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NDPIO Conference Sparks Fresh Ideas
- Sophia Fafard
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 17 hours ago
The annual NDPIO Conference helps communicators network and grow
The 3rd Annual NDPIO Conference brought communication professionals together at the National Energy Center of Excellence at Bismarck State College. The conference, which took place from July 14-16, gave attendees the chance to enhance their professional skills through insightful presentations and open discussions.
NDPIO is the North Dakota Public Information Officer Association. Their mission is dedicated to strengthening and engaging public sector communicators across North Dakota. Rob Keller is co-founder and director emeritus of the NDPIO conference alongside Maxine Herr. Keller has been a strong advocate for those in the communications industry and seeks to provide opportunities for communicators to reach out and connect with one another, hence the creation of the NDPIO conference.
“This is our third [conference]. Our first one was a trial, since we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Keller said. “With the second one we made a lot of improvements and brought in more engaged speakers. We knew what the membership wanted as far as training. What we have now is the result of surveys, of reaching out and hearing what the people wanted.”
Keller was one of the several presenters at the conference. His demonstration “From Stage Fright to Stage Bright” described how to get over the fear of public speaking. Other notable presentations included “The Art of Caring Leadership” presented by Frank White, and “The Practical Content Strategy” by Brock White. Panel discussions included small town emergency stories and a North Dakota case study of the 2024 wildfires.
Although the conference debuted two years ago, many attendees have returned from the years prior. Brock White is the Marketing and Communications Coordinator for the City of Watford City.
“Coming to the conference last year made me realize how resourceful this group is, and the networking is fantastic. I took away things from this conference last year that I am using every day, so hopefully people have got that this year as well,” Brock White said. “For me, just learning about the resources and the same struggles that people in the same fields work with, it’s invaluable to have that connection with each other.”
Each year, an award is given out at the NDPIO Conference. This is the Golden Gov Award, which serves as a prestigious recognition of outstanding public information officers who demonstrate exceptional skills in elevating government communications and fostering public engagement. This year, the award went to Jacob Just, Director of Communications for the North Dakota Insurance Department. Co-Founder of the NDPIO Conference Maxine Herr presented the Gold Gov Award. Herr has had a strong role in communications, from TV news reporter to freelance writing, and then government communications. She encourages more people to attend the NDPIO Conference.
“You will come away with new friendships, you’ll come away with such a great network of people to know that you can reach out to if you have questions if you’re not sure how to do something,” Herr said. “These are all huge things in our industries: collaboration, working together, and working smarter.”
Save the date for the 2026 NDPIO Conference on July 13 to 15 at Bismarck State College.
Originally published in the Morton County News Journal
~ Page 5 of Mystician 87.2 ~
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