Greetings from the 2015 Western Regional Conference here in beautiful, albeit a little warm (highs in the 100s everyday!), Henderson, Nevada. Kasey and I have been meeting lots of the wonderful people from United Ways from Washington to Arizona, and everywhere else in between.

Kasey presented her session, “Effectively Communicating United Way’s Work Through Social Media,” Wednesday morning, which was filled with good discussion and lots of great ideas for using social media effectively – something every United Way should do.

I kicked things off Thursday morning by presenting my session, “Three Essentials for Effective Community Impact,” which provided United Ways with the latest thinking about how to implement community impact. Lots of good questions and discussion about how implementing community impact effectively is mission-critical to the future of United Ways.

Kasey and I presented another session on Thursday, “Become a Donor-Centric United Way of the Future,” which talked about how United Ways can raise money and develop deeper relationships with donors outside of the workplace campaign. Participants shared a lot of great ideas of things they were doing at their United Ways and everyone had at least one idea of something they could implement at their United Way.

In addition to presenting our sessions, Kasey and I have had an opportunity to attend other sessions at the conference. There is an incredible diversity of session topics, including Linked Learning, 2-1-1, human trafficking, and planned giving. There is truly something for everyone on the agenda at the 2015 Western Regional Conference.

The conference is well-connected with lots of social media activity about the conference at #LIVEUNITEDWest. Also, printed programs may soon be a thing of the past, as the conference has a great, easy-to-use app that provides everything you want and need to know, including schedules, maps of the facility, attendees, and exhibitors.

We have enjoyed an awesome conference so far, with credit and kudos to the United Ways of California staff for their hospitality and great organization skills. Big shout-outs go to Henry Gascon and Sheila Hoyer who have made everything happen!

The conference wraps-up Friday morning and nearly 300 United Way staff, as well as Kasey and I, will return to our work with great ideas and lots of new friendships! If you missed the conference this year, put it on your calendar for the future – it is worth it!