ELGL is headed to Nashville for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) conference, October 20 – 23, 2019! Here’s what our members are most looking forward to at the conference!
Kristen Ayers
Resource, Performance, & Strategic Planning Manager at City of Independence
ICMA 2019 is just 6 days away! Not that I’m counting or anything… although I may be daydreaming from my desk on this dreary morning in Independence, MO of the things I’m looking forward to:
- In general, the ICMA conference is a dream world for young professionals, especially extroverted ones with lots of FOMO, like myself. This will be my 4th ICMA conference, and my 4th year in the profession, so I guess you could say I enjoy going to these conferences. There is really nothing better than being surrounded by thousands of people that have the same nerdy passion for public service that you do.
- This will be my first ICMA conference attendance where I am not a student or an intern. I’ve spent the last 4 conferences as the young kid asking every person around me “what’s the next step” or “how do I get to where you are”. I’m very much looking forward to being able to help answer these types of questions for the students and interns I see at sessions and at after-hours activities (and probably continue asking them myself). I know and understand the position they are in at this conference, and I can’t wait to reach out to them and help them navigate what can be an intimidating environment. I’m also looking forward to gaining knowledge and ideas from sessions and other professionals that I can bring back and implement in my own city.
- Okay, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that one of the things I’m most excited about is that this conference is in NASHVILLE. I can’t wait to hit up some honkey tonks with some of my favorite local government pals, scooter around downtown, and hopefully make it to a show at the Grand Ole Opry. Nashville here we come!
You can find a rundown of ELGL’s events and activities, plus a link to a What’sApp group so you can stay connected with ELGL during this large conference in this complete list.