GSMCON2024 detailed session descriptions: Over 40 speakers!

Nov 27, 2023

This blog has been updated on March 6, 2024 to include additional session descriptions.

The 2024 Government Social Media Conference – the premier event for government professionals – is happening April 16-18, 2024. Only virtual tickets are still available!

Join 1,000+ of your fellow socialgovs to hear from speakers like Jon-Stephen Stansel, Crisis Ready Institute founder Melissa Agnes and over 40 industry leaders at GSMCON2024. Detailed session descriptions are available below to help you plan your unique conference experience!

Attendees can expect 2.5 days filled with actionable sessions, genuine networking opportunities and much more. Make GSMCON exactly what you need to succeed with topics and session labeling for tracks and levels (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) and topics that matter most to you in your role

Get your virtual ticket today before registration closes - here’s how to register now for your virtual ticket.

More speakers, sessions, special activities and keynotes will be announced as we continue to develop our GSMCON2024 program happening in Palm Springs, California in person and online, April 16-18, 2024. Stay in-the-know by subscribing to our newsletter.

General Sessions

General sessions include keynote-level conversations and panels that all participants will attend at the same time. More exciting General Session updates will be announced soon!

November 29, 2023 update: We're excited to announce Jon-Stephen Stansel is joining the GSMCON2024 lineup as the opening keynote!

Keynote: SocialGov Unfiltered: Insights on the Growing Influence of Social Media Roles
Jon-Stephen Stansel, Social Media Strategist
Join Jon-Stephen as he shares candid insights from his unique journey managing social media across government, education, and worldwide brands. He'll dive into the realities of the role, the challenges that shape a social media manager, and a vision for a more empowered and central role for social media professionals in the future.

General Session Panel: Balancing Acts in Social Media: Tackling Burnout, Managing Up, and Future-Proofing Your Career
Chris Hsiung, Undersheriff for the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office
Frances La Rue, Public Affairs Manager for the City of Anna, Texas
Katie Grant, Communications Director for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
The panel will discuss three key topics. Learn practical strategies for managing burnout in the fast-paced world of social media, discover practical ways to communicate with your manager to garner essential support, and explore the future of social media careers. Gain valuable insights into creating a supportive workplace culture, vocalizing your needs to management, and charting a course for a lasting and fulfilling career in the dynamic and challenging field of social media.

General Session: AI in Government: Decoding the Future for SocialGov Professionals
Kristy Dalton, GSM Founder
Ariana Donley, GSM Social Media Manager
Join GSM Founder Kristy Dalton and Social Media Manager Ariana Donley in a forward-looking keynote conversation on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in transforming government communication. This session serves as a timely "where are we now" update, building on the insights shared at last year's event. Kristy and Ariana will explore how AI continues to evolve within the public sector, highlighting its potential to innovate services and impact social media management, alongside the challenges it presents, from ethical considerations to amplifying misinformation. This engaging session shares actionable advice to help you stay in the driver’s seat, whether you’re open to AI, hesitant or resistant. Don’t miss this insightful discussion!

Keynote: Humans of Public Service - Shine Your Light
Brian Whittaker, Founder, Humans of Public Service
Join us for an inspiring session to hear how gratitude and recognition were created from tragedy and despair. We will identify ways to tap into our power and say goodbye to the days when we wait for someone else to empower us. We will discuss how to use social media to create trust in government and empathy for people who serve. Get ready to use your power to shine light and shape a brighter future for all.

Extended Breakout Sessions (1-hour)

This year, up to four concurrent breakout sessions will happen simultaneously, and we’re offering two different lengths for breakout sessions. In these Extended Breakout Sessions, attendees can expect extra time for a deeper dive into topics and ample time for live Q&A. All attendees can view available recordings on-demand for 3 months after the event.

AI: Your Ultimate Productivity Partner (Advanced)
Zack Seipert, Central Utah Water Conservancy District
Join us for an immersive experience where we’ll delve deep into the AI-driven landscape, transforming the way we approach government communications and social media. But here’s the kicker – it’s not just theory. We’re talking walkthroughs and hands-on experiences to ensure you leave with tangible knowledge and skills to apply right away!

