Featured Sessions

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2008
Sustainable Revenue Planning
12:45 - 2 p.m.
 0.1 CEUs

Change is a constant, whether it is the economy, politics or a new administration. Surviving an economic downturn or a changing political climate can quickly become a critical issue. Long-term revenue planning that incorporates tools to measure financial success can insure an agency against change and crisis. Learn to plan for revenue sustainability. Topics include developing a financial vision and guiding principles, understanding specific revenue sources, and accurate pricing. Part two of the session will go beyond budgets and monthly finance statements and teach participants how to use a variety of financial tools that will help all levels of staff contribute to a positive cash flow.
•    Scot Hunsaker  - President, Counsilman-Hunsaker (Speaker)
•    Susan Trautman  - Director Parks and Recreation, City of Des Peres (Chair/Speaker)

Preparing for the Future Through Succession Planning
2:15 -  3:30 p.m.
0.1 CEUs

Explore the importance of preparing the next generation of parks and recreation leaders through succession planning.  Prepare your agency and yourself for the anticipated retirements of 60-70% of parks and recreation agency directors. Prepare a pool of talented employees through experiential learning opportunities and a variety of best practices. Learn the essential knowledge and skills that will prepare you to move up to the next level of leadership in your agency.

•    Michael Shellito  - Asst. City Manager/Community Services Director, City of Roseville (Speaker)
•    Nancy Kaiser  - Parks and Recreation Consultant,  (Chair)

Top Issues Facing Boards - Citizen Board Member Summit
2:15 -  5:30 p.m.
0.3 CEUs

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will lead round table discussions for appointed and elected commissioners/board members. The discussion will be focused on subject areas that most commissioners encounter such as changing demographics, new technology, partnerships, community participation, and funding. This is an opportunity to share ideas, identify common issues, and formulate solutions. The discussion will be facilitated by MPRB commissioners and staff.

•    David Metzen (Speaker)
•    Jennifer Ringold  - Citywide Planner, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (Speaker)
•    Dawn Sommers  - Public Information and Marketing Manager, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (Speaker)
•    Annie Young - MPRB Commissioner, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (Speaker)
•    Mary Merrill Anderson - MPRB Commissioner, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (Speaker)
•    Tracy Nordstrom  - MPRB Commissioner, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (Chair/Speaker)

Endless Opportunities with Your Balanced Scorecard Strategic Plan
3:45 - 5 p.m.
0.1 CEUs

This session expands on a session presented in 2007 on the Balanced Scorecard approach to strategic planning, based on Fairfax County Park Authority’s strategic planning efforts. It includes a deeper exploration of the tools used as part of the balanced scorecard approach, and then provides a more in-depth focus on employee and stakeholder engagement as part of the strategic planning process. Explore the need for strategic planning by park and recreation agencies, the benefits that accrue to agencies that successfully employ a strategic planning process, and examples of different methodologies agencies may employ to keep the strategic plan alive.

•    Elisa Lueck  - Manager of Strategic Initiatives and Policy Development, Fairfax County Park Authority(Chair/Speaker)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2008
Preparing for the Future Through Succession Planning
2 - 3:15p.m.
0.1 CEUs

Explore the importance of preparing the next generation of parks and recreation leaders through succession planning. Prepare your agency and yourself for the anticipated retirements of 60-70% of parks and recreation agency directors. Prepare a pool of talented employees through experiential learning opportunities and a variety of best practices. Learn the essential knowledge and skills that will prepare you to move up to the next level of leadership in your agency.

•    Michael Shellito  - Asst. City Manager/Community Services Director, City of Roseville (Speaker)
•    Nancy Kaiser  - Parks and Recreation Consultant,  (Chair)

New Roles for Cities: Collaborations to Improve Child Wellness
3:45 - 5 p.m.
0.1 CEUs

Learn about strategies and collaborations undertaken by innovative recreation and parks departments to address wellness for  children and youth during and after school. Describe new partnerships between recreation and parks, city agencies, schools and community groups to reduce and prevent childhood obesity and provide expanded after school opportunities. The panel will highlight the leadership roles of parks and recreation to build bridges across the community, examples of the roles that recreation and parks can play in shaping the built environment to create safer and more walk-able communities, and strategies to create city-wide systems for after school.

•    Audree  Jones Taylor  - Director of Parks and Recreation, City of Oakland Office of Parks and Recreation (Speaker)
•    Tony Black  - Director of Parks and Recreation, City of Jackson, TN (Speaker)
•    Doug  Holloway  - Recreation Superintendent, City of Boise (Speaker)
•    Leon Andrews - Director, Youth Development, National League of Cities (Chair)

Using Conservation to Fuel Sustainable Communities and 21st Century Economies
3:45 - 5 p.m.
0.1 CEUs

New environmental challenges in the 21st century are demanding a change in conservation practice. This change requires a deeper understanding of conservation practices as powerful instruments for achieving sustainable economies and communities. The Secretary of Pennsylvania’s natural resource agency – the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources - will deliver a compelling presentation on how many communities, from big cities to small towns, are capitalizing on their wealth of natural, recreational and heritage resources to build sustainability and prosperity. Learn how Pennsylvania’s counties, conservancies, foundations, local governments, and businesses are coming together to work with state government on broad, landscape-scale initiatives that involve collaborative planning and strategic investment in natural resources to significantly expand regional economies.

