Save the date! GSMCON2022 heading to Dallas, TX

The Government Social Media Conference (GSMCON) is heading to Dallas, Texas, in spring 2022, as public sector social media professionals meet together in-person again! We’re planning a special hybrid event for our 7th annual GSMCON to accommodate participants both in-person at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel and online.

Save the Date for Dallas! 

What: GSMCON2022 

When: Tuesday, March 29 — Thursday, March 31, 2022 (half day). Pre-conference workshops and the welcome reception happen Monday, March 28!

Venue: Sheraton Dallas Hotel, 400 N. Olive Street, Dallas TX 75201. Our room block opens soon and our special group rate is $154+taxes (or the prevailing government per diem rate). 

In-person and virtual ticket registration: Opens Monday, July 19, 2021! There will be a range of ticket prices for in-person ($695-$995) or virtual ($299-$499) including early-bird specials and All Access upgrades. Subscribe to our newsletter or check back on the GSMCON website for more registration information.

Hybrid GSMCON2022 event

For the first time, GSMCON will be a hybrid event – a space for government communicators to either meet in-person or online, making the conference even more accessible to the whole community. We’re expecting a fulfilling experience for both our in-person attendees and online participants! 

Our in-person attendees can expect to attend our 2.5-day event with perks like meeting people face-to-face at the welcome reception, learning more about government-related products in the expo area and connecting with speakers and other attendees. Our room block at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel opens soon! Spend after-hours time exploring Dallas with old friends and new acquaintances and enjoy 3 continental breakfasts and 2 lunches, included in your ticket price. You’ll get on-demand access to most session recordings 10 days after the event for 90 days. All Access participants get access to special sessions, plus the ability to interact with online attendees during the event. 

If your agency won’t allow travel yet or participating online is better for you, you have options for a virtual experience, too! Online participants will be able to watch most sessions in real-time, meaning you’ll be right there with speakers and other attendees as sessions are happening. You’ll connect with other virtual and All Access in-person attendees in our online event website, participate in live speaker Q&As and more. Virtual All Access attendees unlock access to special sessions. All virtual participants will also get access to session recordings online starting 10 days after the event for 90 days.

Why we chose Dallas

We look forward to bringing GSMCON back to Dallas in 2022! Long-time GSMCON fans may recall that downtown Dallas hosted our 2017 conference – the first time we moved the conference outside of Reno. 

Though we explored many options to bring GSMCON to the Seattle-area in 2022 (Seattle was the planned location of GSMCON2020, cancelled due to the pandemic), our decision to move forward with Dallas was based on several factors, most notably: 

• The Seattle Convention Center was unavailable to book for March 2022: Considering Seattle was among the first U.S. cities to shut down due to the pandemic, it caused a backlog of events seeking to re-book in the area. We explored other nearby venues, but other options would have resulted in more expensive rates, unfavorable dates and longer distance from a central downtown location.
  
  
• Cost effectiveness for you & your agency: By hosting GSMCON in Dallas, most attendees will average around $160 savings on hotel and transportation costs based on the room block rate and location. Dallas is a major airline hub, so many people with pending airline credits may still be able to use them (Alaska Airlines also flies to DFW).
  
  
• Attendee experience feedback: Surveying hundreds of previous attendees, we heard that most are eager to participate again in person, and key factors for the next conference are ease of travel and affordability.
  

Considering these reasons — and many others — we’re moving forward with GSMCON2022 in Dallas to best accommodate the most government social media professionals and their agencies, and we can’t wait to connect with you in-person or online for the event. 

Golden Post Awards return

At GSMCON2022, we’re bringing back our in-person Golden Post Awards! If you choose to participate virtually, you’ll be able to watch and engage with the livestream. 

This awards program — held virtually last year — recognizes outstanding use of social media by government agencies in the U.S. Each category is dedicated to honoring government social media professionals, including recognizing all the good work you did for your communities during the pandemic. 

To keep the awards program top of mind this summer, join our GSM Community Facebook Group to vote in a special crowdsourced award happening over the next couple months. More details will be announced in the group soon. 

2020 transferee info

If you transferred your GSMCON2020 ticket to 2022, we will be in contact with you directly via an email from [email protected] with further information. If you’re a transferee and don’t receive an email in your inbox (you might want to check your junk folder just in case), then please send us an email and let us know. We’ll reply with all the pertinent details for you as a transferee.   

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