[00:00:00] The Asia Pacific region is pretty incredible. More than half of the world's population resides in this area of the world, and it's doing big business. ASEAN, which is a partnership of 10 member nations from the region, represents a population of 672 million people. And when it comes to economic growth, the ASEAN region is tracking at 4.7% per annum, ahead of the USA, which was tracking at 3.3%. Although I think we all know that stat may change soon. Regardless, we are looking at a region with huge potential and for communication professionals, change managers, PR consultants, and journalists that presents big opportunities to tell some incredible stories.

[00:00:47] There are definitely key trends emerging for comms pros of all sorts from this region that are going to shape the way we work now and for the years to come. So what are those trends? That's what today's [00:01:00] episode is all about.

[00:01:05] Hi friend, and welcome to another fresh episode of Less Chatter More Matter, the communications podcast. I'm your host, Mel Loy, and I'm recording this on the lands of the Yuggera and Turrbal people here Meanjin, Brisbane. And I've just returned from a week in the Philippines where I attended and spoke at the IABC Asia Pacific Fusion 2025 Conference in the capital of Manila.

[00:01:28] And it was a great event. There were two days of speakers from all around the globe providing different perspectives on issues and concepts related to professional communication. There were a few key themes that stood out to me, and I wanted to share that learning with you all because it is indicative of what we can expect to see in our own work.

[00:01:48] If you're not seeing it already, and if you are in other areas of the world listening to this, keep listening because these trends are probably on their way to you too. So let's get into it. The [00:02:00] first trend is that the conversation on AI in comms is changing at every single conference I've attended in the last two years, and I'm sure this goes for you too.

[00:02:10] AI has been a hot topic so we could be forgiven for being a little sick of hearing about it. I know I was getting sick of it. But the conversation around AI is moving where it used to be all about the tools and what to do with them. The conversation is now becoming more and more around the ethical use and the implications of AI at Fusion.

[00:02:31] There was a great session led by Adrian Cropley who is a human you absolutely want to follow, by the way, on LinkedIn. His expertise is amazing and he is just a good dude. But anyway, the session was all about the ethical use of ai and more importantly, how we need to develop a standardized set of ethical guidelines and accountability mechanisms to enforce them.

[00:02:51] We also got a hint of the conversation to come, which is going to be about the economic impact of AI. Right now, what we know [00:03:00] about that impact is actually very little. There's not a huge amount of data. But it won't be long until we do have a bigger view of what that impact is, and that's when the conversation will really kick off.

[00:03:10] I think the final thing to mention here is that there was a resounding call from all speakers to embrace the technology. Being able to use it for our own work is one thing, but also becoming a strategic advisor for others in the business about when and how to use it will really help push us up the value chain.

[00:03:28] Okay. Number two, well, change is still a big topic across the Asia Pacific. There is no organisation untouched by it, and it's driven largely by technology advances, changing customer behaviors and those geopolitical environments. The problem we are facing right now is change apathy. Change Apathy means people are moving beyond the fear of change to just simply not caring about it, and that has big ramifications on employee engagement and productivity.

[00:03:55] And therefore on the reputation and the bottom line of businesses. [00:04:00] From a comms perspective, this is a challenge that we need to tackle head on. With creativity. It means testing and trying new things with our comms strategies, but also I think really embracing co-creation with employees. That's co-creation at the change design phase, but also in the delivery and design of the communication.

[00:04:19] When people have skin in the game, they care more. In this change space, there was also some chatter about hybrid working and getting people back to the office in a more structured way, and I know so many of you listening have been grappling with this challenge in your workplaces too. While we resort to the usual CEO emails and manager driven tactics, like I said, we need to be creative.

[00:04:40] We need to be trialing new things. One of the presenters, Anshuman Kumar, shared how they used gamification and augmented reality to get people excited about being back in the workplace. I won't go too much into it because Anshuman will be on our show shortly to share all of that in more detail, but it's a great example of thinking outside the [00:05:00] box and trying new things to help drive change.

[00:05:05] Okay. The third one is all about leadership and communication, and most notably that leaders in general are experiencing high levels of uncertainty while also having a lack of experience and confidence in communicating effectively and dealing with that uncertainty. And to add to this, we are seeing, seeing declining levels of trust in leadership year on year.

[00:05:25] We have so many different generations in the workforce that that is necessitating a change in leadership style and therefore also in the way we communicate. The good part is that as professional communicators, we are well placed to support leaders in building their capability and confidence and address these issues and to help them lead their teams through periods of ambiguity.

[00:05:48] A common thread during the conference was the importance of tailoring communication approaches to different generations, as well as using intentional storytelling. And by that I mean stories that people can relate to, [00:06:00] as well as stories that connect people back to the purpose of the organisation.

[00:06:03] Because as I've said a million times on the show before, people remember stories, not dot points. The fourth key trend that shone through was the importance of local representation in comms and media. So what we've seen globally and locally in recent years is people dialing it in, so to speak. As local newsrooms and budgets are cut, there are fewer comms and media professionals on the ground.

[00:06:31] Uh, COVID kind of really pushed us in this direction of doing more and more interviews via Zoom or just simply drawing on syndicated news. The problem with that is that you could be missing that local perspective that helps you get to the real heart of the story, not the one that you were told over the phone or even by somebody else.

