NASW Social Work Talks - EP3: 2018 NASW National Conference

Episode Date: March 20, 2018

Thinking about attending the 2018 NASW National Conference? Raffaele Vitelli, NASW's Director of Professional & Workforce Development, and Richard Loomis, Manager of Conference and Event Planning talk about the planning that makes this event as useful as possible for our attendees.

Welcome to NASW Social Work Talks. The National Association of Social Workers is one of the largest membership organizations of professional social workers in the world. NASW works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social work policies. With our mission in mind, the purpose of NASW Social Work Talks is to inform, educate, and inspire. We encourage you to learn more about NASW by visiting www.socialworkers.org

and we thank you for joining us for this episode. I'm Kim Simpson with NASW. In this episode of NASW Social Work Talks, we provide a preview of the 2018 NASW National Conference, which is slated for June 20th through the 23rd at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. The 2018 National Conference is the ultimate gathering of more than 2,000 social workers, like-minded professionals, and social work thought leaders from across the United States and around the world. Participants gather for four days of unparalleled opportunities for professional development, continuing education, networking, and thought-provoking conversations tackling the most pressing issues facing the social

work profession worldwide. I'm very pleased to have two guests with me today who are responsible for planning the 2018 NASW National Conference, Raphael Vitale, NASW's Director of Professional and Workforce Development, and Richard Loomis, NASW's Manager of Conference and Event Planning. Thanks so much for joining us, gentlemen. So let's dive right in. The theme for the 2018 conference is Shaping Tomorrow Together. Can we talk about the relevance of that theme and sort of a broad overview of what folks can expect at conference

and also, most importantly, the benefit of what people will gain by attending? Certainly. So back to the theme, really, like any one of our conferences, of our events, The birth of the theme really is something that goes through several layers of review and discussion and conversation amongst peers, colleagues here, groups, subject matter experts, thought leaders. We really try to focus on what is the status of the social work profession at a given time and really what is the focus for the foreseeable future. And this year we really felt like for a lot of different reasons, really, we had to go back to basics and what social workers have been doing for like almost 100 years now, which is shaping tomorrow. And that's why we're using the gerund of the word, shaping, like it's an ongoing process. And we've been doing it for many, many years, and we'll continue doing it in the future by collaborating with all parties, all stakeholders, conversating with anyone from any walk of life or any political creed, whatever their beliefs are, we'll talk to them and we'll figure out ways to work with them.

And that's how we came to the theme, really. And that's really always at the core of what we do as a profession. The conference is designed to meet the intent and spirit of the NSW Code of Ethics. But also, you know, we have many standards, the standards for continuing education, the standards for cultural competence, and really try to embed those really in all of our activities. The conference is over four days, and there's going to be opportunities for professional development in pretty much any and all areas of social work. For somebody who's never attended an NASW conference, on that first day, what can one expect? Kim, let me kind of give a broad brush of the program itself over the four days.

It will actually be a blend of keynote presentations, plenary sessions, 100 breakout sessions, an advocacy program, special events, and pre-conference workshops. That Wednesday, June 20th, we'll have both the advocacy program, which will be uniquely held up on Capitol Hill. Also on that day, prior to the convening to the main opening of the conference, we will offer eight pre-conference workshops, which are three-hour intensives on a wide array of topics. It will include such things as looking at cultural competence standards, disasters, and not just natural disasters but all kinds of different disasters, where social workers are really playing a very key effort in the aftermath and dealing with the trauma that generates from disasters.

We'll have a pre-conference on ethics, on communication about elder abuse. We'll also discuss self-care, professional self-care across the career of social workers. Suicide prevention will also be discussed at a pre-conference workshop, as well as working with survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse, and then also looking at the whole idea of private practice, social workers in private practice, how do you thrive in a private practice setting will also be the subject matter of one of the pre-conference workshops. Sounds really interesting. So the association is well known for bringing some renowned speakers.

In the past, some of the speakers have been Brene Brown, Robert Reich, Nancy Lublin. You've had a wide array of speakers from across the spectrum. What can we expect in 2018? And I'm sure you're probably not going to tell us everything today. You're holding back some surprises. Indeed, there will be surprises. But as you mentioned, we have, NASW has developed, I think, a well-deserved reputation in terms of the major keynote presentations that we had. In addition to whom you mentioned, we've had Soledad O'Brien, we've had political analyst Donna Brazile, the 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate, Lima Bowie was a presenter at the conference.

