Learn, connect and grow at upcoming WCIvirtual conference
Instructional networking conferences like this one have had to create engaging online platforms to educate and support their industries.
COVID-19 has impacted almost every aspect of our personal and professional lives. Reframing our mindsets to successfully navigate these challenging times has become essential to almost every industry, job and individual.
Instructional networking conferences, in particular, have had to learn how to create engaging online platforms to educate and support their industries.
The Workers’ Compensation Institute (WCI), a nonprofit that hosts one of the largest national conferences in the workers’ compensation community, is no exception. After announcing plans to postpone the in-person gathering of what would have been the 75th Annual Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference in Orlando this month, our organization quickly switched gears and began producing WCIvirtual powered by HOMELINK.
“We felt it was important to give the workers’ compensation industry the same quality content they have come to expect from us,” WCI Founder and Program Chair Steve Rissman said of himself and Founder and General Chair Jim McConnaughhay. ”It was also very important for us to recognize the sponsors who continue to support our organization, especially in these uncertain times.”
The event kicks off with an interview of Michele Adams, vice president of risk operations & casualty claims at Walmart, followed by a special edition of Out Front Ideas with Kimberly and Mark as the keynote session. Other session highlights include regulatory updates, the viewing of a live upper extremity surgery, and a multi-state panel discussion presented by firms in the Workers’ Compensation Defense Institute (WCDI). The entire agenda was designed to provide tangible takeaways for implementation, including select opportunities to obtain continuing education credits for adjusters, nurses and lawyers.
One of the WCI events that is most cherished, and will likely be most missed, is the annual in-person GKTW Service Day and Gala. Since 2012, WCI has loved and supported Give Kids the World, an 84-acre, nonprofit resort in Central Florida that provides weeklong, cost-free vacations to children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.
Although we had to postpone this for 2020, we have found ways to continue our “Spirit to Serve” mission when GKTW needs us the most. GKTW Lunch Sessions will take place during WCIvirtual. During these sessions, attendees will get updates on the GKTW Village, learn how they can help through remote volunteer projects, and participate in a Virtual Silent Auction with all proceeds going straight to GKTW.
The WCI conference boasts a robust networking atmosphere. More than 7,000 attendees usually gather onsite at the Orlando World Center Marriott each August to connect with respected industry friends, colleagues and potential new business prospects. WCIvirtual will be no exception. “We hope that WCIvirtual will provide a platform for people to learn and connect until we are able to gather back in person next year,” Rissman concluded.
Click here to learn more and register for WCIvirtual.
Julie Fetherman (julie.fetherman@wci360.com) is associate executive director of the Workers’ Compensation Institute.
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