“Nice Meal” Fiber Connect on Track for 4,000 Attendees

Fiber Connect 2023, the Fiber Broadband Association’s annual conference, will likely smash all previous attendance records, according to its organizers. Taking place at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, on August 20-23, 2023, the event is expected to be the largest, most successful FBA event ever.  

“I look back at 2021 and we hit 2,000 attendees for Fiber Connect right out of the pandemic,” said Joseph “JJ” Jones, FBA Chairman of the Board and President of On Trac. “In 2022, we drew 3,000 attendees. This year, with the excitement, the need, we think we’re going to hit 4,000 attendees, which just shows the incredible growth and the hunger for information on all things fiber broadband. We’ll also have 225 speakers, five pre-conference educational tracks, seven main conference educational tracks, 42 breakout sessions, 235 exhibitors and our biggest expo hall yet with 41,000 square feet of exhibition space.” 

Highlights of the Fiber Connect conference agenda include a C-suite forum, new fiber meetups, technology deep dives, and a state broadband summit on the 23rd. Rich Williams, Fiber Connect Program Director and President of Connect2 Communications likes to describe the Fiber Connect conference as a nice meal. 

“If you look at the pre-conference workshops, that’s where we introduce new topics, new partners,” said Williams. “That’s your appetizer. That’s the day you should come in early. Not everyone orders an appetizer, but this year, you should save room. We have the traditional broadband toolkit session and workshops on sustainability, community broadband, on middle mile and I’m particularly excited that we’re partnering this year with the National Association of Counties talking about fiber broadband at the local level. That’s going to be a great session.” 

The “meat and the potatoes” of the conference includes new content featuring 18-minute-long TED Talk-style operator Light Talks from FBA members discussing how their networks are supporting and delivering innovation and disruption in their markets. Light Talk presenters include AT&T, Google Fiber, Frontier, EPB, Ting Internet, and Lumos Fiber. Wednesday’s “dessert” will be the State Broadband Summit, featuring key information as state leaders and their communities leverage their initial BEAD funding to create Five-Year construction plans.  

There are lot of items on the menu, so even fussy eaters should be satisfied. “This year at Fiber Connect, we’re going to have something that serves everyone, with a breakout session, general session, more state broadband,” said Jones. “We’re touching on so many different areas. This agenda is probably the fullest and richest one we’ve had.”  

To learn more about the Fiber Connect menu/agenda, listen to the latest Fiber for Breakfast podcast.