This January, the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia has five music education faculty presenting at the Georgia Music Educators Association’s In-Service Conference. Why is nearly an entire area of a music school devoting time and effort at the start of a semester to not just attending, but presenting at a conference?

“These state conferences are good for community-building, self-efficacy, sense of purpose, idea-sharing, and personal development,” said Johanna Royo, assistant professor of music education at the Hodgson School.

According to Royo, the benefits of simply being a member of a NAfME organization are substantial, but there’s no substitute for the connections and experience of conference attendance.

“So many music educators, being so specialized, tend to feel isolated—there might be 1-2 per school, if that,” said Royo. “Some feel misunderstood by non-music colleagues.”

Being in a collegial environment where questions can be immediately answered and knowledge freely exchanged fosters reassurance, curiosity and stronger educators, not to mention the career opportunities that can arise from that face-to-face interaction.

Emails can be lost in the shuffle, phone calls not returned, but committing two or three days to learning and connection ensures engagement and pays considerable dividends.