Founder and chair of The Holmes Group, Paul Holmes delivered a presentation titled “The Future of Truth” to a standing-room-only crowd in the auditorium at Wallis Annenberg Hall during the 27th annual Kenneth Owler Smith (KOS) Symposium. In addition to offering opportunities for USC Annenberg students to network with PR professionals, the event included the release of its second annual Global Communications Report(GCR17). The report is the center’s signature publication, a comprehensive survey of more than 800 public relations executives from around the world.

Twenty three time Gold Medalist Michael Phelps spoke in a conversation along with Dick Ebersol and USC Annenberg Professor Alan Abrahamson. The event was titled "A Conversation with Dick Ebersol" and took place on March 21, 2017. Ebersol is the former chairman of NBC Sports & Olympics. He brought you Sunday Night Football. Moreover, Ebersol, along with Lorne Michaels (whom he hired), conceived and created "Saturday Night Live."

Baseball player turned Fox Sports' Analyst, Alex Rodriguez spoke to an audience of USC students and faculty during his visit to the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism on March 1, 2017. USC Annenberg School for Journalism Director and incoming Dean of USC Annenberg Willow Bay welcomed Alex Rodriguez and he spoke on a wide ranging discussion about the state of baseball and his transition to the broadcasting booth.

The 2017 High School Journalism Day took place on February 24, 2017 at Wallis Annenberg Hall. During the morning welcome, Marc Brown, ABC journalist and Annenberg grad, spoke with local high school students about his career path from USC Annenberg. Barbara Estrada, founder of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists chapter at USC, also spoke to local high school students about her experience at USC Annenberg.

USC Annenberg's Center for Public Relations and Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative (MDSCI), along with Humana, hosted "Over Sixty, Underestimated: A Healthy Look at the Silver Screen," a panel discussion on the portrayal of aging in Hollywood films on Feb. 16, 2017.

The Online News Association’s 2017 Women’s Leadership Accelerator took place at USC Annenberg February 5–10. The weeklong forum focused on developing strong leadership skills for women working in digital journalism. In addition to sessions with women leaders in the media industry, participants heard from experts in the Los Angeles media community and worked closely with mentors on their personal projects.

Whalen Rozelle (Director, eSports, Riot Games) joined Journalism professor and M{2e} co-director Gabriel Kahn, Communication professor, Dmitri Williams, for an in-depth conversation on Feb. 6 about the growth of eSports across linear, social, and digital platforms. The event was part of the M{2e} Spring 2017 Speaker Series: Sports Programming in the Post-TV Era.