Each year our Annual Summer Meeting brings LGBT leaders from across the nation together to share ideas and forge connections. At this year’s Meeting, we introduced a new session that quickly became a breakout star of the conference: FEDtalks.

For FEDtalks, we invited state leaders and our Federation interns to take five minutes to share a big idea, talk through an innovative strategy, or offer up an exciting concept. We were amazed at what we got!

FEDtalks topics ranged from effective fundraising to smart strategic planning to building an equality caucus in the legislature -- and everything else in between.

FEDtalks were such a big hit that we wanted to share them with everyone, not just the folks who joined us at Summer Meeting! We’ve picked a handful and included them below, but they’re all available on our YouTube Channel!

Our first FEDtalk comes from Ali Vander Zanden, Political Director at EqualityMaine, who teaches us the importance of effective strategic planning. Next, Vinita Chaudhry, Intern at Empire State Pride Agenda, describes the organization’s new transgender resource guide. Then, Daniel Williams, Field Organizer/Legislative Specialist at Equality Texas, encourages us to let our inner legislative nerd shine. And lastly, Shannon McCann, Intern at Equality Utah, shares with us the success of the organization’s new digital action center.