13 top takeaways from Ragan’s 2026 Internal Communications Conference

Earlier this week at Microsoft HQ in Redmond, Washington, internal communicators gathered to share their perspectives on the state of communications and what they think will define internal comms’ role in the coming years. We heard from dozens of comms leaders who discussed how AI affects internal communicators, how comms can earn influence with the C-suite and how to focus on metrics that put the business first.

We’ve put together a list of some of the most memorable lessons we learned at the conference to give you a sense of what it was like to be in the room where it happened.

1. “Stories don’t travel because brands publish them. Stories travel because people carry them.” – Matt Prince, Sweetgreen

2. “Everyone can read your core values. But can you define them? Build them from the junior people up, not the senior people down.” – Scott Pansky, Sandbox Lessons

3. “People are afraid to lead outside the C-suite. You should be the people leading the charge. Your colleagues will be grateful.” – David Gardner, The New York Times

4. “If you don’t involve your employees when you’re changing the way they work, you’re not going to get it right.” – Katy George, Microsoft

5. “If you’re outsourcing your unique point of view to AI, stop it. Use the tools, learn the tools, embrace the tools, but don’t outsource your judgment. Your judgment is uniquely yours.” – Hillary Omdal, SAP

6. “Every time someone comes to you with a request, ask what they want employees to know, do and feel. A lot of times they haven’t thought about it, because they’re focused on what they want to say, not how employees will experience it.” – Allison Houston, The Gates Foundation

7. “Ask yourself: Why does this matter? Peel back the layers until you get to the business metrics. If you can’t explain why a metric makes a difference, it’s not the right one. The metrics that matter connect directly to the business outcomes you’re after.” – Becky Graebe, SAS

8. “Everyone wants to feel connected to something that is not just tasks and emails. We focus on listening, telling better stories and building systems.” Laura Krenek, Esri

9. “Stay focused on outcomes, not outputs. Customize message to speak leader’s language.” Catherine McGlown, Pathward

10. “Hard to reach does not mean hard to engage.” – Diana Sweis, JP Morgan

11. “I don’t like calling it change. I like calling it continuous improvement. With change, we’re almost saying what you were doing before was wrong. With continuous improvement, we’re saying what you did was great at the time, but now we have new technologies, new abilities and new needs.” – Rae Moss, Fermilab

12. “Write for the reader, not the approver.” – Annie Burt, Nemours Children’s Health

13. “When you’re having conversations, whether they’re big or small, make sure you’ve got a deep understanding of your audience. Otherwise, they might pass your message by.” – Mahogani Chery, Subway

Did you miss this conference and want more comms insights? Join us in Austin for Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference this November 11-13.

Sean Devlin is the senior internal communications editor at Ragan. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.