•    Michael  DiBerardinis  - Secretary, PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (Speaker)
•    Gretchen Leslie  - Director, PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (Chair)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008
Different Strokes for Different Folks: Trends in Urban Youth Development
 8:30 - 9:45 a.m.
 0.1 CEUs

Today’s urban youth face tremendous challenges and new pressures. This session will address these external forces by presenting societal trends through research highlights and innovative strategies. Best practices from cutting-edge programs across the country will be shared. Resources will be provided.

•    Corliss Outley-Wilson  - Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University - Department of Recreation, Park & Tourism Sciences (Speaker)
•    Nina Roberts  - Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University - Department of Recreation & Leisure Studies (Chair/Speaker)

Wounded Warriors: Changing the Face of Therapeutic Recreation
 2 - 5:15 p.m.
 0.3 CEUs

This panel presentation will focus on the role of therapeutic recreation (TR) for injured service men and women returning from Iraqi and Afghanistan. From in-patient recreation therapy on polytrauma units, to community-based TR services provided on military bases as well as in municipalities, it will cover the continuum of TR services and programs, and outcomes appropriate for traumatic brain injury, amputation, spinal cord injuries, post traumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance addiction. Panel members include recreation therapists as well as a program manager for a Wounded Warrior Battalion. The session will include an update on the AFRS/NTRS Support for Service Members’ Task Force.

•    Curtis Robb  - Recreation Therapies, Hunter Holms McGuire Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center (Speaker)
•    Shaeron King  - Therapeutic Recreation/Prevention Intervention Programmer, Arlington County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources (Speaker)
•    Ginger  Gold - Program Manager, Marine Corps Community Services (Speaker)
•    Candace  Ashton - Professor, University of North Carolina Wilmington (Chair)

Shifting Global Demographics: Implications for Recreation Service Delivery
3:45 - 5 p.m.
0.1 CEUs

We reside within a global community. Societies within this global community can be divided into developed and developing societies (Bloom & Canning, 2006). Bloom and Canning (2006) indicates that approximately 22 million persons per year will
 migrate from developing to developed nations over the next 30 years. Individuals leave their countries either by choice and become immigrants or by societal oppression or wars and become refugees. How will this migration from developing countries to developed countries impact leisure service providers for the next thirty years? How can leisure provider’s prepare  for shifting demographics aging and culturally?

•    Jerome Singleton  - Professor, Dalhousie University (Chair/Speaker)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2008
Recreation 2.0: Internet Social Networking
10:15 -  11:30 a.m.
0.1 CEUs

Have you heard such terms as blogs, podcasts, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Wikipedia? If not, ask your children. These terms represent the new communication medium that is being used on the Internet. Learn everything you need to know while understanding how you can review and implement such technologies to benefit your agency’s mission and values at little to no cost. If you want to know what people mean when they say, “It’s not just email anymore...”, this is the session for you. Learn how a blog can be used to demonstrate an increased need for a tax referendum, a podcast to
 convey information from your director to your community, YouTube to promote your agency’s promotional videos, and social networking to streamline communication internally and externally.

•    William  Wald  - CEO, Illinois Park and Recreation Association (Speaker)
•    Dean Comber  - Information Technology/Project Management Director, Illinois Park and Recreation Association (Speaker)
•    Michael  Clark  - Executive Director, Batavia Park District (Chair)

Avoiding the Waves of Political Unrest
2 -  3:15 p.m.
0.1 CEUs

Learn about pro-active ideas and procedures to help minimize political unrest that could allow a policy-making or advisory board to move an agency off track. An introspective exercise will be offered into your leadership skills and abilities to reveal voids that politicians may feel the need to fill. You will also be given a series of organizational “musts” that help determine the foundations of a public driven agency. This session is designed for directors or upper level managers who experience ongoing discord with an elected or appointed board, commission or council.

•    Pam Reidy  - Executive Director, P/R Consulting (Speaker)
•    Tom  O'Rourke  - Executive Director, Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission (Chair/Speaker)

Training Your Staff to Deliver Quality Customer Service
2 - 3:15 p.m.
0.1 CEUs

Developing long term customers is a natural benefit to great service and more profitable for our recreation agencies. A 5% increase in customer retention can boost revenues between 25-125%. This being said, how is your recreation agency training your staff to deliver the necessary customer service to yield such profitable results? Who is training your staff on service? When is your staff being trained? We will review service basics that all staff should be delivering in any recreational agency as well as training logistics to make delivery more effective. This session is a great way to analyze current customer service training programs and make sure that all standards are being taught, implemented and evaluated within our agencies.

•    Eileen Soisson  - President, The Meeting Institute (Chair/Speaker)

Revitalizing the Urban Core through Innovative Park Design and Programming
3:45 -  5 p.m.
0.1 CEUs

Attracting people to the urban core is a significant but challenging component of urban revitalization. Learn how three communities, ranging in size from a small town to a large city, have successfully used innovative park designs, incorporating  artworks as infrastructure, in tandem with exciting park programming to jump start urban revitalization efforts. Explore specific park design and programming ideas, as ways in which urban parks can promote economic development, tourism, historic and cultural preservation, recreation, and quality of life, and the public/private partnerships that can help make these parks a reality.

•    Deane Rundell  - Principal, Rundell Ernstberger Associates, LLC (Chair/Speaker)