Discover how AI can revolutionize content creation, boost engagement, and streamline your workflow. We’ll guide you through real-world applications to help you harness AI’s power to make your job as a government communicator more efficient and effective on platforms including:

ChatGPT

Google Bard

Adobe Firefly

Photoshop Beta

Midjourney

DallE

Canva AI

ElevenLabs
And more!

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to master the AI tools that are changing the game for communicators. Get ready for a session that’s not just about talking; it’s about doing. See you there!

Balance & Wellness Strategies for Busy Communication Professionals (Beginner)
April Leonard, Kansas City Missouri Health Department
Andrea Watts, City of Kansas City, Missouri
This session is a must-attend for all government professionals, regardless of experience or organization size! You'll learn both mental and physical self-care practices, emphasizing the significance of teamwork, self-care, advocacy, and balance. This hands-on session will provide actionable takeaways for mental health, work-life balance, ergonomics tailored to the needs of media managers, detaching in work-from-home/hybrid environments, utilizing untapped employer resources and more. Leave this session feeling empowered to navigate your careers with confidence and mindfulness and to take your social media presence to the next level while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Bringing the Pop into Government Culture (Intermediate)
Meredith Haynes, City of McKinney
Abby Aldrich, City of Bedford
We’re in our local government comms era! Are you ready for it…? Join us as we explore how to draw inspiration from pop culture icons, including Taylor Swift, Barbie, NSYNC, the NFL, and others to create compelling, educational, and relatable social media content. This session will inject fresh, pop-infused Ken-ergy into your social media strategy, leaving you with creative ideas to redefine public service and engage with your community like never before.

If you’re thinking, “My agency would never allow this,” stay with us! Not only are we sharing tons of pop culture inspiration from across the country, but we’ll show you how to build trust with your leadership and get them on board. Get ready to say “Bye, Bye, Bye” to lackluster content and “Hello, It’s Me…” to a brand new strategy.

Framework for Building a Strong & Consistent Brand Policy (Intermediate)
Ashtyn Reaugh, City of Tulsa
Michelle Brooks, City of Tulsa
A strong brand identity is more than just a logo, colors, and font. In this session, you will hear how the City of Tulsa redesigned the City’s brand identity with the future in mind and learn how a strategic implementation plan ensured that there would be both leadership and employee buy-in and that residents would quickly notice the new brand, especially on social media. This session will highlight the research and redesign process and teach attendees how to craft a strategic plan for social media, develop a brand policy for their agency and ways to evaluate internal and external implementation. Finally, we will highlight simple steps that a team of any size can take to ensure brand consistency throughout their organization and communication channels.

How to Best Handle a Visit by a ‘First Amendment Auditor’ (Intermediate)
Dylan Luciano, Concord Police Department
As a government employee, knowledge of the first amendment is a must. With the rising cases of First Amendment auditors, having a game plan to prepare and react to such events is critical. As social media communicators, you may have a limited impact on the event itself, but your role can be instrumental in the social media responses.

This session will cover what to expect for a 1A auditor, how to best prepare your staff for the interaction, common fallouts from online postings of such interactions and how to brand your agencies responses to these types of events.

Dylan Luciano has not only assumed social media responsibilities for these types of events, but has been involved in several 1A auditor events. This session will cover real life examples of 1A auditors, from the good, the bad and the ugly and how agencies can best manage a visit from a 1A auditor after the event.

How to Shake Things Up When You’ve Done This Awhile (Advanced)
Jessie Brown, Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Grab the flippers, we’re going for a deep dive into our content, routines and approaches to see what’s working, what’s not, and frankly, what bores us on our social presences. While any social pro can benefit from regular content and platform audits, this session is designed for the SocialGov vets who have put blood, sweat, tears (and lots of caffeine) into building their agency presences over the last 5 to 10+ years. We’ll talk about detailed audits and how to break out of content ruts, say no to what doesn’t work, spark the ol’ creativity again and banish burnout.

Include Your Whole Audience: Inclusive and Accessible Communications (Beginner)
Jeff Selby, City of Portland Office of Equity
Our communities rely on us to provide access and information that they can understand in a meaningful way. In this interactive presentation, Jeff Selby provides equity and inclusion strategies to help us avoid exclusion or unintentional harm in our public outreach and engagement.

