Annual Conference Program Development

GFOA Session Development Process

Each year, the annual conference features approximately 70-80 concurrent sessions ranging in length from 50 minutes to 100 minutes. Sessions include a panel of speakers coordinated by GFOA staff focusing on information that is relevant and timely for GFOA conference delegates and of high-quality. GFOA conference delegates represent cities, counties, special districts, school districts, state agencies, and many other types of governments. In addition, GFOA delegates have responsibility for various functions within public finance including accounting, auditing, budgeting, cash management, capital planning, debt administration, pension administration, treasury, technology, and overall leadership. As a result, GFOA strives to create a complete program that is attractive for GFOA conference delegates.

To submit a topic proposal for GFOA's annual conference, please complete the Call for Topics.

Call for Topics Guidelines and Considerations

• Prepare a concise description of the topic, why it is relevant for GFOA conference delegates, and the main learning objectives
• Consider that the audience for most sessions will be local government finance officers
• GFOA does not select or approve topic submissions. We incorporate submission information into an overall program. Often, many submissions will involve similar topics and staff works to combine, merge, or complement sessions that would create an attractive overall program. 
• If known, provide suggestions for speakers that could speak on the topic. (see speaker invite process below)
• GFOA attempts to select a set number of sessions that specifically focus on small and very large governments
• GFOA does not feature vendor products or select topics that could be viewed as sales presentation
  

GFOA Speaker Invite Process

After selecting session topics, GFOA staff identify and recruit qualified individuals to serve on the session panels.  Each session panel will include approximately 2-4 speakers that are selected both for their subject matter expertise, speaking ability, and ability to complement other speakers on the panel. GFOA will review the call for topics for speaker ideas. However, because many call for topics involve similar themes, it is possible that multiple call for topics submissions were merged so that a topic was included on the program, but specific speakers suggested were not invited to speak. For prospective speakers, please consider the following guidelines.

Speaker Guidelines and Considerations

• GFOA will attempt to include speakers representing different organizations on a panel
• GFOA places a high priority on having practitioner (government) speakers that can speak about lessons learned, effective strategies, and case study examples
• GFOA encourages members that have not yet spoken at conference to participate. GFOA will place a lower priority on speakers that have spoken recently at past conferences
• Speakers are expected to register for the GFOA conference.