[00:06:49] And also, while you're collecting stories from customers or important stakeholders, it's challenging to get an authentic and honest story when you don't have that [00:07:00] face-to-face interaction that builds that trust and that rapport. So we heard from a couple of speakers about how that trend needs to change, but there are also some pockets where we're already seeing this happening.

[00:07:11] There are more journalists starting to be stationed back in the region, which is awesome. And we heard from one non-government organisation about had, they will actually travel days and in very rough conditions to make sure they meet the recipients of their grants face to face. The way they put it was when you meet people in person.

[00:07:29] In their home. The empathy just comes naturally and that really comes through in your story. And considering how inundated our news feeds are with US based or UK based news, we really need to see this local trend pick up so that those of us in the Asia Pacific are well informed, but are also involved in co-creating those effective communication.

[00:07:49] And so we can share this story with the rest of the world. The final trend I want to mention is based on a presentation from Melissa Arrulapan, who is [00:08:00] a PR pro based in India, and Melissa is going to come on the show as well, I really hope, in the next couple of weeks. But this trend is worrying. It's about women leaving the PR profession in massive numbers.

[00:08:13] So Melissa shared some research conducted by the global women in PR or GWPR as part of their 2024 annual index, and they do this research in partnership with an organisation called Opinium. That's where they measure the position of and issues affecting women working in PR and comms globally, and track and measure progress towards gender equality in the workplace.

[00:08:37] Now some of the stats that Melissa shared were quite honestly disappointing. Uh, while women predominantly make up most of the PR sector and comm sector boards remain predominantly male. And yet we know that having that diversity of male and female and, and even non-binary people on a board can really help improve company productivity, [00:09:00] workplace practices, and creativity.

[00:09:03] That means that there are barriers that women are facing in getting to those senior levels. And there were many barriers that, respondents, uh, to the survey picked up, but. Some of the top ones were childcare or caring responsibilities like for other family members.

[00:09:19] Lack of flexible working and family friendly policies, lack of transparency around recruitment and promotion. So, uh, you know, people getting promoted ahead of others when they were promised a promotion. All those sorts of things. Uh, being less proactive about asking for promotions compared to men. And that's actually a trend that's come up in a lot of research, not just in PR but in the workplace generally.

[00:09:41] And a lack of work, lower work life balance for those senior roles. They also found that a lot of women are considering leaving the industry after they turn 50. And one step though, that did actually surprise me was around career breaks. So, uh, from what I've seen in my own experience, a lot of of [00:10:00] women leave the industry or leave their jobs for a career break when they have children, for example.

[00:10:05] And that does set them back. But what was interesting here is that... the average break was about eight months. And while childcare was a major reason, the biggest reason was for mental health reasons. And the challenge is that when a woman takes a career break to look after her mental health or for whatever reason, there is then an impact on their pay, seniority, promotion opportunities, et cetera.

[00:10:31] Uh, there's also the issue of workplace harassment in all its forms. Uh, more than half of the respondents said they had experienced it in some way. Uh, and unfortunately doesn't get any better when women do report these issues with most respondents saying they either left their jobs or were encouraged to leave or nothing happened at all when they did report it.

[00:10:50] So if we want to fix this issue and keep women thriving in their PR and comms careers, we need to do better. Some of the options include ensuring there are truly flexible [00:11:00] working practices, that we have senior role models we can aspire to and learn from, having mentoring programs, having training opportunities, et cetera.

[00:11:07] But I think more importantly, there needs to be recognition of these issues by leaders, and we need to see allyship from our colleagues. So it is time for your short and sweet episode recap. Today I shared the five key emerging trends in the comms and PR sector in the Asia Pacific region. And they are, number one, the conversation on AI is shifting from one dominated by tools and how to use them to one centered on ethical use by comms, practitioners, and the economic impact of AI.

[00:11:37] Number two is we are still grappling with change management and communications, and it's important we get this right because change is not going away. It means comms and change. Pros need to work harder than ever before to counteract change apathy, and support leaders, and do that with really creative ways.

[00:11:56] Number three, leaders are struggling. There's a gap in trust, [00:12:00] capability, and confidence, but communicators are well placed to support leaders in building the skills they need to help their teams navigate that ambiguity. Number four, local representation is key to effective comms and media. So instead of dialing it in, we need comms and media pros on the ground in the Asia Pacific to help surface the real stories.

[00:12:22] And number five, there is a leaky pipeline of women in comms and PR with many systemic issues, creating barriers to employment and progression. So we need to work together to get to solutions in place that help women thrive, not just survive in this industry. Okay. Well, I hope you enjoyed that little recap of key trends from the conference last week.

[00:12:43] And by the way, I've just launched a new little offer of a strategy power session. So if you've got a communication or change problem you're really struggling with, maybe you're running your own business or you're an entrepreneur and you're looking for some help with business strategy or brand strategy, and you just need some [00:13:00] ideas and someone to help you start a plan.

[00:13:02] I'm your girl. So these power sessions are 90 minutes. We'll do a deep dive into the challenge, come up with a whole bunch of ideas, and then afterwards I will send you a summary with some actions and, and any helpful links that I think might be useful for you. I'll put the link in the show notes to those power sessions.

[00:13:18] You can book it all online. It's super easy to do and I really think you get a lot out of it. And honestly, I love doing this stuff. I love helping others come up with ideas and solving problems, so I would love to have you in one of those sessions. In the meantime, keep doing amazing things as I know you are, and bye for now.