In this session, you will:

Engage in an implicit bias exercise to learn how unconscious thought affects our assumptions about diverse audiences, including communities of color and people with disabilities.
Learn critical thinking skills and inclusive content creation strategies to build better connection with our communities and ensure equitable access to social media content.
Receive a comprehensive Inclusive Writing Guide resource to aid in your content creation.

Reel Success: Instagram’s Creative Magic for Public Agency Outreach (Intermediate)
Wendy Aguilar, Sacramento Fire Department
Instagram Reels has emerged as a dynamic platform for delivering impactful messages. Learn how the Sacramento Fire Department quickly expanded its reach with these short form videos as you dive deep into the world of Instagram Reels and discover how to transform mundane content into captivating, informative, and shareable videos. Walk away with practical knowledge in:

Mastering Transitions: Learn the art of smooth and eye-catching transitions to elevate your Instagram Reels.

Content Ideas: Explore strategies to consistently generate fresh and engaging content ideas.

Effective Storytelling: Discover how to tell impactful stories within the constraints of short-form video.
Engaging with Your Audience: Understand the importance of two-way communication and community engagement on Instagram, building stronger connections with your community.

Set up a DEI Framework that Prioritizes Accessibility & Inclusive Content (Intermediate)
Kaitlin Keeler, Oakland County
Harry Weaver III, Oakland County
Join us for a session led by Oakland County's leaders in DEI and marketing communications, for guidance on incorporating a DEI framework into your social media strategy. This includes mastering the art of crafting inclusive content that resonates with diverse audiences while avoiding bias, complete with content guidelines and practical tips for engaging and accessible social media posts. The session will also cover the importance of web accessibility in DEI, showcasing tools and techniques for ensuring digital content is accessible to all. Additionally, participate in a respectful open dialogue in our safe space, fostering mutual learning and collaboration through a question-and-answer session.

Social Science Meets Social Media — Get the Most Out of Your Analytics (Advanced)
Bronlea Mishler, Bronlea M Consulting, LLC
Kristin Williams, NineteenEleven Consulting
Your social media analytics can tell you a lot more about your community than you might realize. In this advanced session you’ll take a deep dive with a PhD social scientist into all of the data your social analytics can give you. Learn what your community values and how to turn those insights into actionable change and improved community engagement. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of what metrics are important to track based on their agency’s communications goals and objectives, and tactics for effectively implementing new ideas on social media in response to what their community values. Participants will also leave with a customizable analytics tracking worksheet that will allow them to document their progress week over week, year over year.

Supreme Court Weighs In on How the First Amendment Governs Social Media Comments (Advanced)
Mark Weaver, Communications Counsel, Inc.
Acclaimed past presenter at GSMCON, Mark R. Weaver Esq., returns to shed light on the profound implications of the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning public officials and their social media accounts. Renowned nationwide for his expertise in First Amendment and Social Media law, Mark’s session promises not just insightful analysis but actionable strategies tailored for government agencies in the wake of the first United States Supreme Court case decision about the First Amendment and social media in 233 years.

The Governor Killed My TikTok: Pivoting Social Media Amid Adversity (Intermediate)
Leigh Gibson, Intrepid
Aimee Colton, Utah Department of Transportation
After the Utah governor joined several other states in banning TikTok on state devices, UDOT’s wildly popular account was promptly shut down. Depressed and dejected, the UDOT communications team licked their wounds and found a way to rebound. By pivoting to Instagram Reels, UDOT is reaching more people than ever. Whether you’re starting from scratch or having to pivot after a major change, this session will teach you UDOT has taken its formula for success from TikTok and adapted that to create success on other platforms. You’ll learn how to engage your audience through social-first video content that is entertaining, engaging and educational. Every social platform prioritizes video content, and UDOT will highlight how social-first video content can be a powerful tool for any department.

Turning Point: Adjusting Your Comms Strategy During a Major Incident (Intermediate)
Michael Burns, Georgia State Patrol
Major events or incidents can sometimes be turning points for your communications strategies or policies - what happens when you're faced with one of these moments? How can you not only manage your agency's reputation, but also feed your community the info they need? Get strategies you need to write your own narrative and tackle misinformation from the get go, advice on working with partner agencies and take a look at examples to see these tips in action. We'll also draw from this first-hand experience on how the Georgia Department of Public Safety handled the viral, worldwide video involving a street racing arrest in Atlanta and how we capitalized on it for recruiting and community engagement.

