Conquering Congress: our three Congress rookies dive into the sights and sounds of Seattle to report on what it is like to attend the conference for the first time.

In our September issue, Parks & Recreation introduced readers to three members who have never attended NRPA's Congress. We asked them to document their experiences throughout the week and describe what they saw. These "rookie reporters" came away with new information that they brought back to their own communities, new appreciation for the city of Seattle and new friendships that will last a lifetime.

Take a look at what they wrote as they weaved their way through the sessions, parties and events of NRPA's Congress and the city of Seattle.

Tuesday, Oct. 10

Jeff Lloyd:

I arrived mid-afternoon for the Armed Forces Recreation Society (AFRS) Awards Banquet at the Hilton in Bellevue, Wash. It was a beautiful event where I met some wonderful people associated with AFRS and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR). I met a young, wounded Army veteran--his right arm was amputated from Iraq war wounds--he is great guy with an amazing story, and now works with AFRS in Washington, D.C. and regularly sees highly influential people in government ranks.

Andrea Anzelone:

Today was a planned site-seeing day. I spent a lot of the day at The Public Market at Pike's Place. I absolutely loved the shops and booths that were set up--everything is very colorful. Seeing the famous fish market was exciting and it was a great place bar souvenirs. In the later part of the afternoon, I took a berry ride for an hour tour around the bay, but I eventually made it over to the convention center to check in. Later, I attended the NTRS Poster Session which was a great idea and a good way to network. I was able to obtain good ideas brain other organizations and I was very proud to see that my organization (the City of Las Vegas) was recognized there as well. Afterwards, we did a little more shopping and ended up at Fox Bar and Grill for dinner.

Nancy Wallerstein:

After picking up the convention bag, I was off to a half-day Off Site Institute (OSI) tour on "Adaptive Reuse--Seattle's Historic Bathhouses." Visiting a former synagogue, now the home of the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, kicked off visits to a series of buildings renovated and now used as art venues. Seattle's Parks and Recreation Manager Maureen O'Neill and 4Culture's Flo Lentz guided us through a wonderful and imaginative tour, where we visited two former bath-houses that are now used as a pottery and dance studios. We also saw a former Wonder-Bread facility now used as the Pratt Fine Arts Center, an incubator for metal fabrication, casting, stained glass, glass blowing, print making, blacksmithing, etc.

Historic preservation seemed to be the theme for my day, and I attended a session titled "The Power of Place: Historic Preservation the in the Public's Hands." Highlighted was the Brookings Institute Report that reconfirmed that historic tourism stays are 4.76 nights long and participants spend 78 percent more than other visitors. A surprising fact was that 80 percent of historic sites lack an emergency plan and the staff is unprepared to deal with disasters. Later, I went to a fabulous seafood dinner at Elliott's restaurant down on the wharf with members of the Johnson County Park & Recreation District and friends.

Wednesday, Oct. 11:

Jeff:

Today I attended the "External Funding Strategies" session--great information mainly focused toward municipal parks regarding, sponsorship, donations, partnerships and developing grant proposals. As I will see later in the week, many people flock to the sessions that focus on funding. The speaker Chris Nunes from Fort Morgan was exceptional--he had a great presence and enthusiasm.

The mid-morning session--"Stash Your Trash" told attendees about a public relations/marketing campaign with a mascot to promote community and park cleanliness. They took actual a Communities Against Trash (CAT) mascot to schools to teach kids the value of keeping the community clean and how to recycle. It was definitely an idea worth copying.

The welcome party tonight was amazing. Held in Freeway Park, the setting itself was itself a wonder--it is the only park in the U.S. built over a free-way. The park was beautiful and the entertainment was tremendous, from the Asian percussion crew to the trumpeter and caricature artist. Salmon kabobs were a first and delicious!

Andrea:

I attended my first session today on "Behavior Management" given by Lonny Zimmerman. The session was very insightful on different ways of controlling and working with problem behaviors. It was nice to see such energy throughout the conference. I was very excited to attend the Opening General Session and was amazed to see the amount of people that attended. The speakers from Pikes Place Fish Market were very inspirational--it wad nice to hear from people advocating to have fun in the workplace and still be able to do their job well and the fish throwing was great. Afterward, our director and several managers from my organization went out to dinner together--it was nice to be in a social environment instead of the workplace. Afterwards, a friend and I went to the pier to see all the lights.

Nancy:

This morning I attended the session "Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's off to Lead I Go!" by Rich DiGirolamo. His energetic delivery gave the morning a jump start by having us think in terms of accentuating the positive and providing definitions for success.

My afternoon was free to have a leisurely lunch before going to the Opening General Session and the Welcome Reception directly following. What a lovely park setting featuring the history of Seattle and the diversity of its heritage for the reception.

After-hours found us at a local dueling piano bar. Amazing pianists and entertainers kept us in good spirits.

Thursday, Oct. 12:

Jeff:

I attended an early morning session--"Sponsors: How to Get Your Foot in the Door"--the speaker was energetic, enthusiastic and delivered great information about first crucial steps in securing sponsorships. Unique methods were addressed to gain attention (and hopefully support) For your cause. Once again, it was a packed house For a session revolving around gaining support.

Afterward I attended a new Power Session called "Environmental Stewardship--Justice and Collaboration" where the speakers were phenomenal, especially the attorney Robert Garcia From L.A. who fights for more greenspace and equal opportunities for play and green areas in urban areas. I have strong Feelings about global warming and greenspace upkeep/expansion and efforts by people like Garcia are very encouraging.

