Conference 2024 Trends and Topics

NRPA’s Annual Conference is dedicated to promoting belonging and inclusion within the realm of parks and recreation. This year, with the theme of "Where You Belong," we encourage session submitters to consider how parks function as gathering spaces for all individuals and communities. We want to know how your work aligns with these concepts. 

The field of parks and recreation is diverse, encompassing various specialties, interests, and areas of expertise. Our annual conference strives to cover a wide range of topics relevant to professionals in this field. To help you prepare your session outline for review by our Conference Programming Committee please explore the following topical calls for proposals. Successful session submissions will weave equity into their proposals and address the issues outlined below: 

Advances in Technology

With the advent of automation, electrification, and AI, numerous technological interventions are available in the field of parks and recreation. These technologies can help professionals better understand and serve their staff and communities. We seek sessions that tackle questions about adapting technology for specific needs, assessing investment value, and navigating the possibilities and boundaries of integrating ever-evolving technology into your organization. 

Belonging, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

We seek sessions that welcome more park and recreation professionals into the practice of making their agencies and facilities more accessible, inclusive, equitable and diverse. Successful sessions will unpack issues of structural racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and other forms of discrimination in parks and recreation, making these problems visible and comprehensible. How are you adapting your programs and policies for neurodivergent youth and their families? Considering language barriers? Embracing different cultures? Successful sessions also will help attendees commit to making change and give them the tools to do just that — starting wherever they are. 

Talent Recruitment and Retention

We seek session proposals that respond to the current-day challenges of recruitment and retention. Conference attendees want to better understand the root causes of these seismic shifts in the labor market and explore likely scenarios for the future of work in parks and recreation. More importantly, they want to learn concrete and actionable lessons for managing these challenges from those with a track record of success in recruiting and retaining talent. Sessions might address themes such as pay equity, creative hiring practices, work/life balance, hybrid work, and staff relationship management.

Leadership Development & The Parks and Recreation Pipeline

Successful sessions will focus on what supports great leadership across the field, front line staff to directors, as mentors and educators. What knowledge and skills are essential to “raise up” the next generation of park and recreation professionals? What examples and lessons learned should be shared? We seek sessions that focus on leadership and workforce development, mentoring, coaching, staff development, organizational structure, personal growth, knowledge management and succession planning in the face of increasing rates of retirement from the field.   

Change Management

We seek session proposals that help attendees understand, accept, and adapt to the changes happening all around them. From high-level strategic planning to tactical mid-course corrections, attendees want the skills and know-how to lead in a world where the pace of change seems to be speeding up by the minute. Successful sessions will walk attendees through the steps of planning for a range of issues. These sessions introduce individuals to the personal growth they need to experience and confidently manage change.

Health and Wellness

We are actively seeking session proposals that empower attendees to comprehend, embrace, and navigate the evolving landscape of community wellness through parks and recreation. We are particularly interested in sessions that illuminate the indispensable role of parks and recreation in fostering community health and overall well-being. These sessions should shine a spotlight on the ongoing programs, projects, and initiatives that harness the transformative potential of parks and recreation. They should underscore the promotion of physical activity opportunities, strategies for improved nutrition, hunger-reduction initiatives, and the critical significance of mental health.

Community Engagement

We seek session proposals that introduce attendees to an integrated community engagement approach, including mobilizing within their own agency, with other public agencies and with community members. Participatory planning methods, civic science protocols, public-art-as-engagement strategies — we’re looking for the tried-and-true and the latest-and-greatest ways to meet local stakeholders where they are. We seek sessions that move from box-checking engagement practices to authentic, meaningful strategies that give power to community members, ensure community voice is centered and bring diverse audiences into the fold. Sessions will cover tips, tools, and to-dos for getting engagement right. 

Operations and Facilities Management

We seek sessions that shed light on maintenance, operations and facilities management practices in parks and recreation. How are “ops” teams constituted and managed at different agencies? What are “next” practices in maintenance? How can agencies choose between outsourcing services and building up in-house skills and knowledge? What are the baseline standards for site safety — and how can agencies reach beyond the basics? What are the latest practices in improving public safety and policing in parks to make everyone feel safe, welcome, and included? Successful sessions will identify and address these often-invisible issues. 

