National Federation of Press Women, a dynamic nationwide organization of professional women – and men – pursuing careers across the communications spectrum, is holding its annual conference in Bethlehem Sept. 6-8.

About 100 communicators from across the country, including as far away as Alaska, will meet at the Comfort Suites University to hear from speakers on a variety of communications topics. Many of the speakers are from the Lehigh Valley region, including:

• Mimi Dixon, manager for Brand Equity, Strategy & Activation of Crayola

• Charlene Donchez Mowers, president of Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites

• Kayla Dwyer, journalist at The Morning Call

• Adriene Grieve, executive director of the Tri-County Chapter based in Reading

• Kathleen Parrish, creative content editor at Lafayette College

• George Taylor, editor of the Bethlehem Press,

• Bill White, columnist and blogger for The Morning Call

• Christina Whitney, director of the Career Center at The University of Scranton

Keynote speakers include:

• Shonali Burke is the founder and lead trainer of The Social PR Virtuoso®, an online training hub for PR pros ready to unleash their inner superheroes.

• Roger Hudak retired after 28 years as an English/Journalism teacher at Liberty High School and became a member of the South Side Task Force. He has been chairman since 2004.

• Paula Otto was part of the leadership team that created the Virginia Lottery. She served as its executive director from 2008-2018. After retiring from state service, Otto formed OTC – Otto Training and Consulting – which serves both government and private clients.

• Maryanne Reed is dean of the West Virginia University Reed College of Media. She was named the 2016 Scripps Howard Administrator of the Year in recognition of her leadership in journalism education.

• Andrew Tarvin is the world’s first Humor Engineer teaching people how to get better results while having more fun. He is the best-selling author of Humor That Works: 501 Ways to Beat Stress, Increase Productivity, and Have Fun at Work and his TEDx talk has been viewed more than 100,000 times.

Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez will welcome the group.

Kay Stephens of the Altoona Mirror and Cynthia Price of the University of Richmond organized the conference. Price is a graduate of Liberty High School and interned two summers at the now defunct Bethlehem Globe-Times.

“This was a chance to show off my hometown and bring together an amazing line-up of speakers,” Price said. “I’m particularly excited that my high school journalism teacher Roger Hudak will be telling the story of Bethlehem’s rebirth following the demise of Bethlehem Steel.

The NFPW conference includes the organization’s annual awards banquet and recognition of its Communicator of Achievement, the highest honor bestowed on a member.