AI in Alaska Summit Brings Hands-On AI Training to Anchorage September 28

Statewide leadership summit delivers practical AI training, Alaska case studies and 30/60/90-day implementation plans

ANCHORAGE, AK, UNITED STATES, July 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Alaska business, government, nonprofit and tribal leaders will gather Monday, September 28, 2026 for AI in Alaska, the state's AI leadership summit at Southcentral Foundation's Nuqałi Building. The one-day event moves organizations beyond the AI hype and into action: practical training, real Alaska case studies and a written implementation plan every attendee builds before leaving the room.

AI in Alaska at a Glance

• What: A one-day AI leadership summit delivering practical AI training, education and implementation planning for Alaska organizations
• When: Monday, September 28, 2026, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with registration and breakfast at 8 a.m.
• Where: Southcentral Foundation's Nuqałi Building, 4085 Tudor Centre Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508, with free on-site parking
• Who it's for: executives, small business owners, public-sector, education, tribal and nonprofit leaders and team leads
• Featured speaker: Elizabeth Edwards, leading AI speaker for the Public Relations Society of America
• Produced by: the Summit Producing Team of Helvey Communications LLC, Embley Communications LLC and Elizabeth Edwards
• Tickets: Standard $349, VIP $649 and Implementation Cohort $1,095, with early bird pricing for a limited time
• Registration, agenda and sponsorships: www.AIinAlaska.com

Why Alaska Built Its Own AI Summit

Alaska organizations operate in conditions the national AI conversation rarely accounts for: vast geography, small teams carrying statewide responsibilities, mission-driven work with high public-trust accountability and communities where the Lower 48 playbook does not apply. AI in Alaska closes that gap with AI education and strategy guidance built for how Alaska actually works.

“There are a lot of good AI trainings out there, but we always seemed to walk away wanting more. So, we built it,” said Kristin Helvey, APR, MBA of Helvey Communications LLC, one of the summit organizers. “Organizations across Alaska know AI is changing the way we work, but many leaders are still figuring out what that means for their organizations. This summit provides the clarity and actionable tools needed to make informed AI decisions.”

AI has moved from experiment to expectation across every sector, and Alaska leaders are being asked to make consequential decisions about adoption, policy, staffing and spending, often without a trusted place to learn. The summit gives them that place, in one day, in state.
The summit draws attendees statewide, with easy travel to Anchorage from Fairbanks, Juneau, the Mat-Su Valley, Kenai and rural communities, plus direct flights from Seattle for out-of-state leaders.

Built on Three Commitments

Every session passes three tests before it makes the agenda:

• National expertise: the same AI leadership framework Edwards brings to PRSA, IABC and leading AI companies, not a repackaged webinar
• Alaska relevance: real Alaska case studies paced for the state's realities, rural and urban, mission-driven and revenue-driven
• Practical application: working deliverables every attendee can put to use the next business day

For many organizations, the result functions as a full day of AI training, AI education and strategy consulting in a single ticket.

Summit Sessions and AI Workshops

The day moves through five phases, orient, understand, practice, localize and implement, with every session translated for corporate, tribal, public, nonprofit and entrepreneurial leaders. Sessions include:

• Opening keynote, the AI-enhanced leader: AI as thought partner, blind-spot detector and competitive advantage, not a content shortcut
• Hands-on lab, build your AI team: side-by-side work with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot, and why trained context beats clever prompting
• Hands-on lab, better context, better decisions: attendees build a knowledge base, train a personal AI teammate and apply it to a real decision the same day
• The trust layer: ethics, hallucinations and bias, and how leaders keep human judgment in the steering seat
• Lunch spotlight: an Alaska practitioner shares a real AI implementation story from inside a local organization
• Sector labs: small groups by sector where attendees bring a real problem and leave with a real plan
• Alaska fireside cases: curated local voices, each pointed at a lesson attendees can transfer to their own organizations
• Closing implementation sprint: use cases, risks, owners, tools and policy guardrails, captured in a written 30-, 60- and 90-day plan

AI Search: What AI Says About Your Organization

A featured afternoon session tackles one of the fastest-changing questions in marketing and communications: how AI now answers questions about organizations. As more Alaskans turn to AI assistants instead of traditional search engines, the session explains answer engine optimization and generative engine optimization in plain language, then gives attendees a concrete checklist for making their own organizations visible in AI-generated answers.

