ICMA Conference is up and running!

As a member of the host committee and a welcome desk worker I have not had much time to blog yet. But, this is a good thing. The welcome desk has been extremely busy. The peanuts and apples have been a huge hit! We have a dining reservation service staffed by people who are very familiar with the area. There are several members from our local jurisdictions and convention and visitors bureau willing and able to answer any question we are approached with. So far comments have been wonderful. As I said in my previous post, we are showing our southern hospitality. Guests are showing a great amount of interest in what to do in the Richmond Region as well as other parts of Virginia. I was standing outside this afternoon as the Discover Richmond tour finished and everyone who walked off the bus was smiling and thanking the guides for a job well done. All in all everyone seems to be enjoying the conference. I have also seen many people that I met at the ICMA conference in Pittsburgh whom remember our display up there. Please come by and visit us at the Commonwealth Corner if you have not already. If not for information, stop by and say hi. We love hearing about where everyone has traveled from.

I will post soon with pictures from the conference bag stuffing which had over 40 participants. I also have a few volunteers taking pictures as well of the conference in general that I will post at a later date.

I hope you all are enjoying your time here! We hope you come back to see us soon!!

Virginia Welcomes ICMA!

After several months of planning, the members of the host committee are anxiously awaiting the arrival of all of our ICMA guests. We hope to have planned a fun-filled and informative conference for everyone. We will see everyone in a few days. Be prepared for some full-fledged “southern hospitality”. See you soon!

Insight Into the Selection of the Four Keynotes

    

One of the principle tasks of the Chairperson of the Planning Committee is to be very involved with selecting the four keynote speakers.   There are many different things that are involved in that process.  The first and most difficult part of the process is the limitation of the budget.  While a large portion of the overall conference direct expenses are paid to the four keynotes, it is still limited compared to what some speakers are expecting for their services.

     Finding speakers that are interesting, informative and will be a draw for our members to make the investment to come to the conference is a big consideration.  It is always the goal to meet those above criteria while at the same time, trying to find a diverse group of speakers; diverse in all ways.  Beyond the typical diversity issues, it also involves trying to find speakers with international background. 

     With all that said, I am excited to hear the four that we selected this year.  I think we have an excellent lineup and am certain that at least one of these experts will provide you with some interesting insights.  As you have already seen, by checking out this blog, a couple of our presenters have agreed to participate on the blog.  For more information about each of the keynoters and their presentation time, please check out the ICMA web site at http://icma.org/conference2008/?hsid=1&ssid1=47&ssid2=2221

      We did have a challenge time this year in firming up our keynote line up.  As you are all aware, our Monday keynoter was suppose to be Tim Russert.   His dad, Big Russ, was a former municipal employee in the Buffalo, NY area.  This unique perspective led us to believe that his presentation would be personally satisfying to both Tim as well as us, his audience.  Unfortunately, Tim’s very untimely passing left us with a difficult task of trying to replace him.  We are so fortunate that Cokie Roberts has agreed to be our keynoter on Monday.   Her experience and expertise is certainly on equal with Tim.

      As I close this entry, I hope you agree that, at least on paper, that we met our goal of bringing interesting, diverse, and informative keynote lineup for your visit to Richmond.  I hope that by the end of the conference, the group has done more than just met those goals on paper!   See you all soon,

       Jim Bennett, Lewiston, Maine City Administrator and 2008 Conference Planning Committee Chairperson

 

     

 

September Is Time For Richmond!

As the calendar has turned to the month of September, it is time for all of the details of the ICMA Conference in Richmond to be finalized.  It seems like just yesterday, the 2008 Conference Planning Committee was meeting in Pittsburgh to begin the process of laying out the educational session for this year’s conference.  In November of 2007, approximately 80 of your colleagues and friends traveled to Richmond to do the heavy lifting for the event.  Since then, those members have been working to bring about for you the very best educational experience that we can offer. 

Over the next few weeks, as the Chairperson of the 2008 ICMA Planning Committee, I will offer some of my personal thoughts about the conference, my expectations as well as any insight that I might have gathered during the process.  This introductory blog will be to share more about the educational sessions. 

In case you are not aware, the educational sessions and tracks that are offered at the Annual Conference is absolutely driven by our members.  This year, the themed tracks are:

• Infrastructure planning and finance
• Environmental sustainability
• Organizational and professional sustainability
• Personal issues
• Civic engagement
• Performance Measurement/Management

Each of these themes will offer several concurrent sessions that you will get to choose from.  Hopefully, you have looked at the schedule and began the process of planning out your stay in Richmond.  If you have not, here is a quick link to ICMA’s web site that lists the daily schedule:  http://icma.org/conference2008/?hsid=1&ssid1=47&ssid2=2221

I look forward to seeing many of you during the conference.  During my next session, I will give you some insight into the selection of the keynotes.   

 Jim Bennett, City Administrator, City of Lewiston, Maine 

2008 Conference Planning Committe Chairperson