Breakout Sessions (45-minute)

These 45-minute Breakout Sessions (our regular session length since post-pandemic) will also feature up to four concurrent breakout sessions simultaneously. Speakers will present their content and leave time for live Q&A at the end of their session!

Empowering Leadership & Colleagues to Shape Policy Using Social Feedback (Advanced)
Warren Kagarise, King County, WA
Recognizing social media as a platform for meaningful conversations rather than just a broadcasting tool is a cornerstone principle for experienced socialgov pros. Yet, it remains a constant challenge for many agencies to show colleagues and leadership how to utilize the valuable feedback sourced from social media. In this advanced-level session, participants will delve into sophisticated techniques for creating feedback mechanisms that are both accessible and engaging to the public. Additionally, they will learn strategies to help colleagues and decision-makers understand the critical role of social media feedback in shaping informed and effective policymaking.

How to Be Everywhere at Once: Empowering Your Peers to Create Content (Intermediate)
Matt Wettengel, South Suburban Parks and Recreation
Whether you’re flying solo or part of a team, you can save time and collect engaging, organic content with a little help from your peers. Social media pros can’t be everywhere at once, and your organization is full of experts out in the field who can capture the photos and videos you need. This session will explore how to get buy-in from other employees, teams, and departments to bolster your organization’s organic social content. We’ll cover what those conversations and outreach efforts might look like, as well as strategies for educating your peers on how to capture (and send you) the best content possible with a tool we all have on hand – cell phones!

OnlyFans for #SocialGov (And the Science of Capturing Audience Attention) (Intermediate)
Richard Yeakley, City of Longview

Do clickbait titles work?

Why do we love the sound of our own name?

What colors catch the eye the most?

Why are questions and lists so dadgum compelling?

Every day we are bombarded with up to 10,000 advertisements, so how do #socialgovs break through the noise to capture and hold our audience’s attention?

We'll discuss all this and more as we look at the science of human attention and practical application for our work as socialgovs. Attendees will leave feeling empowered knowing that through the application of some simple psychological tricks - like personalization, newsjacking, interactive content, creating a hook, and color theory - they can turbocharge their content to make a lasting impact.

Roadmap for Public Safety Comms (Beginner)
Monica Williams, City of Maricopa
Mikayla Moskov, Horry County Government
Public safety communication requires a unique level of access and information, so how do you make it happen when you’re not automatically part of the agency in-crowd? No matter your role or title, navigating workplace politics and agency expectations can be a delicate dance. We’re here to be your very own communication coaches. In this session, we will explore the unique challenges at play in public safety communications, provide a playbook of gritty strategies for gaining trust, and develop a roadmap for building buy-in with your agency so you can do what you do best. New and experienced communicators alike will come away with new tactics to gain or reinforce the communicator's rightful spot at the table and set up systems that serve both you and your community.

Telling Your Story to Amplify the Good (Beginner)
Roshanda Pratt, For Goodness Sakes
Facts tell but stories sell. Storytelling is a foundational way to build public trust and credibility. Hear a 20-year television news veteran share how to extract compelling stories, ethical approaches to sharing personal narratives, and how to unearth hidden stories to drive authentic messaging, including how to tell your story in 3 powerful words, a skill essential for delivering impactful and memorable messages.

The Art of Crisis Communication and Leadership (Advanced)
Melissa Agnes, Founder and CEO, Crisis Ready Institute

Crises are emotionally charged situations for all parties involved. From leadership and decision-makers, to the internal teams, straight through to the impacted external parties, when it comes to crisis management, there's no avoiding emotion—or social media's mass escalation of it. In fact, the more you can understand and embrace the emotions felt, how they're shared and escalated online, along with the courage to lean into them and speak to and through them, the stronger your crisis management success will be and the less Crisis Response Penalties (CRP) you'll suffer.

Unfortunately, this isn't something we were taught in school. So, how does one learn to communicate in a way that truly leads stakeholders through a crisis when, as the Crisis Ready Rule states, "you can't beat emotion with logic?"

