by Matt Bach, media relations director
The 2016 Michigan Municipal League Convention is over, but the knowledge and memories live on.
However, we know it can be overwhelming. You may ask yourself, “What was that session I attended about driverless cars?” “Who was that guy who talked about business pollination?” “What’s that new MEDC program all about?” No worries, we’ve got you covered. Now that you are back in your local community, the League wanted to summarize the many sessions, events, and discussions that took place. Feel free to share this information with your constituents and those who may ask you about the Convention and your experience.
The 2016 League Convention on Mackinac Island was a tremendous success, with more than 550 officials from throughout the state attending, networking, and learning about a variety of municipal-related issues, programs, and initiatives. The annual Convention moves around the state each year to best serve our members from all corners of the state. The Convention goes to Mackinac Island every four years. Next year it will be in Holland, Michigan. And in 2018, it will most likely be held in Grand Rapid. Previous Conventions have taken place in Traverse City (2015), Marquette (2014), and Detroit (2013).
Technology Meet-Up
For three days, local officials had opportunities to connect, engage, and discover creative solutions to local challenges. Attendees heard from visionary keynote speakers on topics ranging from anchor institutions and community partnerships to local businesses and civic crowdfunding. And breakout sessions gave attendees a chance to dive into strategic topics like retiree health care changes and Millennials as local government leaders. View the presentations here: http://blogs.mml.org/wp/events/2015-convention-presentations/. View media coverage of Convention here: http://blogs.mml.org/wp/events/media-coverage/
New to this year’s Convention was a series of on-site Meet-Ups. The highly successful Meet-Ups gave attendees a chance to have informal conversations on topics presented during Convention or other subjects of interest. People from all varieties of communities discussed things like IT-Communications, MEDC initiatives, civic engagement, and the newly rebranded Michigan Municipal Executives organization.
Other Convention highlights include:
- The selection of the 2016 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. This year’s winner was the City of Beaverton for its Beaverton Activity Center. View a press release about it here: http://www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2016-9-16-Beaverton-Wins-2016-Community-Excellence-Award.html
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Michael Shuman
From Pork to Pollinators: How Michigan Can and Should Overhaul its Economic Development Practices by national speaker Michael Shuman, economist, attorney, author, and entrepreneur. View his presentation here: http://blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2016/09/2016-Conv-From-Pork-to-Pollinators.pdf
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Facilitating Meaningful Civic Engagement: How Your Residents Can Make a Difference featuring Suzanne Schulz, managing director of design development and community engagement for the city of Grand Rapids. Download her presentation: http://blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2016/09/2016-Conv-suzanne-schulz-Opening-Presentation-9-12-16.pdf
- How to govern in 140 characters of less #itcanbedone #letsjoin led by Berkley Michigan Mayor Pro Tem Steve Baker. View his presentation here: https://prezi.com/xuymcpodin-0/how-to-govern-in-140-characters-or-less/
- In-depth walk and talk: What Makes Mackinac Island So Great, Anyway? This was a tour led by the League’s Richard Murphy illustrating the many positive placemaking assets on Mackinac Island, particularly in downtown.
Additional session topics were:
- Innovation Lab: Building Creative and Impactful Civic Practices. Check out the presentation here: http://blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2016/09/2016-Conv-Innovation-Lab-Presentation.pdf
- A Sea of Change for State Place-Based Policies by Katharine Czarnecki, vice president of Community Development for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). View her presentation here: http://blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2016/09/2016-Conv-MEDC.pdf
- Confessions of a Civic Engagement Luddite led by Scott TenBrink, community project manager for Citizen Interaction Design at University of Michigan. View his presentation here: https://prezi.com/k6imjtk-jzud/community-engagement-tools/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
- Self-Driving Cars are Coming: How do we prepare our communities? Check out the presentation: http://blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2016/09/2016-Conv-Connected-Autonomous-Vehicles.pdf
- The Little City that Could (Burton, Michigan). Here is the presentation: http://blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2016/09/2016-Conv-The-Little-City-That-Could-_final.pdf
- State of Your League presentation by League CEO and Executive Director Daniel Gilmartin.
- Millennials as Local Government Leaders. Check out the presentation: http://blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2016/09/2016-Conv-Local-Gov-Workforce-Development.pdf
- Reforming Michigan’s Municipal Finance System by the League’s Anthony Minghine. View his presentation here: http://blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2016/09/2016-Conv-Reforming-Michigan-Muni-Finance.pdf
- From out of the Shadows to your Financial Statements: Reducing Retiree Health Care Costs. View the presentation here: http://blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2016/09/2016-Conv-Retiree-Healthcare.pdf
Thank you again for attending the 2016 Convention. We look forward to seeing you next year in downtown Holland.