Attendees may pick up their name badge and materials at the main registration desk.
The Trade Show offers opportunities to connect with companies, associations and government agencies in a lively exhibit hall. Local officials can connect with friends and make new contacts while learning about the latest products and services available to help solve municipal challenges. Visitors can easily engage in conversations with exhibitors or just browse.
Are you in need of an updated headshot? Municipal members can get a professional photograph taken for free at our Headshot Station.
In an interactive session, Kit Pang, founder of BostonSpeaks, will share insights from his career of helping Fortune 500 leaders, TEDx speakers, professional athletes and Michelin-starred chefs become better public speakers. His engaging approach will help attendees sharpen their speaking skills, explore powerful speaking techniques, examine their mindset to address speaking beliefs, work on their delivery, and venture outside their comfort zone toward public speaking success.
Pang’s focus on three pillars of public speaking — “Mindset, Manner, Matter” — aims to help people manage how they think, feel and act in order to speak with greater confidence and perform under pressure; hone their presence and delivery; and explore strategies for making their content engaging, clear and persuasive.
Participants will explore persuasive language patterns and learn how to be more clear and coherent and to improve their presence with the effective use of hand gestures. Participants will break into pairs and small groups to practice, and then discuss what they’ve learned.
“Think of it as a gym class, but for speaking,” Pang told the MMA.
Affinity spaces are curated environments where individuals with a shared interest, identity, passion or goal can connect in a setting that is welcoming and respectful. These types of spaces foster a sense of community and belonging.
This year at Connect 351 there will be designated times and spaces for groups to connect, based on aspects of identity and areas of interest that were expressed by our members.
There is no structured agenda for these gatherings. The goal for these spaces is to allow municipal employees from across the state to come together and build new, meaningful, authentic connections.
If you have questions, contact MMA Chief Equity Officer Jill Harvey at [email protected].
The Women Leading Government panel will play “Ask the Reporter” with Emily Sweeney, who was recently named the Globe’s first social video journalist and is known for her memorable interviews of both well-known public figures and regular people on the street.
A Globe reporter since 2003, she achieved viral fame with her lively video report on the March invasion of a Beverly mansion, notable for her pronunciation of words like “caretaker” and “intruder.” The video received millions of views within days.
Along with her Boston accent, Sweeney has charmed viewers from Greater Boston to Guam with her spiky blonde hair and penchant for track suits, as well as her inventive approach to interviews. In recent months, she has discussed inflation with shoppers at a Market Basket (or rather, “Mahkit Baskit”), interviewed State Auditor Diana DiZoglio while pedaling a duck-shaped paddleboat, and explored the unexpected attractiveness of a bronze statue of “Moby Dick” author Herman Mellville, following its recent unveiling in New Bedford.
When asked about her newfound fame, the Dorchester native and former Northeastern University hockey player has said that people find her relatable at a time when authenticity seems to be in short supply.
“There’s a lot of mistrust of large institutions,” Sweeney told Today.com. “There’s a lot of mistrust of mainstream media. And I think that having a voice that doesn’t sound like a typical news broadcaster voice — it sounds more real, because it is real. It’s kind of like you’re getting the news from your auto mechanic or something, you know what I mean?”
Sweeney is also the author of several books, including “Boston Organized Crime,” “Gangland Boston,” and “Dropkick Murphy: A Legendary Life.”
A great opportunity for seeing colleagues and networking.
Join this equity-centered, inclusive networking experience where municipal employees and leaders, minority-owned business owners, and community stakeholders can connect, share resources, and explore solutions for fostering diversity and equity in local government. Expect light refreshments and meaningful connections! Location: Omni Hotel
Attendees may pick up their name badge and materials at the main registration desk.
Are you in need of an updated headshot? Municipal members can get a professional photograph taken for free at our Headshot Station.
