Next week, I head out to Long Beach, CA for the bi-annual Pro Walk Pro Bike conference. It's shaping up to be a power packed four days. There will be numerous keynotes, topic breakout sessions, round-table discussions, poster presentations, side-meetings with bicycle and pedestrian coordinators, advocacy trainings, a bike industry meet and greet, a women's summit, and a Cycle Chic style show. Wowza! I'll be hopping.
Here's a quick run-down of what I think will be the highlights:
Keynotes: I can't wait to hear from Mikael Colville-Anderson, Denmark?s Bicycle Ambassador and Copenhagenize Consulting CEO. Among accomplishments, this man coined Cycle Chic! No doubt this will be entertaining and insightful. Then again, I never tire of hearing Dan Burden. Dan, known as one of the early influencers regarding livability in community design, is also one of the four founders of Bikecentennial (known now as Adventure Cycling Association).
Breakouts: Seeing as I am involved with two sessions, I surely will be attending those: Getting the Bike Fix on Route 66 on Wednesday at 10:15 am and Minnesota's Mississippi River Trail: Bringing Bicyclists to America's River, One Partnership at a Time at 1:45 pm. Both sessions will highlight the benefits of promoting bicycle tourism and the advantages of designating U.S. Bicycle Routes. There is a long list of others that peak my interest. I am especially interested in attending Placemaking 101 and the Power of 10 on Tuesday morning. Fred Kent is the president of Project for Public Spaces (PPS), the new host of the conference (the National Center for Biking and Walking merged with PPS in 2011).
Round-Tables: I can't wait to share all the information we've gathered on bicycle tourism promotion over the past couple years. Jim Sayer will speak about this during lunch plenary on Tuesday and we will have the opportunity to really dig-in and work with attendees during the problem solving session on Wednesday at 3:15, Develop and Benefit from Cycle Tourism in Your State.
Posters: I have never done (or seen) a poster session in a pechu kachu format (20 slides at 20 seconds each) but this should be exciting. Josh DeBruyn, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator at the Michigan department of transportation and I will take participants on a whirl-wind tour of USBR 35 implementation, a 500-mile route that follows the Lake Michigan shoreline.
Pre-Post Meetings/Events: In addition to these wonderful sessions, there are additional meetings attendees can tack on to their schedules. There's the pre-conference Alliance for Biking and Walking 2012 Leadership Retreat, which will bring advocacy leaders from across the country together to share wisdom and problem solve; the post-conference National Women's Bicycle Summit which will focus on growing the female sector of bicycling and female involvement in the bicycling industry. On that note, I am excited to see the Women on Bikes SoCal "Cycle Chic" style show right after the women's summit on Thursday evening. I am looking forward to meeting advocates at the Planet Bike booth on Thursday as well. There are also meetings for bicycle and pedestrian coordinators -- Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals is hosting a local coordinators meeting and the Federal Highway Administration is hosting a similar meeting for state-wide coordinators (see page 6 of the program for meeting information).
I am excited to be seeing some familiar faces at Pro Walk Pro Bike, but even more excited to meet new friends, like the recently hired Kentucky and Missouri bicycle and pedestrian coordinators -- both ready to roll up their sleeves and work for better bicycle-travel conditions in their state. We have a lot to learn and discuss in four busy days!
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BUILDING THE U.S. BICYCLE ROUTE SYSTEM (USBRS) is posted by Ginny Sullivan, USBRS coordinator at Adventure Cycling, and features news and updates related to the emerging U.S. Bicycle Route System. The USBRS project is a collaborative effort, spearheaded by a task force under the auspices of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Members of the task force include officials and staff from state DOTs, the Federal Highway Administration, and nonprofits like the East Coast Greenway Alliance, and Mississippi River Trail, Inc.
Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2012/09/getting-it-done-at-pro-walk-pro-bike.html
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