Plus, now that social media permeates every aspect of government communications, it's often front and center at many conferences.
Here's a short list of five must-attend conferences being held this fall that should be on your radar, including a very special, fee-free (un)conference hosted by GovTech Social.
1. National Information Officers Association Annual Conference // Aug. 28-31 in Nashville, Tenn.
The National Information Officers Association (NIOA) is dedicated to Public Information Officers (PIOs) and other government communicators. Since NIOA held its first annual conference 25 years ago, the organization has grown steadily — so much so that this year’s annual conference is sold out! But there is a waiting list, so if you’re hoping for a slot to open up in Music City, reach out to Executive Director Lisa McNeal immediately! I can’t tell you how many times NIOA has come up in conversations with social media practitioners in this past year alone — I hope we’ll see you there!
2. City-County Communicators & Marketing Association Annual Conference // Sept. 7-9 in San Antonio, Texas
The City-County Communicators & Marketing Association (3CMA) is also a popular association for PIOs, city/county managers, and all other staff involved with communications in local government. I’ll be honest — 3CMA is a personal favorite of mine. Each conference brings together an amazing group of highly skilled and passionate government communicators, each of whom have great stories and advice to share. This year’s topics range from, “The Use of Humor in Social Media” to “Developing a Citywide Social Media Campaign.” The conference is very reasonably priced, and there is still space available. See you in San Antonio?
3. National Association of Government Web Professionals Annual Conference // Sept. 20-23 2016 in San Antonio, Texas
A lot of folks in charge of social media wear a lot of hats. For those who wear the hat that involves building and maintaining your agency’s website, then the National Association of Government Web Professionals' (NAGW) Annual Conference is worth checking out. In fact, my very first government association conference experience was at NAGW's Annual Conference — and it couldn’t have been better. NAGW does a great job of bringing nationally recognized speakers to its conference, and the agenda is chock full of hot topics such as responsive design, usability testing and social media (of course). See you in San Antonio — again?
4. International City/County Management Association Annual Conference // Sept. 24-28 in Kansas City, Mo.
With over 3,000 attendees, International City/County Management Association's (ICMA’s) Annual Conference is a massive opportunity to get connected with local government leaders from across the country. Topics range from neighborhood revitalization to open data, and since social media touches almost every aspect of government today, it is sure to be a common thread throughout the discussions. I am excited to attend for the first time, and e.Republic Chief Innovation Officer Dustin Haisler will be there as well. Given the size of the crowd, we might not run into you, but feel free to tweet me @anilchawla and I’ll be happy to coordinate an impromptu GovTech Social meetup.
5. The GovTech Social Unconference // Oct. 6-7 in Denver
As the name implies, we’ve designed our very own GovTech Social Unconference to be a bit different than the usual conference format in order to maximize value. For starters, this day-and-a-half event is dedicated solely to social media. We’ve lined up a group of award-winning influencers in government social media to keynote the event, but on top of that, we’ve designed the event to allow each of you to take center stage. The nature of an unconference is to provide a grass-roots, democratic platform for pitching topics and forming ad-hoc sessions based on what you care about the most. We, the hosts of the GovTech Social Podcast, will be there to facilitate the event and meet each of you face-to-face. Oh, and did I mention that tickets to the conference itself are complimentary? Space is limited, so sign up today!
If you can find the funds, attending any one of these conferences will be time and money well spent for you and your agency.
I hope to see you at these conferences, but if not, at least find and follow the conference hashtags! For those of you who have attended the conferences above, which one would you pick if you could only choose one? Are there other social media-related events our audience should know about it? Leave a comment below and let me know!
