2022 VLGMA Winter Conference Recap
by Matt Lawless, Town of Scottsville Administrator
It’s the Tuesday morning after a long holiday weekend and an inspiring conference! I hope everyone who attended feels the same focus, energy, and dedication that I do. A good VLGMA conference gives us ideas, inspiration, and connections to help us in our work.
Wednesday had a solid tag team of workshops from academic colleagues in Charlottesville. Felicia Logan works at the Federal Executive Institute now, and Hamilton Lombard is on a roll at the Weldon Cooper Center. Felicia helped us with relationship and self-reflection, and Hamilton took a deep but accessible dive into Census data. The loose receptions around downtown Staunton’s local businesses served well for mingling in smaller groups.
Our outstanding sponsors supported a rock star keynote in Dar Williams. She inspired us with stories of community organizing and shared appreciation for the sometimes unrecognized work we do. There were a few teary eyes in the hall as she sang “Hudson” and “Little Town” for us. The other Thursday sessions, from IT and labor law to reflections and sharing our best practices from recent emergency work. Our colleagues ran panels and roundtable discussion –often we are our own best teachers. A solid contingent of students, mostly from Dr. Alexander’s JMU program, took notes and may join our ranks in the future.
On Friday, the Zoom hybrid format had its best use, as Joe Lerch and Janet Areson spoke in person about General Assembly actions, with tag team support from VML specialists in Richmond. Martha Perego had that last word, guiding an important discussion of the ethical foundations of our work.
It was a joy to plan this conference with Molly Harlow, Debbie Kendall, Angela Lawrence, and all the friends and colleagues who gave of their time and expertise to make this happen. The conference felt familiar and comfortable to me, but also exciting, with new connections made and old ones strengthened. After we adjourned all the committee meetings and before I hit the road, Bob Stripling tracked me down for one more cup of coffee and to share some stories. That’s VLGMA at its best.
