NRECA realizes that we learn and grow by hearing stories from others. We use several platforms to help our members and their partners tell their stories that we believe will help other co-ops. These platforms range from face-to-face meetings and conferences, printed articles in RE Magazine, articles on Cooperative.com, podcasts, social media posts, webinars, and more. If you are an Associate Member of NRECA, we believe you are committed to serving the electric co-ops and we want to hear your stories too! These ideas and stories will be reviewed by several staff at NRECA and, if there is a way we can incorporate your story into one of our platforms, we will be in touch soon!
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Stories can be submitted anytime throughout the year. There’s no guarantee that your ideas/stories will be chosen to be used at one of our events or within one of our communication platforms. However, if we do want to know more, so we can learn more from you, we will call you directly, before we share any details on your story.
Annual Conferences & Meetings Schedule
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[tab title="January"]
CEO Close-Up Conference —An exclusive, annual event for electric co-op CEOs and general managers that provides unparalleled opportunities to enhance leadership skills, expand their professional network, and equip them for the 21st century challenges facing their co-ops.
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[tab title="February%20or%20March"]
Directors Conference — The annual national event designed to provide electric cooperative board members with the governance skills and education needed to enhance the effectiveness of electric cooperatives nationwide.
TechAdvantage Conference —The premier event for electric cooperative engineering, operations, information technology, purchasing and supply chain management professionals. It offers leading edge strategies to reduce costs, enhance reliability and increase service quality through a variety of general and breakout presentations, a hands-on, “kick the tires” solutions expo, and peer discussion forums.
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[tab title="May"]
CONNECT Conference —The annual national conference for electric cooperative communication, marketing, and member service professionals. It features presentations on best practices, resources and creative tools to enhance member engagement and improve marketing outcomes; information on new energy innovations and technologies; and opportunities to expand professional contacts and network with colleagues from across the nation.
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INTERACT Conference — The professional development conference for human resources, employee relations and benefits professionals in electric cooperatives. The program addresses today’s most challenging workforce issues like benefits administration, recruiting, compensation, wellness, regulatory compliance, employee performance and much more. The same conference is presented at two different locations during the summer months to allow as many co-op professionals to attend.
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[tab title="August"]
Tax, Finance and Accounting Conference for Cooperatives — Offered in collaboration with the National Society of Accountants for Cooperatives, this is the premier national conference for co-op tax, finance and accounting professionals. The program is designed to allow participants to tailor their conference experience to meet their professional needs and learning styles. It offers proven strategies, tools, and resources to help co-ops increase efficiencies, improve financial controls, streamline regulatory compliance and make transactions manageable.
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[tab title="September%2FOctober"]
PowerUp Conference — The national conference for electric cooperative executive and administrative professionals. The program includes a variety of learning activities and formats, including interactive breakout presentations, intensive skills-building workshops, roundtable discussions, motivational general presentations and opportunities to build a network with administrative professionals from across the country. Participants walk away with new skills and resources that help improve efficiency and productivity.
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[tab title="Spring%20or%20Fall"]
Safety Leadership Summit —This national meeting brings together co-op leaders from across the organization to learn and share leading practices to affect transformative safety improvement at the co-op and across the network. By engaging with safety leaders from co-ops all over the country, participants learn what’s helping to reduce injuries and accidents and improve safety performance.
Spring or Fall - held every 18 months
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Questions to Consider:
- Is your story educational or a sales marketing proposal?
- What are the actionable items that listeners will take away from this story?
- Is this a Co-op/Vendor partnership story?
- Is the idea a real-world case study or more theoretical/academic?
- How applicable is this story to cooperatives?
- Which of the cooperative principles, if any, does the story address?
Cooperative Principles
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Voluntary and Open Membership – Everyone in the service territory is welcome to be a member.
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Democratic Member Control – Every member has a say in every major decision.
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Members’ Economic Participation – Co-op members put equity into the cooperative.
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Autonomy and Independence – Cooperatives are self-reliant and self-governed organizations.
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Education, Training & Information – Cooperatives educate members, elected representatives, and the public, particularly young people and opinion leaders.
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Cooperative Among Cooperatives – By working together, electric cooperatives become a powerful national network.
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Concern for Community – Cooperatives focus on the needs of the community at large.
