CAPIO’s 2019 conference in Newport Beach was one for the record books!

Thank you to the 500 government communications professionals that helped us set an all-time attendance record for our annual conference. We had a registration waiting list for the first time ever.

We also set records for the number of sponsors and exhibitors at the conference. Thank you to the sponsors that helped make our conferences possible and keep them affordable for you to attend.

Newport Beach was the perfect venue to enjoy all the educational opportunities, network with your peers and recharge while you enjoyed the weather and reconnecting with your CAPIO family.

We offered three dozen breakout sessions on everything from storytelling to video, crisis communications, customer service, social media, websites, internal communications and more. For the first time, we offered four different topics for the pre-conference sessions. Attendees could also learn about getting their Accreditation in Public Relations or participate in mentor-mentee meetups.

There were several networking opportunities, including our first visit to a food hall for the restaurant round-up. Attendees were able to try all kinds of local foodie offerings and some decadent desserts at Lot 579.

We kicked things off with a keynote address from speechwriter Eric Schnure and Tuesday’s lunch session featured “For the Love of Cities” author Peter Kageyama. For the first time ever, we had representatives from Facebook/Instagram (Wednesday’s keynote address), Adobe and Nextdoor at the conference.

Wednesday night was the annual EPIC awards dinner where CAPIO members and their agencies are recognized for their Excellence in Public Information and Communications. During the dinner three special awards were also handed out. Rachel McGuire, APR, was honored as the Paul B. Clark Communicator of the Year award; Angela Lowery was the Communicator of the Year winner; and the City of Malibu’s Matt Myeroff was given the Frank Potter Cowan Crisis Communications Leader Award.

During Wednesday’s luncheon business meeting CAPIO also unveiled its new logo and tag line that will help take us (and you) to new heights: Advancing Public Sector Communicators. We also honored graduates of the J. Lindsey Wolf PIO Institute, our professional development program that offers certificates for courses completed in the field of public relations.

Relive your favorite CAPIO moments through our Facebook album or our photo reel. To order duplicates of your EPIC award for your agency contact [email protected]. CAPIO is continuing to post PDFs of the conference session PowerPoints on the Guidebook app.  In addition, the PowerPoints will be available on the CAPIO Library (accessible to members). Missing an email with your portrait from our photographer? Some emails got stuck in spam, but CAPIO has copies of all of the photos.  You can email [email protected]  for a copy.

Don’t forget to take the post-conference survey to share your feedback as we begin to shape next year’s conference. We appreciate you taking the time to provide us your insights.

Save the date! Our #CAPIO2020 conference will be held April 20 -23, 2020 at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort in Santa Barbara. We’ll see you soon on the beachfront! 

Article by Tom Christensen, CAPIO Vice President Conference and Communications Specialist, County of San Diego