Maryland NOW, both for our own organizational purposes and through our Task Forces and as projects, may hold multiple conferences every year. In the Pandemic Age, these have changed slightly but many of the same tasks remain. The bottom line is that they don’t just “happen” but require planning, phone calls, working with other conference-related committees, like the Nominations/Elections Committee, for our event to be successful and fun for all.
Our most important conference each year is our own Maryland NOW State Conference. It is held each year, usually in mid-May, and is when we come together to hear the reports of the volunteers who have been doing work on issues and committees, elect our officers for the coming year, and decide on any major projects or programs we want to propose to accomplish both short- and long-term goals. It’s also a great chance to thank our leaders and congratulate each other on jobs well done.
Our conference in 2020 was the first virtual state conference, and out of necessity and coincidence, it was also one of the first virtual state NOW conferences in the country. This year’s conference will also be virtual. People will register using Google Forms or a similar online program, and their memberships need to be confirmed for purposes of voting. We’ll have an online program book with officer reports, the conference’s agenda and rules, and other information of interest to our members. Anyone who has planned a conference can see the hours of work adding up even though we are going to be attending from our homes and eating our own lunches.
If you are at all interested in helping with this event – and perhaps any other decision-making conference held during the year – please get in touch with us.
