Our annual conference is coming up in less than a month and there are a lot of details to attend to! From writing up workshop descriptions for our program to deciding what ribbons to have available to showcase our sponsors’ nametags, putting on an event this big takes A LOT of planning.
We’re getting lots of registrants but Frank tells me to expect them to really start avalanching as we close in on the deadline since people tend to register late (not sure why this is but he tells me it what happens every year). Also we’re running our Main Street Institute at the same time, which we hopes makes things easier for our Main Street Programs even though it’s just a little bit more crazy-making for us.
Laurie, who keeps everything running smoothly here and at Greater Ohio (with whom we share office space), has worked her tail off setting up a zillion and one registration options to try and accomodate everyone’s needs. It adds to our confusion by a bit but again, we’re working to try to make it easier for y’all.
I’m excited about the conference not just because it’s going to be fun to meet all the folks I haven’t yet and not just because of the stellar speaker roster we’ve lined up but also to see all of our work come to fruition. The conference is also when we hand out our Heritage Ohio awards for Preservation Hero and Main Street Program of the year (among others) and it’s when we announce our Top Opportunities. Frank handed out the award packets for our board already and I’m in the process of formatting the Top Opportunities nominations for our reviewers and I’m looking forward to seeing the results.
I hope we’ll see you in Cleveland! It’s going to be a terrific time for networking and learning and just connecting with other people who care about economic revitalization and historic preservation.
