May 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 17

2020 H]ZAnnual ConferenceEducation
Programming Overview
By John Prue

T

his year, NRPA received more than 700 education session topic
submissions for the 2020 NRPA Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, to be held October 27-29. Narrowing this record
amount of proposals to around 185 sessions is the duty of the
Conference Program Committee (CPC), a committee of dedicated volunteers representing the diversity of the park and recreation industry, working
in a variety of capacities within their respective agencies. These volunteers
sacrificed long hours over the December holidays and into the new year,
reading and ranking each proposal for final selection discussions that took
place at the winter meeting in Orlando on January 30 and 31.
Working hand-in-hand with
NRPA staff, 12 topic subcommittees discussed the " best-of-the-best "
in each category, attempting to provide an inclusive distribution of topics that covered a diversity of perspectives on the current challenges
and opportunities that park and
recreation professionals face. The
open call for sessions delivered an
abundance of proposals for Leadership & Management, Recreation &

Sports Programming, Social Equity
& Inclusion, and Planning, Design
& Maintenance. The winter meeting allowed the CPC to convene
and validate final selections, creating a distribution between 11 and 19
sessions within each of the 12 tracks
and to note gaps in programming
for the committee and NRPA to fill
leading up to the main event.
The CPC and NRPA's overall
mission is always to select the best,

most relevant education sessions
to serve our peers and support
NRPA's Three Pillars. In addition,
we also are working on future processes to continue to improve the
way the CPC/NRPA determine
what topics would be of most value to our colleagues, seeking out
top speakers in the field, developing the diversity of the profession
and ultimately improving how
we sift through hundreds of session proposals in an intentional,
mission-driven manner.
The winter meeting was also an
opportunity for the CPC to experience the host city, guided by
the generosity of Marcia Bowen,
CPRP, from the city of Orlando.
Marcia's programmed tours of the
city parks, meetings with elected
officials and shared information regarding the city of Orlando helped
to inform the topics that were finally selected to align with the 2020
NRPA Annual Conference setting
and suggested off-site institutes.
By the time we all arrive in Orlando, we will have spent the better
part of the year setting up educational sessions to be offered at this
year's conference. This is my seventh year on the committee and as
the chairperson for this year, I've
never been prouder of the work we
have done and of my fellow members on the CPC.
John Prue is Installation Program Director at Morale, Welfare
and Recreation, Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, and the
2020 NRPA Annual Conference Program Committee Chair
(john.prue@navy.mil).

PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N .O R G | M AY 2 02 0 |

Parks & Recreation

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May 2020 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2020 - Parks & Recreation