This is the very question Melissa Agnes, Founder and CEO of Crisis Ready Institute, answers in her session.

In this session, Melissa will unpack the emotions at-play in times of crisis and provide professionals with practical, tactical, and strategic ways to understand them and communicate to them, in order to quickly de-escalate an emotionally charged situation and connect deeply and powerfully with those who matter most to the agency.

Using Your Social Media Audit to Plan (Advanced)
Marian Doucette, Huron Perth Public Health
Audits can be a scary concept, until you think of them as a review or check-up. In addition to identifying strengths and weaknesses, you can obtain valuable information to make data-driven decisions about your social media strategy.

During this advanced social media audit session, you'll discover how to build your successful framework to complete your audit, identify impactful benchmarks, interpret that data in context with your public service goals, and then share your findings in a meaningful way with leadership. We'll also look at:

Factors you can consider quarterly to make improvements

Tools to set you and your audit up for success as a one-person shop
What actions you can take to overall improve your performance and framing your data to align with SMART goals

Attendees will walk away with tools, and a process that even a single-person department can handle, for successfully conducting a social media audit that produces positive results.

Utilizing Inclusive Social Media Strategies to Build Civic Trust (Intermediate)
Stathi Patseas, NYC Civic Engagement Commission
How do you build an effective, low-budget, inclusive communications plan in a city of 8.9 million people who speak over 700 languages and have varying access to technology? This is the question that was asked of the NYC Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) ahead of launching the first-ever citywide participatory budgeting process in August of 2022. In this session, NYC CEC’s Communications Director will break down in detail the work of identifying how to effectively message and disseminate information, measure impact, utilize validators, build accessible creative content, primarily utilizing social media as a tool for inclusive communication.

Speed Sessions

Back by popular demand, we're thrilled to reintroduce Speed Sessions for GSMCON2024, extended now to 15-minutes for each talk! Get ready for fast-paced presentations where you'll walk away with high-impact, actionable advice from two speakers in each session block.

Best Practices for LinkedIn (Advanced)
Erica Pyatt, Senior Manager – Public Sector, Nonprofit & Higher Education, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Join us for a whirlwind journey on how to master LinkedIn in this quick speed session! From creative to tactical execution, we’ll unveil the most innovative and effective strategies for leveraging LinkedIn as a government professional. Learn how to make the most of LinkedIn for organic and paid, talent and program marketing, and building your own network, while also taking quick looks at inspiration and actionable tactics.

Building a Successful Social Media Content Calendar (Beginner)
Steven Shortt, Tacoma Public Utilities
Do you know what you’re posting on social tomorrow? How about in three months or when you’re on vacation? Planning your social media content calendar can be difficult and stressful, so this Speed Session shows you how to successfully create a flexible social media content calendar that can still adapt to social media trends. Leave with actionable steps to get started today!

Dare to Spice Up Government Content (Intermediate)
Nikki Bowers, City of Las Vegas
This dynamic Speed Session is designed to challenge and inspire you. A digital content creator from the City of Las Vegas' social media team will guide you through strategies to transform your approach to government content creation. Learn how to effectively leverage trending memes, sounds and funny Capcuts to empower you to take creative risks to help tell your story.

Drones in Social Media (Beginner)
Josh Leith, Newport Beach Fire Department
In this tailored presentation for government social media professionals, discover how drones can enhance government services, public engagement, and information dissemination. Learn about real-life use cases, licensing and regulatory compliance, types of drones, and the basics on how to use them. Join me to hear how you could be using drones can elevate your agency's social media presence.

Harnessing Staff Power on Social Media (Beginner)
Charles Newman, City of Columbus – Department of Public Service
In this Speed Session, we’ll explore top strategies and techniques for turning your staff into effective brand advocates, unlocking their charisma and harnessing their collective power on social media. Participants will gain valuable skills on how to promote a positive culture, identify brand advocates and encourage authenticity.

Teaching Field Staff How to Take Exceptional iPhone Photos (Beginner)
Heidi Yocum, City of Berkeley
During this Speed Session, participants will engage in a hands-on learning experience focused on mastering essential photography principles and honing photo editing skills using the iPhone. Get ready to gain quick tips and techniques to capture outstanding photos in various work settings while refining your technical and creative tools to elevate your agency’s visual storytelling.

