APA National 2020 – NPC20 @ Home (The Recap)

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Initially, I was in despair due to the cancellation of the National Planning Conference (NPC) in Houston due to COVID-19. However, the replacement of the conference with one in an online format satisfied my training needs. NPC20@Home was a well-executed event. Sure it had a few technical glitches, but that was to be of expected as this was the first time APA tried this format. It was also devised in short order. They informed everyone that the original event was canceled on March 18th. Instead of walking away from holding any event in 2020, 1-1/2 months later NPC20@Home was underway. For them to pull this off rather smoothly is an amazing feat!

Leading things off was APA President Kurt Christiansen (@basicla), Joel Albizo (@JoelAlbizo), and Silvia Vargas (@svargas_planner) with an uplifting opening keynote full of promise. In a profound comment, Joel stated; “The pandemic can be the greatest challenge to the profession as well as the greatest opportunity to the profession.” 

A number of interesting sessions filled the docket including one entitled, “Pathways to Prosperity: Differentiating Rural Assets”. A session that pushed home the need to spend less time rehashing a community’s problems and more time concentrating on community assets. Another good session entitled, Live-Work-Play-Dispatch: Designing for E-Commerce”, was eye opening and honestly quite unnerving about the possible future impact of E-Commerce on our communities.

The Twitterverse Speaks Out

Throughout the conference Twitter was full of activity of APA members that were noting worthwhile issues or quoting key takeaways from presenters:

As the president of a statewide organization that puts on an annual planning conference I was even more impressed with this year’s conference than past APA National Conferences. In a very short window, APA canceled this years national conference in Houston. It then set forth in creating an entirely online conference for 5,000 of its members. All this while other associations were completely canceling their conferences. Also, there wasn’t much precedent for this. The conference took place near the beginning of the pandemic, not many others were trying this format. On top of all that, when an issue did arise, they pivoted quickly and effectively.

There’s Always Next Year…Maybe

However, as good as NPC@Home was, I’m already looking forward to APA’s National Planning Conference in 2021. Next year it will be held in Boston, Massachusetts….possibly. I hope it does move forward, I’m looking forward to the sessions, discussions with my colleagues and some tasty clam chowda.