Building Trust on a Tight Budget: Practical Strategies for One-Person Shops
Date: 7/22/2026
Time: 11:05 AM - 12:15 PM
Room: Grand Ballroom A & B (Floor 1)
Skill Session - Live lecture, panel discussion or interactive session with time for Q&A. 60-minutes.
TACTICS–Tactics, activities and tools in communications
Session Description
School districts across the nation are grappling with increasing budget constraints. Now more than ever, school communications professionals must regularly demonstrate their value while working with increasingly limited resources and high expectations for results. Coupled with ongoing skepticism in many communities regarding the -need- for dedicated public relations/communications professionals, the pressure to deliver can be overwhelming.
This session will support PR professionals, especially those early in their careers or who are one-person departments. It will be especially useful for those working in districts with little to no discretionary budget.
Drawing from my experience and demonstrated success in a small and famously frugal community, this presentation will demonstrate how authenticity, consistency, and -free tools- can bring positive change, build trust, and deliver measurable results that hold their own when compared to high-cost approaches.
Using my home district as a case study, we will highlight how:
*Research into community perceptions and values informed our communications plan
*Free tools support more authentic storytelling and foster curiosity and connection
*Strengthening existing relationships delivers measurable impact
*In a world focused on innovation and the new, bigger, better thing…sometimes the most simple and basic acts have the greatest impact on your stakeholders
Presenter(s)
Kari Klebba
Communications-Community Outreach Coordinator
School District of Milton
Kari Klebba serves as the Communications, Community Outreach and Safety Coordinator for the School District of Milton in Wisconsin, where she leads district communications as a one-person department. She supports approximately 3,400 students and their families while engaging staff and community members across a fiscally conservative community.
Klebba entered school communications from a background in non-profit public relations and public history, bringing with her a strong foundation in storytelling, community engagement, and mission-driven communication. That experience shaped her approach to school communications, with a focus on authenticity, accessibility, and building trust through consistent, community centered messaging.
Since joining the School District of Milton, she has developed and sustained multiple districtwide initiatives using primarily free and low cost tools. Her work has helped strengthen trust in the district, increased community engagement, and supported major district efforts including enrollment initiatives and referendum information campaigns.
Her work has been recognized by the Wisconsin School Public Relations Association, where she has received Awards of Excellence for four consecutive years. In 2024, she was honored with the organization's top honor, The Lighthouse Award for her Red Hawk Signing Day program. LinkedIn Profile
Building Trust on a Tight Budget: Practical Strategies for One-Person Shops
Category
Skill Session - Live lecture, panel discussion or interactive session with time for Q&A. 60-minutes.