The checklist covers the fundamentals of being recommended by AI: publishing clear, direct answers about who an organization is, what it does and where it operates, structuring websites and FAQs so AI assistants can lift them cleanly, and keeping entity details like names, locations and credentials consistent everywhere they appear online.

“AI has become the front door to your organization. When someone asks an AI assistant who to hire, where to give or which event to attend, whoever owns the answer owns the recommendation,” said Elizabeth Edwards, the summit's featured speaker. “Alaska leaders who understand how AI search works will hold a durable advantage, and we will teach it in plain language on September 28.”

Responsible AI Governance, Built In

Responsible AI isn't treated as a standalone topic at AI in Alaska, it is the focus of the entire day.

Attendees will learn how to recognize common AI risks, including inaccurate information, bias and misinformation. They'll explore the unique questions facing businesses, Tribal organizations, nonprofits and government agencies. Participants will leave with a responsible AI use policy starter covering acceptable use, human review, data handling and disclosure, ready to adapt with their own leadership team.

"Our goal is more than helping organizations use AI, it's to help them use it wisely," said Heidi Embley, co-organizer of AI in Alaska. " Organizations need practical guidance for using AI in ways that are responsible, transparent and aligned with their values. We want to help leaders build the confidence to embrace AI while putting the right guardrails in place from day one."

The approach reflects the summit's core stance: the organizations that benefit most from AI are the ones that pair adoption with judgment, putting clear guardrails in writing before scaling use across a team.

Featured Speaker: Elizabeth Edwards

Edwards is the founder of Volume PR, Engagement Science Lab and The Affect Institute, is a lead AI speaker for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and is president of PR Consultants Group, a national consortium of more than 50 independent agency owners. She has spent more than 25 years at the intersection of leadership, communication and new technologies, advising on AI strategy since the 1990s, including early work with Microsoft and ongoing engagement with leading AI companies.

Her keynotes for PRSA, the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), the California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO) and the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) have shaped how thousands of executives think about AI. Her premise is steady and anti-hype: AI is a thought assistant, not a co-pilot, and the leaders who win are the ones who ask better questions, build better context and keep human judgment in charge.

Who Should Attend AI in Alaska

The summit is built for more than 200 attendees spanning the full spectrum of Alaska leadership, from muddy boots to boardroom. It is designed for leaders across the state's key sectors, including healthcare, energy, transportation, tourism, seafood, education, tribal organizations, Alaska Native corporations, municipalities, small businesses and nonprofits, and is calibrated for four leaders in particular:

• The cross-sector executive who has heard the vendor pitches but has no organization-wide AI policy, and leaves with a framework to show the board
• The owner or small-team leader already using AI for proposals and email, who leaves with a workflow that pays for the ticket within the week
• The public-sector, education or mission lead with constrained budgets and public-trust accountability, who leaves with a responsible-use policy starter ready to adapt
• The functional team lead who became the de facto AI evangelist for their unit, who leaves with a team rollout plan they can start immediately

What Attendees Take Home

• A written 30-, 60- and 90-day AI implementation plan built during the closing sprint
• A responsible AI use policy starter ready to adapt for any organization
• A training data file for the attendee's own AI agents
• A tool-selection cheat sheet comparing leading AI platforms
• A prompt library and an AI-readiness snapshot
• A printed workbook covering every session

Tickets and Registration

Three registration tiers are available at AIinAlaska.com, each with limited-time early bird pricing:

• Standard, $349 (early bird $249): full-day access, the printed workbook and handouts, the training data file, the 30/60/90-day implementation plan and all meals
• VIP, $649 (early bird $549): adds the 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. speaker hour with Elizabeth Edwards, reserved seating, enhanced print materials and a post-summit virtual Q&A with the Summit Producing Team
• Implementation Cohort, $1,095 (early bird $995, limited to 40 seats): adds a pre-summit AI-readiness assessment, twelve months of quarterly virtual sessions, a peer learning channel with shared prompts and templates, plus a direct line to the producing team all year

Group rates, sector access partnerships and scholarship inquiries can be directed through the contact form at www.AIinAlaska.com.

