Our annual Fall Conference took place at the Virginia State Capitol on October 5. About 35 members and guests, including NFPW president Julie Campbell, gathered to hear top-notch speakers and take a tour of this historic building.

President Sande Snead opened the conference, and House Clerk Paul Nardo welcomed attendees to the building.

The day’s topics addressed some of the biggest challenges facing communicators today and underscored the need for continuous professional development.

The conference concluded after Sande Snead passed the gavel to Pam Stallsmith for the upcoming year. They’re sharing the president’s job for this two-year term.

Recaps of each session follow.

Adriana Trigiani: The importance of storytelling

By Tracy Perkins

Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author and honorary VPC member, delivered an inspirational keynote address urging members to preserve their family stories, especially women’s stories, through the perseverance of writing.

A playwright and filmmaker, Trigiani answered questions about the impacts of AI and the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, as well as the ups and downs of directing her “Big Stone Gap” novel into a major motion picture.

She also shared her passion for The Origin Project, an in-school writing program for students in Appalachia, and a new endeavor with the podcast “You Are What You Read.”

Liz Bryant: The evolving standards of the modern workplace

By Cora Perkins

The most important part of business etiquette, according to Liz Bryant, president of Liz Bryant Business Etiquette, is the ability to adapt to the normalities of the organization in which you work.

Formalities and normalcies, such as dress codes, technology and working hours, have changed and will continue to evolve over time, so it is necessary to stay up to date with all of these practices in the workplace.

Etiquette is all about showing yourself, others, and the institution respect when adhering to the etiquette of business. Setting and exceeding these standards at your workplace will help you succeed tremendously.

Dr. Andrew Bell: Exploring Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)

By Deana Ricks

Dr. Andrew Bell, technology consultant in the Teaching and Scholarship Hub at the University of Richmond, spoke about the ever-widening scope of artificial intelligence (AI) and encouraged attendees to develop our AI literacy.

In his talk, “Exploring Generative AI,” he explained that the best way to use an AI tool is to understand its underlying model. Tools such as GPT-4 and BARD are Large Language Models (LLMs) that are designed to generate human text. To get better results when writing AI prompts, he suggested telling the tool the task you want done, setting requirements and offering context.

He noted that AI “will eventually be baked into” most office systems, so communicators are advised to consistently be evaluating this quickly evolving technology.