On September 13-17, 2010, pedestrian and bicycle advocates, urban planners, public health and transportation professionals, and many more will gather in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the 16th International Conference on Bicycling & Walking.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, host to Pro Walk / Pro Bike® 2010, has much to boast about, including a walkable downtown, electric transit opportunities, a heavily used river trail, mountain biking within minutes of town and the restored Walnut Street Bridge, which serves as the basis for the Pro Walk / Pro Bike® 2010 event logo.

Through the Pro Walk / Pro Bike® 2010 conference we want to showcase the accomplishments and programs in Chattanooga and the surrounding region. We will show you how Chattanooga successfully transformed their community and offer innovative ideas, programs and projects so that you can create livable communities at a local or regional scale. But even more important, we want to provide a transfer of technology and information, and inspire communities around the United States to undertake similar programs.

LOOKING FORWARD
As NCBW Executive Director Sharon Roerty points out, "There are many resources available for communities to create livable neighborhoods and design streets and highways to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians. This conference provides a platform to share those resources. It also presents an opportunity to demonstrate 'best practices' and 'projects' that have made a significant impact in changing existing environments. We need broad scale replication of these projects. We also need to emphasize projects and policies that every citizen can benefit from; and we need to make certain that our work is taking into account the needs of vulnerable and under-represented populations. The advantage of Pro Walk / Pro Bike® is that it brings researchers, advocates, practitioners, policy leaders and funders together in an environment that encourages an exchange of ideas and approaches that are both practical and imaginative."

"We're not going to achieve significant transportation mode shifts to walking and bicycling by talking only to ourselves. We must involve a variety of new partners. In the past decade many positive and highly beneficial linkages have been made between walking and cycling interests and public health. Now, more new partners need to be engaged and enlisted in our efforts to effect change, including the economic forces of business and development interests, advocates for seniors and children, those working for social justice and inclusion in a broader environmental coalition. We need a trans-discipline approach to help us make the leap from sustainable developments to a sustainable nation. We need to merge together the interests, resources and the expertise of transportation, health, housing, energy and the environment. A singular approach to walkable and bicycle friendly communities won't allow us to bring livable communities and regions to scale - we need to become an amalgamated force."

PRESENTATIONS
We'll gather a wide range of presenters to produce panel discussions, workshops, and poster sessions. If you would like to be a presenter at Pro Walk / Pro Bike® 2010, review the materials below and then complete the on-line submission form at:

Under the conference theme "Bringing Livable Communities and Regions to Scale," we'll focus on a variety of critical topics:

• Best Practices in Active Transportation - How did you develop broad support? Demonstrate how a project can go from planning and design to completion. Detail funding, policy, and any regulatory hurdles.
• Sustainable Development and Livable Communities - How do we continue to build, nurture, and sustain a grassroots advocacy movement to bring about the changes we want to see in our communities? Show how communities can work together to develop plans that support active transportation and help reduce obesity.
• Equity and Social Justice - How do we create sustainable communities that allow everyone to participate and prosper, especially vulnerable populations? Show what outreach efforts have worked to empower under-represented citizens.
• Safe Routes to School/Education - What does it take to create safe conditions for children to walk and bike to school? Show how SRTS programs and policies can improve the safety and livability of our communities.
• Communication and Outreach - How do we communicate clear messages to convince politicians, elected officials, business leaders, and others that biking and walking need to be seen as critical, viable transportation options? How do we bring more developers and realtors into the fold? How can we make a case with costs / benefit analysis and other data?
• The Basics - Realizing that there are new people entering the field all the time, we'll offer a collection of "Bike-Ped 101" presentations and workshops during the conference and during the days surrounding the conference.

Treat these as "starter topics." In suggesting your own presentation subjects, keep in mind the theme of "Bringing Livable Communities and Regions to Scale." Demonstrate how your project or program can be replicated

The Audience
The Pro Walk / Pro Bike® conferences have traditionally attracted a diverse audience, reflecting the fact that building better communities takes all of us. It also reflects the fact that in our world the lines are often blurred between "professional" and "advocate," as we believe they should be! When we convene in Chattanooga the folks in the chairs at the opening session of this broad and diverse audience will include:

• Advocacy and neighborhood organization leaders, staff and volunteers
• Leaders and participants from Safe Routes to School programs
• Mayors, legislators and other elected officials
• Staff from Federal and state agencies, MPOs and RPCs, local governments and transit
• Planners, engineers, landscape architects, public health professionals, economists, professors and college students
• Pedestrian and bicycle professionals from national, state, regional and local organizations
• Professionals and advocates from fields related to climate, energy, the environment and housing

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
As we review presentation and session proposals, we will look closely at the learning objectives you list at the top of the form. What will your session's attendee leave the room with when you've completed your presentation or after he or she has looked at your poster? The review committee will watch for specifics such as:

• Bringing livable communities to scale: identifying challenges and innovations, overcoming opposition, replicating your experience in other communities
• Innovative approaches: new ideas, insights, findings, tools & techniques, directed research
• The voice of experience: what works, what didn't work and why
• Discussion and structured deliberation: working together to advance our understanding and knowledge, consensus building
• Methodology and implementation: funding, data collection and analysis, local organizing, effective modeling

FORMAT
As you consider developing a presentation proposal, give careful thought to the format you would like to use. It is important to have your speakers lined up before you submit your proposal. Proposals that indicate "speakers yet to be determined" will be set aside and will only be chosen if there is room in the final program. We've experienced problems in setting up past conference programs with speakers being "double-booked" for sessions, which requires last minute shuffling. If you know you want someone specific to present on your panel, contact them first!

Presentations may fit into one of three categories:

1. Panel Presentation (90 minutes) on a single topic with 2-3 presenters - panel presentations will feature two or three separate 15-30 minute presentations. May also include a session moderator to facilitate a short discussion period with the audience, which will be encouraged to comment on their related experiences, ask questions, and dialogue with presenters. An ideal panel would focus on one topic and have presenters from different areas of the country and/or from different organizations.
2. Poster Presentations will consist of display boards with direct interaction between the presenter and attendees. The entire presentation is placed on a display board and should be considered the equivalent to the presentation sessions. Poster presentations should be displayed on a 1.2 m x 2.4 m (4' x 8') poster board.
3. Guided Discussions/Workshops (90 minutes) will feature 2-4 speakers who engage in a moderated discussion of a specific topic. The moderator plays a very active role, asking questions of the speakers and ensuring an interactive dialogue. Diversity and expertise among speakers is important to the success of the session. Discussions should lead to participation and interaction with the audience.

Most sessions are divided into blocks of one-and-a-half hours, with breaks of one-half hour between. For panel presentations, don't overload your proposal with too many presenters. It generally takes a few minutes for people to get settled, and for a moderator to introduce the presentation members. If you have too many presenters, the overall presentation is going to be rushed, the last presenter is going to get cut short, and/or there will be no time for audience participation (Q&A).

COMPLETING THE SUBMISSION FORM
On the on-line submission form you will be asked to describe your proposed presentation, your learning objectives, and what format your presentation will take.

At the end of your proposal, we ask you to write the presentation description that will appear in the program book should your presentation be chosen. This description should "sell" your presentation to our review panel, as well as attracting audience members to your presentation, so spend some time on it. Stay within the prescribed maximum word count of 70 words.

Here's a link to some sample presentation descriptions to give you some ideas of things you'll want to cover. For help with developing a poster session click here.

To complete the on-line submission form, click here.

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