Held in various locations from Denver to Texas to Charleston, the annual IABC Southern Region connect2comms Conference attracts attendees and speakers from the U.S. Caribbean, Canada and Europe. Since 2012 Hardin-Francis president Mary Francis has led an event-planning team to organize the conference from start to finish. This role involves developing strategy, setting budgets and determining the agenda, in addition to creating the marketing plan, brand, conference website. email marketing, newsletter articles and social media posts.