More than 200 administrators attended ACSA’s virtual Personnel Institute Sept. 29-Oct. 1. Organized by ACSA’s Human Resources Council, this annual event focused on hot topics for HR administrators, including changes in leave law and labor negotiations due to the coronavirus.

This was the first ACSA conference held on a new virtual events platform, which attendees said was intuitive and easy to use. The platform enabled participants to ask important questions, interact with colleagues, attend table talks from law firms, and download handouts from live and pre-recorded sessions.

Participants heard several featured sessions, including a budget update from John Gray, a crisis communications presentation from Tom DeLapp, and a keynote from Troy Hutchings, who spoke on developing a model code of ethics for educators.

“Even though it was virtual, I still felt like the presenters ‘involved’ the participants,” said one attendee, who added that the online format was “comforting in our current environment.”

In a post-conference survey, participants also said the topics selected for this conference were “right on.” They also appreciated the media library of recorded content that could be watched or re-watched at their own convenience.