The Conference officially begins today! Whether you are logging on from the comfort of your home office (hello trackpants), or the Conference meeting room at work (hello less comfortable trousers), today is the day!

You begin the morning by hearing from FMA President Ian Dinham, The Hon. Dr. Steven Miles, Queensland Deputy Premier and The Hon. Rob Stokes M.P, NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces.

While settling into your comfortable seat, sipping a cup of tea, you make sure you have a pen and paper for the upcoming Keynote Address provided by Chad Berginnis (Executive Director for the ASFPM) who is dialling in all the way from the USA.

Throughout the day, you find yourself highly entertained by MC Gerry Gannon’s dry humour, impressed by the standard of presentations you connect to and surprised by how easy new platform is to use. You print off a copy of the Program during the morning tea break to make sure you don’t miss any presentations that are of key interest to you. You take a little time to explore the digital platform, because you've heard that it also has Virtual Posters, Virtual Trade and Virtual Interactions between delegates!

After lunch, you realise the main event you’ve been waiting for is coming up – the announcement of the winner of the FMA NRMA Insurance Flood Risk Management Project of the Year.

With your effervescent MC having reminded you at the start of the day, you have already downloaded your Digital Excellence Awards Booklet, printed it for convenience, and have been taking bets in the office about who will win which category (FMA does not endorse gambling…) But seriously, who will the winner be this year?

By 5pm, you find yourself highly inspired and ready for Day Two tomorrow!

Thursday begins at a leisurely 10am on the East Coast, so there is plenty of time to steal into the kitchen and pile up a big plate of snacks (no judgment here) before the Australia and New Zealand Updates.

With crumbs all over the place, the Conference livestream moves onto sponsor addresses and our second Keynote Address of the Conference: this morning you’ll hear from Wendy Brooks from the Environment Agency in the United Kingdom. 

Thursday is also a day with two YFM events scheduled – first off the announcement of the winner of the FMA YFM Young Floodplain Manager of the Year Award (you’re madly referring to your Digital Booklet – discussed above – to familiarise yourself with the nominees), and then with the YFM Social Dinners being held IN PERSON (how exciting!) in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

If you are an FMA Conference regular, you may remember that Thursday is the special day where ordinarily you have to pick up your Voting Card and Business Papers from the friendly FMA booth. Alas, this year we cannot hold an AGM online – we will, however, be holding a comprehensive Quarterly Meeting in its place. This will be chock full of important updates from the FMA Executive and Agency representatives, including the Bureau’s climate outlook (which we know is the highlight – the Exec’s not bitter, we’ve come to terms with it now).

While you did miss the conference food a little throughout the day (those ‘healthy’ muesli bars don’t quite compare), you think to yourself "This online Conference thing isn’t so bad. I’ve learnt quite a lot, and no one even knew I spilled curry on my shirt".

Early to bed (unless you’re partying with the YFMs) for the final day tomorrow.

Friday, the final day, holds a great many treasures for you. Among the plethora of intriguing presentations spread across the three simultaneous streams, you’ll get to hear from Shane Fitzsimmons AFSM, Commissioner of Resilience NSW, during his engaging Keynote Address in the Final Session.

It is also the day of our final Excellence Award category – the FMA Allan Ezzy Flood Risk Manager of the Year Award. This is the Award presented to an individual who demonstrates the highest level of achievement in areas of flood risk management.

The names of the nominees in the Booklet (which is now covered in your annotations and has dog-eared pages) are all familiar to you – you’ve seen them over the years speaking at previous conferences or catching up with them at FMA Quarterly Meetings (back when you could see people in person).

The stakes have never been so high! How exciting! Who will take home the crystal trophy this year? Is it you? (Spoiler: if you weren’t nominated, then no, it won’t be you.)

Did you know that this year, in addition to convening the FMA Excellence Awards again, FMA is also continuing the Harold Sternbeck Medal PLUS adding a recognition for Outstanding YFM Presenter? It’s an exciting time to be a presenter at the Online Conference with two awards up for grabs!

As the Conference wraps up and MC Gerry makes his last humorous remark, you begin to reflect on the week that was. No, it wasn’t the same as an in-person event, but given the restrictions that exist, it was pretty darn great. The thrilling Final Session has gotten you excited about Toowoomba 2022, so much so that you scribble the dates in your diary for future reference.