Every NRPA Congress is anchored by a strong offering of educational opportunities carefully selected to advance the most up-to-date and relevant concepts and protocols in our field. These are accompanied by exciting Off-Site Institutes (OSIs), workshops and, new this year, interactive Learning Labs and the Learning Playground. All were met with success and useful feedback from attendees, which will inform our offerings for 2015. Now that all the data is in from the 280 total sessions — including nine OSIs, eight Pre-Conference Workshops (PCWs) and 38 Speed Sessions — we’re happy to share some highlights related to the education side of NRPA’s largest event of the year.
Top Picks
Attendees had an overwhelmingly positive response to this year’s new class offerings, particularly the lively and interactive Learning Labs and Learning Playground. “The Learning Playground education sessions were a smashing success thanks to the hard work of our fun-loving presenters,” says Tom Crosley, NRPA’s education manager of conferences and schools. Indeed, this year’s top-rated session, with an average rating of 6.88 on a scale of 1 to 7, was Sandy Slade’s Learning Playground program “Having a Ball — Creative Fitness Activities for All!”
Speed sessions — a series of quick, lively and innovative 20-minute classes designed to energize and inspire — continue to build a strong contingent of participants. The top-rated Speed Session for 2014 was NRPA Board Member Neelay Bhatt’s “Build Lifelong Customers...In Just 60 Seconds.” Speed sessions will return for the third year running in 2015.
Another new feature at this year’s conference, the Glass Room Sessions, were consistently packed for classes like John Dargle and Dody Erickson’s “Beer and Pot in the Parks — Really?” and “Creating High-Performance Parks and Recreation Systems,” facilitated by leading planner and designer David Barth. These, too, will return with more thought leaders and hot topics for discussion in 2015.
In the more traditional class settings, speaker Angela Summers’ presentation “The Art of W.A.R. — Winning Admiration and Respect from Your Employees,” was the most highly attended session overall. While there, participants learned how to gain admiration and respect from employees by learning how to trust, empower and gain knowledge from them. We all know the park and recreation profession is one where knowledge is readily shared and guidance willingly offered, and 2014 conference attendees reinforced this truism by taking time out to learn the best strategies for positive and effective leadership.
Looking Ahead
We’re in the planning process for next year’s conference in Las Vegas and we’re currently accepting proposals for Speed Sessions you’d like to see in our lineup of education offerings. Submissions will be accepted until next spring.
Samantha Bartram is the Associate Editor of Parks & Recreation Magazine.