Attending the 2023 NRPA Annual Conference last year was extremely valuable to my career because I had the chance to meet people from all over the country that I now speak to weekly, send pictures of park projects to, and even go on vacations together! Going into a national conference with 8,000 or more of your closest friends can seem intimidating on paper, but, ultimately everyone attending is a passionate professional looking to best serve their community.
If you’re attending the 2024 NRPA Annual Conference, one piece of advice I would give is to lean to your left or right before a session, or in the hotel lobby while you’re getting coffee, to see where someone is from, what position they hold, and introduce yourself. Even if you aren’t the most extroverted person, an introduction can lead to a potential lifeline for an operations question or your new go-to conference bestie; it’s worth an intro! You can always contact your neighboring park staff back home, so why not branch off into learning from someone you may not have nearby access to? We’re all facing a variety of evolving issues within our organizations and having access to different lenses can open a window of perspectives — except for pickleball, we’re all going through that sport together!
Pictured: Megan Keul (second from right) and a group of park and recreation professionals from across the country at the 2023 NRPA Annual Conference in Dallas.
I’ve had the opportunity to speak at other conferences across the nation, but this year will be my first time speaking at the 2024 NRPA Annual Conference. This conference blends educational impacts and professional networking throughout the entire week by keeping you engaged with a wide variety of sessions and opportunities in the ATL! It’s always a good idea to attend one session outside of your wheelhouse. It allows you to learn how another staff member operates within their area, may be a space you can partner up with to implement an idea, or could be a place you grow into as your career develops down the road. Getting different perspectives as this industry evolves will help keep you sharp because you never know what could impact you or what ideas could come from outside views.
My session in Atlanta — “Election Connection: Getting the Most out of your Elected Officials,” taking place Thursday, October 10 at 2:30 p.m. EST in Room B201 — is meant to educate park and recreation professionals on how elected positions can advocate for growth and support recreational opportunities at a local and state level, straight from elected officials themselves. In my time working for four different levels of government — county, city, and small to large — I’ve learned that advocacy looks entirely different in each community. With that, I hope those attending can see how they can incorporate pieces of this session into community conversations to create a vision that aligns with those in elected positions. While elected officials aren’t park and recreation staff, they are there to serve as community liaisons and leaders. They are voted on by members of the community you are serving, so why not utilize their leadership to help expand your department’s mission and vision alongside you?
Pictured: Megan Keul, Kevin Witte (City of Auburn, Washington) and Kara Kish (City of Loveland, Colorado) at the 2023 NRPA Annual Conference in Dallas.
All conferences are what you make them. Soak up and take advantage of the largest opportunity to meet people from a range of communities and career paths. The NRPA Annual Conference is a reminder of why you belong in this industry regardless of your title or role, how you can better serve your residents and visitors, and where can personally and professionally continue to grow.
Register for the 2024 NRPA Annual Conference Today!
Megan Keul, CPRP, oversees the marketing and communication for Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation in North Carolina. She has worked in a variety of municipalities across the Carolinas overseeing economic development, communications and marketing, and special events and programming. Megan has presented across the country on various park and recreation topics at a national level and been named a 2024 “30 Under 30” award winner by the National Recreation and Park Association. She loves working in the public sector serving the community and providing a variety of experiences to create new opportunities for patrons establishing their sense of place.