APA National 2020 – NPC at Home

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Each year my excitement for the upcoming APA National Planning Conference (NPC) starts to build in the December of the previous year. That’s when registration typically opens and I start planning for my time at the conference.

Planning the Trip

A Planner doing planning?! Ok, it may be more of an activity to satisfy my OCD urges than an act of a community planner. However, each year there’s a wide variety of sessions that I’m interested in attending. You don’t want to walk into the conference center and then start weighing your options.

But there’s also a significant amount of time spent on Google Maps. I look for buildings and parks that spark my interest to visit while in town. The fact that NPC20 was supposed to be in Houston was especially intriguing. I wanted to check out Discovery Green, Tranquility Park, Sam Houston Park and other locations throughout downtown.

I’m also a bit of a foodie, so I check out every bar and restaurant within walking distance of my hotel. It’s Houston, so there has to be good Texas BBQ and seafood!

The Crushing Letdown

Over four months of build up in excitement typically builds to a crescendo that happens when I walk out of the airport. But this year that excitement was quashed by the cancellation of NPC due to COVID-19. It was of course the right call, but a letdown nonetheless.

No longer would I be able to choose between a plethora of educational sessions to attend. No longer would I be able to dine on great local cuisine while spending time with my colleagues in field. I was stuck in my makeshift home office yearning for NPC21.

A Ray of Hope

But then APA announced NPC at Home, a virtual conference as a replacement. Hope rose again. Yeah, there’s no more Houston and all it had to offer, but there was once again an opportunity to learn from others in the profession about popular planning topics.

Although I’m excited to attend most of the sessions, there are a few that have piqued my interest from the rural planning aspect:

  • Pathways to Prosperity: Differentiating Rural Assets
  • How Post-Disaster Data Can Inform Planning

  • Economic Impacts of COVID-19 and Planning for Inclusive Recovery

I’ll just have to get my BBQ and seafood fix through curbside pickup from local restaurants….

Be sure to follow Rural Resurrection on Twitter as I’ll likely post a few times during the event.