IMBA World Summit 2008

The 2008 IMBA Summit is organized around three themes:

1. Building a Mountain Biking Community
   
2. Managing Mountain Biking
   
3. Mountain Biking's Value Proposition
   

The agenda is in continuing development and speakers are being lined up now. If you are interested in speaking or appearing as a panelist, or would like to help shape the agenda, write Pete Webber at pete@imba.com.

Tentative Keynote and Plenary Sessions

One World, Two Wheels
-- John Burke, President of Trek Bicycles, launched a bold initiative last year to make the world a more bike friendly place. The program, dubbed "One World, Two Wheels," is a pledge by Trek and its dealers to step up their support of bicycle advocacy. One goal is to increase the number of trips taken in the U.S. by bike from the current 1% to 5% by 2017. Burke has earned a reputation as an inspirational and entertaining speaker, and is someone who continuously looks for opportunities to boost advocacy efforts in the cycling industry.

Designing & Building Sustainable Trails: Stories from Around the World
-- Glen Jacobs, a renowned trail expert from Cairns, Australia and leader of World Trail Inc., will share successes and lessons learned from nearly 20 years of building trails, downhill tracks, bike parks and race courses at the local level right up to the Olympic Games. Jacobs will highlight his work at locations such as Mount Stromlo, one of the world's most innovative bike parks and host to the 2009 World Championships.

The Future of Mountain Biking on Public Lands: Presentation and Panel Discussion
-- Speakers include: Karen Taylor-Goodrich, Associate Director for Visitor and Resource Protection, National Park Service; Bob Ratcliffe, Chief, Recreation and Visitor Services Division, Bureau of Land Management; and representatives from the U.S. Forest Service, Parks Canada, and other speakers to be announced

Taking the Lead: IMBA's Vision for Making Mountain Biking Better
-- What is direction is IMBA headed and how can our community work together to take our sport to the next level? Hill Abell, IMBA President; Mike Van Abel, IMBA Executive Director

Tentative Concurrent Sessions

Theme 1: Building a Mountain Biking Community

Fox/IMBA Heroes: Secrets of Successful Grassroots Advocacy
-- A panel discussion featuring innovative leaders who are making a significant difference in their local communities. Learn their tips and tricks for building strong clubs, lasting partnerships, political connections, and killer trail systems. Speakers: Philip Keyes, Executive Director New England Mountain Bike Association; Dirk Gustin, President, Black Hills Mountain Biking Association; Bill Victor, Lone Cane Trails and Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association

Club Care: Avoiding Common Pitfalls Facing Volunteer Groups
-- This session offers essential tactics for the care and feeding of mountain bike clubs. The most successful groups have a balanced agenda and a variety of programs that combine fun, advocacy, trailbuilding, and plain old hard work. Learn how to make your group more sustainable, successful, and effective in reaching a diverse and large riding community. Speakers: Anna Laxague and Jason Wells, Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew

Developing Effective Club Leadership & Boards
-- Successful organizations require strong leaders and committed boards, but overworked volunteers can burn out and boards often lose focus. Experts will share strategies for ensuring your organization's leadership stays fresh and gets things done. Speakers: John Bliss, IMBA Board Member; Todd Scott, former Executive Director, Michigan Mountain Bike Association

Reinvigorate Your Organization's Marketing and Recruit New Volunteers
-- All old clubs need to learn new tricks. This session is designed to help clubs stay fresh and dynamic, increase membership, host cool events, generate local media coverage and lower the barrier for entry to your club, and the sport in general. The session will teach you how to increase membership and attract new leaders - all while having fun. Speakers: Ryan Schutz, IMBA Affiliate Programs Manager; additional speakers to be announced.

IMBA Ride Centers: Creating Community-Based Model Trail Systems
-- Fruita/Grand Junction, Whistler, Moab, Coed y Brenin - we have all experienced the joy of epic ride communities and fantastic trails. But how do we get them in your backyard? And what do they look like? IMBA is in the early stages of developing five ride centers in the U.S. - but many more are on deck and communities are organizing to be next. Come, learn, and dream. Speakers: Scott Gordon, IMBA Ride Center Coordinator; Jill Van Winkle, IMBA Trail Specialist

Strengthening IMBA Affiliates and Regional Leadership
-- IMBA is ramping up to provide enhanced programs and services to affiliated clubs. With a regional partnership in place with SORBA, professional staff in California, and a number of local pilots, this session will explain the potential benefits through case studies and introduce the IMBA Leadership Council - a building block toward reaching the next level of professional organizations in the mountain bike community. Speakers: Ryan Schutz, IMBA Affiliate Programs Manager; Tom Sauret, Executive Director, Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association; additional speakers to be announced.

