You might be the one who sets the new record for the IDA Annual Conference and Marketplace attendance. Yes, this October in Chicago, Illinois, you may be the one who brings the most innovative idea, shares the greatest aspiration, or elevates a colleague to believe they too can achieve great success in inclusive city building while pushing the total registration to the highest ever.
Why is this so important? We are living through one of the most exciting times ever. Each of us individually seeks to strengthen and rebuild our commercial districts in a post-pandemic economy so they can remain the economic lifeblood of our communities. Collectively we can be the professional voice that unites behind the critical importance of city centers at a time when the media, university think tanks, and others speak out with diminishing hope for downtowns and choose to focus on the negative impacts of the pandemic rather than focus on the opportunity for rebuilding even more complete communities. It is imperative that we, the professional place management industry, demonstrate and fulfill the promise that cities matter, and always will.
IDA selected the City of Chicago to support not just the leadership of our members in one of the world’s greatest cities, but to also combat the negative perceptions that the downtown could not prosper following the pandemic, that our city centers were unsafe, and that residents would exit in mass from these extraordinary community centers. We chose Chicago for our 69th Annual Conference and Marketplace location in hopes of demonstrating through record attendance that our city-loving profession seeks to learn from and explore the many diverse neighborhoods throughout the city. We sought to illustrate, by our actions, that Chicago continues to be a world leader in city building. Quite frankly, we sought to disprove the negative media headlines that regularly disparaged a city gem in the national landscape. And thus far, the IDA community is proving this all to be true. We are closely approaching record attendance in Chicago with several weeks to go.
Yes, you may be the one that pushes our attendance numbers, beyond the previous record set in 2007 at New York City and demonstrate how true city builders and city lovers recognize the beauty and the authentic greatness of the city that makes no little plans has become a learning laboratory of more equitable downtown regeneration. Chicago has so much to share and celebrate, and I cannot imagine a more important time or place for the IDA community to step forward and be champions for extraordinary urban experiences. In addition to the wealth of educational programming, you can even celebrate the return of Broadway In Chicago’s HAMILTON with a hundred IDA members, followed by a one-on-one engagement with a company actor.
If you are wondering whether the IDA Annual Conference is the best use of your time and resources. Suppose those who may need to approve professional development expenditures are looking for the greatest return on that investment. In that case, the time is now to join more than 1000 colleagues who have already confirmed their investment. You may be the one that makes the 69th Annual Conference and Marketplace in Chicago, Illinois the most extraordinary gathering of place management professionals ever. Register now, before the September 6th deadline, and you may just be the one!