In follow up to Part 1, I continue to highlight information before the conference starts. Hopefully some of this information will help you plan your conference experience live or via social media on line. In Part 1, I posted all the online channels AFP will be using.

Kicking off Sunday, March 20, Perspectives on Your Profession will allow thousands of fundraisers to network and learn from one another. I have been to countless conferences in my 20+ years in the sector. This is one of the biggest and is often an annual reunion of colleagues and friends I don’t get to see the rest of the year. An opportunity to connect in person, in addition to our online communication.

When it comes to education, I review the conference program for speakers, then topics. I am an adult learner and want to be sure I will not only learn during a session, but be engaged and challenged (in good way). So here are some of my picks for conference sessions.

Handouts from sessions where speakers have uploaded their information can be found here.

Be sure to follow my tweets @Btalisman, on the fly interview live from the conference on my Cinch channel and this blog as I share my experiences.

Sunday, March 20

Plenary: Conscious Capitalism and the Future of Business, Blake Mycoskie , Founder and Chief Shoe Giver, TOMS Shoes

Hands-On Twitter session with Sandy Rees and Gail Perry (fellow alums from the AFP Faculty Training Academy (FTA)). And I am hoping this means we will have access to WiFi at this year’s convo! Woot!

Monday, March 21

Plenary: Queen Latifah

Fab Case Statements with Tom Ahern who knows how to communication live and in print!

CSI-Chicago – Copy, Scene, Investigation with Sonya Swiridjuck. She know her stuff when it comes to direct mail and keeping a audience interested and engaged.

Development Work – It’s All Improv with Marcy Heim (another AFP FTA fellow alum). Improve and fundraising how to be a natural at both.

Dynamic Diversity in the New Decade with Amina Dickerson. Amina is a leader in global philanthropy having led Kraft’s efforts for more than a decade. Now consulting, I know this will be a session worth attending.

To Fund or Not to Fund – Eileen Sweeney, The Motorola Foundation; Patricia Lara Garza, Allstate Foundation and Joseph Suarez, Booz Allen Hamilton. All leaders sharing their perspective on what they like and don’t in grant proposals.

Face-to-Face Fundraising with David Pettigrew. David is a colleague and friend from Australia. Great presenter and he is talking about out on the street fundraising. If you are interested – go! You can also listen to our conversation on Making a Difference radio.

Are You Listening? – Martha Schumacher is sure to present a great session on active listening insights – so important to our success to making connections with our donors.

Reaching Seniors with David Whitehead will talk about how to be successful talking with seniors about your programs and gift opportunities.

Tuesday and Wednesday picks in the next blog post! See you at the conference or online!

AFP Social Media Connects:

Twitter, @AFPIHQ and #afpmeet will be posting information from conference sessions and information even if you aren’t there in person. Please join the Twitter feed and add your comments.

And, of course, there is the Facebook page for the conference. Like it to get updates from the conference and truly connect online with your fundraising colleagues worldwide. About 100+ fans now, but if we tell more colleagues, more colleagues will join us there.

Discussions can also be found via LinkedIn where AFP will be hosting conference discussions.

Once the conference starts AFP will post photos on Flickr and AFP YouTube channel.