July 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 55

You Don't Know What You Don't Know
By Tom Crosley

s we go to press, more than 500 conference speakers, moderators and
thought-leaders are preparing to educate and inform us about the issues that affect parks and recreation. In addition to almost 300 off-site
institutes, pre-conference workshops and education sessions, NRPA will
also roll out new conference features aimed at increasing our understanding of the
industry's best-practices and helping us to meet future challenges. As you make your
plans to attend, we encourage you to go online to www.nrpa.org/conference2017/program-schedule/ to see the full schedule of events and educational offerings. Here are
a few highlights of some of the exciting new features and " back-by-popular-demand "
standards you can expect in New Orleans for this year's annual conference:
Directors' Corner - This new learning area, located in the Riverside Room
near the convention center entrance, will
feature facilitated discussions about the
21st century problems agencies face. Stay
tuned for more information about this
year's first-ever conference hackathon,
during which we'll take a deep dive into
one of those important issues.
Speed Sessions -This year's expanded list of 60, 20-minute sessions will take
place Wednesday, September 26 from 9
a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and, for the first time,
WE WILL OFFER CEU CREDIT for
attending a total of three speed sessions
within that timeframe.
Dive into Aquatics - In New Orleans,
we're excited to roll out a new aquatics
learning track for our aquatics professionals. In addition to offering the AFO
Certification Course (Sunday, September
24-25, pre-registration is required), we'll
also have an aquatics course available
throughout the conference education
session schedule from Tuesday through
Thursday. Here are a couple of highlights:
Water Wisdom: Planning, Designing &
Maintaining Water Play - Destinations
Water is a powerful medium that natural-

ly inspires us to play and interact together, while offering a variety of choices for
how users enjoy and engage. Celebrate
the many research-based health benefits
of water play, and empower communities to effectively champion water play
initiatives. Discover design strategies
that thoughtfully address child development and key considerations in the planning, design and maintenance phases of
your project to create a beloved community destination.
Reinventing the Urban Aquatics System -
Cities with pools built prior to the advent
of waterparks and interactive aquatic
features are struggling with declining
attendance and revenue and with
maintaining facilities that have outlived
their usefulness. This session will explore
how one city is addressing this issue
and transforming its aquatics system to
meet the demands of today's aquatics
users while remaining financially viable.
If you've visited New Orleans before,
we think you'll agree it is one of the
world's great cities, and we'd be remiss
not to offer opportunities to discover it
and help you create your own memories
away from the convention center. With 10

off-site institutes plus an exciting mobile
workshop, there'll be plenty of ways to
step outside and really get a feel for what
our host city has to offer, and this year's
offerings are spectacular (pre-registration
is required for these activities)!
New Orleans Jazz History Mobile Workshop - Only in New Orleans could there
be a National Park for Jazz! Explore
the French Quarter and the history of
Jazz on a National Park Service (NPS)
Ranger-led Jazz tour, which will begin
at the NPS visitor center in the Old U.S.
Mint. Learn about the parks mission and
purpose and experience a Jazz concert
at the new state of the art performance
venue on the visitor center's third floor.
Participants will also have the option to
take a Jazz Pilates class led by jazz vocalist Stephanie Jordan.
New Orleans City Park: Recovery from
Hurricane Katrina - Following a brief
history of the state's most visited regional
park, with an emphasis on the watershed
events that have shaped it, participants
will hear about the park's four-point recovery program after its near annihilation by Hurricane Katrina, with particular attention paid to how the park raised
more than $100 million dollars from the
public and private sector, how it secured
its first-ever public operating funds and
the lessons learned along the way. A tour
of the 1,300-acre park is included.
Don't miss out on these and many,
many other opportunities to learn and
grow professionally at the 2017 NRPA
Annual Conference!
Tom Crosley is NRPA's Senior Manager of Education,
Conferences & Schools (tcrosley@nrpa.org).

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