summit (TDS) at Andaz 5th Avenue in New York City. This dynamic, half-day event united industry leaders to explore cutting-edge platforms designed to streamline workflows and amplify business outcomes. Featuring five interactive sessions, TDS showcased practical software applications to supercharge marketing and communications in the AI era. Attendees engaged in lively discussions and Q&A, walking away with actionable insights to elevate their teams and future-proof their strategies.

Session 1: Empowering Your Team: How to Upskill for the Age of AI in Communications

Speaker: Aaron Kwittken, Founder & CEO, PRophet

• AI won’t replace communications professionals but will enhance their work by automating time-consuming tasks.
• The “lump of labor” fallacy debunked: new tech expands jobs rather than reducing them.
• Future roles require becoming a “comms engineer” skilled in data analysis, fact-checking, prompting, and presentation.
• AI should serve humans; human creativity and the art of the pitch remain essential.
• Use AI to identify trends, influencers, and platforms to support storytelling with data-backed insights.

Session 2: From Siloed to Synchronized: Connecting Teams for Campaign Planning

Speakers: Erynn Baird, Head of Marketing, Opal and Jessica Padula, VP Marketing, Nespresso

• Many teams lack a unified “source of truth” for tracking projects, communications, and outcomes.
• Visual and experiential nature of marketing means spreadsheets aren’t enough for project management.
• Tools like Opal help align teams by providing strategic planning dashboards and real-time progress visibility.
• Having a central platform enables better storytelling and alignment across teams.

Session 3: Where Affiliate, PR, and Influencers Converge for Growth

Speaker: Courtney Vanpraag, Affiliate Coach, impact.com

• Affiliate marketing drives performance-based, trackable results and increased brand coverage.
• Brands must meet customers across diverse channels, including emerging platforms like Reddit and Substack.
• Key takeaways: unite teams, embrace omnichannel, empower PR with affiliate links, and prioritize people-based channels.

Session 4: Taking Control of Your Brand Visibility in the Era of AI Search 

Speaker, Mirza Germovic, SVP of AI Solutions, Edelman

• Generative AI (GenAI) is rapidly changing brand visibility and search, predicted to cut traditional search share by 50% by 2028.
• LLMs (large language models) provide a single authoritative response instead of links, raising stakes for reputation management.
• Owned and earned content will be critical, as pay-to-play models don’t apply in AI search.

Session 5: AI at Work: A Day in the Life of the Future Marketing Professional 

Speaker: Erica Vlahinos, OpenAI

• ChatGPT and similar LLMs have democratized “super intelligence,” with 92% of Fortune 500 companies using OpenAI products.
• Benefits include completing 12% more tasks, finishing work 25% faster, and producing 40% higher quality outputs.
• Features include live editing, deep research, content drafting, image creation, and data analytics.
• ChatGPT can tailor content reading levels and generate images aligned with copy.