MORE Excellence World Conference 2026: Italy at the Heart of International PR

Modena and Sassuolo, 12–14 March 2026. For the first time in Italy, the global conference of the MORE Agencies network. Three days of work, agencies from every corner of the world, one single theme: where is communication heading, and who truly wants to lead it.

An event that leaves a mark

This week Modena and Sassuolo became the centre of gravity of international public relations. Not by decree, but because we worked to build it. The annual conference of the MORE Agencies network came to Italy for the first time: MiRò Comunicazione and Exprimo were its co-organisers. Thirty-five agencies from around the world, four days, a programme built with no room for the obvious.

What MORE Agencies is

MORE Agencies is an international network of agencies specialising in PR, Public Affairs and Marketing. The model is straightforward: independent agencies, deeply rooted in their local markets, that choose to work as a single cohesive unit when a project calls for it. Not a multinational with branches, but something more interesting: partners who truly know their territory.

Today the network comprises 31 agencies across 35 countries, more than 600 professionals and over 700 active clients.

Hosting the global conference in Italy is a recognition we do not take lightly. It confirms that the work built over fifteen years carries weight — beyond Italian borders too.

The programme: three days with no room for filler

Thursday 12 March, the welcome dinner at Cinema Cavour — one of the most beautiful venues in the heart of Modena — officially opened proceedings. Friday 13 was the most intensive day: agency presentations, strategic vision sessions, and in the afternoon conversations with guests from very different worlds, including Ducati, Philip Morris, Cision, the University of Pavia, Poonki, and Furious Squad.

Saturday 14 the scene shifted to Exprimo’s offices in Sassuolo. The morning was dedicated to generating new business through the network; the afternoon to a Design Thinking Workshop — one of the most effective tools for dismantling problems and rebuilding them so that real solutions can emerge.

The speakers: quality without compromise

A conference is only as good as the people who fill it. The round table that opened the proceedings, moderated by Barbara Bontempi, was one of the most substantial sessions. With Germana Barba, a seasoned Public Affairs Advisor, and Veronica Biava, Global Product Communication Manager at Ducati Motor Holding, the stage was entirely female.

Paolo Borghi, a labour sociologist at the University of Pavia, broadened the perspective with data worth reflecting on: 34 out of 36 participants in his study cited ChatGPT as their primary tool for content production. That is not AI adoption. That is dependency on a single tool. The real question he placed on the table was whether agencies are using AI to free up time for strategic thinking, or merely to produce more of the same, faster.

On the technology front, Salvo Lisi of Poonki and Martina Cuman of Furious Squad advanced the conversation on artificial intelligence applied to communication: real tools, real workflows, real impact on day-to-day work. Sara Rodrigues and Susanna Contu of Cision brought it full circle on the topic of measurement.

Why Emilia-Romagna is the right place

Bringing communication professionals from around the world here is a living lesson in what it means to build reputation over time. “Leave behind everything you think you know about Italy” was the opening line of the keynote.

It is not merely a geographical question. Emilia-Romagna is one of the most compelling regions in the world for those working in industrial communication and brand building. Ferrari, Ducati, Maserati, Lamborghini, Pagani, Dallara: the Motor Valley is not a slogan — it is a productive ecosystem that has built its global narrative without ever stopping making extraordinary things. And Sassuolo is the world capital of ceramics: a district that has spent decades learning how to communicate manufacturing excellence.

The people. The fabric.

A network is not a contact list. It is a fabric. And fabrics only hold together if you put your hands in every now and then.

What remains are the people: Paula Carvalho from Portugal, Natália Melo from Brazil — a new addition to the network — bringing energy and perspective that expand everyone’s horizons. Eduardo Castro Uprimny from Ecuador, Hector Figari Costa from Peru, Fida Amran from Singapore, Eva Torra from Finland. Agencies from every corner of the world sitting at the same table not to share slides, but to build something real.

And what also remains is the philosophy that Pablo Binkowski, the network’s founder, summed up with no room for ambiguity: less talk, more action. Less noise, more intent. Less distraction, more excellence.

What remains, after

There is a question we ask ourselves every time we organise or attend a professional event: what stays? Not the selfies, not the lanyards, not the slides.

What stays is whatever has shifted in the way we work, think, and collaborate. The MORE Excellence World Conference 2026 was also a public demonstration of a particular way of understanding PR: not as a support service, but as a strategic function that generates measurable value for organisations. That is what we teach, that is what we do, and that is what we have built fifteen years of MiRò’s history upon.