Last week, I flew to Austin, Texas to attend South by Southwest, which brings together innovators in media, tech and entertainment. I was excited to see my Ad Council colleagues speak about the power of partnerships for our Seize the Awkward campaign at the SHE Media Future of Health Co-Lab and host a panel on the power of championing skills-based hiring to revolutionize and diversify the workforce. And with over 25 tracks of programming, SXSW 2023 was a fascinating place to get insights on everything from GPT-4 to ethical AI and accessibility in tech. Here are the top five topics that fascinated me at this year’s festival.

According to a recent Ad Council study, 95% of employees take time off due to mental health issues but cite another reason.

In 2021, Hue, a tech-enabled community platform and culture consultancy, released their inaugural report, Unsafe, Unheard, Unvalued: A State of Inequity, which included powerful statistics that showcased the inequities experienced by employees of color across several dimensions of the workplace. After the release of their second annual report in 2022, Hue founder Fahad Khawaja summed up the findings in a guest post for our blog: “How to Future-proof Our Companies and Communities as the Great Resignation Continues.”

Denise Lee is a volunteer spokesperson for the American Lung Association (ALA) and a lung cancer survivor. Denise recently worked with us as a spokesperson on our Lung Cancer Screening campaign. Ahead of World Cancer Day, we had the opportunity to chat with Denise about her experience as a survivor and advocate. She also shared her advice for those looking to spread awareness about issues they care about.

STARs are all around us, the more than 70 million workers in the U.S. who are “skilled through alternative routes” (STARs), rather than via college degrees, and they make up 50% of the U.S. workforce.

With over 3,000 exhibitors and 115,000 attendees, CES is the most influential tech conference in the world, showcasing breakthrough technologies that will shape our future. I’ve spent most of my career at the Ad Council, building relationships with social media companies to develop and scale impactful and innovative partnerships. Since June, I’m leading a new center of excellence focused on emerging media and technology. Given this new focus, I was eager to learn about future technology shaping how we consume media and drive impact. Here are my top highlights from CES 2023.

You did it! Your countless hours of what may often feel like unnoticed hard work have led to you being invited to share your insights with an audience as a subject matter expert. While opportunities to share your expertise are both exciting and reassuring, we know that understanding how to prepare for a panel discussion can be quite daunting.

In the past five years, the Ad Council’s digital team has conducted more than 250 studies for a wide range of campaigns with our partner Feedback Loop. These studies have complimented our other methods of research: focus groups, moderated UX research and communications checks, to name a few.

The “Emerging Leaders Fellowship Program” prepares and empowers historically excluded groups for careers in advertising and marketing.

PSAs highlight how getting an annual flu shot is the best way to reduce your risk from flu and its potentially serious complications, protect your loved ones, and enjoy the holiday season

The new national study from Paramount Media Networks & MTV Entertainment Studios and the Ad Council Research Institute provides organizations with tools to motivate voter turnout Abortion rights is the top issue among young people, followed by women’s rights, healthcare and the economy

Nonprofits the Ad Council and Opportunity@Work lead landmark partnership of employers, talent developers and nonprofits on behalf of the majority of U.S. workers without a bachelor’s degree