In the post, we’ll follow up on some of the topics discussed at #ELGL16. If you have items to add to this post including pictures, send me an email at kent@elgl.org.
Close to 600 local government professionals attended one of the six Pop Up Conferences held on October 21. It was a bit of a leap of faith to jump from one conference to six different conferences on the same day. Turns out that our award-winning members came through in a big way, and we gained more than 150 members in the lead up to #ELGL16.
- Pop! Pop! Pop! – #ELGL16 Unofficial Photo Album
- Comments, pictures, takeaways, and more at #ELGL16
- Mark Funkhouser made a simple request to ELGL members and that was to take a few minutes to complete the The 2016 Equipt to Innovate™ Benchmark Survey – Governing survey.
- Hunter George mentioned the Sports Illustrated story on how the USGA turns golf courses into stadiums. Take a look – How the USGA built a stadium from scratch to host the 2015 US Open
- Sheila Hamilton provided a powerful, emotional lunchtime speech. Learn more about her fight to raise awareness about mental health. Sheila Hamilton writes about husband’s suicide, need for mental health awareness and KINK FM’s Big Voice Sheila Hamilton Opens Up About Suicide and Mental Illness.
- Amber Mathiesen followed up on a question raised to Sheila Hamilton about the “hush policy” in schools. This article addresses the recent trend – A University Threatened to Punish Students Who Discussed Their Suicidal Thoughts With Friends (Updated)
- I talked to a few people yesterday about What Works Cities and their takeaways. You can learn more about What Works City in this episode of GovLove. Podcast: Leveraging Data to Improve Local Government with Zach Markovits, What Works Cities.
- Rae Trota and Jason Dedrick presented on the City of Eugene’s effort to address homelessness. Eugene’s plight was been well document in the local newspaper – Can Eugene end homelessness? Rae joked about the tendency for elected officials to point to Salt Lake City as an example of a city ending homelessness. As you might imagine, there’s more to the story – Utah says it won ‘war on homelessness’, but shelters tell a different story
- For another take on homelessness, Ethan Bigby wrote about Los Angeles’ approach for the ELGL website. Ideas Worth Sharing: Collaborating to Address Homelessness in Los Angeles
- I met the person behind the Portland Budget Office Twitter feed. Jane Marie Ford is responsible for spicing up budget talk on Twitter.
- The host of the podcast “Call Your Girlfriend” Ann Friedman closed out #ELGL16 PDX. Ann has also written a number of articles including Can We Just, Like, Get Over the Way Women Talk? and My Paradoxical Quest to Build a Personal Brand.
- Connecting the dots…Michael Grass, Executive Editor of Route Fifty, attended the PDX event; Josh Schoemann, who is a finalist for a Route Fifty award, attended the Chicago event.
- Fun Fact: Patrick Rollens and Ann Friedman were classmates at Missouri.
- Before the start of Happy Hour, we made the big announcement….#ELGL17 is headed to Detroit on May 11 and 12. ELGL members will receive priority registration. If you are not a member, you can join here.
In Denver, Michael Karlik, founder of City Council Chronicles, provided the lunchtime entertainment. For more laughs and local government, check out the website and podcast. (But listen to GovLove before you check out Michael’s podcast.)
The final word about #ELGL16 goes to Katie Babits for defining what ELGL is.
"We've started a movement" – Great final comments by @BabitsKnopeful #ELGL16 pic.twitter.com/twgiDR4kM9
— ELGL: Engaging Local Government Leaders (@ELGL50) October 22, 2016