If there’s one single lesson I’ve learned from the past few weeks, it’s that we all need community now more than ever before.

And there’s something potent about gathering with other creatives that reminds you of the power of human connection in our digital age. I recently had this transformative experience in October at the 2024 ComNet Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, where I not only made tons of new connections with like-minded professionals but also engaged with industry buddies in real life whom I had only ever met virtually. It was awakening, fulfilling, and rewarding all at once!

What is the ComNet Conference?

ComNet is the annual conference of the Communications Network, a nonprofit organization that connects, gathers, and informs leaders working in communications for good. ComNet brings this community together once a year to share ideas, insights, inspiration, and fun.

Here are some of the most magical moments from ComNet:

Attending Leo Chan’s Session, “Think Like an Innovator”

I was super curious about this session led by Leo Chan. It focused on associative thinking—a key trait of the world’s best innovators—and promised a hands-on, interactive experience connecting unrelated “dots” of information. My curiosity got the better of me, and I joined the session to see what kind of innovator skills might be lurking inside me.

We started with a single question, one we wanted to dive into more, and mine was “How can I bring more creativity into my work?”. Then, we were asked to consider actions that would take us outside our routines, which for me included traveling to Italy, cooking seafood, and taking a boxing class! Finally, we wrote down observations about a randomly sourced photo. Mine was a blurry city image, to which I wrote down “it felt like dawn or dusk, there was cool, moist air, with sounds of shoes on sidewalks.”

Combining our photo observations with out-of-routine ideas helped us arrive at what Chan called “Connection Serendipity,” where we connect all these dots of unrelated information to innovate and answer our original question. In case you’re curious, the connections I made were to “stay still to observe the patterns in nature, such as negative space between the leaves, or how things expose or hide themselves in nature.”

Participating in the Poster Showcase

ComNet’s Poster Showcase is a neat opportunity for attendees to share ideas and lessons learned on large-format posters, which are on display during specific portions of the conference. Those who submit posters are present alongside their work during these times, to answer questions and engage with other attendees as they walk through the showcase.

This year, I went big (did I mention this was my first ComNet conference?) and showcased a poster design around the work I’ve done with inclusive, joyful stock photography. Turns out, several of the folks I met with and spoke to are having these same challenges:

• One individual was looking for photos of aging  people in intergenerational households, particularly dealing with health care.
• Another creative working for a nonprofit serving a specific population with a rare disease couldn’t find photos reflecting their purpose or audience.
• And yet, another person who worked for a place-based nonprofit was having difficulty securing photos of specific places due to workplace limitations.

While I plan to continue those conversations, it felt good to know people were thrilled with the resources we provided in our poster.

Meeting all the people

I mentioned the life-changing experience of making new connections and meeting the real-life versions of the virtual ones. Special shoutouts to those folks who made it fun, welcoming, and casual for this typically anxious designer: Vanessa from Cause Communications, Mauricio Torres Jr. and Kat Petsalis from CA Budget and Policy Center, Sean Gibbons from ComNet, Dale Wadman, Sarah Jimenez, Amrit Dhillon, MSW, and Colleen Helmken, who I had never met before and want to be friends with forever.

See you next year in Denver!

All in all, you can see this year’s conference was a success, and I can’t wait to go back for next year’s ComNet in Denver, CO. Want to join me? You can learn more here.