Partnerships

Successful sessions will introduce the park and recreation world to the opportunities and the pitfalls of partnering with a variety of actors and stakeholders. Session submissions should focus on the politics, inter-personal dynamics, legality, and coordination of partnerships, both external and internal. Proposals should demonstrate an understanding of the nuances of partnership management and offer guidance on working collaboratively with outside groups as well as within agencies themselves. 

Programming and Evaluation

Successful sessions will identify and forecast trends in park and recreation programming and how those programs are being evaluated to measure outcomes and identify opportunities for continuous program improvement. We seek sessions that address specific opportunities and challenges in programming with a particular emphasis on trends in youth development including youth sports, environmental education, workforce development, mentoring and academic and cultural enrichment. We also seek sessions focused on older adult programming and intergenerational programming. Successful sessions should ensure principles of diversity, equity and inclusion are centered within programming and consider agencies at different stages of the programming lifespan, from those that are just getting started to those that have been in the programming business for decades. Successful sessions will present innovative practices for program evaluation by highlighting and/or demonstrating evaluation-related methods, resources and/or tools used to obtain actionable data for decision-making.

Revenue and Development

Successful sessions will assume attendees have baseline skills and conceptual knowledge in financial planning to focus on innovations and in fiscal management for park and recreation professionals. Topics covered should include financial sustainability, multi-year funding and budgeting models, diversified revenue streams, next practices in fiscal management, and deep-dive issues like salary transparency for equity. 

Aquatics

Successful sessions will grapple with the unique and specific challenges faced by aquatics facilities operators. We seek sessions that explore innovations and advances in aquatics programming, including therapeutic aquatics, services for all ages and competitive sports. We also seek sessions that focus on making aquatics facilities and programs inviting, accessible and appropriate for a range of audiences. In keeping with our call for proposals related to Talent Recruitment and Retention, we also seek proposals that explore recruiting, training, and retaining lifeguards in different settings (beaches, pools, etc.). 

Climate Mitigation and Resiliency

We seek sessions that offer attendees ideas of how parks can be made more resilient to the stressors of climate change and, in turn, leverage park landscapes to make communities more equitably resilient. This could include planning, partnerships, staff or community engagement and project execution. Proposals for sessions may seek to answer several questions, including the following: 

  • How can parks, greenspaces, planning, and facilities be strategically utilized to address environmental justice issues within communities? 
  • What strategies are effective in incorporating parks, facilities, and greenspaces into comprehensive climate risk mitigation plans, encompassing flood and fire prevention, heat management, and enhancing community resilience? 
  • How do community engagement, partnerships, and navigating the political landscape contribute to successful sustainable initiatives within the parks and recreation sector? 

Conservation and Sustainability Practices

We seek sessions that explore cutting-edge practices in making parks more sustainable across a range of factors, from waste reduction to carbon mitigation, energy efficiency, potable water conservation, and natural resource management. Proposals for sessions may encompass a range of topics, including: 

  • Promoting biodiversity within parks to support ecosystems and contribute to community well-being. 
  • Strategies for engaging the entire community in environmental and sustainable education, leading to tangible community action and impact through well-structured plans, policies, and practices. 

Advocacy

We seek sessions that explore working with government officials and empower park and recreation professionals to be better advocates on behalf of the park and recreation systems they serve. We also seek sessions that help park and recreation professionals understand the opportunities to mobilize their community, friends groups and supporters to be better advocates.

Design and Planning

Successful submissions will grapple with designing facilities for the present and future, focusing on flexibility and emergent functions. We seek sessions that focus on retrofitting existing spaces and getting started with design and planning processes for new facilities, including working with developers and contractors to get it “done.”  

Public Relations, Marketing, and Social Media

We seek sessions that explore the nuances of public relations, marketing, and social media within the parks and recreation domain. Focuses should be on practical insights and real-world applications, including themes centered on crafting effective PR strategies for marketing your programs, implementing innovative techniques to get your message to your entire community, or navigating the ever-evolving landscape of social media.