This year, our lead-off keynote presenter at the opening of the conference will be Van Jones, CNN political analyst and commentator, as well as a best-selling author and currently the host of his own CNN-based program, television program, The Van Jones Show. So for our wrap-up keynote presentation, which will be the last day of the conference on Saturday, June 23rd, we will have Gretchen Rubin, best-selling author and developer of the Happiness Project as well. Each day looks a little bit different. You go from keynote presentations to seminars that will enable you to earn CEUs, which, of course, are very important to social workers because of the continuing education component and something that we work very hard to provide as an association. Can we talk a little bit about what attendees can expect in 2018 in terms of the wide array of seminars that social workers and others can attend?

And most importantly, for folks who perhaps may not know what CEUs are, what are we providing to our attendees at this conference? Certainly. So, well, clearly, pretty much we designed the conference to ensure that almost everything we do in those four days is an opportunity to earn continuing education credits or, at the very minimum, develop your profession, professional development. We are aware of just the wide open scope of the term social work. And so it's really hard to develop an event of this size that does cover all of the areas of the profession. But I think we do a pretty good job with that. Of course, there will be opportunities to earn ethics, continuing education credits, which are important to most licensed social workers. We will focus on all levels of practice, micro, meds, and macro, of course.

There will be many sessions that are focused on clinical social work, which is an important part for a large group of our constituents, and also focus many of our sessions on the changes in technology. Now, changes in technology are affecting the way social workers do their job or the way they have to think of their ethics. You may know, of course you do know, that we recently made changes to the code of ethics and also to our technology standards because changes in technology are affecting the way we carry out our jobs so much. And so that's going to be one of the focuses of the event throughout the four days. We are going to have over 100 breakout sessions in addition to the keynotes and plenaries and in addition to ancillary events as well, and over 80 poster presentations. So there will be a lot of content made available to our attendees.

NASW and its team spends an enormous amount of time coming up with the exact right mix of seminars for its members and its attendees so that you are not only talking about issues that are of import today, but also meeting the need that our social workers are telling us in terms of the types of content that they need. Can you talk a little bit about the process? And it's an extensive process that you go through. Sure. And I think you really were spot on correct in that a lot of us, and particularly the breakout sessions, are member-driven. We go out very early in the process in the planning and organizing of the conference and to what we refer to as a call for proposals.

And that's just a very far-reaching, casting a very wide net, and inviting members and other stakeholders to submit proposals. That forms the basis from which we then select, identify the breakout sessions. And all of those proposals go through a thorough vetting process, and it's done by folks outside of NASW who are key social work leaders from around the country. And so it really is a multiple month or process which spans over many months, and then the scheduling process. And so those breakout sessions are being led by social work leaders from around the country. And the process of registering for CEUs and looking at the wide variety of seminars being offered, That's something that can easily be done when our attendees go to our website.

We're still in the process of the vetting, the review of the proposals, and that then will lead over the next several weeks to the selection process. We received over 600 proposals for the conference, and unfortunately we can't take all of them. We wish we could, but the conference would be going on for three weeks if we were to take all the proposals. But, yes, it will then, when the calendar, the schedule is fully built out, it will immediately go up on the website so folks can see what will be offered. Yeah, and if I can add just one more thought on that is once you're registered for the conference, you have access to all the breakout sessions. So you don't have to choose at registration what you want to attend. You can see the program later on.

We will have the conference app available, as always, where you can see all the sessions and where they're being held and decide which ones you want to attend. So they're all open to registrants. That's very important for folks to understand that they can give some thought to how they want to build a conference that works because it will be individual. Each person will have different choices based on their needs. Correct. A preregistration for a given breakout session is not required.

Seating is open, all the sessions are open, and it's a first-come, first-served until the room reaches capacity. Okay, so folks can attend pre-conference workshops. They're going to hear some fascinating speakers. They're going to have opportunities to earn CEUs, attend some fascinating, thought-provoking seminars, and there's fun, too. I mean, folks, there will be networking opportunities, and you have some fun things. And not that these other things are not fun, but there are going to be other types of things going on at the conference. Sure, yes, there certainly will be. Generally speaking, people, and our members are no different,

but people attend a site-based conference motivated by three major areas. A, building knowledge, the learning experience that you have, building your skill sets, building your knowledge base, the networking opportunities, and then the meeting experience. And the NASW National Conference hits on all three of those variables head on. Not only will, as we've talked about, the content that will be available, the networking opportunities are just extensive. And we will have best-in-class participant service, attendee service, that all combine to make it a terrific meeting experience. And a part of that also are what we refer to as special events. On Thursday, June 21st, in the evening, we will have the NASW Film Festival.

