LSCC Mega-Session - Managing Change and Transition
258A, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center

Whether change is a result of technology, power shifts, term limits or catastrophic events, it can be difficult. Learn how to manage change effectively and introduce change to others.

• Speaker: Anne Litwin, Anne Litwin and Associates, Massashusetts

Cosponsored by American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries, Leadership Staff Section, Legal Services Staff Section, Legislative Information and Communications Staff Section, Legislative Research Librarians Staff Section, National Association of Legislative Fiscal Offices, National Association of Legislative Information Technology, National Legislative Program Evaluation Society, National Legislative Services and Security Association, Research and Committee Staff Section and Legislative Education Staff Network

LSCC Mega-Session - Dealing With Conflict
257B, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center

Everybody in a role of leadership faces conflict in their professional and personal lives. Develop a working knowledge of the different ways to manage conflict and learn your preferred management style.

• Speaker: Lynne Eisaguerre, President, Workplaces That Work, Colorado

Cosponsored by American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries, Leadership Staff Section, Legal Services Staff Section; Legislative Information and Communications Staff Section, Legislative Research Librarians Staff Section, National Association of Legislative Fiscal Offices, National Association of Legislative Information Technology, National Legislative Program Evaluation Society, National Legislative Services and Security Association, Research and Committee Staff Section and Legislative Education Staff Network

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will be the featured speakers during this varied set of programs, which will also include NCSL's Annual Business Meeting and a preview of the 2008 annual meeting in New Orleans. Secretary Chertoff will kick-off the morning with a look at DHS's plans for implementing the Real ID law. Speaker Pelosi will offer her thoughts about public policy challenges facing national and state lawmakers. The annual business meeting, which will be conducted in two parts, will feature debate over the resolutions that will guide NCSL's lobbying work over the next 12 months and beyond. Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu will wrap things up with an invitation to come to Bayou country for next year's NCSL annual meeting.

• Presiding: Senator Richard Moore, Massachusetts; Chair, NCSL Standing Committees
• Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Texas, President, NCSL
• Speakers: The Honorable Michael Chertoff, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C.
• The Honorable Mitch Landrieu, Lieutenant Governor, Louisiana
• The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

All legislators and legislative staff will want to attend this centerpiece of the Annual Meeting. All other annual meeting participants are welcome to attend as observers. The business is the culmination of the conference year. It includes debate on policy resolutions that will guide NCSL in lobbying the federal government in the year to come, election of NCSL officers and approval of the conference budget.

Our New Orleans-style jazz brunch that will have you wishing you were in the Big Easy. Feast on familiar Creole favorites like gumbo, red beans and rice, beignets, bananas foster, grits and grillades. All is set in a French Quarter atmosphere with a roaming jazz band that will get your toes tapping. Saints alive, it’s fleur de-licious! From the Sugar Bowl to Mardi Gras to Jazz Fest, New Orleans is always a gracious host. Feel the excitement, and get ready to head way down yonder--Louisiana is expecting you in 2008

As Americans prepare to elect the 44th president of the United States in 2008, two distinguished presidential advisors will give their insights into what makes a president great. David Gergen, advisor to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, and Andrew Card, who worked for Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush and the current president, will share an insider’s look at the White House.

• Presiding: Representative Joe Hackney, Speaker of the House, North Carolina
• Moderator: Mara Liasson, National Political Correspondent for National Public Radio, Washington, D.C.
• Speakers: Andrew Card, Former White House Chief of Staff, Virginia
• David Gergen, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Massachusetts

Civic Soldiers Awards -- Project Citizen Awards
NCSL gratefully acknowledges the support of AT&T for breakfast.

The Anatomy of Ethics Reform
102A, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center

States are actively reforming their ethics laws and these experiences provide lessons for other states. This session examines the steps New Jersey took and the obstacles it surmounted, as well as recent ethics reforms in several others states.

• Presiding: Paula Franzese, Peter W. Rodino Professor of Law, Seton Hall School of Law, New Jersey
• Speakers: Representative John Coghill, Jr., Alaska
• Representative Joe Hackney, Speaker of the House, North Carolina
• Representative Dennis Richardson, Oregon

Sponsored by the Legal Services Staff Section and the Center for Ethics in Government

206A, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center

Do your laws provide lines of succession and allow the government to be moved during an emergency? Examine the laws states are relying on to protect government continuity and learn what they plan to do in a disaster situation.

Co-sponsored by the Leadership Staff Section, Legal Services Staff Section, National Legislative Services and Security Association and the American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries

Jimmy Orr was named by the World Forum on E-Democracy as one of 25 people changing the world of the Internet and politics. Orr was White House e-communications director under President George Bush when he created "Ask the White House" and increased hits from 1 million to more than 20 million. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger hired Orr to transform his Internet presence and the governor’s interactive online forums set records. Now he is online editor of the Christian Science Monitor.
Legislative Staff Achievement Awards

• Presiding: Steve Miller, Chief, Legislative Reference Bureau, Wisconsin, Staff Chair, NCSL

Cosponsored by American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries, Leadership Staff Section, Legal Services Staff Section, Legislative Information and Communications Staff Section, Legislative Research Librarians Staff Section, National Association of Legislative Fiscal Offices, National Association of Legislative Information Technology, National Legislative Program Evaluation Society, National Legislative Services and Security Association, Research and Committee Staff Section and Legislative Education Staff Network

This year's finale celebration, with its harbor-front location, promises a spectacular night under the stars with the world-famous Boston Pops. The stage and the audience take on a festive atmosphere with exhilarating music, featuring everything from classical to jazz, Broadway to The Beatles, and Celtic reels to Brazilian sambas. It's music to entertain, invigorate and enlighten. The Bank of American Pavilion opens at 6:30 p.m. for a pre-concert party including food and beverages, and a main stage family friendly warm-up act. Don't be late--the concert starts at 8:00 p.m.!