By now, you have probably heard that the FGIA Summer Conference will be held virtually, due to the spread of COVID-19 and requests by government leadership to shelter-in-place. This event, previously intended to be held in Chicago, IL, will be hosted on Zoom instead, with sessions taking place on a single track for participants’ convenience. The event dates remain largely unchanged with the conference taking place Tuesday, June 23 through Thursday, June 25. Registration for the virtual Summer Conference will open the week of May 4. However, even though the platform and venue have changed, you can still use social media to network during this event!

Just like at in-person FGIA events, I will be livetweeting select sessions during the conference, including Tuesday morning’s Opening General Session and the address by keynote speaker Dan “Danimal” Hampton, a former NFL player for the Chicago Bears! Hampton will be speaking on the importance of leadership and being able to adapt to change – an especially important topic now, in our current environment. He will reflect on his experience with the Bears and illustrate how the team building and leadership skills he learned are valuable to any work environment.

I will also be live tweeting each day’s conference wrap-up and next-day preview so those on social media are aware of conference highlights as well as what is coming next. Follow the event hashtag #FGIAconf to see these livetweet threads.

In advance of the conference, you can also follow several FGIA staff members on Twitter. Here is a short list of those folks:

• Janice Yglesias, Executive Director (@Janice_Yglesias)
• Angela Dickson, Marketing and Communications Director (@AngelaDDickson)
• Meryl Williams, Communications Coordinator (@MerylWilliams)
• Steven Saffell, Technical Director (@saffell_steven)
• Kathy Krafka Harkema, U.S. Codes and Regulatory Affairs Manager (@KathyKrafka)

And, finally, a great way to keep your hand in the game and make sure other participants know who you are is to post selfies on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook using our event hashtag. Make sure your posts are public and let everyone know you are attending. Share a glimpse at your work-from-home set-up and add a mention of the topics you are most interested in. Use the #FGIAconf hashtag and we will share your post to further your networking reach!