Well, we will offer three different films, all of which address a topic important to social workers. And by attending the film festival, you can also earn two more CEs as well. And there's no cost to the attendees for that film festival. On both Thursday and Friday during the conference, we'll organize what are called social work meetups. And those will be organized around different practice areas. And so if you're in mental health capacity or child welfare capacity and so on, there will be meetups for the different practice areas. Then on Friday evening, we have a unique event, which we refer to as a night at the awards, a night to remember. And this will be a very elegant reception, and the program is giving out of the awards, the NASW National Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award, Public Citizens of the Year Award, and also the foundation, NASW Foundation Awards, which include the Sarnett Award and the Neve Whitman Awards in mental health.

So there's absolutely a little bit of something for everybody at this conference. So on the first day of conference, it looks like on the agenda there will be an opportunity for all of our attendees to get together at a special event that allows them to do a meet-and-greet with exhibitors. And as with past conferences, you've always had phenomenal exhibitors. Can you talk a little bit about who we can expect to see this year? Sure. The event you're referring to is the opening welcome reception that comes immediately after the opening of the program and after the opening keynote presentation and what have you. And it's a very nice hour-and-a-half reception which takes place in the exhibit hall, and it is the first time that the attendees will get to meet and mingle and greet with the exhibitors. There will be close to 100 exhibitors in the exhibit hall and putting forth all kinds of different products, services, programs that are offered to social workers. It will be academic and educational programs, publishers, health care services, technology products, insurance products,

really just as an example of the variety and varied organizations that will be in the exhibit hall. And it sounds like you have exhibitors that come back year after year for each conference. If I'm a brand-new exhibitor and I'd like to get involved with the conference and for our returning exhibitors, which we're very pleased to know that many of them will come back, what do our exhibitors need to do to, A, learn about the conference, and, B, get registered and prepped for the event? On the conference webpage, you can access the prospectus right there. You can download the prospectus, which will show you the exhibit floor plan, and the floor plan itself will be updated regularly so you can see what spaces are available for rental, for purchase.

And you can register for the space via the prospectus in hard copy. You can also do it online and just right on the webpage where it says register now and then just click on through, and you'd identify that you're registering as an exhibitor in the registration process. And so it can all be done right online. It sounds like a very easy process to register. Can you just briefly walk us through what folks need, what they need to do, and what they need to be mindful of, and where to go to get registered? And then to also keep track of upcoming changes, we're going to, as I mentioned,

and you'll probably be adding some exciting speakers and other events. So how do people stay in touch with us while we continue to roll out all of these events? Yes, so the registration process is very user-friendly. I feel like this year we really hit the jackpot with the partners that we're working with to provide that. And one of the things that particularly make it friendly is that any user can log back in at any time, even after you registered, and make changes to your registration components. So if you find out that there is an additional add-on event that was added after I've already registered, I can always go back in, log back in, and make changes to my registration

and add that if I want to or remove something else and then add that. So that ability to go in and make changes at any given time is always positive and easy to use. I would say, yes, keep an eye on the website for upcoming news about what's changing within the conference, what other programs or speakers have been added, and make preparation to have lots of fun because, as Richard said, It's not only about the professional development, but it's also about enjoying really the vibe and the energy for four days there, which is really outstanding. It's really energizing. I've been at previous conferences, and the energy and the people and the whole – I mean, it's a wonderful experience. And you talk to folks who have attended past conferences, and everybody has the same – folks say the same thing.

There's a huge amount of energy, which is very heartening. So, Raphael, Richard, thanks so much for joining us today. I'm excited about conference. I hope our listeners are, too. It sounds like we're in store for a great 2018 NASW National Conference. You have been listening to NASW Social Work Talks, a production of the National Association of Social Workers. We encourage you to visit NASW's website for more information about our efforts to enhance the professional growth and development of our members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social work policies.

You can learn more at www.socialworkers.org. And don't forget to subscribe to NASW Social Work Talks wherever you get your podcasts. We also invite you to join us for the 2018 NASW National Conference, which runs June 20th through the 23rd in Washington, D.C. You'll have an opportunity to earn 20-plus CEUs, They're nationally renowned speakers, participate in unique professional development workshops, and enjoy fulfilling networking opportunities. To learn more and to register today, we invite you to visit www.socialworkers.org.

Thanks again for joining us. We look forward to seeing you next episode. Thank you.