AI Education Beyond the Summit

For organizations that want continued support after September 28, the Implementation Cohort extends the summit into a year-long leadership conversation. Quarterly virtual sessions with the Summit Producing Team track the questions that emerge as adoption matures: governance and policy, communication and change management, operations and workflow design, and organizational readiness. Between sessions, a peer learning channel keeps prompts, templates and real Alaska cases moving among members, and a direct line to the producing team means no organization works through its first year of AI implementation alone.

VIP ticket holders also receive a post-summit virtual Q&A hour with the Summit Producing Team four weeks after the event, timed for the questions that surface once attendees put their implementation plans to work.

Venue and Travel

AI in Alaska will be held at Southcentral Foundation's Nuqałi Building, 4085 Tudor Centre Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508, on the Alaska Native Health Campus. Built for multi-format learning days, the facility offers a main plenary room, breakout spaces and an open hub for breakfast, breaks and sponsor activations. Free on-site parking is available, the campus is fully accessible and dietary accommodations can be noted at registration.

Sponsors and Partners

Founding partners already on board include PRSA Alaska, Helvey Communications LLC, Embley Communications LLC, Volume PR and Engagement Science Lab.

The Public Relations Society of America, Alaska Chapter (PRSA Alaska) signed on as an Access Partner, helping expand member access and professional development opportunities for Alaska's PR and leadership community.

Members of the media are invited to attend. Credentials and interview requests: Heidi Embley, heidi@embleycommunications.com.
Sponsor visibility runs through the day rather than sitting on a logo wall: breakfast networking, morning and afternoon breaks and the open hub between sessions put Alaska brands in direct conversation with more than 200 decision-makers. A limited number of sponsorships remain. Inquiries: Sarah Erkmann Ward, APR, sarah@thompsonpr.com or the sponsor page at www.aiinalaska.com/sponsor.

About AI in Alaska

AI in Alaska is the state's AI leadership summit, helping organizations confidently and responsibly adopt artificial intelligence. The one-day event combines national expertise with Alaska-focused insights and practical strategies leaders can put to work immediately, and extends into ongoing implementation support through the AI in Alaska Implementation Cohort. The event is produced by the Summit Producing Team of Helvey Communications LLC, Embley Communications LLC and Elizabeth Edwards. Learn more at www.AIinAlaska.com.

About Helvey Communications LLC

Founded by Kristin Helvey, APR, MBA, Helvey Communications LLC is an Anchorage firm known for organizational positioning, executive communications and community-aware campaign work across Alaska's most relationship-dependent sectors. Helvey brings two decades of communications, marketing and strategy experience and teaches the next generation of Alaska communicators at the university level. Learn more at www.helveycommunications.com.

About Embley Communications LLC

Founded by Heidi Embley, Embley Communications LLC works at the intersection of corporate, civic and tribal communications in Alaska. The firm is known for a sharp instinct for how organizations actually operate in the state, what plays, what doesn't and the difference between national framing and local truth. Learn more at www.embleycommunications.com.

About Elizabeth Edwards

Elizabeth Edwards is the founder of Volume PR, the Engagement Science Lab and The Affect Institute, the lead AI speaker for the Public Relations Society of America and president of PR Consultants Group, a national consortium of more than 50 independent agency owners. She has advised organizations on AI strategy since the 1990s and speaks nationally on practical, responsible AI for executives, communicators and boards. Learn more at www.elizabethedwards.com. www.volumepr.com, www.engagementsciencelab.com and www.affectinstitute.org.

###

For interviews with the Summit Producing Team or Elizabeth Edwards, contact Heidi Embley, APR at heidi@embleycommunications.com or (907) 351-0968.

Heidi Embley
Embley Communications LLC
+1 907-351-0968
heidi@embleycommunications.com
Visit us on social media:
Facebook

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.