The last 60 days have been filled with Annual Conference Host Committee meetings working towards CSMFO’s return to an in-person event in 2022. Assuming no changes occur to current guidance from the State of California regarding large gatherings, our 2022 conference will likely look like conferences in years past. I know that I am looking forward to seeing all of my colleagues again and meeting new additions to our CSMFO family who have joined in the last two years.

As I shared in my last message, the Town & Country Resort promises to be one of our best conference locations ever. The Host Committee is working on finalizing locations for the golf and tennis/pickleball tournaments that will take place on Tuesday, February 15th. Tuesday will also include several pre-conference training opportunities for those who want to arrive early to the conference, as has been the case in years past. We anticipate offering concurrent sessions on Wednesday morning for those who have arrived in time, with the conference welcome and the first keynote at 10:30 am to be followed by lunch. We have identified some great keynote and general session speakers for this conference, and I hope to be able to share more about them in the next month or two. We will be offering a number of concurrent sessions comparable to the Anaheim Conference in 2020, so there will be plenty of opportunities for you to see a variety of speakers present on timely topics.

New this year will be a virtual conference component, which will take place in the weeks following the in-person conference. We anticipate that many of the keynote, general, and concurrent sessions will be offered in the virtual format, which will include live Q&A with the speakers following the recorded sessions to provide CPE opportunities for those who are interested. We are hopeful that having the subsequent timing will provide a new and valuable CPE benefit for our members, including those who attended the in-person conference. For those who are interested, this will also present a new opportunity to attend even more concurrent sessions than is possible in the traditional in-person format by seeing some sessions live and others in a recorded format. Pricing is still in the works, but we anticipate offering a discounted price to virtual conference attendees who also attend the in-person conference.

While the CSMFO Annual Conference is most importantly about training, we are an organization that also has fun, with past Conferences serving as the source of many memorable and fun experiences for members. The Host Committee is working on a number of additional opportunities for members to engage with each other at the Conference, including running, yoga, and interactions with our vendors such as a scavenger hunt. On Thursday night, we are planning a great experience on-site at the hotel, which will include several different live entertainment options in a three-part event format that will provide options for members who like a quiet evening equally to those who enjoy a fun-filled evening lasting late into the night. We are hoping to incorporate the best of the lessons learned from prior conferences, and we look forward to sharing more about this exciting event in the months ahead.

In closing, I want to say thank you to the professionals with our conference planning firm M&AMS including Marisa Anticevich, Janet Salvetti, and Teri Anticevich. They make our Annual Conference possible and take care of all the details to make sure everything is just right. Their team, along with our Executive Director Melissa Manchester, and the Program Committee’s coordinator Harriet Commons, is the primary reason why our conferences are so memorable and known as the premier training event for government finance professionals in California and beyond. Cheers to them!