The Trade Show offers opportunities to connect with companies, associations and government agencies in a lively exhibit hall. Local officials can connect with friends and make new contacts while learning about the latest products and services available to help solve municipal challenges. Visitors can easily engage in conversations with exhibitors or just browse.
Jeff Speck
“Walkability Wizard” Jeff Speck is a renowned planner and author who has spent more than three decades making downtowns of all sizes more economically robust and enjoyable.
Speck’s TED Talks have been viewed more than 6 million times, and his books include “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time,” which argues that walkability is the single key factor for making American communities thrive.
A partner with the Brookline-based design and consulting firm Speck Dempsey, Speck works with municipalities to design places where people stop to spend time instead of just driving by. The Belmont native emphasizes the importance of walkability over drivability to create healthier, more sustainable and more economically resilient communities, and he tailors his approach to a community’s size and needs.
Speck began his career at a Miami-based architecture firm now called DPZ CoDesign, where he spent a decade and co-authored the book “Suburban Nation,” about the effects of development sprawl, with the firm’s founders, Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.
From 2003 to 2007, Speck was director of design at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., where he oversaw the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design, as well as the Mayors’ Institute on City Design. In 2007, he founded Speck & Associates, now called Speck Dempsey.
He published “Walkable City” in 2012, and “Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places” in 2018, both of which are well-regarded by planners in the field and have been translated into numerous languages.
At Speck Dempsey, where his partner is former state Assistant Transportation Secretary Chris Dempsey, Speck has worked on projects for Massachusetts communities including Lowell, Concord and East Longmeadow. In Watertown, Speck created a plan for making the five-spoked Watertown Square more pedestrian friendly, and he has presented “The Walkable City,” a two-day program at Harvard University featuring planner and Watertown City Manager George Proakis.
Speck has considerable experience working with rural communities, and worked with rural leaders from across the country to develop best practices in rural planning and design while at the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design. In recent years, his collaborations with rural communities have included Lancaster, the oldest town in Worcester County, and Freeport, Maine, Cold Spring, New York, and White Salmon, Washington.
Affinity spaces are curated environments where individuals with a shared interest, identity, passion or goal can connect in a setting that is welcoming and respectful. These types of spaces foster a sense of community and belonging.
This year at Connect 351 there will be designated times and spaces for groups to connect, based on aspects of identity and areas of interest that were expressed by our members.
There is no structured agenda for these gatherings. The goal for these spaces is to allow municipal employees from across the state to come together and build new, meaningful, authentic connections.
If you have questions, contact MMA Chief Equity Officer Jill Harvey at [email protected].
These six 30-minute sessions provide opportunities to hear from experts on a variety of topics.
Learning Labs will be held in 3 different booths during these time slots:
11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
12:25-12:55 p.m.
1:05-1:35 p.m.
Join your Massachusetts Municipal Communicators peers for sharing best practices and networking.
Graduates and current students of the MMA-Suffolk programs are invited to a networking reception. Light lunch refreshments will be served. The reception is complimentary but an RSVP is required to Kate Evarts at [email protected].
A great opportunity for seeing colleagues and networking.
Members can network over dinner.
MIIA members are invited to join their fellow municipal officials from MIIA communities and MIIA staff for the MIIA Annual Business Meeting.
Members can network over breakfast.
Attendees may pick up their name badge and materials at the main registration desk.
All members of city and town councils in Massachusetts are invited to attend the MMCA Annual Business Meeting, provided they are registered for Connect 351. Attendance at the MMCA Annual Business Meeting is limited to MMCA members.
All members of select boards in Massachusetts are invited to attend the MSA Annual Business Meeting, provided they are registered for Connect 351. Attendance at the MSA Annual Business Meeting is limited to MSA members.
All town managers and town administrators are invited to the Annual Business Meeting of the Massachusetts Municipal Management Association, provided they are registered for Connect 351.
All mayors are invited to the Annual Business Meeting of the Massachusetts Mayors’ Association, provided they are registered for Connect 351.
Members can network over lunch.
MMA.ORG