The Big "I" in IMBA: International Workshop
-- IMBA's international presence expands every year. Initiatives in Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Canada are taking off. But advocacy and access issues in other countries are often different from the United States. How can IMBA best assist mountain biking outside North America? What can we learn from each other? Gather with leaders of IMBA chapters from around the world and learn about IMBA's updated international program. Moderator: Mike Van Abel, IMBA executive director

Theme 2: Managing Mountain Biking

Urban Bike Parks: Part 1
-- Bike parks are the hot ticket. These playgrounds are popping up all over, and riders are loving them. This session will cover the basics of small bike parks and provide an overview on how to develop one in your town. Includes success stories from existing parks. Speakers to be announced

Urban Bike Parks: Part 2
-- This session expands on the fundamentals discussed in Part 1 by delving into the nuts and bolts of bike park design, construction techniques, risk management, and more with seasoned experts. Continuing guidance will be provided in a topic-based group ride in the afternoon. Speakers: Joey Klein, IMBA Trail Specialist; Jon Kennedy and Mike Westra, Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club; Glen Jacobs, World Trail Inc, Cairns, Australia; additional speakers to be announced.

Environmental Impacts of Mountain Biking: Science Review and Best Practices
-- An extensive review of the notable scientific studies that have examined mountain biking's impact and a discussion of recommended best practices for minimizing them. Speaker: Jeremy Wimpey, doctoral candidate in the Park and Recreation Resource Management program at Virginia Tech, and co-author with leading recreation ecologist Jeff Marion of the science review published in IMBA's 2007 book "Managing Mountain Biking."

Solutions to User Conflict
-- User conflict is a common challenge facing recreation managers. This session will provide fundamental solutions as well as innovative strategies from a variety of locations. Speakers: Rich Edwards, IMBA Trail Specialist; additional speakers to be announced.

Risk Management for Mountain Biking
-- Liability and risk management are some of the most daunting topics faced by trail managers today. This session will help provide clear and concise information and explain critical issues. Topics include: the basics of risk management for mountain biking, the principals of negligence and liability, four general tasks to fulfill your duty of care, and examples of mountain biking related lawsuits. Speakers: Pete Webber, IMBA Trail Specialist; additional speakers to be announced.

Extreme Trail Makeover: the Wissahickon Park Sustainable Trails Initiative
-- One of the largest and oldest urban parks in the U.S., Wissahickon Valley had more than 60 miles of trails, much of it in bad repair. When the non-profit Friends of the Wissahickon decided to fix the situation, they turned to IMBA Trail Solutions for assistance. Come learn how the partnership worked with stakeholders to develop a revamped trail system that meets the varied needs of all park visitors. Speakers: Jill Van Winkle, IMBA Trail Specialist, Rich Edwards, IMBA Trail Specialist

Bike Patrol Workshop
-- Seasoned patrollers and group leaders will work with interested clubs and government agencies on establishing citizen-based patrol groups, the benefits of this type of volunteer stewardship, and the potential trail access benefits. Moderator: Spencer Powlison, coordinator of the National Mountain Bike Patrol

Mountain Biking and Wilderness: Smart Strategies for a Difficult Issue
-- This panel will talk about ways mountain bikers and conservation groups can best work together without letting the tension and conflict of Wilderness discussions override cooperation and goodwill. We'll also discuss lessons learned from recent Wilderness proposals and explore common values and win-win solutions. Speakers: Jenn Dice, IMBA Government Affairs Director; additional speakers to be announced.

Region-wide Mountain Bike Management Plans and Strategies
-- Region-wide management strategies are being developed in two highly popular riding locations: California and British Columbia. Learn how these plans are being formulated and discuss the successes and challenges faced by the planning teams. Speakers: Garrett Villanueva, U.S. Forest Service; Officials from the British Columbia Ministry of Tourism, Sport & the Arts; Tom Ward, IMBA California; James Brown, IMBA Canada, Drew Vankat, IMBA Policy Analyst

Theme 3: Mountain Biking's Value Proposition

Promoting Natural Surface Trails to Real Estate Developers
-- Learn how to promote trails to developers in a language they understand: Value. Trails enhance sales rates, sales prices and create positive community relations. Studies prove that trails don't just serve a limited target market - they serve a mass market with money to spend. Randy Martin has parlayed a 25-year career in real estate development and a passion for trail running and mountain biking into a specialized business that assists land owners, developers and builders in integrating well-designed natural surface trails into their communities. Speaker: Randy Martin, Trailscape, Inc.

