This year’s MMA Annual Meeting will be my third virtual conference tailored specifically to local government professionals in the last few months. The care and attention that goes into creating these virtual events is impressive! The online format will allow me to attend more sessions than I normally would be able to in-person, and provides easy access to the content, speakers and recordings, even after the conference has ended. Not having to travel or pay for accommodations provides flexibility and cost savings that will make the event more accessible than ever.

While the 2021 MMA Annual Meeting will be virtual, and not ideal for an ‘extroverted people person’ like me, it still promises attendees the same high-quality networking, educational and informational opportunities as the traditional Annual Meeting.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the MMA has been providing several virtual meetings each week and continues to find new ways to improve members’ experience and knowledge. I am confident that this experience will lead to a well thought out and planned virtual Annual Meeting. Based on my recent experience with a large virtual conference – on the same platform that the MMA is using – I’m very much looking forward to Annual Meeting. I look forward to seeing my colleagues and friends online, as well as meeting some new colleagues.

The MMA Annual Meeting is one of the events I look forward to every year. It gives me an opportunity to hear best practices from around the state and even gives us some needed facetime with our colleagues (even if it’s virtual facetime).

What … brings me back is the opportunity to connect, to network and to learn with peers and colleagues throughout the Commonwealth. We’re all working on similar challenges. Being able to share our best practices is a really rewarding part of Annual Meeting.

I’ve been to at least 12 Annual Meetings, and it’s the people that keep me coming back. … You get to see a broader range of issues across large and small towns that gives you a better perspective.

Everytime I come to Annual Meeting, I meet amazing people. I learn something new, and I am coming out a better councillor, a better public servant.

For me, Annual Meeting is an oasis in the middle of winter. … You’re going to learn something that you can apply immediately when you go back to work next week. That is really valuable.

This is the one conference where everyone in local government comes together. … We kid around and call it ‘municipal prom,’ but every year people get excited about this event, to see people and to learn things