Late in the afternoon I attended a session about the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and received a great deal of information regarding the LWCF requirements, compliance regulations, application tips and common mistakes.

Andrea:

Sessions began pretty early today, but again what a great experience. I am a certified therapeutic recreation specialist (CTRS) so I attended many TR sessions such as "A Practical Guide to Inclusive Programming" by Jana Salisbury. I enjoy sessions where I can actually pull techniques away and implement them in my job and this was no exception with great speakers and fantastic information. I'm also responsible for starting up a health initiative for the City of Las Vegas, so I found a session that addressed health and wellness. It was called "Locating Funding for Health and Wellness Programming." It had a lot of information on grant funding for such programs. I can't imagine a person attending this conference and not finding a session that beat suits them. It is great to meet so many people in the same profession or field of interest brain all across the nation.

During a break between sessions. I went into the exhibit hall. Wow, I couldn't believe how many exhibitors there were. I'm not responsible for purchasing equipment for my organization, but very interesting and neat to see the various products out there. I think the most interesting thing to see was the playground areas. I just wanted to play on them! The exhibitors were very willing to educate you on their products.

The next session l attended was called "Training Staff for Effective Inclusion" by Tracy Crawford and Cindy Burkholder. This was by far the beat session I attended. It was very interactive and I pulled so many great ideas from it. The speakers really got into there presentation and loved to get the audience involved.

After sessions were over, I met up with my group at Pikes Place Market. We walked the market again and at the end, we came to a little park. We purchased some fruit, sat in the park and people watched. I'm very interested in watching the water because I don't live anywhere close to water. To see the sail boats on the water, the sun setting behind the water, and the people singing in the park to make their living ... what an experience.

Nancy:

Opening up our eyes today was fiery red-head Jodi Rudick's seminar on sponsors "How to Get Your Foot in the Door" which gave us some great ideas and resources. One no-cost idea was to try sending the newspaper ideas for stories on a regular basis. It is important to match sponsors with your programs' core values. The presenter shared that 69 percent of the decisions of households are made by morns who are often the target market for a lot of advertising dollars.

Bellevue (Wash.) Youth Theater (BYT) presented their success story in "Using Theater to Build Community." This heart-warming seminar spoke to the success of inclusion of all people into their community theater group. BYT's successful program is an award-winning venue that continues to grow and flourish with the help of their community players and volunteers.

After a visit to the exhibit hall, I went back to the hotel before the evening's festivities. A reception for the NRPA Midwest region was held in a renovated building of an old downtown Seattle brothel now called Trinity.

Friday, Oct. 13:

Jeff:

This morning I attended the session "Master Planning For Small Communities"--this was probably the most beneficial of all the sessions I attended. I am From a community of less than 5,000 in Kentucky and I am researching, through these sessions as well as through guidance From experts in the field at Western Kentucky University, how to help my community initiate a park and recreation program. The steps, tasks, stakeholder engagement and planning procedures outlined in this session should prove invaluable as the aforementioned project continues to develop.

I took a mid-afternoon break from class to visit Pike Place Market. As I mentioned, Seattle is beautiful; everything about it is magnificent, the backdrop of Mt. Rainer, the Space Needle and skyline of the city, the people are overwhelmingly Friendly, and their 'green' efforts such as recycling and park space are to be applauded.

I closed the afternoon with a session on grant writing. Again, I acquired an enormous amount of information about potential grantors, online resources and tips for proposal writing. Composing a grant request is a cumbersome task but I look forward the challenge. With the insight I gained during this session, the process will not be quite so intimidating.

The closing party at the Experience Music Project tonight was phenomenal. The sci-fi museum, the history of music artifacts, displays and audio programs, the art gallery with works of Monet and Van Gogh--words cannot describe how amazing this Facility is.

Andrea:

I attended a session this morning called "'What's your Agency IQ (Inclusion Quotient)" by John McGovern. What a great speaker. I have attended several sessions in the past given by McGovern and he is very informative about ADA and the requirements an agency should provide. My next session was called "Post--TR: Beyond the Therapy Model and Back to Recreation." It provided some insight of where the field of TR is going and what professionals need to do to prepare.

Later. I went back to the hotel to get ready bar the evening. The group was attending a social at the Sheraton Hotel. where a friend brow NIRI (Tracy Crawford) was being sworn in and a good friend Jana Salisbury was receiving an award. We all ended up at the Fox Grill bar dinner and to celebrate. The night ended up to be a very long one, but bun. I haven't had this much bun in a while.

Nancy:

Friday found me in a double-length session for "Non-Profit Foundations: Innovations and Pitfalls." Bill Koegler was the first presenter giving great examples of the success story of the Oglebay Foundation. Bill included some facts as to how foundations give to other foundations (think Warren Buffet and Bill Gates) and the mechanics of foundations, donations and potential tax implications. Bill said that $15 trillion will be given away by foundations. The foundation must give five percent away each year by law.

Jim Kniskanen of Modesto, Calif., Rosemary Cameron of East Bay, Calif., regional park district, Bill Thomas from San Clemente and Barry Weiss of San Carlos Park and Recreation rounded out the discussion panel. Don't try to reinvent the wheel, find a model that fits your community's needs, they said.

With Michael Meodors, Johnson County Parks and Recreation Department executive director, I attended the APRS reception, awards ceremony and auction. What a lovely reception recognizing the hard work of the participants on a national level. The auction provided bargains and a variety of great products and destinations.

We then boarded the buses to attend the closing reception at the Experience Music Project where we partied with look-alike characters of Madonna, Prince, Elton John, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.