NRECA’s Connect Conference returns to an in-person format May 3-5 in Seattle and will present a wide array of learning and networking opportunities for electric cooperative communicators and marketing and member services professionals.

This year’s event, headquartered at the Hyatt Regency Seattle, offers a hybrid version of live and online content. “We are livestreaming four general sessions and recording 30 of the nearly 50 breakout sessions. We’ll then package those into on-demand recordings,” said NRECA’s Jean Capon, senior program manager for the Connect Conference.

Those interested in attending can register on cooperative.com. To receive special rates on hotel rooms through NRECA, book soon—by Monday, April 4.

The conference has been fully virtual the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning March 1, officials in King County, Washington, lifted the vaccine verification requirement.

For those who are unable or prefer not to attend in person, Connect Conference Online also includes access to the conference app that enables participants to interact with live attendees, post on the activity feed, view or download materials from breakout sessions, and access recordings after the conference.

Speaker Highlights

This year, there will be four general session speakers. On May 3, opening keynote speaker and violinist/composer Kai Kaight will talk about why some people conform and others invent in “Compose Your World.” He will perform original music.

Touchstone Energy® Cooperative is sponsoring the next day’s general session speaker, Howard Wasdin, a former U.S. Navy SEAL sniper and best-selling author. He will discuss his experiences in Mogadishu, Somalia, as part of Black Hawk Down and the art of servant leadership in “SEAL Team Six: Chronicles of Elite Leadership.”

On May 5, NRECA Chief Scientist Emma Stewart and Senior Vice President of Communications Scott Peterson will discuss cyberthreats in “Your Co-op Has Been Hacked…Now What?” They will review steps NRECA and co-ops are taking to secure digital systems and talk about how communicators can respond to cyber events.

Author, musician and workforce expert Clint Pulver, a 2020 regional Emmy Award winner for a short film, is the final general session speaker. In “United We Stand,” he will discuss how trust and unity create transformational change.

Breakout Sessions

This year’s conference includes nearly 50 breakout sessions, six in-depth pre-conference workshops, six co-op case studies and six roundtable discussion sessions. The sessions will focus on a variety of topics, such as the future of the co-op business model and member services, video storytelling, Google analytics, dealing with activist groups and artificial intelligence.

For more information, email NRECA’s Jean Capon.