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32 winter | federation flyer www.thefederation.org
with the Section Chair in those
practice areas. This year, Micalann
Pepe and Marcus Dean will take
over the podcast and we are excited
to see what they will do.
The fourth contact is the virtual New
Member Orientation. The virtual
orientations started as a pandemic-
era substitute for the in-person New
Member Orientations. Although
we can now meet in person, we are
continuing the practice. Caroline
Berdzik and Micalann Pepe have
done a great job managing and
hosting the orientations with 49
attendees.
Retaining Our Existing Members:
A Survey, Our Meetings, and Other
Engagement
Welcoming new members is
necessary and good, but we also
have to deliver for our existing
members. To that end, the MDC
has commissioned a professional
survey from FDCC sponsor
American Jury Consultants. AJC has
graciously agreed to help us reach
out to every existing member and
our past members to collect data
addressing several issues, with a
special focus on:
Return on Investment. At the
end of the day, we promise that
involvement with the FDCC will
develop business. This has proven
true for me, and I know it has for
our members generally. If you have
given or gotten business within the
FDCC, please let Bernie Heinze
and me know. Your information
can remain as confidential as you
like, but we are eager to quantify the
enormous amount of the business
we know the FDCC generates.
Enhancing Corporate Counsel
Engagement. In connection with
the Corporate Counsel Committee,
which reformed as of August
2, 2024, the MDC will work to
ensure that we are providing
excellent value to our corporate
members. We give our corporate
counsel in-depth access to the
best trial attorneys in the country,
programming relevant to their
interests, and ways for them to
use the FDCC to benefit their
companies. This year, we will
look for more ways to benefit our
corporate counsel.
Continuing to Increase Meeting
Attendance. Our meetings are
the “secret sauce” that make the
FDCC what it is. They give us the
opportunity to form the lasting
relationships that enhance not only
our career, but our personal lives as
well. Attending Winter and Annual
Meetings regularly helps form those
bonds. Once new members come to
a couple of meetings and see us in
action, they usually stick around for
the long haul.
This is probably because FDCC
meetings blow everyone else’s
out of the water. Our meeting
attendance is rivaling that of much
larger organizations, and more
members are attending FDCC
meetings since the pandemic than
before. Our St. Petersburg meeting
broke attendance records for the
Winter Meetings, and Charleston
and Park City are on track to do
great things as well.
Aside from our meetings, the MDC
is also boosting the FDCC’s diversity
initiatives. Last year, we worked
with the Diversity Committee to
host Diversity Breakfasts at the
Broadmoor and during CCS and
Diversity Dinners at I-3 and in
St. Petersburg. This year, we look
forward to supporting the efforts
of new Diversity Committee Chair
Linda Knight to make the FDCC
into a diversity thought leader.
But in the end, member
engagement begins with you. If
you proposed or seconded a new
member, reach out to them, make
sure they have joined a Section,
and encourage them to come to
Charleston or Park City. If you
served as a New Member Host,
reach out to your new member and
see how they’re enjoying the FDCC.
Look for FDCC members you know
on social media so you can react to
or share their posts. And encourage
everyone to come to our upcoming
meetings. Together, we can help
everyone find their place in the
FDCC.
Sean Griffin is a Senior Director of the
FDCC and a Partner in the Washington D.C.
office of Longman and Van Grack, LLC.
Contact him at sean@lvglawfirm.com.
Our meetings are the
“secret sauce” that
make the FDCC what
it is.
Members Engage!
section title FDCC News