NCSC and CFC participate in several informative conferences and events each year. These events are designed exclusively for our members and address the issues, challenges and opportunities in the energy industry and the electric cooperative network.

NCSC and CFC participate in several informative conferences and events each year. These events are designed exclusively for our members and address the issues, challenges and opportunities in the energy industry and the electric cooperative network.

Statewide editors from across the country convened in Arlington, Va., earlier this month for the annual Willies Awards banquet, hosted by NCSC and CFC. The group of communicators, in charge of publishing monthly statewide magazines supporting electric cooperatives, also held a Statewide Editors Association business meeting and attended an NRECA-sponsored industry issues update.
"CFC has hosted this awards dinner for more than two decades," said Mike O'Brien, CFC vice president of Corporate Communications. "It's always a pleasure to meet with old friends and see them be recognized for the amazing jobs they do."
The entries for this year's "Willies," named for Willie Wiredhand, the mascot and champion of electric cooperatives, were judged by a group of writing and editing professionals from Nebraska. The award for "Best Magazine Design" went to Texas Co-op Power; "Best Website" went to Georgia Magazine. A full list of winners is available under the "links" section of www.sea.coop.
John Grant, senior consultant, CFC Financial Advisory Services, presented at NRECA's issues update the following day and discussed how to communicate financial data effectively. He stressed three simple steps to presenting tricky data: identify a trend, compare it with data from peers and display the findings in a graph.
"Compared to just looking at a table full of numbers, when you see these same numbers in a chart or graph it 'sings,' and the message becomes much clearer," Grant said.

NCSC sponsored the keynote speaker at CFC Forum 2010. New York Times bestselling author Mitch Albom was the NCSC-sponsored luncheon speaker at CFC Forum 2010, held June 7-9 in Philadelphia. Albom is the author of the bestselling memoir of all time, Tuesdays with Morrie, as well as eight other books. View a video of Albom's presentation on cooperative.com.
NCSC and CFC proudly sponsored the Spotlight on Excellence Awards Luncheon on May 12 at the 2010 Connect Conference & Expo in Kansas City, Mo.
Spotlight on Excellence is an annual awards program of the Council of Rural Electric Communicators and NRECA. It recognizes electric cooperatives across the country for their high-quality communication and marketing efforts. This year's competition attracted more than 800 entries which were judged by faculty members at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
White River Valley Electric Cooperative, Branson, Mo., won the Edgar F. Chesnutt Award for best total communications program. Winners in 19 categories—such as best news story, best photo and best website—were celebrated at the awards luncheon.
NCSC will be participating in the following upcoming events:
September 8, 2010, CFC District 1 & 4 Meeting, Grand Rapids, MI
September 15, 2010, CFC District 5 & 6 Meeting, Minneapolis, MN
September 22, 2010, CFC District 9 Meeting, Anchorage, AK
October 13, 2010, CFC District 2 & 3 Meeting, Hilton Head, SC
October 20, 2010, CFC District 7 Meeting, Denver, CO
October 27, 2010, CFC District 8 & 10 Meeting, Oklahoma City, OK
CFC Independent Borrowers Executive Summit 2010
November 15-17, 2010
San Diego, CA