Using Canva’s Built-In AI Tools (Advanced)
Anndrea Harris, Whooann Creative Studio / City of Wichita Falls
Full description coming soon!

Zero-Budget Strategies for Leveraging Influencers (Intermediate)
Timothy Akimoff, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Like other government entities, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife faced a lot of public backlash during the Covid-19 pandemic. So, the agency turned to social media influencers to help spread important community messages. They did this with no budget, and so can you. Tim Akimoff will walk you through the steps used to find, recruit and maintain a group of social media influencers who can help distribute important messages at a community level the agency often cannot reach with its social media alone.

Add-on, pre-conference Workshops

Workshops are 2-hour sessions that happen on Monday, April 15, the day before the conference officially begins! These are deep dives into some of socialgov’s most requested topics. More details on add-on, pre-conference Workshops.

Mastering Instagram Reels for Government Agencies
Angela Ramirez, City of Lakewood, Colorado
Discover the power of Instagram Reels in a two-hour hands-on workshop designed specially for government communicators. You'll go beyond the basics of short-form video as we focus on creating engaging Reels from scratch, turning trends into effective storytelling tools for your agency and keeping your audience engaged. Come with a fully charged phone to put what you learn to practice in this in-depth workshop!

Led by a 2023 Golden Post Award winner, this hands-on session will equip you with the skills to captivate your audience and amplify your agency’s message on social media. Not on Instagram Reels? Take these proven short-form video pro tips and apply them to your favorite platforms. While geared towards intermediate and advanced socialgovs, beginners are welcome, too. Join us to master the art of Reels and elevate your government's online presence!

Government Social Media 101
Speakers will be announced soon
Welcome to government social media! This comprehensive workshop is an introduction for communicators who are new to managing social media for government agencies. If you already have a basic level of social media knowledge and need to learn how to effectively manage social media for government, you'll build a strong foundation with the topics covered in this workshop. Learn the framework for handling public sector social media (such as policy, strategy, accessibility and First Amendment), and get practical advice on successfully creating content, publishing, monitoring and engaging with the public on the major social media platforms.

During this workshop led by the GSM professional association Training Committee, you'll also get a heads-up on what other conference sessions to look out for, how you can get involved in this community, and you'll walk away with a new network of colleagues to aid in your professional growth.

Topics covered include:

How to build your framework for government social media management

Challenges of handling social media in government & skills needed

How to best utilize major platforms

Tools for efficiently managing content
Best practices for handling comments, negativity & successful citizen engagement

Legal 301: Advanced Issues on Copyright, Fair Use & AI on Social Media
Julie Tappendorf, Ancel Glink, PC
Government social media communicators have observed many legal dilemmas in this rapidly changing world of artificial intelligence (AI), and it’s hard to stay updated on how you can embrace these advancements while still protecting your agency.

This advanced workshop is for public sector social media professionals who make and share content on behalf of their agency. What do you need to know to stay compliant with current laws? We're bringing back attorney Julie Tappendorf to expand on her top-rated talk! Get ready for a 2-hour deep dive into:

Copyright issues of AI-generated content

Intellectual property principles

“Fair use” of memes & music
And more!

We'll look at real-world examples and the latest case law, all in plain language, so you can take these considerations back to your agency as you continue to collaborate with leadership and your legal counsel!

How to register today

We can’t say enough about attending GSMCON virtually! Many industry-related conferences & trainings returned to in-person-only events, and our goal is to continue hybrid events to make GSMCON as accessible as possible to all who want to join. We invite you to join in on the GSMCON fun from wherever you are. Register for your Virtual Ticket today!

Don’t wait to reserve your virtual seat – we’ll see you online for GSMCON2024!

Best communicate with the public you serve and get connected with fellow socialgovs by registering for the 2024 Government Social Media Conference happening in Palm Springs, California or virtually from wherever you are! Join our free network for bi-weekly Government Social Media Chats or professional association for member-only webinars. Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates on training, events and more.

We support the largest network of government social media professionals by guiding government agencies through complex social media issues. Government Social Media helps you successfully communicate with the public you serve, protect your agency and keep public trust while finding your support community.