Heineken USA's Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Josephine (Fien) Bertrams discusses the challenges of delivering responsible alcohol consumption messages to 1 billion consumers every year and novel approaches such as discouraging drunk driving and encouraging rideshare credit redemption with Waze app messaging. "As consumer preferences and habits change, we've evolved with them to deliver messages of responsible consumption in the moments and places of highest impact," writes Bertrams.

College educators discuss the importance of teaching diversity, equity and inclusion in the classroom and nurturing up-and-coming PR professionals to be socially conscious and open-minded. Vivian Davila, APR, a graduate faculty member of Sacred Heart University in Puerto Rico, believes faculty members need to recognize their "implicit biases" and create a safe space where students can be heard, acknowledged and treated as equals.

Corporate communications professionals are increasingly valued and are playing a more important strategic role in organizations, finds an Edelman study. Edelman's US Chief Operating Officer Jim O'Leary predicts, "the trend is going to continue" due to the fundamental changes of the corporate communicator role.

Leading fashion brands are trying to appear new and fresh, attract youthful audiences and save money by forgoing evergreen social media and paid content in favor of short-lived content that can disappear in as little as 24 hours, according to industry experts. "When you look at how often retailers change their physical store windows, it makes sense to change social media content frequently too," says Cody Eastmond, Science Magic's senior director of digital marketing.

Better writing and less awful PowerPoint presentations are two essential skills for communicating in the workplace today, write Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. "Where a picture can tell the story better, they should substitute meaningful charts and images in place of the words -- a critical step if they are going to cut by half the number of words in the presentation," they write.

Forbes Agency Council members offer tips to help brands maximize their Facebook and Instagram Stories to drive website traffic and sales. Advice includes using compelling creative, calls to action and sticker links; using music, hashtags and location tags to enhance organic search results; and encouraging visits by spotlighting "Secret Story" discount codes.

Taking time to develop skills and showing patience when networking and executing ideas can pay off in the long-run, writes author and business school professor Dorie Clark. "A key part of playing the long game is building long-term relationships, and the fastest way to blow that up is to ask a new contact for a favor too soon," Clark writes.

Job applicants should work with a recruiter to get their resume in front of hiring managers; send a thank-you note via email or postal mail within 12 hours of an interview; and check back after two weeks with a mention of something from the interview or industry information worth sharing, career experts advise. Job-search strategist Kamara Toffolo also offers an unexpected step to take if you don't land the job.

Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make it in today's ever-evolving environment at the 2021 Technology Section Virtual Conference, taking place Nov. 3-4. Cybersecurity, data privacy, bitcoin and artificial intelligence are just some of the hot topics that you'll learn more about at this upcoming conference. Register today!