Linking Downtown to Dirt: The Transportation-Recreation Connection
-- Instead of loading up your mountain bike and driving 20 minutes to the trailhead, wouldn't it be great if you could ride a paved bike path or low-traffic street to your local singletrack? Many communities have successfully implemented such a vision. Discussion will include ideal types of facilities to connect where riders live to where riders play. Examples from around North America will be shown. Speakers: Chris Bernhardt and Hagen Hammons, Alta Planning + Design; Staff from the Bicycle Friendly Communities program, Jill Van Winkle, IMBA Trail Specialist

Case Study: Park City
-- What makes this town so great for bicycling? 300 miles of singletrack, developing downhill trails, an award winning Rail-to-Trail, an urban jump park, developers who embrace bicycling, a musical trail and 40 miles of paved bike paths...what doesn't Park City have? Learn from one of the best communities for bicycling in the world. Panel discussion featuring local experts.

Youth 1: Access for All Youth - the Potential of Mountain Biking
-- The future of mountain biking depends on passing IMBA's stewardship and advocacy on to the kids - all kids. This means embracing diversity and underserved communities. Trips for Kids is a national program that helps communities across the country reach out to low-income kids that would not have access to trails otherwise. While overcoming obstacles on the ride, youth are empowered, become advocates for mountain biking, and learn to accept their role as caretakers of the environment. This panel discussion presents success stories and offers tools to set up new chapters. Speakers: Marilyn Price, Trips for Kids Founding Director; Belinda Sauret, Director TFK SORBA; Gary Sjoquist, QBP Advocacy Director; Kat Sweet, TFK Seattle; Melissa Dunstan, TFK Flagstaff

Youth 2: Youth Program Case Studies
-- We'll learn from people who have helped create premier kids mountain biking programs. Examples from Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, Trips for Kids, Sprockids, and more. Speakers: Austin McInerny, President, NorCal High School Mountain Bike League; additional speakers to be announced.

Selling the Sport and Convincing the Skeptics
-- Experts share the statistics and case studies you need to sell mountain biking. Includes details on the benefits for youth, health, conservation, economies, communities - in short everything you need for convincing government officials that mountain biking benefits people and the land. Speakers: Julie Childers, Executive Director TFK Metro DC; additional speakers to be announced.

Digging for Dollars: How to Get Cash for Your Next Trail Project
-- Money isn't always the key to better trail opportunities. But combine a committed volunteer workforce with a positive-minded land management agency, then add significant funding and the results can be phenomenal. The money is out there - you just have to know how to get it. Speakers: Christopher Douwes, Trails and Enhancements Program Manager, Federal Highway Administration; Bill Victor, Lone Cane Trails and Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association; Scott Linnenburger, IMBA Field Programs Director.

* All sessions are tentative at this time.

Topic-Based Networking and Group Rides

After-Hours Networking: Strengthening IMBA Affiliates and Regional Leadership
-- Get together for cold beverages and conversation with the club leaders and IMBA staff that are shaping affiliate and regional programs.

After-Hours Networking: International Topics
-- Meet with IMBA staff and attendees from outside the U.S.

After-Hours Networking: Bike Parks
-- Meet up for cold beverages with bike park veterans and get the lowdown on planning and building these hot properties.

Group Ride: The Land That Bicycles Dream About
-- Tag along for an insider's tour of Park City's interconnected trail system. You'll want to sell your car.

Group Ride: Bike Parks
-- Grab your bike and hit the trails with other folks talkin' bike parks. Learn how communities across the country are incorporating small urban bike parks into their towns.

Group Ride: Risk Management
-- Pull out the yellow legal pad and saddle up for a ride with risk management know-it-alls and lawsuit-phobes. We'll stop frequently to discuss safety issues and answer questions.

Pre-Conference Workshops

Trips for Kids Conference/Youth Mountain Biking Meeting, Wed. June 18
Trail Contractor Seminar, Tues. June 17 - Wed. June 18