National Conference

This year’s conference is shaping up to be one of the best conferences that NOSSCR has offered. Besides being located in downtown DC and offering great CLE content, we’ve added some exciting new events to our usual format.

We’re working to secure elected officials to speak. That’s always a challenge given their schedules and we will announce those speakers closer to the conference dates.

There will be a closing evening reception (Friday May 5, location tbd). There will be food and live music. It will be an event not to be missed. If you are a member of NextGen, we will see you at Tiki TNT and Rum Distillery down on the beautiful DC Wharf.

Our two main sponsors have incredible offerings this year. Insurance Branch will have baristas with coffee stations and lounges with device charging handy for members and Assure is raffling off a vintage muscle car (all attendees are eligible and there is no fee).

We will also be having an open house at NOSSCR’s new offices, a short walk from the hotel. Please stop by to see our new space and have some refreshments.

In past years, NOSSCR was not always able to alert attendees to the specifics of CLE credit for each presentation at the conference. Often the CLE approval for some states would happen after the conference. This year we’re working to have all the information about CLE available at the conference so you know whether the session you’re attending will satisfy your state’s CLE requirements.

New NOSSCR Staff Member, Tod Didier

NOSSCR welcomes Tod Didier as its new Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications. Tod brings years of experience in policy communication, stakeholder engagement, and membership support. Most recently, he ran the digital communications program for the Alliance of Community Health Plans, where he was a key voice in advocacy messaging and thought leadership. Tod leads NOSSCR’s marketing and public relations efforts, providing important updates to NOSSCR members and sharing NOSSCR’s story with media and thought leaders across the nation.

The Forum

No doubt you’ve noticed the new Forum and our digital enhancements. It has been a long time coming and we’re excited to be able to offer you this new and improved newsletter. We wanted to take this opportunity to explain why we upgraded the format for The Forum.

First of all, it is now searchable and easily archived for members to find past articles. We know that a lot of you save issues of The Forum and refer back to articles for important information. This new format should make that easier.

Second, it’s faster and cheaper for NOSSCR to manage. Previously we would have to have articles submitted two weeks in advance in order to lay out the newsletter. This new format will allow us to write articles right up to the deadline and easily publish and distribute the latest issue. NOSSCR will cut down 10-15 hours of staff time each month by using this new format. In addition, this new format will save NOSSCR about $1,800 per month in layout expenses.

We know that a lot of you miss the paper copies of The Forum and so we included a “Print Issue” button that will allow you to print all of the content of the newsletter with ease and continue to have paper copies if you choose. For others, this new format should make reading The Forum on your phone or tablet much easier. 

Even if you love the new design, it always takes time to get used to changes like we’ve brought to The Forum. Please reach out to NOSSCR with questions or comments about this new format.

AMS

NOSSCR is in the process of instituting a new Association Management System (AMS). Essentially, an AMS system is NOSSCR’s CRM for maintaining our membership rolls, committees, dues, and other information about all of you, our members. The system will be ready to launch in the late spring or early summer.

The new system will provide a number of benefits to NOSSCR members and staff. Firstly, it should provide a much better and simpler user experience for members. Recently, we’ve had a number of bugs in our current system. Many of you have had to call in to NOSSCR to correct your membership status or make sure payments are being processed. This new system will make all of that work much easier and more accurate for you and staff.

The new AMS will also allow NOSSCR to offer online communities by topic area, circuit or other ways, allowing message boards and information sharing between members that NOSSCR has not been able to provide before. We’re very excited to be finally offering this to you.

This new system is going to make NOSSCR more efficient and responsive to members. We will bring you more information on this new system the closer we get to launch.

Women’s Month and International Women’s Day

In honor of Women’s History Month, NOSSCR is a launching a new video series featuring short interviews with women who are NOSSCR members. These interviews explore why these members became lawyers, what makes them passionate about social security law, challenges they’ve faced in their careers, and advice they might have for future women lawyers.

NOSSCR will be sharing these videos on our Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook pages. To join the conversation, be sure to tag NOSSCR and include the hashtag #WomensMonth.