Senior marketing and communications leaders from Mubadala, ADNOC, Emirates, P&G, Charisma Group and more will headline the Holmes Report’s first Middle East & North Africa In2 Innovation Summit, taking place in Dubai on 21 February.

The inaugural MENA conference will focus on the role of public relations in the modern business, questioning how the industry can finally demonstrate its capabilities to marketers and shape the skills required of the PR professional of tomorrow. Those concerns are only heightened in an ‘age of rage’ that is typified by rising populism, fake news and the hopes and desires of a ‘disrupted generation’.

The conference will take place at the Renaissance Downtown Dubai Hotel, ahead of the PRCA MENA Awards at the same venue that evening. PRCA MENA (along with other supporting organisations including IPR and the IABC) members are eligible for special discounts via their member bodies.

Confirmed speakers include Mubadala chief communications officer Brian Lott and Omar Zaafrani, head of ADNOC group communications. The lineup also features P&G corporate communications and reputation manager Alex Malouf, Charisma Group CEO Ayman Zayoud, Asda’a Burson-Marsteller CEO Sunil John and Weber Shandwick MENA CEO Ziad Hasbani.

Many more speakers will be announced soon, along with the full programme. The inaugural In2Summit MENA is being backed by numerous partners and sponsors, including Asda’a Burson-Marsteller, Weber Shandwick, Memac Ogilvy and Hanover.