This week, AIDS.gov is attending the 9th Annual National African American MSM Leadership Conference on HIV/AIDS and other Health Disparities in New Orleans, Louisiana. From January 19-22, hundreds of federal, state, and local health officials, service providers, and community leaders will gather under the charge “Forward Together – Engaging our Future Leaders.”

In addition to plenaries, workshops, and networking socials aimed at inspiring innovative ideas to address the HIV epidemic and other health disparities among African-American men who have sex with men, organizers will honor conference partner the late Dr. Mark Columb. Dr. Colomb was an advocate for Black men who have sex with men and founder of My Brother’s Keeper (MBK), a national organization dedicated to reducing health disparities in African-Americans.

AIDS.gov Activities at the Conference

AIDS.gov will be on hand to work with attendees on how to use social media strategies in their HIV prevention and outreach efforts.

AIDS.gov will host a social media lab in the Regent Room on the 4th floor. No matter your current levels of social media engagement, stop by and get personalized technical assistance on a range of topics, including:

• Developing a social media strategy
• Using social media tools like Facebook , YouTube , and Twitter
• Incorporating new media in your website to create an interactive dynamic communication tool
• Producing short video and audio podcasts
• Monitoring and evaluating your social media efforts

Participants will also have an opportunity to share why they are Facing AIDS through the Facing AIDS photo initiative.

The AIDS.gov team will conduct a workshop on “Using New Media in African American Communities for HIV Prevention” which takes place Saturday, January 21 2012 at 12:00pm in Room 1. For more sessions on social media, review the conference schedule (PDF 137KB).

Other Activities

The AIDS.gov team will attend and blog about the next Road to AIDS 2012 Town Hall meeting ahead of the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) , the largest gathering of people working in HIV which takes place July 22-27, 2012 in Washington, D.C. The New Orleans Town Hall meeting takes place January 19, 2012 at 4:45pm at the Marriott Hotel Downtown. Visit the Road to AIDS 2012 website for additional details.

Staying Connected at the Conference

By following the #AAMSM hashtag on Twitter, you can converse with other attendees and get highlights from the conference, workshops, and plenaries. If you cannot attend the conference in person, you can follow tweets for conference updates. You can also check-in using Foursquare and Facebook.

If this is your first time using any of these tools, please review our New Media Tools information. If you have never used social media at a conference, try listening with one tool and tell us about your experience in a blog comment. We look forward to seeing you!

For more information on the conference, visit the official website and follow the updates on Twitter via hashtag #AAMSM .